Mark Bittman’s Bouillabaisse

Name: Mark Bittman’s Bouillabaisse
Total time: 1 h
Yield: 4 to 6 servings
Cuisine: french
Ingredients: Good olive oil, as needed; 4 to 8 thick slices good bread; 1 onion, chopped; 4 cloves garlic, chopped; 2 celery stalks, trimmed and chopped; 1 carrot, trimmed and chopped; 1 medium new potato, peeled and chopped; 1 small bulb fennel, trimmed and chopped; 1/4 teaspoon saffron, optional; 3 cups lobster or fish stock; 2 cups chopped tomatoes, with their juice (canned are O.K.); Salt and pepper; 1 to 1 1/2 pounds chopped boneless fish and shellfish, preferably a variety; 8 littleneck clams; 8 mussels; 2 sea scallops; 2 tablespoons Pernod or other pastis, optional; Chopped fennel fronds, for garnish; Chopped basil or parsley, for garnish; Rouille, optional

By Mark Bittman

Total Time: 1 hour, with prepared lobster stock
Rating: 5(1,359)
Comments: Read comments

You can make any soup with water instead of stock, but the soups that drive you wild usually have a beautiful stock as their base. This is doubly true of bouillabaisse, which should start with a stock so delicious that you can barely imagine improving on it. There are a few ways to do this: Grab fish bones when you see them, and make the stock incrementally. Another is to use shrimp shells. A third is to accumulate lobster bodies, which make fantastic stock. In any case, you combine whatever you have with some aromatics (thyme branches, onion, celery, carrot, garlic, peppercorns) add water and simmer for 15 to 30 minutes. Cool, strain and freeze if you like. When you're ready to make the soup, procure your seafood – pretty much any combination of fish and shellfish will do, but avoid dark-fleshed fish – and go forth. From there, it's no more difficult than making a pot of vegetable soup.

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Ingredients

Yield:4 to 6 servings

Good olive oil, as needed
4 to 8thick slices good bread
1onion, chopped
4cloves garlic, chopped
2celery stalks, trimmed and chopped
1carrot, trimmed and chopped
1medium new potato, peeled and chopped
1small bulb fennel, trimmed and chopped
¼teaspoon saffron, optional
3cups lobster or fish stock
2cups chopped tomatoes, with their juice (canned are O.K.)
Salt and pepper
1 to 1½pounds chopped boneless fish and shellfish, preferably a variety
8littleneck clams
8mussels
2sea scallops
2tablespoons Pernod or other pastis, optional
Chopped fennel fronds, for garnish
Chopped basil or parsley, for garnish
Rouille, optional

Ingredient Substitution Guide

Preparation

Step 1
Heat oven to 400 degrees; brush bread liberally with olive oil, and bake on a sheet, turning once, until golden and crisp, about 5 minutes. Set aside.
Step 2
Add enough olive oil to a Dutch oven, deep skillet or shallow pot to make a thick layer (don't skimp) on the bottom. In it, cook onion, garlic, celery, carrot, potato, fennel and saffron until glossy. Add stock and tomato and bring to a moderate boil; cook until thick and stewy rather than soupy. Season to taste; it should be so delicious that you don’t even care whether you add fish.
Step 3
Lower heat to a simmer, and, as you add fish, adjust heat so that the liquid continues to bubble gently. Add fish in order of how long they will take to cook. Monkfish, striped bass and squid are fish that might require more than a few minutes, so add them first. About five minutes later add clams and mussels, holding back any fish that has been cooked or will cook in a flash. When mollusks open, add remaining fish. Cut scallops into quarters and place in the bottom of 4 bowls.
Step 4
Add pastis if you're using it; taste and adjust seasoning. Ladle hot soup and fish over the scallops, distributing clams and mussels evenly. Garnish and serve with croutons and rouille, if you're using.

Tip

To make rouille, add ½ cup finely minced roasted, peeled and seeded red bell pepper, 2 cloves finely minced garlic and cayenne to taste to either homemade or store-bought mayonnaise.

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Ratings

5 out of 5

1,359 user ratings

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Comments

George Grumbach7 years ago

The best essay on bouillabaisse was by A.J. Liebling in the New Yorker on Oct. 27, 1962 http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1962/10/27/the-soul-of-bouillabaisse-town

Nina7 years ago

must add saffron . does not taste authentic without it. and don't skip the rouille, it's the part all will remember! sure lobster stock is amazing but the recipe works also great with fish stock. home made or purchased

Yma6 years ago

This was a very good and very forgiving recipe. I had the seafood on hand, but got snowed in before I could get the rest of the stuff. I didn't have celery, fennel, Pernod or parsley/basil. I substituted leeks, a bit of baby bok choy (!), a teaspoon of fennel seeds, and ouzo. Even if my creation wasn't quite bouillabaisse, it was absolutely delicious and the texture superb. Something tells me that the originators of bouillabaisse would've just thrown in whatever they had on hand, too.

Ken1 month ago

I used fresh clams (6), frozen langoustine (12), large prawns (8), 1.5lb cubed cod/salmon (3/1) (marinated in EVOO/saffron/salt/sambuca for 4 hours). For a basic rouille, mix mayo with garlic powder, paprika and cayenne to taste, slather on thinly sliced toast, and serve with chopped parsley

Nora1 month ago

This is very good – I added some orange peel and a little sugar to balance out the acids. I do think the recipe needs much more than just 3 cups of fish stock, though. Otherwise it's more like a stew than a soup?

Carl/Sweden2 months ago

Agree with saffron double the amount in the recipe and double the amount of tomato makes it more chunky and tasteful. Also if possible try to do the soup base the day before (as all soups/casseroles/stew) the difference in significant in taste. On the day you want to serve the Bouillabaisse just add the fish, clams etc. And rouille is of course a must :-)

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