Step 1 of 10
Make the stock first. Heat 4 tbsp olive oil in a wide pot. Add fish heads, bones, and prawn shells. Stir over medium-high heat 5 minutes.
Step 2 of 10
Add half the onion, half the fennel, 2 crushed garlic cloves, half the tomato. Cook 5 minutes. Pour in 2 L water and the bouquet garni. Bring to a simmer; simmer 30 minutes, skimming.
Step 3 of 10
Strain the stock through a fine sieve, pressing on the solids to extract everything. Discard solids. You should have about 1.5 L. Reserve.
Step 4 of 10
In the same pot, heat remaining olive oil. Sweat remaining onion, fennel, leek, and 2 chopped garlic cloves over medium heat 8 minutes until soft.
Step 5 of 10
Add remaining tomato, saffron, orange peel. Cook 3 minutes. Pour in pastis and let it bubble 30 seconds.
Step 6 of 10
Pour in the strained stock. Bring to a simmer. Season with salt and pepper. Add potatoes; cook 15 minutes until tender.
Step 7 of 10
While the broth simmers, make the rouille. In a mortar, pound 4 garlic cloves with 1 tsp salt to a paste. Pound in the soaked bread. Whisk in egg yolks and cayenne. Drizzle in 100 ml olive oil while pounding/whisking constantly — it should emulsify like aioli.
Step 8 of 10
When the potatoes are tender, layer the fish into the broth in order of cooking time — firmest fish (monkfish, conger) first. Cook 4 minutes. Add softer fish (John Dory, mullet), prawns, and mussels. Cook 4 minutes more, until mussels open and fish is just cooked through.
Step 9 of 10
Taste broth, adjust salt. Off heat. Sprinkle with fennel fronds.
Step 10 of 10
Serve in two courses, Marseille-style: ladle broth over toasted baguette in shallow bowls, with a dollop of rouille floating on top — this is course one. The fish and potatoes are served separately on a platter — this is course two.
Ingredients 20
the fish
- 1.5 kg mixed firm-fleshed fish — monkfish tail, John Dory, gurnard, red mullet, conger eel — heads and bones reserved
- 300 g whole shell-on prawns or langoustines
- 500 g mussels, scrubbed and de-bearded (optional but traditional)
the broth
- 1 large fennel bulb, sliced (reserve fronds)
- 1 large leek, white and pale green only, sliced
- 2 medium yellow onions, sliced
- 8 cloves garlic — 4 for the broth, 4 for the rouille
- 6 ripe plum tomatoes, hand-crushed (or 1 × 400 g tin)
- Generous pinch saffron threads (about 0.5 g)
- Peel of 1 orange (zest only, no pith), in strips
- 60 ml pastis (Ricard or Pernod)
- 150 ml extra-virgin olive oil
- Bouquet garni: thyme, bay, parsley, fennel stalks, tied
- Sea salt to taste
- Black pepper
the body
- 6 medium waxy potatoes, peeled and halved
the rouille
- 2 egg yolks (for the rouille)
- 1 thick slice white bread, crust removed, soaked in 2 tbsp fish stock
- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (for the rouille)
the serve
- 1 baguette, sliced and toasted