Bouillabaisse

There are may arguments about what constitutes “authentic” bouillabaisse. It is a soup of complex ingredients originating in the southern Marseille region of France. It is considered a hearty flavoursome filling dish.

Serves 4 hungry people

You need:
Olive oil
2 leeks, thinly sliced
2 small onions thinly sliced
1 fennel thinly sliced
4 garlic cloves
3 fresh tomatoes, chopped
900 g small fish (whiting)
700g snapper cut into 4 steaks
Bouquet garni
Peel of ½ orange
3 strands saffron
25 ml Pernod
8 small potatoes
450 g white fish
450 g yellow flesh fish
12 prawns

Method:
1. In a large saucepan, heat the oil and add leaks, onions, fennel and garlic and sweat over a medium heat for 5 minutes. Add tomatoes and cook a further 5 minutes. Add the small fish and cook for 15 minutes stirring regularly. Add water to cover, bouquet garni, saffron, and orange peel. Add half of the Pernod. Lower the heat and simmer for about an hour.
2. Crush the solid items in the pot with a heavy object and tip the whole pot full through a strainer.
3. Boil potatoes until nearly cooked.
4. In a casserole dish arrange the remaining fish. Remove potatoes from water, cut in half and spread among the fish. Sprinkle olive oil on top and tip in about half of the sieved liquid you made earlier. Add remaining Pernod. Bring to simmer and cook for 15 minutes.
5. A few minutes before the fish is cooked add the prawns and remaining liquid. Keep simmering.
6. Remove the solid ingredients and arrange on to serving plates or a serving platter. Ladel some hot liquid over the fish and serve the rest in a tureen or side dish.
7. Serve coutons and aioli on the side and dip into the liquid to eat.

For aioli
4 garlic cloves
Salt
3 strands saffron
1 egg yolk
50 ml olive oil
Juice of 1 lemon

Puree the garlic and salt in a blender and then add saffron and egg yolk until smooth. Then with the blender running, add the olive oil in a slow steady drizzle and it will “bind” with the other ingredients to form a thick mayonnaise. Add the lemon juice at the end.

Make croutons by cutting up crusty bread and toasting in the oven.

Wine Suggestion: Rose