FANCY BOUILLABAISSE! SEAFOOD STEW !

Fancy Bouillabaisse! Seafood Stew ! image

Provided by @MakeItYours

Number Of Ingredients 19

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 leek , chopped thinly (white and light green parts only)
1 medium onion, diced
1 whole fennel bulb-bulb only, diced (fronds reserved)
4 cloves garlic. minced
1/2 cup carrots, diced
2 medium tomatoes, diced
2 whole bay leaves
Pinch of saffron threads
2 tablespoons Pernod
5 cups fish stock or water
1 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes. tiny bite sized ones (peeled)
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
3 5 oz lobster tails, cut in half lengthwise
2 dozen littleneck clams (scrubbed)
1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 pound mussels, rinsed and beards removed
1 pound crab legs, cut into small 4-6" sections
1 loaf Sourdough bread sliced.

Steps:

Into a stock pot, add olive oil and heat to medium high. Once hot, add leeks, onions, garlic, fennel and carrots. Saute until onions and fennel are translucent.
Add tomatoes and saffron and stir for 5 minutes. Then add Pernod to deglaze the pan. (Scrape up bits from bottom of pan.) This will happen very quickly.
Add stock(or water) bay leaves and potatoes to pot. Bring pot to simmer. Continue to cook until small potatoes and carrots are cooked and tender. Remove from heat.
While the pot of veggies/broth is simmering, clean all shell fish and have on a plate ready to cook once broth is pureed.
Remove 1/2 of the potatoes and set aside. Remove Bay leaves and discard. Using an immersion blender, puree the soup taking care blend all ingredients to smooth. Season with salt (especially if you used water versus fish stock.)
Put stock post of pureed broth back onto burner and heat to hot and bubbling temperature. Add potatoes back into pot. Once broth is hot, add clams first, and cook for 3-5 minutes. Then add mussels and cook for 3 more minutes. At this time add shrimp, lobster and crab and cook until shrimp and lobster halves are completely opaque.
Place a little of each kind of shellfish in each serving bowl then ladle broth over the top and serve. (optional: Use leftover fennel fronds by mincing them and sprinkle over the top as garnish!)
Serve with thick bread to use to sop up last of broth.