BOUILLABAISE!

Bouillabaisse

 This is the best recipe I have ever tried for bouillabaisse, a traditional Provençal fish stew originating in the port city of Marseille. Go to the market and get yourself the best fresh fish you can find and make this soup as soon as you can. Serve it with fresh bread and you can’t go wrong. You’re welcome 😉

Love,
Caroline

For the stew
3 tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 star anise
1 large fennel bulb, halved and thinly sliced
6 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
2 strips pared orange zest
450g vine ripened tomatoes, skinned and roughly chopped
2 tsp tomato purée
½ tsp chilli flakes
fresh fish stock
450g small potatoes
250g monkfish fillet or seabass
250g red mullet or gurnard fillet
8-12 cooked crevettes (head-on king prawns)
600g rope-grown mussels, cleaned and debearded
2 tbsp pastis, such as Pernod
3 tbsp chopped fresh fennel herb

Heat the olive oil in a large flameproof casserole. Add the onion, fennel and garlic, then cook gently for 5-6 minutes until soft but not coloured. Add the star anise, orange zest, tomatoes, tomato purée, chilli flakes, then cook for 2-3 minutes. Add the fish stock and sliced potatoes, bring to the boil, then simmer for about 15 minutes until the potatoes are tender. 

Meanwhile, slice the monkfish and red mullet/gurnard into thick slices, drop them into the stew and simmer for 2 minutes. Add the cooked crevettes and the mussels, then cover and simmer for 2 minutes more or until the mussels have opened (discard any that don’t open), the crevettes have heated through and the fish is cooked through. Stir in the pastis and most of the fennel herb, then season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with the rest of the fennel herb and serve in large warmed soup plates with and hunks of crusty baguette 🥖