Provencal Potato Bouillabaisse Recipes

PROVENçAL POTATO "BOUILLABAISSE"

Steps:

• Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a large, heavy soup pot or casserole and add the onion and leeks. Cook, stirring, until tender, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and stir together for about a minute, until fragrant. Add the tomatoes, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and the bouquet garni and cook, stirring from time to time, for 10 minutes, until the tomatoes have cooked down and smell fragrant. Add the water or stock and the potatoes, and bring to a boil. Add 1 teaspoon salt and the saffron, reduce the heat, cover and simmer 20 to 25 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender. Taste, adjust the salt, and add cayenne and pepper. Remove the bouquet garni and stir in the parsley.
• Making sure that the soup is at a bare simmer, carefully break the eggs into a bowl and tip into the soup. Cover (you can turn off the heat at this point) and cook 5 minutes or until set. Ladle the soup into wide soup bowls, with an egg for each portion. Garnish with croutons if desired, and serve.

PROVENÇAL POTATO “BOUILLABAISSE”

Steps:

• 1. Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a large, heavy soup pot or casserole and add the onion and leeks. Cook, stirring, until tender, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and stir together for about a minute, until fragrant. Add the tomatoes, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and the bouquet garni and cook, stirring from time to time, for 10 minutes, until the tomatoes have cooked down and smell fragrant. Add the water or stock and the potatoes, and bring to a boil. Add 1 teaspoon salt and the saffron, reduce the heat, cover and simmer 20 to 25 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender. Taste, adjust the salt, and add cayenne and pepper. Remove the bouquet garni and stir in the parsley. 2. Making sure that the soup is at a bare simmer, carefully break the eggs into a bowl and tip into the soup. Cover (you can turn off the heat at this point) and cook 5 minutes or until set. Ladle the soup into wide soup bowls, with an egg for each portion. Garnish with croutons if desired, and serve.

PROVENCAL POTATOES

Steps:

• Heat oven to 400 degrees. Place potatoes, onions, garlic, tomatoes, and olives in a medium bowl. Add olive oil, salt, and pepper and toss to coat vegetables.
• Fold parchment piece in half, cut into a half-heart shape, and open. Place vegetable mixture on parchment, 2 to 3 inches from the crease, and scatter rosemary and thyme sprigs on top. Fold the other half of parchment over the ingredients. Make small overlapping folds to seal the edges, starting at the top of the heart.
• Two inches from the end, twist the parchment twice, gently but firmly, to seal the packet. Place packet on a baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and open packet. Use your fingers to crumble the herbs, discarding the stems. (Don't worry about burning your fingers; the sprigs will have dried during cooking and the leaves will come off the stems easily.) Carefully pull off the skin of the tomatoes, which will have loosened. Using a fork, break up the tomatoes and stir into the potatoes. Serve immediately.

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.