Baja Bouillabaisse
Ingredients
Yield: About 10 Servings
Rouille:
1 large red bell pepper, coarsely chopped
4 tablespoons bread crumbs
2 tablespoons chopped garlic
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
3 tablespoons olive oil
Broth:
4 cups Fish Stock
1 large pinch saffron
1 cups dry white wine
2 tablespoons brandy
2 tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and roughly chopped.
Seafood:
12 littleneck clams, mulched
12 mussels (either black or green lip from New Zealand), mulched
8 large Guaymas shrimp, peeled and deveined
12 large sea scallops, cleaned (Lion’s Paw from the Sea of Cortez if you can get them, otherwise use dry pack diver scallops)
4 (3 ounces each) or firm fish of your liking
For grilling: a mixture of 1/2 cup olive oil, 1 tablespoon chopped garlic, and salt and pepper to taste
4 stone crab claws, cooked and cracked
Garnish:
16 Anaheim chilies, peeled, seeded (see page 34 for directions), and cut into 1/2-by-4-inch strips
1 zucchini squash, finely diced
1 yellow squash, finely diced
1 red bell pepper, finely diced
8 ounces unshelled English peas (you will need 1 cup shelled)
Garlic toast
Instructions
- To prepare rouille, puree red pepper, bread crumbs, garlic, salt, and pepper in a food processor. Slowly add olive oil to form a thick paste. Set aside.
- Preheat grill. Combine all ingredients for broth and bring to a simmer, cooking for about 5 minutes to allow flavors to meld.
- Add clams and mussels to broth, cover, and simmer until they open, about 3 minutes. Meanwhile, brush shrimp, scallops, and cabrilla with olive oil mixture and grill. Scallops will take about 1 minute per side, shrimp 2 1/2 minutes per side, and cabrilla 3 to 4 minutes per side depending on thickness.
- To assemble, warm chili strips in broth, them place them decoratively in the bottoms of 4 large individual serving bowls. Warm crab claws in broth. Pour 1/4 cup broth into each bowl and attractively compose equal portions of seafood in each. Add diced vegetables and peas to remaining broth to cook them slightly, then ladle them with broth into each bowl. With each portion serve a dish of rouille and some garlic toast.
- NOTE: Mulch clams and mussels by setting them in a tub of water with 1/2 cup cornmeal and refrigerating overnight.
