Canadian Bouillabaisse Recipes

BOUILLABAISSE

Steps:

• Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan, and add the onions, leeks, chopped tomatoes, and garlic. Cook and stir over a low heat for a few minutes until all vegetables are soft.
• Stir in the fennel, thyme, bay leaf, and orange zest. Add shellfish and boiling water; stir to combine. Season to taste with salt and black pepper. Turn up the heat to high, and boil for about 3 minutes to allow the oil and water to combine.
• Add fish, and reduce the heat to medium. Continue cooking for 12 to 15 minutes, or until fish is cooked. The fish should be opaque and tender, but still firm. Fish should not be falling apart.
• Taste the bouillabaisse and adjust the seasoning. Stir in saffron, and then pour soup into a warmed tureen or soup dishes. Serve immediately.

BOUILLABAISSE

Steps:

• Make the rouille: Puree the mayonnaise, roasted red peppers, olive oil, lemon juice, garlic and a pinch of salt in a blender until smooth. Transfer to a small bowl; refrigerate until ready to serve.
• Prepare the bouillabaisse: Grate the tomato flesh on the large holes of a box grater down to the skins; reserve the skins separately. Peel and devein the shrimp, reserving the shells and tails for the broth; clean and debeard the mussels. Refrigerate the seafood until ready to use.
• Make the broth: Heat 3 tablespoons olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the shrimp shells and tails and cook, stirring, until bright red, about 3 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste until incorporated, about 30 seconds. Add the clam juice, 4 cups water, the reserved tomato skins, the orange zest and 1/4 cup of the sliced fennel. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium; simmer until the liquid is reduced to about 4 cups, 12 to 15 minutes. Strain the broth through a fine-mesh sieve set over a bowl, pressing on the solids to extract the liquid; reserve the broth.
• Wipe out the pot and heat the remaining 3 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat. Add the remaining fennel, the shallot, garlic and a pinch of salt; partially cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until the fennel begins to soften, about 5 minutes. Add the reserved grated tomato flesh and cook, stirring, until slightly thickened, about 2 minutes. Stir in the saffron, then add the wine and simmer until the liquid is reduced by about two-thirds, about 4 minutes. Add the reserved broth and return to a simmer.
• Add the mussels to the pot; cover and cook 4 minutes. Add any thick pieces of fish and cook, covered, 2 minutes. Add the remaining fish and the shrimp and cook, covered, until the mussels open and the fish and shrimp are just cooked through, 3 to 4 more minutes. (Discard any mussels that do not open.) Season with salt and pepper.
• Spread the baguette with the rouille and serve with the bouillabaisse. Sprinkle with parsley.

BRITISH COLUMBIA BOUILLABAISSE

Steps:

• For the garlic oil and confit puree: Place the garlic and oil in a small heavy-bottomed saucepot. Place over medium-high heat and bring it up to a simmer, stirring occasionally. Reduce the heat to low and poach slowly until garlic cloves are very soft, about 1 hour.
• Strain the garlic out of the oil, reserving the garlic and oil separately.
• Place the strained garlic into a food processor and puree until silky smooth, about 1 minute. For a richer, smoother puree, add some garlic oil back in and process to emulsify. Adjust seasoning to taste.
• For the soup base: Preheat a large soup pot over medium-high heat. Add the onions and 1/2 cup of the reserved garlic oil and sweat, stirring frequently, until translucent, about 2 minutes. Add the fennel and cook, 1 minute more. Add the garlic, red and yellow peppers, bay leaves and saffron, stirring. Cover and cook for 2 minutes. Remove the cover and add the diced tomatoes and additional stock if using (if you desire a lighter soup). Bring back to a boil, turn the heat down to medium-low and simmer, stirring occasionally, 10 to 15 minutes, then season to taste.
• For the bouillabaisse: Bring the soup base to a boil, then stir in 3 tablespoons of the reserved garlic confit puree and add the clams. Cover and cook until the first clamshell opens, 20 to 30 seconds. Add mussels, then stir the pot, cover and cook 20 more seconds.
• When the soup is boiling again and more shellfish are beginning to open, add the remaining cubed fin fish. Stir, cover and cook for 30 seconds, then turn off the heat and let sit for about a minute with out opening the lid.
• Adjust the seasoning and warm some soup bowls. Divide the fish evenly among the bowls, then pour over the remaining liquid. Finish with a 1 tablespoon of the garlic confit puree and sprinkle with the freshly chopped parsley. This is great with crusty bread.

