Bouillabaisse Rouille Food

BOUILLABAISSE

Steps:

• Make the rouille: Puree the mayonnaise, roasted red peppers, olive oil, lemon juice, garlic and a pinch of salt in a blender until smooth. Transfer to a small bowl; refrigerate until ready to serve.
• Prepare the bouillabaisse: Grate the tomato flesh on the large holes of a box grater down to the skins; reserve the skins separately. Peel and devein the shrimp, reserving the shells and tails for the broth; clean and debeard the mussels. Refrigerate the seafood until ready to use.
• Make the broth: Heat 3 tablespoons olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the shrimp shells and tails and cook, stirring, until bright red, about 3 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste until incorporated, about 30 seconds. Add the clam juice, 4 cups water, the reserved tomato skins, the orange zest and 1/4 cup of the sliced fennel. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium; simmer until the liquid is reduced to about 4 cups, 12 to 15 minutes. Strain the broth through a fine-mesh sieve set over a bowl, pressing on the solids to extract the liquid; reserve the broth.
• Wipe out the pot and heat the remaining 3 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat. Add the remaining fennel, the shallot, garlic and a pinch of salt; partially cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until the fennel begins to soften, about 5 minutes. Add the reserved grated tomato flesh and cook, stirring, until slightly thickened, about 2 minutes. Stir in the saffron, then add the wine and simmer until the liquid is reduced by about two-thirds, about 4 minutes. Add the reserved broth and return to a simmer.
• Add the mussels to the pot; cover and cook 4 minutes. Add any thick pieces of fish and cook, covered, 2 minutes. Add the remaining fish and the shrimp and cook, covered, until the mussels open and the fish and shrimp are just cooked through, 3 to 4 more minutes. (Discard any mussels that do not open.) Season with salt and pepper.
• Spread the baguette with the rouille and serve with the bouillabaisse. Sprinkle with parsley.

BOUILLABAISSE

Steps:

• To make the croutons heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Lay the slices of bread on a flat baking tray in a single layer, drizzle with olive oil and bake for 15 mins until golden and crisp. Set aside - can be made a day ahead and kept in an airtight container.
• Use a layer of the green part of the leek to wrap around and make a herb bundle with the thyme, bay, parsley stalks, orange peel and chilli. Tie everything together with kitchen string and set aside.
• Heat the oil in a very large casserole dish or stock pot and throw in the onion, sliced leek and fennel and cook for about 10 mins until softened. Stir through the garlic and cook for 2 mins more, then add the herb bundle, tomato purée, star anise, Pernod if using, chopped tomatoes and saffron. Simmer and stir for a minute or two then pour over the fish stock. Season with salt and pepper, bring to a simmer, then add the piece of potato. Bubble everything gently for 30 mins until you have a thin tomatoey soup. When that piece of potato is on the brink of collapse, fish it out and set aside to make the rouille.
• While the broth is simmering make the rouille by crushing the garlic, chilli and saffron with a pinch of salt in a mortar with a pestle. Mash in the cooked potato to make a sticky paste then whisk in the egg yolk and, very gradually, the olive oil until you make a mayonnaise-like sauce. Stir in the lemon juice and set aside.
• Once the chunky tomato broth has cooked you have two options: for a rustic bouillabaisse, simply poach your fish in it along with the mussels, if you're using (just until they open) and serve. For a refined version, remove the herb bundle and star anise. Using a handheld or table-top blender, blitz the soup until smooth. Pass the soup through a sieve into a large, clean pan and bring to a gentle simmer. Starting with the densest fish, add the chunks to the broth and cook for 1 min before adding the next type. With the fish we used, the order was: monkfish, John Dory, grey mullet, snapper. When all the fish is in, scatter over the mussels, if using, and simmer everything for about 5 mins until just cooked and the mussels have opened.
• Use a slotted spoon to carefully scoop the fish and mussels out onto a warmed serving platter, moisten with just a little broth and scatter over the chopped parsley. Bring everything to the table. Some people eat it as two courses, serving the broth with croutons and rouille first, then the fish spooned into the same bowl. Others simply serve it as a fish stew. Whichever way you choose the rouille is there to be stirred into the broth to thicken and give it a kick.

BOUILLABAISSE WITH ROUILLE TOPPED CROUTONS

Steps:

• PREPARE BOUILLABAISSE:.
• Heat oil in a large pot and gently cook onions until clear, 10-15 minutes.
• Add leek and celery and cook a further 10 minutes.
• Add bay leaves, garlic, tomato paste and chilli paste.
• Sizzle a few seconds.
• Mix in wine, saffron, honey and tomatoes.
• Cook over low heat, 20 minutes.
• Add fish stock and season to taste.
• Bring back to a simmer and add mussels (or steam separately then add them to the soup with their juices); discard any mussels that don't open.
• Add fish fillets and simmer gently until just cooked, 2-3 minutes.
• Divide between hot soup bowls and top with a crouton spread with rouille.
• Pass extra rouille and croutons around separately.
• ROUILLE:.
• Puree all the ingredients, adding salt to taste.
• Stored in the fridge, rouille will keep for 2-3 days.
• CROUTONS:.
• Preheat oven to 300ºF.
• Remove the crusts from 6 thick slices of sourdough bread baguette.
• Mix together olive oil, garlic, parmesan, oregano and salt; brush over the bread on both sides.
• Dice the bread into 3/4" pieces and spread out on a baking tray.
• Bake until golden and crisp, about 25 minutes; these can cook while cooking the soup on top of stove.
• **Store croutons in an airtight containe; they will keep fresh for several weeks and if they become stale simply heat in a 350ºF oven to refresh 5 to 10 minutes.

BOUILLABAISSE WITH ROUILLE (FRENCH FISH STEW)

Steps:

• Bouillabaisse: Pull out a large soup pot, heat the olive oil in it over medium heat. Add in the leeks and onions and saute for about 10 minutes, until they are soft. Once soft, add in the garlic, bay leaves, carrots and quite a few rounds of freshly ground black pepper. Leave that to saute for about another 5-10 minutes.
• Stir the potatoes into the pot along with the fennel seed, orange peel, thyme and marjoram. Saute for about 10 minutes, stirring frequently.
• Add in the stock or clam juice and water. Add in the tomatoes and squeeze in the juice from the lemon (watch no lemon pits fall in). Simmer for about 15 minutes, at which time the carrots should be tender and the potatoes cooked, but still firm.
• This is a good point to make the Rouille (and toasted bread if you are using), while the broth simmers, so skip ahead to that step if you haven't already.
• Add in the fish (not the shellfish yet), as well as the saffron and parsley and simmer for about 5 minutes. Then add the shellfish and cook until shells open up (ie with mussels and clams), and the prawns are pink and firm. Adjust the seasoning with sea salt and get ready to serve ASAP.
• Rouille: Mix together the bread crumbs, parmesan and cayenne. Add the water and blend into a paste. Stir in the basil, parsley and olive oil. Rouille should be hot and flavourful so add more hot spice if you like.
• As soon as the seafood is done, remove the bay leaves and orange peel, then ladle into warm bowls and serve with a spoonful of rouille on top and bread on the side. Alternatively, top each bowl with slices of toasted french bread topped with rouille.