Bouillabaisse with Rouille; Chocolate Soufflé

I made Jay a going-away dinner while practising one of my favourite recipes so far from my French cooking class: Bouillabaisse! Feat. snapper, mussels and prawns.


We begin by making rouille. Which begins by roasting a red pepper and cooking half a small potato.

Then in a mortar and pestle, mash together approx. 1/2 roasted red pepper and a chopped garlic clove. Chop the potato and fold it in, and season with cayenne pepper, smoked paprika, salt and pepper.


Drizzle in olive oil to form an emulsion. Ok! Set this puppy aside and start on the bouillabaisse.

Bouillabaisse

1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 Tbsp onion or shallot, diced
2 Tbsp fennel, diced
2 Tbsp leeks, emincée
1 clove garlic, chopped
pinch cayenne pepper

Sweat all of the above in olive oil; then add:

pinch orange zest
pinch saffron

Deglaze with a splash of dry vermouth, then add:

2 Roma tomatoes, chopped
3 small or new potatoes, halved or quartered
1 1/2 cups chicken-flavoured stock

Simmer, covered, for about 20 minutes or until potatoes are cooked. (And in the meantime, slice up some French bread and throw it in the toaster, and get serving bowls ready.)

Then add a few pieces of mixed fish and seafood, cut into 1-inch pieces. I used 10 prawns, 10 mussels and one fillet of snapper. Cover for a couple minutes until seafood is cooked, which happens fast -- don't overcook!

Using a slotted spoon, portion seafood, potatoes and residual goodies into the serving bowls. Taste the broth and add some salt and pepper if needed. Stir in a large spoonful of rouille, and then finish with a splash of Pernod. Pour into bowls, and serve with crostinis spread with rouille.

So yeah. Bouillabaisse. Somehow I was still hungry, so I figured I'd just make a chocolate soufflé again. Am I breaking a rule by making a soufflé in that dish on the left? I think maybe. I ate this one and it seemed slightly less done than the other one. I guess now that I've made soufflés three times, it's ok for me to invest in a second ramekin. In any case. Then I remembered I have some whipped cream in the fridge.


So I whipped it. And we ate it. With the soufflé. C'est tout.