Marseille Fish Soup (Bouillabaisse)
⏳ Time
2 hours 30 minutes
🥕 Ingredients
19
🍽️ Servings
8
Description
In many recipes, fish broth is suggested to be made from dry concentrated stock (I have a very good French one at home, just as good as the real thing), however, for bouillabaisse, I prefer to prepare all the components myself from start to finish:-)
Ingredients
- Celery salt - 12.3 oz
- Celery stalk - 3 pieces
- Golden Trout - 1 piece
- Sea Bass - 1 piece
- Scallops - 8 pieces
- Pasta shells - 10 pieces
- Tiger shrimp in brine - 6 pieces
- Parsley - 1 bunch
- Carrot - 2 pieces
- Olive Oil - 2 tablespoons
- Mild Chili Spice - 3 pieces
- Water - 1 qt
- Dry White Wine - 25 fl oz
- Ground Black Pepper - to taste
- Ocean salt - to taste
- Saffron - ½ teaspoon
- Garlic - 6 cloves
- Crushed Tomatoes in Their Own Juice - 1 can
- Sambuca - 1 fl oz
Step by Step guide
Step 1
When all the ingredients are within arm's reach, you can start filleting the fish. To fillet the fish (our goal is to extract the fillets with the least amount of bones), we place it belly side up, make an incision behind the gill fin, turn it over — make the same incision and cut off the head.
Step 2
Then, make incisions along the backbone from both sides down to the tail, and cut off the tail. It’s better to use a large very sharp knife so that the fillet comes off in one piece without torn fibers.
Step 3
Remove 2 pieces of fillet from the fish, carefully separating them from the skin with a knife (it’s okay if some meat remains on the skin or backbone — it will all go into the broth).
Step 4
Carefully pull out any remaining bones in the fillet with tweezers. Set the fillet aside.
Step 5
Rinse the fish head to remove any gill remnants, and take out the eyes. (It’s not a very pleasant procedure; to make it easier and quicker, you can use a simple peeler (like a vegetable peeler) and use the sharp tip to remove the eye.
Step 6
Then take the tiger shrimp (it’s better if they are fresh and with heads; if not, thawed ones will work just fine), cut off the heads, and remove the shells — this will also go into the broth. (It’s best to rinse the heads. Legs, tails, eyes - all go into the soup!:-)
Step 7
When all the fish for the broth is ready, you can start with the vegetables.
Step 8
In a thick-bottomed pot, pour in 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil (not Extra Virgin), and add 6 chopped cloves of garlic (you can add more or less depending on how spicy you like your food).
Step 9
You can also throw in a bunch of chopped parsley with stems, sauté for a bit, and when the garlic starts to brown, you can add the celery and carrots.
Step 10
The vegetables should sauté for about 2-3 minutes over medium heat. Then pour the entire bottle of dry white wine into the pot and immediately add 50 ml of sambuca (or Pernod anise liqueur).
Step 11
Bring everything to a boil and add all the offal left from the fish and shrimp. Let it simmer over medium heat for about 2 hours. (The longer it simmers, the richer the broth will be — however, make sure the liquid doesn’t evaporate, and if necessary, you can add another 2-3 cups of water).
Step 12
After 2-2.5 hours, when the celery and carrots can easily turn to mush, remove the bones and heads and strain the broth through a sieve.
Step 13
It’s best to strain the entire broth first, then place the vegetables in a cheesecloth and squeeze them manually.
Step 14
After straining the broth, pour it back into the pot, add the canned tomatoes, heat it up, and without bringing it to a boil, add the fish fillet cut into medium pieces, shrimp cut in half lengthwise (don’t forget to remove the intestine from the back of the shrimp), halved scallops, and mussels.
Step 15
Also add 3 chili peppers (better dried) and cook for another 10-15 minutes maximum.
Step 16
The soup is best eaten the next day when it has steeped and become slightly spicy from the chili. Enjoy your meal!
Cooked This Dish? Share Your Delicious Creation with the Community! 🥰
Snap a photo and let everyone see your culinary masterpiece. Inspire others and showcase your skills!
Users Photos
No photos yet
Leave a Comment
Please log in to leave a comment.