Bouillabaisse

Rita~'s Note:

A French seafood stew made of fish, shellfish, onions, tomatoes, white wine, olive oil, garlic, saffron and herbs. You can leave the shrimp and lobster in the shell for more flavor to be added to the stew. If you do make Shrimp Stock (2 Methods) do add the shells from the lobster and crab. I do favor the Alternative method in that recipe. This can be made the day before. All the fish is optional and interchangeable.

• Total Time: 1 hrs
• Prep Time: 30 mins
• Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 6

• ½ cup dry sherry
• ½ teaspoon saffron
• 1 lb fresh red snapper or 1 lb sea bass or 1 lb grouper or 1 lb flounder or 1 lb trout , boned and fillet
• ½-1 lb mixed shrimp (cleaned and shelled) or ½-1 lb lobsters (cleaned and shelled) or ½-1 lb scallops (cleaned and shelled) or ½-1 lb crabmeat (cleaned and shelled)
• 10 small clams
• 10 mussels
• 2 small squid , cleaned and sliced into rings
• ¼ cup olive oil
• 1 large onion , diced
• 2 shallots , minced
• 1 carrot , diced
• 1 cup fennel bulb , thinly sliced
• 6 garlic cloves , minced
• 28 ounces tomatoes , diced with liquid
• 2 cups fish stock (or Shrimp Stock (2 Methods)) or 2 cups clam juice (or Shrimp Stock (2 Methods)) or 2 cups chicken broth (or Shrimp Stock (2 Methods))
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon thyme
• ½ teaspoon basil
• 2 tablespoons fresh parsley
• pepper

Garnish

• garlic-infused olive oil
• parsley
• red pepper flakes

Directions:

1. Add saffron to sherry set aside.
2. Cut fish into bite size pieces.
3. Scrub clams and mussels.
4. In a large stock pot heat oil. Saute onions, shallots, carrot, fennel, and garlic in oil on low heat until lightly golden.
5. Add all liquids and seasonings including the saffron infused sherry.
6. Bring to just a boil. Lower heat and simmer 15 minutes. Add all seafood adding squid last, mix and simmer 10 minutes.
7. Serve hot in large bowls.
8. Top with garnishes.
9. Serve with crusty bread, and a tossed salad.

Reviews

[PatMe]

Fantastic flavor. I used vegetable stock as I do not like the flavor of chicken broth with fish. Also used fresh Haddock. Will definitely be making this again!! Thanks for a great recipe - next time I will try making with Shrimp Stock (I've been saving up shrimp and lobster shells in the freezer)
Second review: Okay - so I FINALLY got around to making this delicious soup again AND I made the shrimp stock recipe referred to (#147961). WOW - I thought the soup was good all the other times I've made it (with a variety of fish) but using the homemade stock recipe put this over the top!! Nice part is, the stock recipe makes SO much I have plenty left over (now in the freezer) to use again.
Thanks so much Rita for two great recipes that I have used over and over again with fantastic results.

[AB_Fan]

This was very good, and it reminds me of Cioppino. I modified the recipe a bit, using 1 full pound of shrimp, 1 pound of flounder, and 1 pound of mixed seafood (which has squid, clams, mussels, and tiny shrimp) in place of the 10 clams/10 mussels/2 squid. This was a lot more seafood than the recipe calls for, and the soup was too chunky, so I added 16 oz. chicken stock. That just about doubled the number of servings, too, so this will last DH and I awhile! I also used fresh herbs from my garden - 1 TBSP thyme, 1 TBSP basil, and 2 TBSP parsley. I kept all other ingredients the same. The only thing I might change next time is the reduce the salt by half, because the clam juice and chicken stock are both already quite salty. Thanks for posting!