Thursdays are for cooking on Friday
Bouillabaisse is France’s classic Mediterranean fisherman’s stew. Fresh local fish and shellfish in a sublime sauce of orange peel, saffron, and fennel. It’s the perfect way to enjoy seafood.
Ingredients
6 Cups Water
½ Pound Shrimp
1 Bay Leaf
12 Whole Black Peppercorns
Peel from 1 Orange
3 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
½ Teaspoon Kosher Salt
2 Small Fennel Bulbs, thinly sliced, fronds reserved
1 Small Onion, diced
1 Leek, white part only, thinly sliced
4 Cloves Garlic, minced
4 Tomatoes, skins and seeds removed and diced
1 Cup Dry White Wine
1 Teaspoon Fresh Thyme
1 Teaspoon Fresh Marjoram
½ Teaspoon Saffron Threads
½ Teaspoon Ground Cayenne Pepper
½ Pound Sockeye Salmon, skin removed, cut into 1 inch wide strips
½ Pound Cod, cut into 1 inch wide strips
½ Pound Manila Clams
½ Pound Bay Mussels
Method
1. Peel the shrimp, reserving the shrimp shells. Bring the water to a simmer and add the shrimp shells, bay leaf, peppercorns, and orange peel to the pot and simmer gently for 15 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil over medium heat in a heavy bottomed soup pan.
3. Add the onion, leek, and fennel bulb and a pinch of salt, and slowly sweat them until tender but not browned (about 20 minutes).
4. Add the garlic, saute a few more minutes until garlic is tender and fragrant.
5. Add the tomato and the wine. Turn up the heat until the wine begins to boil. Cook until wine is reduced by about half.
6. Strain the shrimp and orange stock into the onion mixture. Add the thyme, marjoram, saffron, and cayenne and simmer for 10 minutes.
7. Add the fish first. About two minutes later add the mussels and clams. About two minutes later add the shrimp. Simmer until the shrimp is just cooked through. About two more minutes.
8. Remove from heat and serve immediately, garnishing each place with some reserved fennel fronds.
That’s a lot of work, so let your sou chefs do the heavy lifting while you sip on a glass of Pastis and smoke some Gauloises while you yell at them. You do have sou chefs, right?
*grin*
Category: Feel Good Stories, Foreign Policy, Humor, It's science!, Satire
Looks and sounds yummy Rachel…err..’Ed. Doing the calculations ‘pears like you start the prep right after breakfast so it will be ready for dinner (the noon meal down heah). Or, start the prep right after the noon meal/nap so it’s ready for supper.
I’ll open another bottle of Pastis for us, refill my Zippo, and give you a light while we wait on the sou chef to ring the dinner bell.
My poor man’s fare was some fresh picked crowder peas, seasoned with a generous helping of bacon, sided with some seasoned flank steak beef beast, crock potted lowly overnight. Fired off one gas eye and made some lacey buttermilk cornbread johnny cakes. I hurt myself.
You’re absolutely hopeless!
You do NOT have to use fennel if you don’t like the flavor, y’know. 🙂
I am not, have never been and hope never to be hungry enough to eat that.
I was born in New Orleans and raised in Abbeville, La. My own dear mother tried to pass that off as supper one night. I’m glad she liked it as she got to eat all of it! Haha… bless her heart, she meant well and she was a wonderful cook.
As it were, almost all of the ingredients, in different combinations, are delightful–more so if fried or broiled.
Alas, to each as they prefer. There are few disappointments that Tabasco Sauce and corn bread can’t ameliorate.
As it were, bouillabaisse does not taste like chicken and, for those blues and soul enthusiasts:
https://youtu.be/4DaaJ4EPYwI
Mon Dieu! Sacrilège!
2. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil over medium heat in a heavy bottomed soup pan.