With a long name and an even longer list of ingredients, bouillabaisse is Marseille’s gift to France’s culinary canon. The soup, once a poor man’s dish and now a mainstay on many a Michelin-starred menu, elevates the catch of the day beyond your standard soupe de poisson.
According to the Mediterranean port’s bouillabaisse charter, in an attempt to standardize the ingredients and preparation of the classic dish, the soup must include at least four of six specific fish selections that are cut up in front of the diners.
Alongside optional crustaceans and a spicy broth, no self-respecting It is complete without a topper of croutons dipped in rouille, a peppery garlic sauce.
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French Bouillabaisse
4
servings30
minutes1
hour17
minutes300
kcalDon’t let the name (or the long ingredient list) stop you from making this delicious and classic French bouillabaisse recipe. It’s surprisingly easy to make.
Ingredients
- Fish Broth
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
4 large cloves garlic, with skin
1 small onion, halved, with skin
Stalks from 1 fennel bulb, roughly chopped
Green part of 2 leeks, roughly chopped
2 leafy celery stalks, roughly chopped
1 pound shrimp shells
4 bay leaves
1 teaspoon black peppercorns
1 piece orange zest
½ cup clam juice
10 cups water
Fish bones, including head, tail, and spine of 1 fish
- Rouille
¼ cup breadcrumbs
7 ounces roasted red pepper, or about 1 roasted red bell pepper
1 large garlic clove, peeled and sliced
1 egg yolk
Juice from ½ lemon
1 pinch saffron threads
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper, to taste
- Bouillabaisse
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 generous pinch saffron threads
1 shallot, finely chopped
3 large garlic cloves, minced
1 fennel bulb, sliced into strips
White part of 1 leek, sliced into rings
¼ cup Pernod
Juice from ½ lemon
1 small piece orange zest
2 bay leaves
1 pound gold potatoes, peeled and diced
3 Roma tomatoes, diced
1 recipe fish broth
12 littleneck clams
1 large filet of cod, cut into large chunks
2 filets perch, cut into small chunks
2 filets sea bass, cut into small chunks
½ pound jumbo shrimp, peeled and deveined
Salt and pepper, to taste
3 tablespoons rouille
- Optional Ingredients
Crusty bread, for serving
Fennel fronds, for topping
Directions
- For the fish broth, heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the garlic, onion, leeks, celery, and shrimp shells and cook until the vegetables are beginning to soften and the shrimp shells turn pink, about 5 minutes.
- Add the bay leaves, peppercorns, orange zest, and clam juice. Stir and bring to a simmer.
- Add the water and stir, then bring the pot to a boil. Add the fish bones and boil steadily for 30 minutes, or up to an hour.
- Strain the solids from the broth.
- For the rouille, combine all the ingredients but the olive oil in a food processor and pulse until blended into a paste. Drizzle the olive oil in as you blend until a smooth paste is formed. Season as needed with salt and pepper.
- For the bouillabaisse, heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add saffron threads and cook gently for 2 minutes. Add the shallot, garlic, fennel, and leek, and cook until soft and fragrant. Leeks will turn bright green.
- Add the Pernod, lemon, and orange zest and reduce the liquid by half, about 1-2 minutes.
- Add the bay leaves, potatoes, and tomatoes, and cover with the fish broth. Bring the pot to a boil and cook until the potatoes are soft, about 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Once the potatoes are soft, add the fish and clams (but not the shrimp), and cover. Cook until the fish is flaky and most of the clams have opened, about 5 minutes. Add the shrimp and cover, cooking until the shrimp is opaque and curled, about 1-2 minutes longer.
- Stir in the rouille, then season to taste. Before serving, remove the orange peel and bay leaves.
- Serve with a sprinkling of fennel fronds and crusty bread. Serve rouille alongside the bouillabaisse in a small bowl and spread on the sliced bread to eat.
