Marisa Sung’s Recipe for Bouillabaisse

This recipe is from the French Culinary Institute. Bouillabaisse is Seafood Stew and it is quite delicious!

Ingredients:
For Bread:
•12 to 16 (1/2-inch-thick) baguette slices
•3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
•1 garlic clove, halved

For the Seafood Stew:
•1 (1- to 1 1/4 -lb) live lobster
•2 large tomatoes, peeled and coarsely chopped
•1 large onion, chopped
•4 garlic cloves, chopped
•1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
•1/3 cup finely chopped fennel fronds (sometimes called anise)
•1 1/2 California bay leaf
•1/4 teaspoon crumbled saffron threads
•1 1/2 tablespoons coarse sea salt
•1/2 teaspoon black pepper
•9 cups white fish stock (or store-bought)
•3 pounds white fish fillets (such as monkfish, turbot, red snapper, striped bass, porgy, grouper, and/or cod), cut into 2-inch pieces
•1/2 pound cockles or small hard-shelled clams, scrubbed
•1/2 pound cultivated mussels, scrubbed and any beards removed
•1/2 pound large shrimp in shells
•Rouille

Steps:

Bread:
Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 250°F.

Arrange bread slices in 1 layer in a shallow baking pan and brush both sides with oil. Bake until crisp, about 30 minutes. Rub 1 side of each toast with a cut side of garlic.

Seafood Stew:

Plunge lobster headfirst into a 6- to 8-quart pot of boiling water, then cook, covered, 2 minutes from time lobster enters water.
Transfer lobster with tongs to a colander and let stand until cool enough to handle.
Discard hot water in pot.
Put lobster in a shallow baking pan.
Twist off claws with knuckles from body, then crack claws with a mallet or rolling pin and separate claws from knuckles.
Halve body and tail lengthwise through shell with kitchen shears, then cut crosswise through shell into 2-inch pieces. Reserve lobster juices that accumulate in baking pan.

Cook tomatoes, onion, and garlic in oil in cleaned 6- to 8-quart pot over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until onion is softened, 5 to 7 minutes.
Stir tomatoes with fennel fronds, bay leaf, saffron, sea salt, and pepper.
Add stock and bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, covered, 8 to 10 minutes.
Add thicker pieces of fish to soup and simmer, covered, 2 minutes.
Stir in mussels, shrimp, lobster, including juices, and remaining fish and simmer, covered, until they are just cooked through and mussels open wide, about 5 minutes.
Stir 3 tablespoons broth from soup into rouille until blended.
Arrange 2 croutons in each of 6 to 8 deep soup bowls.
Carefully transfer fish and shellfish from soup to croutons with a slotted spoon
Ladle some broth with vegetables over seafood.
Top each serving with 1 teaspoon rouille and serve remainder on the side.

Yellow Submarine