Make the Fish Stock

Separate the shells and heads of the cleaned tiger pawns.

There are many ways to make a wonderful fish stock. My way is a simplification of a friend’s recipe using a whole lobster. For reasons of budget and a lack of lobsters here in the Mediterranean, I used the shells of the large prawns/shrimp to make the stock. If you’d rather present the dish with the shells still on the prawns, or prefer not to use them altogether, ask your fishmonger for some fresh good quality fish stock.

Remove the shells from the prawns, clean them, and re-refrigerate the prawns.

Throw the shells into a hot pan with a glug of olive oil and a small knob of butter.

Fry the shells on a medium-high heat until they start to take on some colour. Don’t be shy.

When they’re browned, add 1 litre of water and make sure to deglaze the pan by scraping off all the tasty bits on the bottom.

Leave to simmer on a low heat for 1 hour, skimming the surface every so often to remove the impurities.

Strain and set aside to cool.

Passing the fish through the food mill requires patience- but it’s worth it!

Chop all the vegetables and place in a bowl ready.

Heat 2 tbsp of olive oil in a large pan. Add the vegetables and cook on a medium heat until softened.

Meanwhile, rinse the rock fish well.

Deglaze the pan with the white wine, scrape the bottom of the pan.

Add the rest of the herbs and spices except the saffron.

Add the rock fish.

Cover to the top of the ingredients with the fish stock.

Simmer on a low heat, stirring occasionally, for 1 hr.

Periodically skim the scum off the surface with a spoon.

Take off the heat, allow to cool.

Ladle the cooled mixture into your food mill with the second to smallest metal strainer. Turn the handle until what remains in the top is quite dry. Remove this and start again with the next batch. Continue until done. Now you have the base (broth) for bouillabaisse!

*The easiest thing to do next would be to reheat the soup, and poach the fish until just cooked (no longer) in the broth. However, for presentation purposes, I chose to pan-fry my fish in butter separately.

Reheat the soup.

Peel and boil the small potatoes so that they’re ready for serving. We boiled them separately because we found their yellow colour a welcome contrast to the soup. However, you can always throw them in the pot and boil them in the soup.

Pan fry or poach the cod filets (about 10 minutes depending on thickness).

Pan fry or poach the tiger prawns (about 3 minutes).

Add the mussels to the soup.

Add the saffron to the soup.

At this point, season the soup to taste with salt. Note: The mussels will add some salt, especially if they’re Mediterranean mussels, so wait until they open.

Add another chilli pepper if you like the heat.

Add the cod to the bowls.

Carefully ladle the soup around the cod, add the tiger prawns and mussels.

Place the chervil on the cod.

Serve with rouille on croutons and dry white wine from Cassis.