You make this in two stages: first a fiercely reduced soup of bony rockfish, saffron, fennel and orange peel, then the better fish poached in it until just done. The broth is rust-coloured, iodine-scented, slightly sweet. Rouille and toasted bread are not accompaniments; they are how you eat it.
Marseille claims it, and the claim is fair — a fishermen's stew of the catch that would not sell, raised with saffron to the status of a civic dish. The old rule was rascasse or nothing; the spirit is mixed Mediterranean fish, boiled hard, never gently.
Serve the soup first on toasts spread with rouille, then the fish. Do not skip the pastis in the pot. A Cassis blanc is the wine of the calanques.
Method
- 01
Cut the firm fish into large pieces and keep the heads and frames — they are the soup. Soften the fennel, onion and leek in ⅓ cup of the oil over medium heat until they are sweet and translucent, not brown. Add the tomatoes, 4 crushed garlic cloves, the saffron, the orange peel, the pastis and the bouquet garni. Stir until the kitchen smells of the Mediterranean: anise, saffron, tomato, and the sea that is coming.
- 02
Add the fish frames and about 6 cups of water. Boil it hard — not a polite simmer — for 30 minutes, crushing the bones against the side of the pot with a wooden spoon so they give up everything. Strain through a fine sieve, pressing well on the solids, and season. The broth should be rust-colored, iodine-scented, slightly sweet: the soul of the dish, so taste it and correct the salt.
- 03
For the rouille, pound the remaining garlic with the roasted pepper, the egg yolk and a pinch of saffron until you have a thick paste. Beat in the rest of the oil as for a mayonnaise, drop by drop at first, then in a thin stream, until it is rust-red, pungent, and holds its shape. It should make your eyes water a little. That is how you know it is right.
- 04
Poach the fish pieces in the soup according to firmness — the denser fish first, the more delicate after — and add the mussels at the end, just until they open. Serve the soup first, ladled over toasts spread with rouille, then the fish on a platter, with more rouille at the table. This is a two-stage affair; do not dump it all in one bowl and call it a stew.
