Fish soup - recipe

Almost as if it were not allowed, we carry wines from Provence. We didn't do any market research that told us crystal clear that Provence would make everyone happy. And even when we order, there's always a little pang of conscience in the background that maybe it's just a hobby. Isn't there something more important? Is there nothing customers would rather have?

But a wine merchant is of course allowed to sell wines that he personally likes to drink, right?

A resounding yes. It is not forbidden to have inspiring wines around you, just as it is not forbidden to spontaneously cook fish soup.

Let's go!

Take: Two kilograms of various sea fish, for example Rascasse , the large red scorpionfish, or John Dory, monkfish, sea bream, red gurnard, whiting or cod and a piece of conger eel. If possible, two handfuls of scallops. It's not a checklist that needs to be checked off. There is no compulsion. But please go to the fish store. Do it! Bring the children. Take the day off. Get everything there ready to cook, but keep the section. Demand a fish head!

Buy saffron and crayfish and turn off your cell phone. You want two onions and leeks, celery stalks, a fennel bulb and three tomatoes.

A bulb of fresh garlic. Olive oil and the bouquet garni , a bunch of fresh thyme, fresh bay leaves, parsley stalks and some leeks tied with kitchen twine.

Cutting eels, rinsing crayfish, scrubbing mussels. Then peel the onions, flatten the garlic with the side of a heavy knife and peel off the skin. Chop the leek, celery and fennel. Blanch, peel and quarter the tomatoes.

Then take the heaviest pot in the entire kitchen. Heat some oil, add the vegetables and leftover fish, the fish head, fresh bay leaves, the bouquet garni and a pinch of saffron.

A piripiri? I like it spicy, so more like two. Cover with water, bring to the boil and let it simmer gently over a low heat while you make the rouille . For the rouille , deseed a red chili pepper and chop finely. Mix with plenty of finely chopped garlic, saffron and two egg yolks in a mortar and pestle to form a paste. Whip up a mayonnaise and mix with the paste.

Strain the fish stock. Cook the crayfish, mussels and pieces of fish from large to small for over twenty minutes. Serve with rouille and croutons .

This dish serves six people and three to four bottles of fine Provençal wine.