Bouillabaisse

For years my dear friend Charlie and I would host a bouillabaisse party in the park and invite 50 of our friends.  I would make the fish stock and cut up all the veggies and we would ask our friends to bring a pound of fish or shellfish to add.  Charlie made 2 of these huge pots and gave one to me so I could carry on the tradition when I moved from California. The other weekend we had 25 friends over and made bouillabaisse once again.  We had all sorts of fresh halibut, crab, shrimp, scallops, mussels, salmon, and calamari and it was delicious.   Bouillabaisse is a traditional fish stew that originated in southern France and is made with whatever the fishermen caught that day.  The recipe that I compiled and always use has onions, garlic, fennel, tomatoes, orange peel, new potatoes, Pernod, white wine, fresh thyme, parsley and fish stock.  I serve rouille ~ which is a roasted red pepper and saffron mayonnaise (with a little bit of bread crumbs mixed in) on croutons that I rub a fresh garlic clove over as it comes out of the grill.  They are great to mop up the soup as well as copious loaves of crispy crusted French bread and butter.  This pot is actually overkill because it could easily feed over 200 people, but it brings its own impact and drama to the party which is fun.  I put the pot over a large portable burner and use a propane tank.  Click here for the recipe…. Click here for the rouille recipe….