Seafood Bouillabaisse (with Wild Striped Bass, Scallops, Mussels, Shrimp, French Bread, Rouille)
Recipe courtesy of Keith Armstrong, Executive Chef, The Country Club of Virginia, Richmond, Va.
Ingredients
- For preparing each seafood component
- shallot - 1/4 Tbsp., fine brunoise
- garlic - 1/10 tsp., fine mince
- lemon - 1/2, cut in half for juicing
- Noilly Prat vermouth - 1 oz.
- chives - 1 tsp., finely mined
- butter - 1 cube, 5x3x3
- kosher salt - to taste
- fresh ground white pepper - to taste
- For Wild Striped Bass
- wild striped bass - 2 ozs.
- For Mussels
- mussels - 3, cleaned
- For Scallops
- u-10 dry sea scallops - 2
- For Shrimp
- shrimp - 2 each, 16-20
- For Bouillabaise Broth
- shallot - 1 each, quartered
- celery - 2 in., large dice
- carrot - 2 in., large dice
- fennel bulb - 1/4
- mutti tomato paste - 2 ozs.
- sherry vinegar - 4 ozs.
- white wine - 4 ozs.
- shellfish stock - 32 fl. ozs.
- fresh tomato juice - 1 cup
- ham hock - 1 each
- basil leaves - 12
- sprig oregano - 1
- concasse tomatoes - 1 cup
- bouquet garni - 1 each
- terre bormane olive oil - 1 Tbsp.
- orange peel - 1, 1 inch x 3 inch (no pithe)
- kosher sea salt - to taste
- fresh ground pepper - to taste
- blanched mirepoix - 1 cup, small dice
- fresh lemon juice - as needed
- fresh basil - as needed, chiffonade
- pea shoots - for garnish
- For French Bread (1 slice per stew)
- olive oil - 1 Tbsp.
- garlic - pinch
- fine herbs - pinch
- rouille paste - 1 Tbsp.
Instructions
For Wild Striped Bass:
- Saline fish for one hour in 10 percent solution.
- Pan-sear fish in French steel pan to crisp skin.
- Deglaze with Noilly Prat, add butter, shallots, lemon juice, garlic, then poelle.
- Add butter to finish. Reserve filet for stew.
For Mussels:
- Cook mussels in a hot pan, adding only salt.
- Once mussels are hot, add butter, shallots, garlic, Noilly Prat, lemon juice, chives and fresh pepper. Reserve mussel for stew.
For Scallops:
- Pan-sear u-10 sea scallops in French steel pan, to carmelize the outside.
- Deglaze pan with Noilly Prat; add butter, shallots, garlic and lemon juice, then poelle.
For Bouillabaisse Broth:
- Sweat all vegetables in a heavy-bottom sauce pot with a small amount of oiive oil. Add tomato paste and lightly brown. Deglaze with vinegar and wine, then reduce until au sec.
- Add tomato juice, ham hock and shellfish stock, and bring to a simmer.
- Add tomato concasse, orange peel and herbs, then cook for additional half-hour.
- Check seasoning, then strain through a large-hole china cap.
To finish:
- Add one tbsp. olive oil to small sauce pan with a pinch of shallots and garlic, then sweat.
- Deglaze with splash of white wine, then reduce until au sec.
- Add six ozs. of bouillabaisse broth, 1 tbsp. small-dice mirepoix, and tomato concasse.
- Lightly poach seafood until product is cooked.
- Warm French bread with rouille in oven at 325ºF for approximately two minutes.
- Place bread in center of serving dish, then arrange seafood around bread. Spoon remaining broth, mirepoix and tomato concasse into dish.
- Finish with basil chiffonade, lemon juice and extra virgin oilve oil.
