How To Make Bouillabaisse - Mark Bittman Recipes | The New York Times

You think about bouillabaisse, you think about what's around that I can turn into a fish stew. And what's around is often not that many different kinds of fish, and what may be around is more vegetables. What you're really looking for is a stew with fish flavor and some fish in it. So classic things include olive oil, fennel, really good for that anise, fennel-y flavor. Some red pepper, an onion, and get all of that going, and already we have more vegetables in here than you would normally use in a sort of classic bouillabaisse. I'm going to look for about a pound of fish, and you can use any assortment you want. As our onions soften, some salt and pepper, of course. I'm going to use some thyme in this, a few sprigs of thyme. And if you have it, a little bit of saffron, a pinch of chili, say a tablespoon of garlic. This composition of vegetables, all we're looking for is flavorful vegetables. I do like fennel in here. Onions are great in anything. Red pepper is, I would say, optional. We're going to put in some potatoes, and a little bit later, some zucchini and carrots. And a couple of cups of tomatoes. These can be fresh or canned, whatever you like. And after that's all blended, enough water to make this, shall we say, stew-y, two or three cups, say. This is going to simmer for a few minutes, and while it's doing that, I'll cut up the scallops and the squid. What we have here are three incredibly fast-cooking fish, so we're going to add them at the absolute last minute, with maybe two minutes before we're ready to eat, we're going to add these fish. First of all, a thing of beauty, yes? Wonderful colors. Yukon gold potatoes, the onions with some color, the red peppers, the green zucchini, the orange carrots, the red tomatoes, really nice. From the time I put this in until the time I start eating, two minutes, maybe three. You will see this stew become a little more liquid, not less liquid as this fish cooks because it's going to be giving up some of its moisture. So cute. Nice to garnish with a little bit of the fennel fronds, and you have fennel because we started with fennel. A couple pieces of well-toasted bread in the bottom of the bowl. So one pound of fish, this is obviously enough to serve four or possibly even six people. It's plenty of fish, and it's plenty of stew. It's not your classic Marseilles bouillabaisse, but it's really great.