Bouillabaisse (Provençal fish stew)

This steaming bowl of delicious fish stew originates from Marseille. Saffron, chilli, garlic and fennel adds a unique flavour to clams, cod, mullet, mussels and langoustines.

📝 Ingredients

• 100 ml olive oil
• 4 × 400g tins drained plum tomatoes
• 1 whole bulb fennel sliced
• 4 garlic cloves finely chopped
• 2 litres fish stock
• 500 g mussels cleaned
• 500 g clams cleaned
• 6 small or 4 large fillets red mullet cut into large pieces
• 500 g from a sustainable source cod cut into large pieces
• or cooked large shell-on prawns 300g cooked langoustines
• a pinch of strands saffron
• 2 cloves garlic plus an extra 1/2 for the baguettes
• 1 chilli seeded and chopped
• 2 egg yolks
• 70 g (1 small cooked potato microwave or boil and peel)
• 300 ml olive oil
• 16 thin slices baguette fried in olive oil until golden

👨‍🍳 Instructions

1. 1To make the rouille, toast the saffron in a dry pan until it colours and releases its aroma, then put it in a food processor with the garlic, chilli and egg yolks, and blitz to a paste. Add the potatoes and whizz a little until all the ingredients are combined. With the motor still running, add the oil a little at a time until you have a thick mayonnaise consistency. Season and chill until needed.
2. 2To make the bouillabaisse, heat the olive oil in a pan big enough to hold all the fish and gently cook the plum tomatoes and fennel until softened. Add the garlic and cook for a couple of minutes then pour in half the fish stock, bring to a boil and simmer for about 10-15 minutes until thickened slightly.
3. 3Heat the remaining stock in another pan. Add the mussels and cook until just opened, scoop out and do the same with the clams then scoop them out, discarding any that don’t open.
4. 4Lay the mullet and cod over the top of the tomato sauce. Cook, covered with a tight fitting lid, for 3 minutes until just cooked through, then add the langoustine, clams and mussels until just heated through.
5. 5Rub the baguette slices with the halved garlic then spread over the rouille. Season the bouillabaisse then serve in bowls with the croutons and rouille.