2013 is coming to an end and I did a mental tally of a year filled with highs and lows. I am glad to close the books on this one and look forward to better times ahead. Have you made dinner plans for New Year’s Eve yet? It feels right to be a little festive, a little celebratory. But I would be nuts to drag myself out to a restaurant and pay for overpriced set menus. Here is my lazy take on bouillabaisse, conveniently scaled down to serve just two people. It is easy to make with just the right amount of extravagance. If you still haven’t made dinner plans for tonight, why not stop by the grocery store to pick up some seafood? I love that it tastes vibrant and is loaded with healthy ingredients at the same time. Kicking off the new year resolution one day early can’t possibly be a bad thing.
Get the recipe after the jump…
Bouillabaisse For Two
serves 2, obviously
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon of olive oil
- 1 medium onion, sliced
- 6 cloves of garlic, chopped
- 1 shallot, sliced
- 1 small fennel, sliced and fronds reserved
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1/2 cup Pernod
- 2 sprigs of thyme
- 8oz bottled clam juice
- 14oz diced tomatoes with juice
- pinch of saffron
- 1/2 teaspoon herbes de Provence
- salt & pepper to taste
- 200g cod fillet (or other firm flesh mild flavoured fish), cut to large bite size pieces
- 4 jumbo shrimps
- 6 U15 scallops
Method
- Heat a 3-qt Dutch oven (oval Le Creuset worked well for me) at medium high heat and drizzle pan with olive oil. Sauté onion, garlic, and shallot until soft. Add fennel and sauté some more. Season with salt and pepper.
- Add tomato paste and stir for about a minute. Pour Pernod in the pot and cook until most of the alcohol evaporates. Add thyme, clam juice, and diced tomato with juice and bring to boil. Stir in saffron and herbes de Provence. Turn heat down to medium low and cover pot with lid. Simmer for 5 minutes.
- Nestle fish pieces in the broth and cover the pot with lid. Simmer for another 3 minutes until fish is almost cooked.
- Carefully nudge shrimps to fully submerge in the broth and cover the pot with lid. Simmer for another 2 minutes. Repeat the same with scallops and simmer for about 2 minutes. The goal is for all seafood to finish cooking at the same time. Use your judgement based on the size of ingredients you use.
- Gently remove shrimps and scallops from the broth. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. Divide broth, vegetable, and seafood on two soup dishes and garnish with reserved fennel fronds. Serve immediately with crusty bread and hopefully rouille too.
