BouillabaisseMarseille fish stew

• 1 kg2.2 lb small rockfish for the soup base (poissons de roche: girelle, serran, small scorpionfish, small gurnard), scaled and gutted; or white-fish heads and frames, gills removed
• 200 g7 oz small green shore crabs (favouilles), optional, rinsed
• 6 tbsp olive oil
• 2 onions, sliced
• 1 leek, white part, washed and sliced
• 4 garlic cloves, crushed
• 500 g1.1 lb ripe tomatoes, chopped
• 1 small bulb fennel, sliced; or a few stalks of wild fennel
• 1 bouquet garni (bay leaf, thyme, parsley stalks)
• 1 strip orange peel, untreated, white pith removed
• 2.5 l10½ cups water, boiling
• 2 generous pinches (about 0.3 g)2 generous pinches saffron threads, plus a pinch for the rouille
• salt, black pepper and a pinch of cayenne, to taste
• 2–2.5 kg4.4–5.5 lb whole Mediterranean fish, at least four kinds: rascasse (scorpionfish), saint-pierre (John Dory), grondin (gurnard), vive (weever), baudroie (monkfish), congre (conger), scaled and gutted, cut into thick pieces on the bone; heads kept on the small ones
• 800 g1.75 lb firm waxy potatoes, optional (see notes); peeled, cut in 1.5 cm (½ in) slices
• 40 g1.5 oz stale white bread, crumb only, for the rouille
• 3 garlic cloves, for the rouille
• 1–2 small fresh red chillies, seeded; or a good pinch of cayenne
• 200 ml¾ cup + 1 tbsp olive oil, for the rouille
• 1 baguette, sliced, dried in the oven and rubbed with garlic

Method

1. 1

   1. Heat the 6 tbsp olive oil in a large pot over high heat and cook the onions, leek and garlic for 5 minutes, until soft.

2. 2

   2. Add the tomatoes and fennel and cook for 5 minutes more, until the tomatoes break down.

3. 3

   3. Add the soup rockfish, the crabs if using, the bouquet garni and the orange peel. Stir over high heat for 10–15 minutes, crushing the fish with a wooden spoon, until it falls apart into a thick paste.

4. 4

   4. Pour in the boiling water, bring back to a rolling boil and boil hard for 10 minutes, then lower the heat and simmer for 40 minutes.

5. 5

   5. Pass everything through a food mill, then press it through a fine sieve to extract all the juice; you should have about 2 l (8½ cups) of opaque orange broth. Discard the bones.

6. 6

   6. Make the rouille: moisten the bread with a ladle of broth and squeeze it dry. Pound the garlic, chillies, a pinch of saffron and a pinch of salt to a paste in a mortar, work in the bread, then add the 200 ml olive oil drop by drop at first, then in a thin stream, stirring all the time, until the sauce is thick and glossy.

7. 7

   7. Pour the broth into a wide clean pot, bring it to a boil and add the saffron; season with salt, pepper and cayenne.

8. 8

   8. Add the potato slices, if using, and the firm fish (rascasse, monkfish, conger, gurnard) and keep at a steady boil for 10 minutes.

9. 9

   9. Add the delicate fish (John Dory, weever) and cook for 5–8 minutes more, until all the flesh lifts easily from the bone.

10. 10

    10. Lift the fish and potatoes with a slotted spoon onto a warm platter and moisten them with a little broth; keep the rest of the broth hot.

11. 11

    11. Serve in two courses: first the broth, poured over the garlic croutons spread with rouille; then the fish, filleted at the table, with the potatoes and more broth and rouille.