Northwest Bouillabaisse

Northwest Bouillabaisse

While fresh shellfish taken from Washington coastal beaches is not usually considered game I can’t resist a good fish stew.

This past winter we gathered some mussels and clams from the coastline and used our crab pots to catch a few.

I supplemented the catch with   a pound of prawns – shell on, some white fish, cod and snapper.  You can make this dish in about 25 minutes, not including the fish stock, and be eating fresh Northwest Fish Stew with the family on those cold winter evenings. It’s not quite like the Bouillabaisse from Marseilles France, but pretty good. The whole meal was less than $20 dollars, not including the wine.

Ingredients

Two bunches of green onions, chopped or two leeks, washed well and chopped fine

4 Italian plum tomatoes chopped rough

1 medium red pepper, chopped rough

6 small red or white Finnish potatoes. Feel free to leave them out if you want to be more authentic; I kind of like them.

¼ cup of Extra Virgin olive oil

2 TBS. Pernod (a licorice flavored liqueur)

1 ½ quart of fish stock

1 whole bay leaf

½ tsp saffron (if you don’t have saffron or don’t like it use a TBS. of paprika and a pinch of sugar – I like to add some paprika anyway)

½ tsp. red pepper flakes

1 to 2 lbs. steamer clams

1 or 2 lbs. of white fish, cut into 4 pieces

1 lb. of large prawns (save shells)

1 to 2 lbs. of mussels

A whole crab or two, cooked and cleaned

Any other fish you want to add to the stew.

4 cloves of garlic, chopped fine

1 cup white wine

Procedure

In a large pot heat up some very good olive oil. Add the chopped onions or leeks, chopped red pepper, Italian tomatoes, and any other vegetables you want. When the onions begin to get clear, add your fish stock. Season the stock with the chopped garlic, bay leaf, saffron, and fresh ground pepper. Add the whitefish at this point and sauté the pieces a bit. At this point you may also want to add the small potatoes to cook, or you can cook them separately and add them later, or not serve with potatoes at all.

When the soup has begun to boil and the vegetables are cooked, add the rest of the fish, mussels, crab pieces, and the clams. Cover the dish for a few minutes or until the clams have opened up and the prawns are pink. Adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper (you won’t need much salt).

Serve in a big broad soup bowl with crusty French bread, Garlic Aioli*, or Rouille* and either a sturdy red wine or flavorful beer. Make sure everyone gets equal portions of the clams, mussels, scallops, and prawns, but save a few extra mussels for yourself – you are the cook after all.

Fish Stock – Court Bouillon (pronounced quah – booyawn)

Boil the prawn shells and any fish bones you have in about a three quarts of water. Add 1 stalk of rough chopped celery, an onion – rough chopped, a rough chopped carrot, a couple of bay leaves, a whole lemon, cut in half, some whole peppercorns, 1 cup white wine, and any other fish scraps you happen to have stored in the freezer or your fishmonger will part with. Unless you go to a real Fishmonger it’s unlikely that you will find any fish bones. You can also add about 2 cups of chicken stock if you don’t have enough fish bones. Bring the stock to a boil and skim off the scum. If you have any good clam juice, add it in at this point. I always save the clam juice from the last time we had steamed clams and put it into a plastic bag and freeze. Then I can use it whenever I am making a fish sauce. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for another 30 minutes. Strain the stock into another saucepan and reduce to about 2 quarts.

Garlic aioli

3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 large egg
1 TBS freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 TBS chopped fresh parsley
1/2 tsp. salt
2 turns freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup olive oil

Combine the garlic, egg, lemon juice, parsley, salt and pepper in a food processor or blender and puree. Add the oil in a slow stream and continue to process until the mixture has formed a thick emulsion. Some recipes also call for bread crumbs added at the end to thicken the paste.

Serve with toasted French bread slices. I like to spread the aioli on my bread slice and then dip in the bouillabaisse juices – umm!

Rouille

1 red pepper, roasted and peeled

2 cloves garlic

1 pieces of white bread torn into pieces

1 egg yolk

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

Juice of one lemon

1/2 cup olive oil

Salt and pepper

In a food processor, combine all the ingredients, except for the oil. Puree until smooth. With the machine running, slowly add the olive oil. Season the emulsion with salt and pepper.