Bouillabaisse Recipe | French Cuisine
Originally Bouillabaisse was not intended to be a soup but a substantial fish stew. Today there are countless different variations of this classic French soup. This is an English version.
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 2 onions, chopped
- 500 g/1 lb prepared mackerel, cut into chunks
- 500 g/1 lb whiting fillets, cut into chunks
- 500 g/1 lb haddock or cod fillets, cut into chunks
- 250 g/8 oz raw king prawns, peeled
- 6 tomatoes, skinned and chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon saffron threads (optional)
- 1.5 litre/2 1/2 pints hot Fish Stock
- 1 bay leaf
- 3 parsley sprigs
- 10-12 mussels, scrubbed and debearded
- 6-8 slices French bread
- salt and pepper
- 2 tablespoons chopped basil, to garnish
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a large heavy-based saucepan.
- Add the garlic and onions and cook, covered, for 3-5 minutes, or until the onions are soft but not colored.
- Add the mackerel, whiting and haddock or cod and cook, uncovered, over a moderate heat for 10 minutes, stirring from time to time.
- Add the prawns and tomatoes.
- Dissolve the saffron threads, if using, in the hot fish stock and add to the pan with the bay leaf parsley and salt and pepper to taste.
- Stir and bring the mixture to the boil. Lower the heat and simmer, covered, for 15 minutes.
- Then add the mussels and continue cooking for a further 10 minutes or until all the fish is cooked.
- Discard the bay leaf, parsley sprigs and any mussels that have not opened.
- Place the bread in a warmed soup tureen and ladle in the soup.
- Sprinkle with the chopped basil before serving.