Todd Englishs Bouillabaisse Recipes

TODD ENGLISH'S BOUILLABAISSE

Steps:

• Make the Broth: Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Rub fish bones with tomato paste and place on a large baking sheet. Drizzle with 1/4 cup olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Transfer to oven and roast until dark brown, about 15 minutes.
• Divide carrots, fennel, celery, onions, leeks, and garlic evenly between two baking sheets; drizzle with remaining 1/4 cup olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Transfer to oven and roast until dark brown,15 to 20 minutes.
• Sprinkle saffron over vegetables and transfer to a large stockpot along with roasted bones. Divide Pernod evenly between the vegetables' baking sheets and deglaze; pour into stockpot. Add stock, wine, and crushed tomatoes; season with salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer and let cook for 1 hour.
• Working in batches, transfer liquid and bones to the jar of a blender; blend until smooth. Set a fine mesh strainer over a large saucepan; strain broth into saucepan; discard solids. Remove 4 cups of broth and set aside.
• Make the Seafood: Place shrimp, monkfish, bass, and cuttlefish in a large bowl. Add extra-virgin olive oil, orange slices, onions, and fennel fronds; toss to combine. Transfer to refrigerator and let marinate for 3 hours.
• Heat a large skillet with olive oil over medium-high heat. Drain marinade from seafood and add to skillet; cook, turning, until browned, about 1 minute per side. Remove from skillet. Cut cuttlefish into 1/4-inch-thick slices; set all fish aside.
• Add carrot, celery, fennel, and saffron to skillet; cook, stirring, until browned, 4 to 5 minutes. Remove from heat and carefully add Pernod. Return to heat and cook until liquid has evaporated slightly, about 1 minute. Transfer to a large Dutch-oven over medium-high heat. Add mussels and clams; cover and cook until mussels and clams open, about 10 minutes. Add reserved 4 cups broth and reserved fish; let simmer about 10 minutes.
• For Serving: Meanwhile, reheat remaining broth over medium heat. Add 1 cup of rouille and using an immersion blender, blend to combine.
• Preheat a grill pan over medium-high heat. Drizzle baguette slices with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Place on grill and cook, turning once, until bread is crisp and grill marks appear, about 2 minutes per side. Top each bread slice with 1 tablespoon rouille; set aside.
• Divide fish mixture evenly between six large bowls; ladle over heated broth mixture. Top with grilled bread and garnish with orange zest and chopped parsley.

MARK BITTMAN'S BOUILLABAISSE

Steps:

• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.

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.