French
Bouillabaisse
Provençal seafood stew with saffron-orange broth, potatoes, mussels, firm fish, and garlicky rouille.
6 servings · 75 minutes prep · 60 minutes cook
Ingredients
Broth and Fish
- 4 lb mixed firm Mediterranean-style fish, such as snapper, monkfish, sea bass, and rockfish, bones reserved if available, such as snapper, monkfish, sea bass, or rockfish, bones reserved if available
- 1 lb mussels, scrubbed
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 1 leek, sliced
- 1 onion, sliced
- 1 fennel bulb, sliced
- 6 garlic cloves, sliced
- 2 lb ripe tomatoes, chopped
- 1 strip orange zest
- 1 tsp saffron threads
- 1 bouquet garni
- 6 cups fish stock
- 1 lb Yukon Gold potatoes, sliced 1/2 inch thick
- 2 tsp kosher salt
- 1/4 tsp cayenne
Rouille
- 2 garlic cloves, for rouille
- 1 egg yolk
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1/4 tsp saffron threads
- 1/8 tsp cayenne
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
Directions
Method
- Cut the fish into large even pieces, keeping delicate pieces separate from firmer pieces. Sweat the leek, onion, fennel, and garlic in the olive oil until soft, about 10 minutes.
- Add the tomatoes, orange zest, saffron, bouquet garni, any fish bones, the fish stock, kosher salt, and cayenne. Simmer for 30 minutes, then strain through a fine-mesh sieve, pressing the solids.
- Return the broth to a gentle simmer. Cook the Yukon Gold potatoes in the broth until nearly tender, 10-12 minutes.
- Pound the rouille garlic with the kosher salt, saffron, and cayenne. Whisk in the egg yolk, then slowly whisk in the olive oil to make a thick sauce.
- Add the firmest fish pieces to the broth first, then the softer fish and mussels. Keep the broth at a gentle simmer until the fish reaches {{temperature:145°F}} or is opaque and flakes easily and all mussels have opened, 5-8 minutes. Discard any unopened mussels.
- Serve the broth, fish, mussels, potatoes, toasted bread, and rouille hot, spooning gently so the fish stays in pieces.
