Recipe for "bouillabaisse"

NAME

     BOUILLABAISSE - Marseille style fish soup
     A friend and I had been talking about the glories of  bouil-
     labaisse for the past year and we finally decided to use New
     Year's Eve as an excuse to fish rather  than  continuing  to
     cut  bait,  ad nauseum. The following recipes are a combina-
     tion of several derived from old Gourmets, Julia Child,  the
     Playboy  Gourmet Cookbook, and ``gee, that sounds good-let's
     add it.''
     The accompanying Rouille is a garlic-hot  pepper  mayonnaise
     condiment traditional to Marseille-style fish soup.

INGREDIENTS (Serves 4-8)

          ROUILLE
     6         cloves garlic
     5 ml      salt
     12        large basil leaves
     60 g      chopped pimiento
     50 g      bread crumbs
     1         egg yolk
     25 cl     olive oil
               hot pepper sauce
          COURT BOUILLION
     20-25 dl   water
     5 dl      dry white wine
     1         onion (coarsely chopped)
     1         large carrot (cut into large pieces)
     1         leek (white section only, cut into large pieces)
     celery    stalk
     2-3 kg     fish trimmings (fish frames, heads, tails)
          BOUILLABAISSE
     2         small live lobsters (each about 600 g)
     3 dozen   mussels
     3 dozen   small hard-shelled clams
     1 kg      medium shrimp
     1.5 kg    firm-fleshed fish (sea  bass,  red  snapper,  cod,
               etc.)
     15 cl     olive oil
     2         cloves garlic, minced
     1         leek (white part only, julienned)
     250 g     grated carrot
     200 g     onion finely chopped
     40 g      fennel, roughly chopped
     5 ml      sage
     1         strip orange peel (2 cm)
     1 pinch   saffron
     1         bay leaf
     40 g      parsley, roughly chopped
     25 cl     dry white wine
               salt and pepper to taste

PROCEDURE (ROUILLE)

          (1)  In a food processor fitted with the cutting blade,
               pur  ee  all ingredients (except the olive oil and
               hot pepper sauce) until finely minced.
          (2)  With the motor running, add the olive oil  through
               the  feed  tube  in as thin a continuous stream as
               possible. Stop occasionally  to  scrape  down  the
               sides.
          (3)  Add hot pepper sauce to taste.  The rouille should
               be very spicy.

PROCEDURE (COURT BOUILLION)

          (1)  Bring water to boil and add all ingredients.
          (2)  Return to boil, then reduce heat to  simmer.  Skim
               scum from top while simmering.
          (3)  Simmer for 30 minutes.
          (4)  Remove all solids and strain through double  layer
               of cheesecloth.

PROCEDURE (BOUILLABAISSE)

          (1)  Cook lobsters in boiling  water  for  15  minutes,
               until bright red.
          (2)  Remove all meat from tail  and  claws.   Cut  into
               chunks and set aside.
          (3)  Scrub mussels  and  clams  well  to  remove  sand.
               Debeard  mussels  by  pulling  black  fibers  from
               shell.
          (4)  Steam mussels and clams over 2  cm  of  water  for
               about 10 minutes, until shells open.
          (5)  Discard any unopened mussels or clams.  Remove one
               shell  from  each mussel and clam, leaving meat in
               other shell.
          (6)  Strain clam/mussel broth through double  layer  of
               cheese cloth and reserve 3 cups.
          (7)  Shell the shrimp.
          (8)  In a large skillet, heat olive oil. Saut e  onion,
               leek,  carrot,  fennel, garlic, sage, saffron, and
               orange peel until onions are soft and golden.
          (9)  In a large pot, bring to a boil 20-25 dl of  court
               bouillon,  reserved  clam/mussel  broth,  and 5 dl
               wine.
          (10) Add sauteed vegetables, bay leaf, parsley and wine
               and bring to simmer.
          (11) Add salt and pepper to taste
          (12) Cut fish into large chunks.  Add fish  and  shrimp
               and simmer 8-10 minutes.
          (13) Add  lobster,  mussels  and  clams  and  simmer  2
               minutes.
          (14) Serve in soup plates over garlic toast.

NOTES

     Rouille is traditionally made with a mortar and pestle but I
     prefer  to use a food processor-it's just too much work oth-
     erwise. Pass the rouille as a condiment.  Usually 15 ml  per
     serving  is  sufficient -this stuff is the essence of garlic
     and hot pepper.
     If you can't get fish trimmings for the court bouillon,  add
     bottled clam juice and shrimp and lobster shells.
     To  be  truly  authentic,  our  bouillabaisse  should   have
     included  eel,  but my friend was a bit squeamish about that
     so we left it out.  Basically, any combination of  shellfish
     and  firm-fleshed fish can be used with the more variety the
     better.  I dislike using crab since it flakes so easily  and
     is  lost in the broth.  If you can't get live lobsters, sub-
     stitute frozen lobster tails but be careful not to overcook.
     Use saffron threads, rather than saffron powder which  tends
     to  be  adulterated with safflower and not the same thing at
     all.  Be conservative with the saffron-a little goes a  long
     way and can give the dish a medicinal taste.
     We preceded our  dinner  with  herbed  leek  and  proscuitto
     tartlets  served  with  champagne.  Dinner included bouilla-
     baisse; a  hearts-of-palm  salad  with  pimiento  and  greek
     olives  and vinagrette dressing; lots of crusty french bread
     to soak up the broth; a dry white wine  (Duckhorn  Sauvignon
     Blanc  '84);  and  my  friend's  mother's  sponge  cake with
     whipped cream icing, fresh raspberries and raspberry  sauce,
     accompanied by Asti Spumante.

RATING

     Difficulty: moderate to hard.  Time:  2  hours.   Precision:
     approximate measurement OK.

CONTRIBUTOR

     Pamela McGarvey
     UCLA Comprehensive Epilepsy Program, Los Angeles, California, USA
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