Positively Absolutely Not Real Bouillabaisse Food

ORANGE DELICIOUS

Steps:

• Pour 6 1/2 ounces of the orange juice into an ice cube tray and freeze until solid, approximately 2 hours. Store the remaining 2 ounces of juice and the zest in an airtight container in the refrigerator until ready to use.
• In the carafe of a blender combine the frozen juice cubes, reserved orange juice and zest, milk, powdered sugar and vanilla, and blend until smooth and slushy, 30 to 45 seconds. Serve immediately.

POSITIVELY, ABSOLUTELY, NOT REAL BOUILLABAISSE

Steps:

• For the fish stock: Rinse the fish heads and place in a tall 6-quart pot with tails, bones, lobster shell, bay leaves, 1 teaspoon sea salt, black peppercorns, and water. Place over high heat, cover, and bring to a boil. Decrease the heat to maintain a bare simmer and cook for 25 minutes. Strain, discard solids, and set the stock aside.
• To make the stew: Place 1/4 cup olive oil in a clean 6-quart pot and set over medium heat. When the oil shimmers, add the onions, fennel, and 1/2 teaspoon sea salt. Saute until semi-translucent, about 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Deglaze the pan with the wine and scrape any bits from the bottom of the pan. Add the reserved fish stock, tomatoes, parsley, orange peel and saffron, if desired. Place over high heat, cover, and bring to a boil. Decrease the heat to maintain a simmer and cook for 15 minutes. Increase the heat to high. Add the remaining 1/4 cup olive oil, the remaining 1/2 teaspoon sea salt, fish, garlic, and cayenne pepper. Boil rapidly, uncovered, for 5 to 7 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove the pot from the heat, add the mussels and lobster, cover, and let stand until the fish is cooked through and the mussels open, 2 to 4 minutes. Discard any unopened mussels.
• To serve: Set the broiler to high. Lightly rub the baguette slices on both sides with the garlic. Place the prepared bread slices on a half sheet pan and broil, 1 inch away from the broiler, for 1 to 2 minutes. Turn the slices over and broil for another 1 to 2 minutes. Top with Rouille, if desired, and serve with fish stew.
• Cook the bell pepper over a gas burner set to high, turning every few minutes, until the skin blackens and is thoroughly charred. Remove the pepper to a metal mixing bowl, cover with a spare pot lid, and cool for 5 minutes. Remove the blackened skin from the pepper by rubbing with a clean kitchen towel. Pull out the stem and seed cluster and discard along with the skin.
• Place the roasted and skinned pepper, garlic, chile, lemon juice, and salt in the bowl of a mini-food processor. Process until smooth, 1 to 2 minutes. Stop and scrape down the side of the bowl once or twice. With the food processor running, slowly drizzle in the olive oil until thick. Serve with fish stew.

SEATTLE STYLE "BOUILLABAISSE"

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Grill the fillets to obtain marks to sear in juices and set aside. In a hot saute pan with light oil, sear the scallops to seal in the juices and set aside as well. Do not cook fish and scallops through, cooking will be completed later on.
• In a saute pan with olive oil, caramelize the onions and fennel. Add garlic, prawns, and shellfish and continue to saute. Add the oysters and Lemon Verbena Broth. Cook until the shellfish are open.
• Add fingerling potatoes, teardrop tomatoes, beets, and carrots. Stir in the 3 tablespoons of compound butter. Add rock crab and continue to simmer for 3 minutes. Place fish and scallops in the oven for 2 to 3 minutes to finish cooking. Spoon bouillabaisse into a bowl, and then add grilled fish and scallops.
• Garnish with chopped herbs and sprigs of verbena.
• In a saucepot heat olive oil and sweat the onions. Then add fennel tops and fumet. Bring to simmer, reduce heat, and continue to cook for 15 minutes.
• Take off heat and add verbena. Let sit for 15 minutes. Then cool in ice bath as soon as possible. Strain when cool and refrigerate until needed.
• Mix all ingredients in a stainless steel bowl when the butter is soft. Store refrigerated.
• In a small bowl, mix all herbs together. Use for garnish.

