Bouillabaisse with Rouille

June 29, 2006

Venus supposedly served bouillabaisse to her husband Vulcan so he would nod off to sleep after dinner and she could sneak away and do some Latin dancing with Mars. Maybe it was the ingredient saffron, with its supposedly soporific qualities, that did the trick.. A sort of  Roman deities’ version of post-prandial television?

There was no Mars loitering in the peristylium when I served bouillabaisse recently which was probably a good thing because this fish stew has quite a garlicky accompaniment in the form of rouille, a peppery red mayonnaise.

It’s good to have a mix of fish for this recipe but if you’re not making it for a crowd, it’s probably easier to just choose three or four varieties.

This classic Provencal dish, is a particular specialty of Marseilles but is made right along the French Mediterranean coast and every cook has his or her own fish preferences though rascasse, the red scorpion fish is apparently the common denominator. This certainly wasn’t on offer when I went shopping, so I chose some warehou and blue grenadier or hake and a bag of mussels. My market fishmonger has a good marinara mix so I used some of that to provide variety – baby shellfish, squid and tiny crustaceans.

You can serve the broth first then the fish as a separate course but I think it’s easier and less fiddly to serve everything at once.

You need a roomy pot for this one. A large pasta pot is ideal.

Choose a nice bread. We had a large flat Turkish bread, heated in the oven for 10 minutes then cut into fat fingers.

Bouillabaisse
(serves 4)

2 onions
1 fennel bulb
4 cloves garlic
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 can chopped tomatoes
4 fresh tomatoes, cored and quartered
a generous pinch of saffron
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 litre stock (fish stock or chicken stock)
thin strips of orange (or lemon) peel
1kg firm fish, cut into chunks
250g good marinara mix or shelled and deveined prawns
1kg mussels, scrubbed and bearded
finely chopped parsley
bread (French bread, Turkish bread, ciabatta)

Roughly dice the onions and fennel and crush the garlic. Heat the oil and add these three ingredients to the pan and cook gently for about 8 minutes. Add the fresh and canned tomatoes, the tomato paste, stock, saffron  and peel. Bring to the boil, turn back the heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove a ladle of the stock for the rouille.

The recipe can be prepared to this stage and completed later if required.

Add the fish, prawns or marinara mix and the mussels. Cover and simmer gently until the mussels open. Discard any mussels that fail to open.

Serve in bowls with hot bread and accompany with a bowl of rouille to add to the soup. The rouille is also nice spread on the bread as well!

Rouille

2 teaspoons chilli paste
3 large cloves garlic
1 teaspoon coarse salt
4 slices white bread, crusts removed
a ladle of soup
1 teaspoon paprika
1 tablespoon good mustard
2 egg yolks
1/2 cup olive oil
1-2 tablespoons lemon juice (optional)

Pound the chilli paste, peeled garlic and salt in a mortar. Tear up the bread and soak it in the stock, mashing it with a fork. Place in a small food processor and add the garlic mixture, the mustard and paprika and process briefly then add the yolks and process till smooth then, with the motor still running, gradually add the oil is a thin steady stream until the mixture becomes thick. Add the lemon juice if you wish to use it and process briefly just to mix.. Spoon into a serving bowl.

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