Fish Stock For Bouillabaisse Recipes

BOUILLABAISSE

Steps:

• In a large mixing bowl, combine fish, pastis, two pinches of saffron and 1/2 cup olive oil. Season lightly with salt and pepper, and mix well without breaking up fish. Cover, and refrigerate for at least three hours.
• In a large heavy-bottomed stockpot, combine fish stock and remaining saffron. Place over high heat, and bring to a rapid boil. Add potatoes, and cook for 7 minutes. Add largest, firmest pieces of fish from the bowl, and cook for 2 minutes. Add remaining pieces of fish, and continue to boil until potatoes are tender, about 10 more minutes. Season with salt, pepper and cayenne to taste.
• Prepare the rouille: Crush 2 to 3 cloves garlic, and use a mortar and pestle to mash with a pinch of cayenne pepper. Dunk hunk of bread into 2 to 3 tablespoons hot fish stock, squeeze out liquid, and add to mortar. Mash well.
• Take 2 to 3 slices potato from Bouillabaisse, and mash with pestle into a thick paste. Gradually add remaining olive oil, drop by drop, mashing mixture in a circular motion until thick and smooth. (If mixture breaks up, add a teaspoon or two of hot fish stock or a little more soup-soaked bread.) Season with salt and pepper to taste.
• To serve, remove fish and potatoes from soup, and arrange on a large serving platter. Ladle some soup over fish, and keep warm. Rub slices of bread with 2 cloves garlic, and place in a dish on the table along with bowl of rouille. Have diners dab croutons with rouille and place them in soup plates. Ladle soup over croutons, and place a serving of fish and potatoes into each plate.

BOUILLABAISSE

Steps:

• Thoroughly clean clams and mussels by scrubbing with a stiff brush. Remove any grit on the shells to keep it from getting into the soup, and pull off the fuzzy "beard". Any open shells that don't snap shut when you touch them should be discarded.
• You also need to scrub then soak your clams in salt water about 20 minutes to get them to spit the sand out.
• Cut your fish into bite-sized pieces using a sharp knife.
• Dice the onion and carrot into ¼" pieces, thinly slice 1 cup of fennel bulb, and finely mince 2 shallots and 6 cloves of garlic.
• Chop your parsley and zest your orange.
• Heat a large heavy pot on medium low heat and add olive oil.
• Once the oil is shimmering, sauté the prepared onions, shallot, carrot, fennel, and garlic until lightly golden and softened.
• Add in seafood stock, diced tomatoes with liquid, wine (optional), the strip of orange zest, thyme, parsley, tomato paste, salt, basil, saffron threads (crush between your fingers before adding), and a few turns of the pepper grinder.
• Bring the bouillabaisse liquid to a boil.
• Reduce the heat to a simmer (low bubble) and cook for 15 minutes.
• Add seafood (add squid last if using) and stir to combine. Simmer for an additional 10 minutes or until the shells are opened on the clams and mussels.
• Remove the thyme stems, and orange zest strip, then add additional salt and pepper to taste.
• Ladle steaming hot into bowls and top with additional fresh herbs for garnish.
• Pair the stew with crusty bread for dipping in that lovely broth and a fresh French salad.

FISH STOCK FOR BOUILLABAISSE

Steps:

• Place a large heavy-bottomed stockpot over medium heat, and heat olive oil. Add onions and leeks. Sauté gently until softened but not colored, about 10 minutes. Add garlic, and continue to cook until onions and leeks are very soft and breaking apart, another 5 to 10 minutes. Put 4 quarts water in a large pot, and bring to a boil.
• Meanwhile, add fish to onion mixture, raise heat to high, and stir vigorously until pieces begin to fall apart, 7 to 10 minutes. Add tomatoes, orange peel, celery, thyme, bay leaves, cayenne and pastis. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Reduce heat to medium, and sauté for 10 minutes.
• Add boiling water; simmer 25 minutes.
• Working in small batches, pass mixture through a food mill or strainer. Press fish scraps and vegetables through with the aid of the fish broth to ease flow. Allow to cool. Store refrigerated or frozen.

BOUILLABAISSE FISH BROTH

Steps:

• Wash the fish bones well in cold, clean water to remove impurities. Split the lobster shells and clean by removing the light green tomalley (liver) in the body cavity and the feathery gills at the head section. Save the peeling from fresh cooked or raw shrimp. Discard the digestive tract, but save the heads if any. In a large stock pot heat olive oil and fish bones, lobster shells and shrimp shells. Cook over medium heat for 20 minutes to give broth a rich flavor. Meanwhile, put the vegetables in a food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse to finely chop. Add the vegetables to the stock pot and saute them along with the fish bones for 15 minutes to sweat and caramelize the vegetables. Add the tomato, saffron and other herbs and seasonings and continue to saute for 10 minutes. Stir to ensure that nothing burns or sticks to the bottom of the pan. Add the white wine and reduce by half. Add the fish stock and water and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, and cook 1 1/2 hours. Skim a foamy particles that rise to the surface during cooking. Drain through cheesecloth lined sieve and cool in an ice bath.

BOUILLABAISSE FISH BROTH

Steps:

• Wash the fish bones well in cold, clean water to remove impurities. Split the lobster shells and clean by removing the light green tomalley (liver) in the body cavity and the feathery gills at the head section. Save the peeling from fresh cooked or raw shrimp. Discard the digestive tract, but save the heads if any. In a large stock pot heat olive oil and fish bones, lobster shells and shrimp shells. Cook over medium heat for 20 minutes to give broth a rich flavor. Meanwhile, put the vegetables in a food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse to finely chop. Add the vegetables to the stock pot and saute them along with the fish bones for 15 minutes to sweat and caramelize the vegetables. Add the tomato, saffron and other herbs and seasonings and continue to saute for 10 minutes. Stir to ensure that nothing burns or sticks to the bottom of the pan. Add the white wine and reduce by half. Add the fish stock and water and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, and cook 1 1/2 hours. Skim a foamy particles that rise to the surface during cooking. Drain through cheesecloth lined sieve and cool in an ice bath.