
It is not often that one decides to go ‘all out’ with a meal, and the choice of top of the shelve dishes are many. This was my pick, a seafood fantasy, and honestly I was blown away with the result. It is full, aromatic, super satisfying and by far the most delicious thing I have ever tasted.

With the “cost of survival” as it is today these type of dishes might seem out of reach to many, but here are a few tips to still enjoy this beautiful Mediterranean favorite without spending the price of a plain ticket to the French Riviera:
- Go visit your fish monger (every foodie should have one on their Christmas list), ask for of-cuts and discarded bits like fish heads or shellfish shells and heads. The wider the variety you use the better the flavor.
- You can augment this with some frozen fish – get the whole fish, nose to tail. Speak to your monger and tell them what you are making, they very often give you tips and ideas on what to use.
- I go to an African Supermarket down the road and buy what they call ‘crayfish’, a packet of dried tiny shrimp like selfish* (I suspect it comes from lake Malawi) and the punch from just a tablespoon is incredible!
- If you are able to spend a bit on one choice morsel per dinner guest – making it the way in this recipe allows you to add the more delicate elements with plating, so get creative.
Bouillabaisse itself is a living entity, with different coastal villages in the Mediterranean all claiming that they have the original recipe. It is as individual as the people making it – so experiment! It is a whopper to have in you ‘impress my socks off’ cooking arsenal.
INGREDIENTS:
FOR THE SOUP BASE
- 3/4 cup chopped leek
- 1 cup chopped onion
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 4 cloves garlic (mashed)
- 4 cans of whole pomadore tomatoes
- 1 litre water
- 250g parsley
- Cuts of fresh celery
- 2 bay leaf
- 20g fresh Thyme
- 1/2 teaspoon fennel seed
- 2 big pinches of saffron
- 1/2 orange’s zest
- 2 cubes of fish stock (ask you fishmonger they have wonderful stuff)
- The dried ‘crayfish’ I mentioned* (do not fret if you cant find this, but use small prawns or some other shellfish)
- 500ml fresh cream
- 200g butter
- Cracked black pepper
- Salt
- 2 kg of the fishy of-cuts and bits i mentioned *
FOR THE BOUILLABAISSE
- 1 kingklip or yellowtail steak/fillet
- 1 large fillet of red snapper (cut into pieces) I also use farmed trout.
- 6 langoustines – gutted but not shelled, keep the heads on!
- 24 mussels – fresh if you can get or half as many good quality clams.
- rounds of toasted baguette or ciabatta
- 1/3 Cup fresh parsley (roughly chopped)
DIRECTIONS:
Get the biggest pot (pan) you have!
For the Fish Soup Base:
- Cook the onions and leeks slowly in olive oil for 5 minutes or until almost tender. Stir in the garlic and fry for 1 min, add tomatoes. Cook 5 minutes longer over moderate heat.
- Add the water, herbs, celery, seasonings, stock and fish to the pot and cook uncovered at a moderate boil for 30 to 40 minutes. Strain, pressing juice out of ingredients.
- Return the pot to the stove and reduce more if needed. Reduce heat and add the cream. Stir in the butter – this gives the soup a wonderful velvety sheen. Taste carefully for seasoning and strength. It should be delicious at this point, so it will need no further fussing with later.
For the Bouillabaisse:
- Bring the soup to a gentle boil 20 minutes before serving. Add the firm-fleshed fish, the snapper. Bring quickly back to the boil and boil for 5 minutes. Add the tender-fleshed fish (yellowtail/kingklip/trout), the clams/mussels/.
- Bring the soup and fish to a gentle boil again and boil until the fish is just tender when pierced with a fork. Do not overcook! Do a final check for seasoning.
- Pop the cleaned Lagoustines, butterflied, with heads on an oven tray. Brush with butter, lemon, a touch of garlic and a hint of chilly. Bake in a hot oven for 5 min. If you are using Trout treat it in the same way
Plate your masterpiece:
One could remove the fish at this stage and arrange everything on a handsome platter, and have the soup separatly in a tureen. I dish up in large pasta bowls.
Ladle some soup into the bowl, getting good portions of fish and mussels in there.
Add the Langostines and flake the trout over the top.
Pop some toasted baguette rounds on the side and sprinkle freshly chopped parsley over everything. Finish with a drizzle of good olive oil, cracked black pepper and Maldon salt.
What I love to do is to fry some tender baby leeks, thinly sliced in olive oil and butter till brown, and use that for a final flair – it really pops in your mouth!
Have a rouille or home made mayonnaise handy if your guests wish to boost the flavor.
ENJOY!