Fisherman's Bouillabaisse

Yield: 6 servings

One 3 1/2 pound red scorpion fish
2 tub gurnards, a type of red mullet (about 5 pounds total)
4 slices of conger eel, plus tail, chopped into pieces
2 pounds soup fish (wrasse, red mullet, scorpion fish, sea bream or other small mild fish)
One 3-pound John Dory
2 skate fish (about 2 pounds total)
2.2 pounds tomatoes, cut into quarters
2.2 pounds potatoes, sliced 1/2 inch thick
1 garlic bulb, crushed
4 onions, sliced
2 soup spoons tomato concentrate
6.8 fluid ounces white wine
8.8 pints fish stock
3-4 branches dried fennel
1/2 teaspoon saffron
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

Sweat the onions in olive oil with crushed garlic and dried fennel. Add the soup fish and the conger eel tail, deglaze with white wine. Allow to evaporate. Add the tomatoes. Allow to cook a little, then cover with fish stock and allow to reduce by half. Add more fish stock until a thick bouillon forms.

Clean and prepare the rock fish. Season the bouillon and add saffron, conger eel slices, the John Dory, the red scorpion fish, the sting fish and the potatoes and allow to cook 10 minutes. Then add the tub gurnard and cook for 5 minutes. According to the size of the fish, allow to cook another 5 minutes if necessary.
Remove the fish and potatoes and serve on an oval serving platter. Strain the bouillon through a conical sieve into a soup bowl, check seasonning and serve.

Accompaniment: Rouille, a type of mayonnaise, flavored with pimento, saffron and garlic accompanies bouillabaisse in the traditional recipe.

Rouille
About 1 pint olive oil
3 egg yolks
1/2 teaspoon bell pepper
1/2 teaspoon hot pepper
1 baguette (a little dry) for croutons, rubbed with raw garlic cloves
Pinch of saffron
Salt and pepper

Equipment

1 mortar
1 pestle

Prepare like a mayonnaise. In the mortar, add the egg yolks, peppers and pinch of saffron. Mix together. Pour in a thin stream of the olive oil while briskly stirring with the pestle until the mixture thickens. Serve the rouille on the croutons.