Best Fish Stock For Bouillabaisse Recipes

FISH STOCK FOR BOUILLABAISSE

Steps:

• Place a large heavy-bottomed stockpot over medium heat, and heat olive oil. Add onions and leeks. Sauté gently until softened but not colored, about 10 minutes. Add garlic, and continue to cook until onions and leeks are very soft and breaking apart, another 5 to 10 minutes. Put 4 quarts water in a large pot, and bring to a boil.
• Meanwhile, add fish to onion mixture, raise heat to high, and stir vigorously until pieces begin to fall apart, 7 to 10 minutes. Add tomatoes, orange peel, celery, thyme, bay leaves, cayenne and pastis. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Reduce heat to medium, and sauté for 10 minutes.
• Add boiling water; simmer 25 minutes.
• Working in small batches, pass mixture through a food mill or strainer. Press fish scraps and vegetables through with the aid of the fish broth to ease flow. Allow to cool. Store refrigerated or frozen.

BOUILLABAISSE

Steps:

• Make croutons:
• 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.
• Make soup:
• 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. Meanwhile, peel potatoes and cut into 1/2-inch cubes. Stir potatoes into tomatoes with fennel fronds, bay leaf, saffron, sea salt, and pepper. Add stock and bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, covered, until potatoes are almost tender, 8 to 10 minutes.
• Add thicker pieces of fish and cockles 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, then ladle some broth with vegetables over seafood.
• Top each serving with 1 teaspoon rouille and serve remainder on the side.