Bouillabaisse With Rouille

INGREDIENTS | BOUILLABAISSE

• approx. 1.5 kg Mediterranean fish (e.g. sea bass, red mullet, monkfish, gurnard - it is best to have them filleted fillet, take heads, bones and cuttings with you!)
• 2 onions
• 4 garlic cloves
• 1 fennel bulb
• 1 large carrot
• 2 stalks of celery
• 400 g ripe tomatoes (or canned chunky tomatoes)
• 4 tbsp olives Oil
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 300 ml dry white wine
• 100 ml pastis (aniseed schnapps)
• 8 sprigs thyme
• 2 bay leaves
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1 / 4 tsp saffron threads
• 1-2 pinches piment d‘Espelette or chilli powder
• 6 medium-sized waxy potatoes
• 400 g mussels
• 12 king prawns
• 2-3 stalks parsley

Rouille

• 60 g white bread
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 150 ml mild olive oil
• 2 fresh egg yolks
• 1 squeeze of lemon juice
• 1 / 4 tsp. sweet paprika powder
• 1 tsp. ground saffron
• 1-2 tsp. piment d‘Espelette or chilli powder
• Salt and freshly ground pepper

Roasted Bread

• 1 French Baguette
• 5-6 garlic cloves
• 2-3 sprigs thyme
• 6-8 tbsp olive oil

Preparation

PREPARATION BOUILLABAISE: First clean the bones, heads and sections thoroughly under cold running water. Then drain everything in a sieve and let it drip off. Peel and chop the onions and peel and chop the garlic. Wash, clean and peel the fennel, celery and carrot and and chop everything into small cubes. Wash the tomatoes, remove the stalks and chop them. Heat the olive oil in a large cocotte and stew the onions and garlic until they are golden brown. Then add the carrot, celery and fennel and continue to stew until everything starts to brown slightly. Stir the tomato paste into the vegetables and stew briefly. Add the tomatoes and fish slices and stew over a high heat for a few minutes- in the process, everything can fall apart! Pour in the white wine and cook for 2-3 minutes. Reduce the heat slightly and add the Pastis and 1.5 l water. Add the thyme and bay leaves and season everything with a little salt, freshly ground pepper, piment d‘Espelette and saffron and cook, covered, over a medium heat for approx. 30 min.

In the meantime, peel, wash and quarter the potatoes lengthwise. Cut the fish fillets into pieces that are not too small. Clean the mussels in cold water, Discard open mussels directly. Pour the soup in portions through a large fine sieve, ideally mash everything well with a large spoon or ladle and squeeze out the water – this gives the soup its real flavour! Return the fish soup to the pot and boil it.

Add the potatoes and cook without a lid over a medium heat for about 10 minutes. Add the mussels and cook over a medium-high heat for 5-10 minutes until the mussels have opened. (It is essential to sort out and discard closed shells later! throw away!). Add the fish fillets and prawns and cover over a low heat and cook for 5-7 minutes

PREPARATION ROUILLE: For the rouille, remove the crusts from the white bread and dice finely. Drain about 7-8 tablespoons of Bouillabaisse soup and and soak the bread in it for 10 minutes. Peel the garlic and finely mix with 150 ml olive oil in a blender. Mix the 2 egg yolks with the soaked bread in a high mixing bowl. Add the paprika, piment d‘Espelette and ground saffron and gradually blend in the garlic oil with a hand blender until the rouille has a mayonnaise-like consistency. Season well with a little salt, freshly ground pepper and lemon juice.

PREPARATION BAGUETTE: Cut the baguette into slices. Brush the baguette slices on both sides with olive oil and fry with the garlic cloves and thyme in the frying pan until golden brown on both sides.

ARRANGEMENTS: Divide the soup between plates and sprinkle with chopped parsley. Spread the rouille on the baguette slices and serve with the soup, stirring to avoid the formation of large ice crystals