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Transfer to a serving dish, and arrange mushrooms, mussels and croûtons round the fish. In Normandy, you might get oysters and crawfish as well as mussels, if you were lucky.

MEDITERRANEAN FISH SOUP

As there is no point in attempting a Bouillabaisse since we do not have the right fish, here is another Mediterranean fish soup from France which we can make successfully. The vital ingredient is saffron, followed by fennel and a dried strip of orange peel – things we can get hold of here. Be sure to buy fish with heads on, and ask the fishmonger if he can give you a collection of sole or turbot bones, skin and heads from filleting white fish (they increase the flavour, improve the texture and cost nothing).

Serves 6

generous 1 kg (2–2½ lb) fish – monkfish, conger, mullet red or grey, gurnard or rascasse

bones and skin

1 large leek, trimmed, sliced

1 large onion, quartered

1 medium carrot, sliced

3 large cloves garlic, sliced

outer layer trimmed from a fennel bulb, or 2 fennel stalks or 2 level teaspoons fennel seed

olive oil

bouquet garni

strip of dried orange peel

salt, pepper, cayenne, sugar

large pinch of saffron

dash white wine vinegar (optional)

125 ml (4 fl oz) white wine, reduced by half (optional)

90 g (3 oz) vermicelli or other soup pasta

Clean and cut up fish: chop bones into convenient pieces. Put vegetables, garlic and fennel into a huge pan with enough oil to cover the base. Stew with an occasional stir for about 15 minutes, until the onion is soft and yellowing. Put in fish bones, skin, fish, bouquet garni and orange peel. Bring 2 litres (3½ pt) water to the boil and pour it into the pan. Bring rapidly to the boil and boil hard for 15 minutes. Tip into a sieve laid across a large pan. Ignore the more recalcitrant objects, bones, peel, bouquet, hard bits of fennel. Push through as much of the debris as you feel inclined, to give texture to the soup. Season to taste, adding a pinch of sugar if the flavour needs enhancing. A dash of vinegar or wine can be added with the same idea.

Bring soup to the boil, tip in the pasta and simmer until it is just cooked. Serve the soup with toasted or baked bread and rouille*, either to spread on the bread or stir into the soup.

VELOUTÉ DE POISSON

This fish soup is made on the principle of a velouté sauce*, but with finer, richer ingredients.

Serves 6

1½ kg (3 lb) fish – redfish, conger, gurnard

2 carrots, chopped

2 leeks or onions, chopped

3 large tomatoes, peeled and chopped

bouquet garni

3 cloves garlic, chopped

2 cloves

cayenne, nutmeg

1 tablespoon white wine vinegar

600 ml (1 pt) dry white wine or dry cider

1¼–1¾ litres (2–3 pt) water

500 g (1 lb) shellfish – lobster, mussels, prawns

salt, pepper

2 shallots, chopped

60 g (2 oz) butter

2 heaped tablespoons plain flour

1 glass brandy (optional)

125–175 ml (4–6 fl oz) single cream

2 large egg yolks

lemon juice

chopped parsley, tarragon, chives

croûtons of bread fried in butter

Put 1½ kg (3 lb) of fish into a pan, with vegetables, bouquet, garlic, spices, vinegar, wine and water. Bring to the boil. Add live lobster if used – otherwise add shells only of cooked prawns and lobster; with mussels, open them and add their liquor. Set aside the meat of these shellfish. When the lobster is cooked remove it, take out the meat, set it aside, and return shell to the pan. After 10 more minutes, sieve the contents of the pan and season well.

Melt the shallots gently, without browning, in butter. Stir in the flour, then the sieved fish stock. When smooth, add brandy and seasoning, and simmer for 20 minutes. Mix the cream and egg yolks and use to thicken the soup. Sharpen with lemon juice and taste for seasoning. Stir in shellfish and chopped herbs, and serve with croûtons.

FISH STEWS AND MISCELLANEOUS FISH DISHES

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