Positively Absolutely Not Real Bouillabaisse Recipes

POSITIVELY, ABSOLUTELY, NOT REAL BOUILLABAISSE

Steps:

• For the fish stock: Rinse the fish heads and place in a tall 6-quart pot with tails, bones, lobster shell, bay leaves, 1 teaspoon sea salt, black peppercorns, and water. Place over high heat, cover, and bring to a boil. Decrease the heat to maintain a bare simmer and cook for 25 minutes. Strain, discard solids, and set the stock aside.
• To make the stew: Place 1/4 cup olive oil in a clean 6-quart pot and set over medium heat. When the oil shimmers, add the onions, fennel, and 1/2 teaspoon sea salt. Saute until semi-translucent, about 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Deglaze the pan with the wine and scrape any bits from the bottom of the pan. Add the reserved fish stock, tomatoes, parsley, orange peel and saffron, if desired. Place over high heat, cover, and bring to a boil. Decrease the heat to maintain a simmer and cook for 15 minutes. Increase the heat to high. Add the remaining 1/4 cup olive oil, the remaining 1/2 teaspoon sea salt, fish, garlic, and cayenne pepper. Boil rapidly, uncovered, for 5 to 7 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove the pot from the heat, add the mussels and lobster, cover, and let stand until the fish is cooked through and the mussels open, 2 to 4 minutes. Discard any unopened mussels.
• To serve: Set the broiler to high. Lightly rub the baguette slices on both sides with the garlic. Place the prepared bread slices on a half sheet pan and broil, 1 inch away from the broiler, for 1 to 2 minutes. Turn the slices over and broil for another 1 to 2 minutes. Top with Rouille, if desired, and serve with fish stew.
• Cook the bell pepper over a gas burner set to high, turning every few minutes, until the skin blackens and is thoroughly charred. Remove the pepper to a metal mixing bowl, cover with a spare pot lid, and cool for 5 minutes. Remove the blackened skin from the pepper by rubbing with a clean kitchen towel. Pull out the stem and seed cluster and discard along with the skin.
• Place the roasted and skinned pepper, garlic, chile, lemon juice, and salt in the bowl of a mini-food processor. Process until smooth, 1 to 2 minutes. Stop and scrape down the side of the bowl once or twice. With the food processor running, slowly drizzle in the olive oil until thick. Serve with fish stew.

TRADITIONAL BOUILLABAISSE

Steps:

• Marinate fish: Stir together saffron and pastis; set aside. Stir together sliced fennel, 1/4 cup fronds, and 2 tablespoons garlic. Divide fennel mixture between two 9-by-13-inch nonreactive baking dishes. Cut fish into uniform portions, each 4 to 5 inches long and 2 to 3 inches wide. Generously season with salt. Put thick pieces in one baking dish and thin ones in the other. (They will be poached in separate batches later.) Pour 2 tablespoons pastis mixture and 1/4 cup oil into each dish; turn fish to coat. Cover; marinate in refrigerator 2 hours, turning once.
• Meanwhile, prepare stock: Cover fish heads and bones with cold water; let soak. Heat remaining 1/4 cups oil in a tall, 10-quart stockpot (that includes a steamer basket for later use) over medium heat until hot but not smoking. Add onion, leeks, celery, chopped fennel, 1 tablespoon salt, and remaining garlic. Cook, stirring, until translucent, about 7 minutes.
• Add tomato paste; stir well. Stir in 2 cups wine, remaining pastis mixture, orange zest, and juice. Tie together bay leaves, parsley, thyme, and rosemary sprigs with kitchen string; add to pot. Stir broth. Bring to a boil.
• Drain and rinse fish heads and bones; add to pot. Pour in 10 cups cold water (liquid should come to within 3 inches of rim of pot). Bring to a boil; let boil for 10 minutes. Skim foam from surface.
• Reduce heat to medium-high. Stir in tomatoes. Cook until stock is slightly reduced, about 20 minutes. Raise heat to high; boil until olive oil binds with liquids, 20 to 30 minutes. Meanwhile, bring marinated fish to room temperature.
• Steam shellfish: Put mussels and shrimp in a large, shallow pot (steaming the shrimp in their shells enhances their flavor). Add 1/2 cup wine and 1/4 cup fennel fronds; cover. Cook over high heat until shrimp are pink and cooked through and mussels are open (check pot frequently after 4 minutes). Transfer cooked shellfish with a slotted spoon to a large bowl (after 7 minutes, discard any mussels that remain closed); reserve pot. Cover bowl with foil.
• Pass stock through a food mill: Using tongs or a slotted spoon, lift out heads and large bones; discard. Discard herbs. In batches, pass stock through a food mill set over the pot of shellfish juices, extracting as much liquid as possible. (If you don't have a food mill, pass stock through a fine sieve, firmly pressing on solids with the back of a ladle.) Discard solids.
• Pass broth through a chinois or a fine sieve into stockpot. Press on solids; discard. Reserve 1/2 cup broth for rouille.
• Cook potatoes: Bring broth to a boil. Place potatoes in steamer basket; submerge in broth. Reduce heat to medium; cook until tender, about 8 minutes. Transfer to a serving platter; cover with foil.
• Cook fish: Return broth to a boil. Place thick fish pieces in basket; submerge in broth. Reduce heat to low. Poach until cooked through, about 6 minutes. Transfer to platter; cover with foil. Return broth to a boil; place thin fish pieces in basket; submerge in broth. Reduce heat to low; poach until cooked through, 4 to 5 minutes. Transfer to platter; pour any juices from platter and shellfish bowl into broth. Cover fish and shellfish with foil.
• Pass broth through a chinois or fine sieve into a serving bowl. Press on solids with a ladle; discard solids.
• Serve: Ladle about 3/4 cup broth into each bowl. Serve with rouille-topped croutons. Follow with fish and potatoes, served with any remaining broth.

BOUILLABAISSE

Steps:

• Make croutons:
• Preheat oven to 250°F.
• Arrange bread slices in 1 layer in a shallow baking pan and brush both sides with oil. Bake in middle of oven until crisp, about 30 minutes. Rub 1 side of each toast with a cut side of garlic.
• Make soup:
• Plunge lobster headfirst into a 6- to 8-quart pot of boiling water, then cook, covered, 2 minutes from time lobster enters water. Transfer lobster with tongs to a colander and let stand until cool enough to handle. Discard hot water in pot. Put lobster in a shallow baking pan. Twist off claws with knuckles from body, then crack claws with a mallet or rolling pin and separate claws from knuckles. Halve body and tail lengthwise through shell with kitchen shears, then cut crosswise through shell into 2-inch pieces. Reserve lobster juices that accumulate in baking pan.
• Cook tomatoes, onion, and garlic in oil in cleaned 6- to 8-quart pot over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until onion is softened, 5 to 7 minutes. Meanwhile, peel potatoes and cut into 1/2-inch cubes. Stir potatoes into tomatoes with fennel fronds, bay leaf, saffron, sea salt, and pepper. Add stock and bring to a boil, then simmer, covered, until potatoes are almost tender, 8 to 10 minutes.
• Add thicker pieces of fish to soup and simmer, uncovered, 2 minutes. Stir in remaining fish and lobster, including juices, and simmer, uncovered, until they are just cooked through, 3 to 5 minutes.
• Stir 3 tablespoons broth from soup into rouille until blended. Arrange 2 croutons in each of 6 to 8 deep soup bowls. Carefully transfer fish and lobster from soup to croutons with a slotted spoon, then ladle some broth with vegetables over seafood.
• Top each serving with 1 teaspoon rouille and serve remainder on the side.