Bouillabaisse
Thursday September 20th, 2007 11:57AM- 2 pounds of mixed fish: cod or halibut, bass, mackerel, smelts, porgy or flounder, eel, red snapper, whiting, perch…. Have the fish cut in 1½ inch serving pieces, bones and all.
- 1 small cooked lobster, cut in serving pieces (shell & all)
- 1 dozen clams, well-scrubbed in their shells
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 3 sliced onions
- 3 crushed garlic cloves
- 2 sliced celery stalks (including the leaves )
- 2 chopped scallions or 1 peeled chopped leek
- 2 crumbled bay leaves
- 4 peeled chopped very ripe tomatoes
- 4 cups bouillon
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp pepper
- ½ tsp nutmeg
- ½ tsp saffron, steeped in 1 T hot water
- ½ tsp grated orange peel
- 2 cups white wine
- 2 tsp chopped parsley
OPTIONAL—if you live near the seashore:
- 2 small boiled crabs
- Mussels, in place of clams
- 2 dozen cleaned, deveined raw shrimp
Place vegetables and seasonings in a large pot—choose one with a tight cover!
Distribute the firm-fleshed fish (cod, halibut, eel, turbot, snapper, mackerel, sea bass) atop the vegetables, add olive oil, wine, and a cup of hot water.
Bring to the boil, and boil VIOLENTLY for 5 minutes. Add the soft-fleshed fish (smelts, whiting, porgy, perch, etc.) and boil violently for exactly 3 minutes.
Add the cooked cut lobster and scrubbed clams (as well as crabs, mussels and shrimps, if you are using them) and again boil fiercely for 8 minutes. Remove at once from the fire.
To serve Bouillabaisse, use the large old-fashioned soup dishes if you are lucky enough to have them. Garlic or Parmesan toasted stale bread—plus a substantial green salad— go with Bouillabaisse. Put a piece of stale bread in the bottom of the soup plate, apportion the various kinds of fish and shellfish on top, and add enough of the liquid to float the fish. Serve plenty of extra bread for sopping up the juice.