CANADIAN BOUILLABAISSE

Steps:

• Heat oil over medium heat in a stainless steel saucepan.
• Add celery, onion, green onions and garlic.
• Cook five minutes until soft.
• Stir in thyme, fennel, orange peel, tomatoes, wine, chicken stock, bay leaf and cayenne.
• Simmer, covered, about 25 minutes Stir occasionally, breaking up tomatoes.
• About 20 minutes before serving, add haddock, cut in pieces, scallops and shrimp.
• Simmer about 15 minutes.
• Remove peel and bay leaf. Serve.

FISHERMAN'S BOUILLABAISSE

Steps:

• In large saucepan or stockpot, heat oil and cook garlic over medium heat until golden.
• Add water, wine, onion recipe soup mix, parsley, and thyme, blend thoroughly.
• Stir in tomatoes.
• Bring to a boil, then simmer covered 15 minutes.
• Add lobster and fish and simmer 10 minutes.
• Add clams and mussels and simmer an additional 5 minutes or until shells open. (DISCARD ANY UNOPENED SHELLS).
• Serve, if desired, with bread or rolls.

BOUILLABAISSE

Steps:

• To make the croutons heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Lay the slices of bread on a flat baking tray in a single layer, drizzle with olive oil and bake for 15 mins until golden and crisp. Set aside - can be made a day ahead and kept in an airtight container.
• Use a layer of the green part of the leek to wrap around and make a herb bundle with the thyme, bay, parsley stalks, orange peel and chilli. Tie everything together with kitchen string and set aside.
• Heat the oil in a very large casserole dish or stock pot and throw in the onion, sliced leek and fennel and cook for about 10 mins until softened. Stir through the garlic and cook for 2 mins more, then add the herb bundle, tomato purée, star anise, Pernod if using, chopped tomatoes and saffron. Simmer and stir for a minute or two then pour over the fish stock. Season with salt and pepper, bring to a simmer, then add the piece of potato. Bubble everything gently for 30 mins until you have a thin tomatoey soup. When that piece of potato is on the brink of collapse, fish it out and set aside to make the rouille.
• While the broth is simmering make the rouille by crushing the garlic, chilli and saffron with a pinch of salt in a mortar with a pestle. Mash in the cooked potato to make a sticky paste then whisk in the egg yolk and, very gradually, the olive oil until you make a mayonnaise-like sauce. Stir in the lemon juice and set aside.
• Once the chunky tomato broth has cooked you have two options: for a rustic bouillabaisse, simply poach your fish in it along with the mussels, if you're using (just until they open) and serve. For a refined version, remove the herb bundle and star anise. Using a handheld or table-top blender, blitz the soup until smooth. Pass the soup through a sieve into a large, clean pan and bring to a gentle simmer. Starting with the densest fish, add the chunks to the broth and cook for 1 min before adding the next type. With the fish we used, the order was: monkfish, John Dory, grey mullet, snapper. When all the fish is in, scatter over the mussels, if using, and simmer everything for about 5 mins until just cooked and the mussels have opened.
• Use a slotted spoon to carefully scoop the fish and mussels out onto a warmed serving platter, moisten with just a little broth and scatter over the chopped parsley. Bring everything to the table. Some people eat it as two courses, serving the broth with croutons and rouille first, then the fish spooned into the same bowl. Others simply serve it as a fish stew. Whichever way you choose the rouille is there to be stirred into the broth to thicken and give it a kick.