Thank you Julia Child for my favorite soup on earth

Time: 90 minutes
Serves: 8 - 10

Bouillabaisse is, without a doubt, my favorite soup on earth and arguably, my favorite food. I feel transported to Provence whether cooking or eating it.

“Bouillabaisse is probably one of the most famous of all French soups. It originated on the Mediterranean coast of France in Marseille. And all it is, really, is a plain fishermen’s stew made out of the day’s catch or unsaleable leftovers. Unfortunately, when you get a famous recipe like this, the gourmets get hold of it and they fancy it up so much and say do this, do that or that’s not the real thing, that us ordinary people feel that it’s impossible to do and terribly expensive. But you can make a bouillabaisse out of any kind of fresh, lean fish that you want. And it’s wonderful to eat, and everyone enjoys making it, and, particularly, eating it, and there’s nothing particularly difficult about it.”
- Julia Child, The French Chef, PBS

One of the things I always miss most about summer is seafood. For some reason in years past, it began to vanish from my grocery list starting in early November…but not this year! Sounds Delish, my forthcoming entertainment cookbook co-authored by Broadway musician Augie Haas will feature this delish-ious fish stew in our September chapter “Fresh Catch”.

Here is our warm and cozy recipe for fish in Autumn inspired by the great Julia Child. It’s rich enough for a winter meal and fresh enough for a Summer patio supper. It’s simply, flaweless food and made for one of our best Sounds Delish Supper Clubs to date!

Sounds Delish Bouillabaisse

INGREDIENTS for Fish Stock

¼ cup olive oil

2 large onions, peeled and minced

2 leeks (white part only), minced

4 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed

3 pounds fish heads (gills removed) and bones

1 pound lobster bodies**

**NOTE: Lobster bodies are optional but make for incredible flavor in the stock. When serving the soup, I love to add half of a lobster tail and/or claw to each bowl so if you’d like to do that, now is a good time to steam some live lobsters. Use the bodies for the stock and reserve the tails and claws for serving in your soup!

6 to 8 ripe plum tomatoes, quartered

Peel of 1 orange, cut in strips

1celery stalk, cut in pieces

2 sprigs fresh thyme

3 bay leaves

½ teaspoon cayenne pepper

2 teaspoons pastis

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

4 quarts boiling water

METHOD

Place a large Dutch oven over medium heat, add olive oil and heat.
Add onions and leeks and sauté gently until softened, about 8 minutes.
Add garlic and continue to cook until everything is very soft and breaking apart, another 5 to 10 minutes.
Put 4 quarts water in a kettle, and bring to a boil.
Add fish and shellfish bodies (if using) to onion mixture, raise heat to high, and stir vigorously until pieces begin to fall apart, 7 to 10 minutes.
Add tomatoes, orange peel, celery, thyme, bay leaves, cayenne and pastis.
Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Reduce heat to medium, and sauté for 10 minutes.
Add boiling water and simmer 25 minutes.
Working in batches, pass mixture through a strainer. Press fish scraps and vegetables, to extract their flavor, with the aid of the fish broth.
Allow to cool. Store in the refrigerator.

INGREDIENTS for Bouillabaisse

Olive oil

8 - 10 thick slices good bread

2 onions, chopped

6 cloves garlic, chopped

3 celery stalks, trimmed and chopped

2 carrot, trimmed and chopped

1 pound new potatoes, whole or large ones cut in half

1 large fennel bulb , trimmed and chopped

1/2 teaspoon saffron, crushed with your fingers

4 quarts Fish Stock (see recipe above)

3 cups chopped tomatoes, with their juice

Salt and pepper

1 ½ pounds fresh and lean fish fillets (I love cod, red snapper, black bass), cut into bite-sized cubes

10 - 20 littleneck clams

10 - 20 mussels

4 Tablespoons Pernod

5 Lobster tails (optional), steamed and cut in half lengthwise

3 Tablespoons butter

10 sea scallops

Chopped fennel fronds, for garnish

Chopped parsley, for garnish

METHOD

Before we begin I’ll mention that
Add enough olive oil to a Dutch oven to make a thick layer on the bottom. In it, cook onion, garlic, celery, carrot, potato, fennel and saffron until glossy. Add stock and tomato and bring to a moderate boil; cook until thick like stew. Season to taste; it should be so flaweless that you don’t even care whether you add fish.
Lower heat and add cubed fish and simmer for 4-5 minutes. At about minute five, add clams and mussels, cover and cook until they are all open.
Uncover and remove from heat. Add Pernod.
While mollusks are cooking, sear the scallops and warm the lobster tails (if using) under the broiler with butter for about a minute:
1. For the scallops: in a cast iron skillet, melt butter, over high heat, until foaming but not brown. Add salted scallops and sear, without moving them, for 1 minute.
2. Flip scallops over and sear the other side for 30 seconds.
3. Remove from heat and cut scallops into quarters.
4. Place four quarters in the bottom of 6 bowls.
Gently ladle hot soup over the scallops, distributing clams and mussels evenly. Add lobster tails and/or claws if using. Garnish with fennel fronds and parsley. Serve with toasted bread or focaccia.