BOUILLABAISSE

Steps:

• Make croutons:
• Preheat oven to 250°F.
• Arrange bread slices in 1 layer in a shallow baking pan and brush both sides with oil. Bake in middle of oven until crisp, about 30 minutes. Rub 1 side of each toast with a cut side of garlic.
• Make soup:
• Plunge lobster headfirst into a 6- to 8-quart pot of boiling water, then cook, covered, 2 minutes from time lobster enters water. Transfer lobster with tongs to a colander and let stand until cool enough to handle. Discard hot water in pot. Put lobster in a shallow baking pan. Twist off claws with knuckles from body, then crack claws with a mallet or rolling pin and separate claws from knuckles. Halve body and tail lengthwise through shell with kitchen shears, then cut crosswise through shell into 2-inch pieces. Reserve lobster juices that accumulate in baking pan.
• Cook tomatoes, onion, and garlic in oil in cleaned 6- to 8-quart pot over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until onion is softened, 5 to 7 minutes. Meanwhile, peel potatoes and cut into 1/2-inch cubes. Stir potatoes into tomatoes with fennel fronds, bay leaf, saffron, sea salt, and pepper. Add stock and bring to a boil, then simmer, covered, until potatoes are almost tender, 8 to 10 minutes.
• Add thicker pieces of fish to soup and simmer, uncovered, 2 minutes. Stir in remaining fish and lobster, including juices, and simmer, uncovered, until they are just cooked through, 3 to 5 minutes.
• Stir 3 tablespoons broth from soup into rouille until blended. Arrange 2 croutons in each of 6 to 8 deep soup bowls. Carefully transfer fish and lobster from soup to croutons with a slotted spoon, then ladle some broth with vegetables over seafood.
• Top each serving with 1 teaspoon rouille and serve remainder on the side.

BOUILLABAISSE

Steps:

• 1. In a large, heavy-bottomed stockpot over medium-high heat, heat the olive oil. Add the fennel, onions, and leeks and cover with a tight-fitting lid. Cook the vegetables, stirring occasionally, until just beginning to tenderize, about 5 minutes. Add the tomato and garlic, re-cover the pot, and continue cooking until the tomatoes begin to break down, 2 to 3 minutes.
• 2. Add the tomato paste, cayenne, saffron, potatoes, fish stock, and bouquet garni. Season with salt and pepper and bring the liquid up to a boil. Cover the pot, reduce the heat to medium, and simmer until the potatoes are cooked, 10 to 15 minutes.
• 3. Add the seafood in order of firmness and cooking time, with the denser fillets of fish going into the pot first, followed by shellfish and then shrimp. Simmer the soup, stirring very minimally to preserve the whole pieces of seafood, until the shellfish have opened and fish fillets have cooked through, 5 to 10 minutes total, depending on the seafood being used.
• 4. To serve, remove and discard the bouquet garni. Carefully remove the fish and shellfish, arranging them on a large serving platter or in warm bowls. Ladle the broth and potatoes over fish and garnish with the herbs. Serve warm.

MARK BITTMAN'S BOUILLABAISSE

Steps:

• Heat oven to 400 degrees; brush bread liberally with olive oil, and bake on a sheet, turning once, until golden and crisp, about 5 minutes. Set aside.
• Add enough olive oil to a Dutch oven, deep skillet or shallow pot to make a thick layer (don't skimp) on the bottom. In it, cook onion, garlic, celery, carrot, potato, fennel and saffron until glossy. Add stock and tomato and bring to a moderate boil; cook until thick and stewy rather than soupy. Season to taste; it should be so delicious that you don't even care whether you add fish.
• Lower heat to a simmer, and, as you add fish, adjust heat so that the liquid continues to bubble gently. Add fish in order of how long they will take to cook. Monkfish, striped bass and squid are fish that might require more than a few minutes, so add them first. About five minutes later add clams and mussels, holding back any fish that has been cooked or will cook in a flash. When mollusks open, add remaining fish. Cut scallops into quarters and place in the bottom of 4 bowls.
• Add pastis if you're using it; taste and adjust seasoning. Ladle hot soup and fish over the scallops, distributing clams and mussels evenly. Garnish and serve with croutons and rouille, if you're using.