Provencal Rockfish Soup with Saffron, Croutons and Rouille

What you need

• 1.5 kg (3 1/4 lb) small whole rockfish, such as scorpionfish, gurnard, weever or small red mullet, scaled and rinsed; or fish heads and frames from white fish
• 120 ml (1/2 cup) olive oil
• 2 onions, chopped
• 1 leek, white part, sliced
• 1 fennel bulb, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed
• 400 g (14 oz) tomatoes, fresh chopped, or 1 can, drained
• 2.5 l (10 cups) water
• 6 sprigs flat-leaf parsley
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• 1 piece dried orange peel, about 5 cm (2 in)
• 1 pinch saffron threads, generous
• 1 pinch piment d'Espelette, or cayenne
• 1 tbsp coarse salt, plus more to taste
• black pepper, to taste
• 1 baguette, sliced and toasted, rubbed with garlic, for serving
• 100 g (1 cup) gruyere, grated, for serving
• rouille, homemade or bought, for serving

Method

Restated from the original video

1. 1

   Cut the larger fish into chunks. Small fish can go in whole; gutting them is optional.

2. 2

   Heat the olive oil in a large heavy pot over medium heat. Add the onions, leek and fennel and cook until soft but not browned, 5 min.

3. 3

   Stir in the garlic and tomatoes and cook 5 min more.

4. 4

   Add the fish and stir over high heat for a few minutes, crushing the pieces with a wooden spoon so the flesh breaks up.

5. 5

   Pour in the water and add the parsley, bay leaf, thyme, orange peel, saffron, piment, salt and pepper.

6. 6

   Bring to a boil, skim off any grey foam, then simmer uncovered for 40 min.

7. 7

   Fish out the bay leaf and orange peel. Blend the soup roughly in the pot with a stick blender, bones and all, to loosen everything up.

8. 8

   Press the soup through a food mill on its finest disc, then pass it again through a fine sieve, pushing hard on the solids with a ladle.

9. 9

   Return the soup to the clean pot, bring it back to a simmer for a few minutes and taste for salt and saffron. It should be smooth, thick and deep orange.

10. 10

    Serve in warm bowls with the croutons, cheese and rouille on the table. Each person spreads rouille on a crouton, floats it in the soup and sprinkles cheese over.

Imported from quatresaisonsaujardin.com. Recipe Grab pulled out what you need to cook it; the video stays where its author put it.