Quick N Easy Bouillabaisse For Two Recipes

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.

Steps:

• 1. Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy pot over medium-high heat. Add the garlic, onion, and fennel and saut until just brown, 5 to 10 minutes.
• 2. Add the saffron (if using), orange zest, tomatoes, and stock or clam juice.
• 3. Bring to a boil and cook until the vegetables are tender and the liquid is reduced by half, about 20 minutes.
• 4. Reduce heat to medium and add the fish (but not shellfish). Cook for about 2 minutes.
• 5. Add any clams, mussels, and shrimp. Simmer until the shells just begin to open, about 4 minutes more.
• 6. Add any crabmeat.
• 7. Cook until all shells have opened, the shrimp is pink and curled, and the fish flakes easily, about 2 minutes.
• 8. Serve from the pot, sprinkled with the parsley and topped with crusty bread and a dollop of rouille.

Steps:

• Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan, and add the onions, leeks, chopped tomatoes, and garlic. Cook and stir over a low heat for a few minutes until all vegetables are soft.
• Stir in the fennel, thyme, bay leaf, and orange zest. Add shellfish and boiling water; stir to combine. Season to taste with salt and black pepper. Turn up the heat to high, and boil for about 3 minutes to allow the oil and water to combine.
• Add fish, and reduce the heat to medium. Continue cooking for 12 to 15 minutes, or until fish is cooked. The fish should be opaque and tender, but still firm. Fish should not be falling apart.
• Taste the bouillabaisse and adjust the seasoning. Stir in saffron, and then pour soup into a warmed tureen or soup dishes. Serve immediately.

Steps:

• Cut lobster tail in half lengthwise, leaving shell intact, then cut into 1-inch pieces (still with shell on).
• Scrub mussels, remove beard.
• Shell and devein shrimp, leaving tails intact.
• Combine water and wine in pan, bring to a boil, add seafood, cover, simmer 5 minutes, drain, reserve 1 cup of the stock.
• Heat oil in pan, add garlic and onion cook, stirring until onion is soft.
• Add reserved stock, undrained crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, sauces, sugar and saffron to pan.
• Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat, simmer 5 minutes , add seafood, heat through gently, serve immediately in bowls, sprinkled with parsley.

Steps:

• Preparing the fish. The fish should be cleaned, gutted and scaled. You can then fillet the fish. Cut the fillets in halves or thirds depending on the size. Reserve heads, fins, and carcasses. Remember: do not allow contact between the cut sides of fish fillets and fresh water. If using lobster remove the tail (and halve) and the claws and reserve in the fridge. Split the lobster in half length-wise and clean the inside of the lobster head. Wash clams.
• For the fish stock, cook sliced onion in butter in a stockpot for about 5 minutes. Add fish heads, fins, and carcasses (and lobster body if you're using one) along with 6 cups cold water and the white wine. Add 1 of the bouquet garni. Simmer (low) this for about 2 hours.
• While the stock is cooking, marinade the fillets in 1/4 cup olive oil with a pinch of the saffron threads and half of the garlic in a large bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and allow for at least 2 hours of marinade time.
• Once the stock has completed cooking, strain with a fine sieve or colander. Be sure to squeeze as much juice from the bones and meat as possible. Reserve one half cup of broth for the rouille. Wash the stockpot so that it can be used again to make the soup.
• For the soup, heat the other 1/4 cup olive oil over medium heat and add remaining onion, along with leeks, celery and carrot. Cook for about 10 minutes. Add tomatoes, the remaining garlic, orange peel, 1/4 teaspoon saffron, and fennel to the pot. Add the fish stock and (low) simmer for at least 40 minutes partially covered. About 20 minutes before you are finished, add the potato quarters.
• While the soup is cooking, make the rouille. Soak the bread pieces in the reserved stock. Squeeze the juice out and place bread in food processor. In a mortar and pestle, smash the garlic and salt into a paste. Add the paste in the food processor. Add red pepper, saffron, and egg yolk to food processor. Blend and simultaneously drizzle oil into the mixture. The rouille (it's just a fancy French mayo) should then be refrigerated for about an hour before using and keeps up to a week.
• Once the soup is finished you can cook the fish. First remove the potato and keep warm. Strain the soup again and return to the pot. Bring to a very rapid boil/ "boiling like mad" -- this is to help the oils emulsify. Add lobster tail and claws first -- cook for 1 minute. Then add clams and oily fish -- cook for 1-2 minutes. Then add white fish fillets -- cook for 2-3 minutes. Serve now!
• Serve in large shallow bowls. Place one slice of bread in the bottom of each bowl. Place fish and shellfish on top of bread along with a few pieces of potato. Ladle soup over the top of the fish and bread. Pass rouille (add some to soup and/or spread on your bread) and serve with extra French bread.