Fish Soup with Rouille Sauce

Ingredients

• 1 lobster tail (400 g, pre-cooked by vendor)
• 2 red drum fillets (200 g each)
• 2 snapper fillets (150 g each)
• 40 g saffron strands
• 100 g shallots
• 4 Garlic cloves
• 800 g peeled tomatoes (1 can)
• 350 g fennel
• 10 tbsp olive oil
• 700 ml fish stock
• salt, pepper
• 1 bunch spring onions
• 150 g potatoes
• 2 chili peppers
• 1 egg (size M)
• 150 ml vegetable oil
• 8 baguette slices

Instructions

1. 1.

   Cut lobster tail into 4 pieces. Clean and fillet fish, cut into pieces, refrigerate. Soak 30 saffron strands in 150 mL lukewarm water. Peel shallots and finely dice. Peel garlic cloves, mince 2 cloves finely. Drain tomatoes in a sieve, collecting the juice. Roughly cube tomatoes. Clean fennel, quarter and slice into fine strips.

2. 2.

   Heat 4 tbsp olive oil in a pot, sauté shallots and minced garlic over medium heat. Add tomatoes and cook for 3–4 minutes. Pour in saffron water, tomato juice, and 400 mL fish stock; season lightly with salt and pepper. Simmer gently for 10 minutes. Clean spring onions, wash. Quarter the lower third, blanch in salted water for 2 minutes, cool, dry, set aside.

3. 3.

   For the rouille, peel potatoes, rinse in remaining fish stock, cook until tender, then press twice through a potato ricer. Halve chili peppers, deseed and dice finely. Grind remaining garlic with salt, chili, and leftover saffron in a mortar. Add 1 tbsp olive oil and the potato mash; mix. Whisk egg with vegetable oil in a tall glass to make mayonnaise quickly. Stir in potato mixture, cover, and chill.

4. 4.

   Heat remaining olive oil in a pan, fry fish and lobster portions over medium heat for 2–3 minutes, season, flip, set aside. Cook fennel in the soup for 3–4 minutes. Add fish and lobster.

5. 5.

   Bake baguette slices under preheated grill until golden brown. Spread some rouille on each slice. Warm spring onions in the soup. Ladle soup with toasted baguette slices and serve.