Bouillabaisse

DIFFICULTY
Average Average
PREP TIME
Under 30 Min. Under 30 Min.
COOK TIME
Under 1 Hr. Under 1 Hr.
SERVES
4-6 4-6
Bouillabaisse
A Provençal classic, this hearty seafood soup is simple to prepare yet full of flavour.
Main INGREDIENTS
  • Fish & Seafood
Ingredients
Method

Ingredients

FOR THE BOUILLABAISSE
  • 100ml dry white wine
  • 12 mussels or cockles
  • 500ml fish stock
  • 2-3 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 onion, finely chopped
  • 3 cloves of garlic
  • 1 small fennel bulb, cut lengthways into strips
  • 400g ripe tomatoes
  • 1 tbsp tomato paste
  • 1 spice bouquet made from 2 bay leaves and 2 fresh thyme sprigs and some fennel green
  • 1 large pinch of saffron threads
  • 1x 5 cm wide strip of orange peel
  • 3 potatoes, peeled and cut into thick slices
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 800g mixed fish
  • 4 king prawns without heads or shells
  • ½ bunch of flat-leaf parsley, chopped
  • Baguette slices, toasted and rubbed with garlic for serving
FOR THE ROUILLE
  • 6 tbsp mayonnaise
  • 2 tsp harissa paste

  • Method

  • 1
    For the rouille, mix the mayonnaise and the harissa together and set aside.
  • 2
    To begin the Bouillabaisse, pour the white wine into the roaster and bring to the boil, add the mussels and cook covered for 4-5 minutes until they open.
  • 3
    Discarding any unopened clams, set the mussels aside and pour the mussel stock through a sieve into the fish stock. Wash out the roaster.
  • 4
    Heat the olive oil in the clean roaster. Add the onion, garlic and fennel and cook until soft for roughly 10 minutes without the vegetables turning brown. Add the tomato cubes, tomato paste, spice bouquet, saffron and orange peel, mix everything together and let cook for another 1-2 minutes.
  • 5
    After this has cooked, add the fish stock and the potato slices, season with salt and pepper. Bring everything to the boil and then cook on low heat for 15-20 minutes until the potatoes are tender.
  • 6
    Using the firmer types of fish, which take longer to cook, as well as the prawns, add to the soup. Then the rest of the fish. Let the fish pieces sit in the simmering soup for about 3-5 minutes, until they are just cooked.
  • 7
    Finally, put the mussels in the soup to warm them up.
  • 8
    Sprinkle the bouillabaisse with chopped parsley and serve with rouille and toasted baguette slices.
  • 9
    Cook’s Notes
  • 10
    For the bouillabaisse, brilliant choices of fish we would suggest include: red mullet, gurnard, halibut, monkfish, hake, John Dory and any shellfish such as crabs or shrimp and squid.