Food Network: Fish Soup

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Fish Soup
Recipe courtesy Wolfgang Puck, Wolfgang Puck Cookbook, Random House Inc., 1986

Ingredients
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
3 pounds fish bones, such as red snapper, sea bass, or halibut
2 medium onions, sliced
2 carrots, peeled and sliced
10 cloves fresh garlic, peeled
2 branches fennel, sliced
10 ripe tomatoes, sliced
1 stalk celery, sliced
1 large potato, peeled and sliced
2 cups dry white wine
Large pinch saffron threads

2 to 3 sprigs fresh thyme
1/2 bunch fresh basil, chopped
Light fish stock, recipe follows, or water to cover (about 3 cups)
2 tablespoons Pernod
Salt
Freshly ground pepper
Cayenne pepper
12 (1/2-inch thick) slices French bread (1 per person plus extras)
Rouille, recipe follows
3 small lobsters, and/or 1 pound medium shrimp, shelled and deveined (shells
reserved) or fish fillets, or 36 to 48 mussels or clams (enough for 6 to 8 people)

Instructions

Heat a large heavy stockpot and to it add the olive
oil. Add the fish bones and cook them over low heat, covered, until any flesh on
them flakes from the bones. Add the vegetables and any shells from the shrimp,
cover and cook over low heat until the vegetables sweat, about 10 minutes.

Deglaze the pot with the wine, scraping up any particles sticking to the bottom of
the pan. Stir in the saffron, thyme, and basil.

Add the fish stock or water, and let the mixture gently boil for 1 hour. Then
puree it in a food processor or pass it through a food mill. Pass the puree
through a medium strainer into a clean stockpot. Stir in the Pernod. Season the
base, to taste, with salt, pepper and cayenne. The soup should have a full-bodied
flavor: If it seems weak, reduce it over low heat to concentrate the flavor.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Skim any fish oil from the top of the soup and reserve it to stir into the
rouille.

Toast the croutons in the oven until golden, and then brush with rouille.

Bring the soup to a boil. Add the shellfish and/or uncooked fish fillets to the
soup, 1 variety at a time. Cook each until done; then remove from the soup and
keep warm. (The lobsters will take about 10 minutes and their shells will be
bright red when done; medium shrimp will take 3 or 4 minutes to cook; fish fillets
from 1 to 7 minutes, depending on their thickness (they should remain slightly
underdone); and the mussels and clams only cook for 3 to 5 minutes, until their
shells open).

Presentation: Place 1 crouton in the bottom of each large, shallow, heated soup
plates. Then arrange the fish and/or shellfish around each crouton. Ladle the hot
soup over all. Serve immediately. Pass additional rouille in a separate serving
bowl.

Fish Stock:
2 pounds fish skeletons, cut into pieces*
2 tablespoons vegetable or other flavorless oil
1 small carrot, peeled and sliced
1/2 onion, sliced
1 small stalk celery, sliced
2 cups dry white wine

1 bouquet garni (sprigs of parsley and thyme, peppercorns, and a bay leaf tied in
cheesecloth)
1 quart water, approximately

*Cook's Note: Use the skeletons of saltwater fish such as sole, John Dory, turbot,
halibut or other very fresh non-oily fish for stock.

Clean the fish bones under cold running water, removing the gills from the head
and any traces of blood on the frames.

In a large saucepan, heat the oil. In it sweat the fish bones and vegetables over
low heat, covered, for 10 minutes, stirring once or twice to prevent them from
browning.

Deglaze the pan with the wine, and then add enough water to cover the bones and
vegetables by 2 inches. Add the bouquet garni and bring the liquid to a boil. Skim
the froth from the surface, reduce the heat, and simmer the stock for 20 to 25
minutes.

Strain the stock into a clean saucepan. Bring it to a boil and reduce it over
medium heat to 1 quart.

Note: Fish stock will keep in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 days or frozen for 2 to
3 weeks. After that time the flavor begins to fade.

Yield: 1 quart
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 35 minutes

Rouille:
2 egg yolks*
3 to 4 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon dried red chili flakes
1 cup olive or almond oil
1/4 teaspoon saffron
3 to 4 tablespoons fish stock
Lemon juice
Salt
Freshly ground pepper

In a bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, garlic,
mustard, and chili flakes. Whisk in the oil in a very slow steady stream until the
sauce begins to emulsify. Add the remaining oil in a thin stream until all of it
is incorporated. Add the saffron. Thin the sauce with the stock and season, to
taste, with lemon juice, salt, and pepper.

*RAW EGG WARNING
Food Network Kitchens suggest caution in consuming raw and lightly-cooked eggs due
to the slight risk of Salmonella or other food-borne illness. To reduce this risk,
we recommend you use only fresh, properly-refrigerated, clean, grade A or AA eggs
with intact shells, and avoid contact between the yolks or whites and the shell.
Yield: 1 1/2 cups
Prep Time: 10 minutes