Name: Fish Soup Basquaise (Ttoro)
Yield: Serves 4
Cuisine: France
Ingredients: 1 dozen large mussels; Pinch of imported sweet paprika; ¼ teaspoon piment d’Espelette or other moderately hot red pepper, or 1 teaspoon crème de piment d’Espelette (see Mail Order Sources); 1 large garlic clove, finely sliced; ½ cup finely chopped celery; ½ cup chopped onion; ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil; ½ cup dry white wine; ½ cup diced (½ inch) red bell peppers; ½ cup diced (½ inch) green bell peppers; ¾ to 1 pound mixed boneless fish fillets (red snapper, halibut, monkfish, hake, or cod), cut into ¾-inch cubes; 2½ tablespoons chopped fresh herbs: flat-leaf parsley, basil, chervil, a few leaves of rosemary or sage; ½ cup peeled, cubed, and seeded plum tomatoes; 3 cups hot fish stock (storebought or homemade) or water; ½ cup cooked crabmeat (optional); Dash of fresh lemon juice; Salt and freshly ground pepper

Preparation info

Serves
4

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

The Cooking of South West France

By Paula Wolfert

Published 1987

About

This is a modern interpretation of the classic onion and pepper fish soup of Bayonne. It is moderately spicy on account of the hot red pepper flakes. The Basques have a fondness for their home-grown piment d’Espelette, which imparts a rounder, deeper pepper taste to the soup than ordinary cayenne or the common crushed hot red pepper.

I attended the pepper festival in the village of Espelette, where the peppers are grown. This festival is held each year in late October to celebrate t