Serves: 4
Preparation time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Cooking time: 35 minutes

Fresh seafood presented in the best way: Chef Gérald Passedat shares with us his special bouillabaisse recipe.


Ingredients

  • 1 weever fish, weighing 200g (7 oz)
  • 1 monkfish tail, weighing 400g (14 oz)
  • 1 Mediterranean scorpion fish
  • 1 barracuda fish steak, weighing 200g (7 oz)
  • 1 boeuf (Mediterranean fish)
  • 8 freshwater tetra (galactic) fish
  • 8 squill fish (mantis shrimps)
  • 2 small spiny lobsters
  • 3 plum tomatoes
  • 4 potatoes
  • 1 orange
  • 3 cloves garlic
  • 2 shallots
  • 150ml (2/3 cup) Passedat olive oil
  • 4 star anise
  • 1 pinch fennel seeds
  • 1 sprig thyme
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1l (4 cups) fish stock
  • 1 pinch saffron powder
  • 1 pinch saffron threads
  • Salt and pepper

Directions

1Clean all the fish, cutting off the heads and tails where necessary. Cut down through the bones, on the diagonal, dividing the fish into large pieces. Leave the barracuda steak whole; cut the crustaceans in half. Place them in the refrigerator.

2Wash the tomatoes, remove the stalks, and cut a cross in the base of each one with a small knife to make them easier to peel. Immerse in boiling water for a few seconds, then in cold water, and slip off the skins. Quarter the tomatoes, remove the core and seeds and discard these. Chop the flesh into small cubes and season with salt and pepper.

3Peel the potatoes, slice into rounds, and put aside. Peel a thin strip of zest from the orange with the potato peeler. Peel the garlic and the shallots, chop finely, and sweat them in a skillet with the olive oil.

4Add the potatoes, star anise, fennel seeds, thyme, and bay leaves, and pour in the stock. Finally add the diced tomato, saffron powder and orange zest, and crumble in the saffron threads. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Cook this bouillon on a low heat for approximately 20 minutes.

5Add the fish and allow to cook for approximately 20 minutes on a low heat.

6At the same time, cook the crustaceans. Brush them with olive oil and season with salt and pepper, then place shell side down on a preheated grill pan, covering the pan if possible. Once the flesh has turned opaque, remove the grill pan from the heat.

7Arrange all the fish and crustaceans on a serving platter and pour a generous quantity of the bouillon around them.

CHEF’S NOTE

If some of the fish used in this recipe are unavailable, choose a selection according to what is locally available.

This comes courtesy of Taste of France Issue Two. For more great recipes, food news and interviews with top chefs, buy your copy here!

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