Bouillabaise (served with warm French bread and Rouilli topping)

Submitted by Gerald Schmidt, Executive Chef and Culinary Director, Reynolds Plantation, Greensboro, Ga.

by C&RB Staff (editor@clubandresortbusiness.com)
July 2008
 

Yield: Serves 6 to 8

For the Rouilli:
Amt Ingredient
2 egg yolks
1½ Tbsps. crushed garlic
2 Tbsps. pulp of baked potato (warm)
½ tsp. paprika
1 Tbsp. crushed red pepper
1 dash cayenne
to taste salt and pepper
1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
to taste Tabasco
1 1/4 cups olive oil

Procedure:
• Put egg yolks in mixing bowl. Add garlic, potato pulp, paprika, hot red pepper, cayenne, salt, pepper, lemon juice and Tabasco
• Wisk rapidly until this forms a smooth paste. Then gradually add olive oil to form an emulsion and thicken; be careful not to overbeat.

For the Bouillabaise:
Amt Ingredient
½ lb. boneless striped bass (or sea bass),
cut into 1 ½” squares
½ lb. boneless red snapper or grouper
12 each large shrimp, shelled and devained
½ lb. boneless flounder or sole
2 2-lb. Maine lobsters, cut into 6 pieces, claws cracked


2 tsps. saffron
1 Tbsp. garlic, chopped
½ cup fresh fennel, diced
1 Tbsp. leeks, diced
½ cup celery, diced
½ cup onions, diced
8 cups fish broth (can substitute fish base)
1 cup dry white wine
1 Tbsp. tomato paste
pinch cayenne
pinch thyme
1 small bay leaf
to taste salt
1/3 cup olive oil
18 mussels, bearded and well-scrubbed
6 littleneck clams, well-scrubbed
2 cups chopped tomato, no seeds or skin
1 Tbsp. Pernod
1 Tbsp. chopped parsley
to garnish fresh French bread

Procedure:
• The night before, marinate the bass, red snapper, shrimp, flounder and lobster with 1 tsp. saffron.
• Heat olive oil in large saucepan. Add the garlic, fennel, leeks, celery, and onions. Cook only for a few minutes; do not brown, just sweat them.
• Add the fish broth, white wine, tomato paste, remaining saffron, cayenne, thyme, bay leaf and salt. Simmer slowly for 10 minutes.
• Add the marinated fish, cover the pot, and simmer for another 2 to 3 minutes. Then add the mussels, clams and chopped tomatoes. Simmer another 2 to 3 minutes with lid on, then add the Pernod and chopped parsley.
• Serve in hot bowls with warm French bread and rouilli as a topping to the bread.