Recipe: Bouillabaisse

BOUILLABAISSE

Serves 4 to 6.

This fish stew is not as time consuming as gumbo, but equally as delicious. Rinse the vegetables well, drain and chop or cut as directed in the following recipe, and while the sauce for the fish simmers, ready the seafood. The recipe for the rouille, or rusty mayonnaise, is at right.

•¹/₄c. olive oil

• 1 yellow onion, chopped

• 2 or 3 green onions or 1 leek, chopped

• 5 cloves garlic, crushed

•¹/₄bulb of fresh fennel, chopped, plus 2 tbsp. chopped fennel fronds (or 2 to 3 tsp. fennel seeds, crushed in coffee grinder)

•¹/₂to 1 tsp. saffron threads

• 1 bay leaf

• 2 tsp. grated orange rind

• 4 c. fish stock (see below) or 3 c. clam juice and 1 c. water

• 4 or 5 tomatoes, preferably plum, coarsely chopped

• 1 tsp. salt, or more if needed

• Freshly ground black pepper, or to taste

• 12 little neck clams, well scrubbed

• 1 lb. fresh shrimp, shelled and deveined

• 1 lb. firm flesh fish, such as halibut, cod or monkfish, whole or fillet

• 1 lb. sea scallops

• Boiled potatoes or steamed rice

• Rouille, or rusty mayonnaise (see recipe)

Directions

Heat the olive oil in a large kettle or Dutch oven. Add the yellow onion, green onions or leeks and the garlic. Sauté over low heat, for 4 or 5 minutes, stirring. Stir in the fennel and the fronds, the saffron, bay leaf and orange rind, and sauté a couple of minutes longer.

Add the fish stock or the clam juice and water; tomatoes, salt and black pepper and bring to a boil. Lower to simmer, cover and cook 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, scrub and rinse the clams. Peel and devein the shrimp, cut the fish into 3-inch size pieces. If large, cut the scallops in half and set aside. Add the clams to the broth first, immerse completely, raise the heat a bit, cover and cook until the clams open, for about 4 minutes.

Remove the clams from the pot and keep warm. Reduce the heat. Add the shrimp, fish and scallops and cover completely with the broth. Cook about 10 minutes or until the fish is tender. Turn the heat off and set the clams back in the pot on top of the fish and cover tightly until ready to serve, along with the boiled potatoes or rice.

To serve: Warm the serving bowls. Using a large slotted spoon, place the fish on a warmed platter and keep warm. Pour the hot broth into the bowls, and pass the rouille (see recipe at right) and bread. Then serve the fish stew.

Quick Fish Stock: Combine 6 cups water in a large pot with a sliced onion, a handful of celery, shells from the pound of shrimp, a couple of fish heads, fish bones if available, a few whole cloves, 2 cloves finely minced garlic, and 1 teaspoon dried or fresh thyme or a couple of tablespoons chopped parsley. Bring to a roiling boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 1 to 11/2 hours. Strain and use 4 cups of the stock in the recipe above. Make about 5 cups.

Nutrition information per serving (without potatoes or rice):

Calories 264 Fat 11 g Sodium 915 mg

Carbohydrates 6 g Saturated fat 2 g Calcium 114 mg

Protein 34 g Cholesterol 141 mg Dietary fiber 1 g

Diabetic exchanges per serving: 1 vegetable, 4½ lean meat.

Rusty Mayonnaise or Rouille

Makes about²/₃cup.

There are many variations of this recipe, some using a boiled white potato instead of the bread crumbs, others adding an egg yolk with the olive oil. This is my favorite version.

• 2 c. water

• 1 red bell pepper

• 1 small chile such as jalapeño, chopped

•¹/₂c. soft bread crumbs

•¹/₄c. olive oil

• Pinch of salt

• Freshly ground black pepper

• Baked biscuits or crusty bread for toast

• Grated Gruyère, Parmesan or Romano cheese

Directions

In a small saucepan bring the water and bell pepper to a boil and then cook for about 10 minutes, or until tender. Drain the pepper, cut open and discard the seeds. Coarsely chop the bell pepper and the chile peppers.

Place the peppers and the bread crumbs into a blender or food processor and whirl or process until smooth, adding a few tablespoons fish broth to the mixture if needed.

Place the pepper mixture into a small bowl. Add the olive oil a few drops at a time, beating with a wire whisk until the sauce is thick and creamy and "rusty" in color.

Warm the biscuits or toast the bread. Pass the rouille, biscuit or toast and grated cheese after the hot broth and before the fish stew.

Nutrition information per serving of 1 tablespoon:

Calories 56 Fat 6 g Saturated fat 1 g Sodium 43 mg

Carbohydrates 2 g Calcium 5 mg

Protein 0 g Cholesterol 0 mg Dietary fiber 0 g

Diabetic exchanges per serving: 1 fat.