James Beard's New Fish Cookery - James Beard [16]
VARIATION
You may prepare aigo-sau with only one fish or with as many as you please. It is also made without fish, with eggs poached in the broth just before serving. In this case it is sometimes called bouillabaisse borgne.
COTRIADE — A BRETON BOUILLABAISSE
4 large potatoes, peeled and quartered
4 large onions, peeled and quartered
Fish heads
Bouquet garni (thyme, bay leaf, rosemary, parsley)
Salt
Water, about 1 pint per person
3 pounds fish (mackerel, eel, fresh sardines, mullet, cod)
Put the potatoes, onions, fish heads, bouquet garni, and salt in a pot and cover with water — a pint per person. Bring to a boil and simmer for 20 minutes. Remove the fish heads. Add the fish, which has been cut into serving-sized pieces. Cook until the potatoes are tender and the fish cooked through, about 15 minutes.
Serve in two bowls, one for the broth and the other for the fish and vegetables.
BOURRIDE
There are about as many types of bourride as there are of bouillabaisse. It is difficult to offer one recipe that is representative, so I suggest two that are very different.
BOURRIDE I (CHIBERTA)
2 onions
2 cloves garlic
2 tomatoes
Bouquet garni (thyme, bay leaf, fennel, parsley)
2 quarts water
Salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
11/2 pounds small fish (sole, smelt, sea bass)
Pinch of saffron
6 fillets sole or flounder
6 large slices day-old bread, fried in garlic-flavored olive oil
2 egg yolks
Sauce aïoli (pages 33–34)
Peel and chop the onions and garlic. Peel, seed, and chop the tomatoes. Add these with the bouquet garni to the water. Add salt to taste and the olive oil. Bring to a boil and add all the fish except the fillets. Simmer for 15 minutes and add a pinch of saffron.
Remove the fish to a hot dish and allow the bouillon to cook down for a few minutes. Strain it and rub the vegetables and seasonings through a fine sieve. Reheat the bouillon and poach the fillets until they are just cooked through. Remove them to a hot plate and keep the bouillon hot.
Fry the bread in garlic-flavored olive oil until nicely browned.
Beat the egg yolks well and stir them into the bouillon. Do not let it boil. Place each piece of fried toast in a soup plate, top each one with a fillet and cover with sauce aïoli. Surround with the rest of the fish and the broth.
BOURRIDE II
2 pounds fish (bass, haddock, flounder)
1 medium onion, finely chopped
Bouquet garni (thyme, bay leaf, fennel, peel of half an orange)
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Boiling water
12 slices bread
Garlic
2 cups sauce aïoli (pages 33–34)
Prepare the fish — fillets will do. Cut them into small serving-sized pieces. Place them in the bottom of a saucepan and cover with the onion, bouquet garni, and salt and pepper to taste. Add boiling water to cover and a little above and let it boil for 10 minutes.
While the fish is cooking, toast the bread and rub well with garlic. Place it in a large tureen or deep platter. Then prepare enough sauce aïoli to use 1 cup in the sauce and have enough left (at least another cupful) to serve separately. You may estimate 1 egg and 1/4 cup of oil per person.
When the fish is cooked, remove it and keep it warm. Strain the bouillon and combine it, little by little, with 11/2 to 2 cups of the aïoli. Mix well without letting it curdle. When it is all mixed, put it in a saucepan over very low heat or over hot water and stir with a wooden spoon until the sauce just coats the spoon. It must not boil. Pour this sauce over the pieces of toast and serve the fish separately with additional aïoli.
BOUILLINADE DES PECHEURS
This is a fisherman’s dish that is a combination of French and Spanish cuisine, and while it shows some relationship to the Provençal dishes, it has a personality quite its own. It is properly made