Name: Fast Bouillabaisse
Ingredients: 1 tbsp tomato sauce (ketchup) and a pinch of cayenne pepper, to taste; 2 garlic cloves, crushed; 2 tsp harissa or otherwise; 3 tbsp olive oil; 1 fennel root, cleaned and diced; 1 small tin tomato purée (170 g/6 oz); a few strands saffron; 100 ml (approx. 3 fl oz/½ cup) Pernod (cognac is also good, for that matter); 1 litre (4 cups) fish stock (home-made is obviously always best, but as this soup is called ‘fast’, bought stock is fine); 1 kg (2 lb) fish (any white fish will do); 1 handful of mussels, cockles and prawns (ask the fishmonger for a mixture); 4 tbsp mayonnaise; 1 baguette (preferably a little stale); 1 onion, diced

Preparation info

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

Home Made

By Yvette van Boven

Published 2011

About

Look, I understand that real bisque is much tastier, but sometimes you just don’t have the time or you don’t feel like making it. This recipe provides a solution. Made in no time at all and, honestly, almost as good!

Ingredients

1 onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 fennel root, cleaned and diced

Method

Braise the onion, garlic and fennel briefly in the olive oil until the onion turns glassy. Add the tomato puree and saffron. Keep stirring until the tomato puree begins giving off a sweetish aroma. Add the Pernod and the fish stock and leave to simmer for 20 minutes. Five minutes before the end add the fish and cook in the soup until done.

In the