(Serves 4)

 

Ingredients

200ml olive oil

2 bulbs of fennel, roughly chopped

2 red peppers, roughly chopped

10g sea salt

20g of tarragon

4g black pepper, crushed

1kg fresh tomatoes, roughly chopped

1kg fish bones (turbot or lemon sole)

30g tomato paste

2 pinches of saffron

2 lemons, juiced

40g butter

40ml Pernod

 

To plate

 

200g salmon fillets, skinned

200g pollock, skinned

200g monkfish, skinned

2 sardine fillets

2g basil leaves, chopped

2g tarragon, chopped

2g chives, chopped

8 mussels, debearded

 

 

Method

 

  1. To make the broth, put the olive oil into a large pan over a medium heat. Once hot, add the fennel and cook for 3–4 minutes without colouring it.
  2. Add the red peppers, sea salt, tarragon and pepper. Cook for another 2–3 minutes.
  3. Add the fish bones, tomatoes and Pernod, then cover with water to a depth of 2.5cm and bring to a simmer. Skim off any froth, add the tomato paste and saffron, and bring back to a simmer.
  4. Cook for 1 ½ hours until reduced by approximately one third. Use a stick blender to blend the mix to a smooth sauce. Pour through a fine sieve pressing the solids with a ladle to extract all the liquid.
  5. Pour through a fine chinois (this time without pressing). Add the lemon juice, then pour into a blender and add the butter. Blend, check the seasoning and pass through a fine sieve again.
  6. Cut the salmon, pollock and monkfish into 50g pieces, seasoning lightly with salt and pepper, and cut the sardine fillets in two.
  7. Heat 500ml of the bouillabaisse broth to a simmer. (Don’t heat above a simmer as this will split the sauce!)
  8. Add the monkfish and poach for 3 minutes. Add the salmon and pollock and cook gently for another 7–8 minutes. Add the mussels and sardines and cook for 2 minutes, then add the herbs and serve.