Made in Marseille by Daniel Young

Author:Daniel Young [Young, Daniel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-06-202891-4
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2002-03-16T16:00:00+00:00

FOND DE LÉGUMES POUR ROUILLABAISSE

VEGETABLE STOCK FOR BOUILLABAISSE

You will be hard-pressed to find a recipe, published or otherwise, for a vegetable bouillabaisse in which you are required to make a fond—"stock"— before assembling and preparing the actual bouillabaisse. Although a classic fish bouillabaisse is doubly enriched by cooking its potatoes and assorted fish in a previously made fish stock (a serious Marseille restaurant would not contemplate doing otherwise), going through the trouble of that initial phase is almost always eliminated for vegetable bouillabaisse. Its vegetables and seasonings are instead cooked in water that little by little absorbs its flavors and eventually turns into a fragrant soup.

This to me makes little sense. Since the soup in a vegetable bouillabaisse does not absorb the rich seafood juices that fortify the standard fish version, it becomes necessary to employ an abundance of onions, garlic, herbs, and tomatoes and to extract every last drop of taste from them. And the best way to accomplish that is by first preparing a vegetable stock whose ingredients are pressed and squeezed through a food mill.

Renée Brunet’s recipe accomplishes exactly that. Her vegetable stock is the base for three fishless bouillabaisses, spinach (page 139), pea (page 140), and “one-eyed” (page 138), as well as a salt cod bouillabaisse. It is very much worth the trouble.

MAKES 3 QUARTS

¼ cup olive oil 2 onions, finely chopped

1 leek, white parts only, chopped

2 pounds ripe plum tomatoes, cut into chunks and some of the seeds removed

1 head of garlic, crushed

2 teaspoons pastis (Ricard or Pernod)

1 bouquet garni (thyme, rosemary, bay leaf)

½ teaspoon ground coriander seeds

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Cayenne

1. Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan or stockpot over medium heat. Add the onions and leek and cook until translucent but not yet golden, about 5 minutes.

2. Add the tomatoes, garlic, pastis, bouquet garni, and ground coriander. Season with salt, pepper, and cayenne. Raise the heat to moderately high and cook, stirring occasionally, until the tomato chunks have softened and the onions and leek have turned a deep golden color, 5 to 7 minutes.

3. Add 3 quarts cold water and bring to a boil. Lower the heat to very low, cover tightly, and cook for 1 hour.

4. Pass the stock and vegetables through a food mill, extracting as much liquid and flavor from the vegetables as possible. Let cool and store in the refrigerator.

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