# Lazy man's bouillabaisse



## sand flea (Oct 24, 1999)

Bouillabaisse is a tasty dish, but it requires hard work, preparation and (possibly) being French, none of which are things we should aspire to.

Here's my lazy take on it.

1 bag of mussels (more or less, depending on your preference) that have been rinsed and _thoroughly_ checked for dead ones and cracked shells. One bad one will ruin both your night and your bathroom porcelain.

Toss these into a large pan with 5 finely diced large garlic cloves and roughly two cups of white wine (I prefer Pinot Grigiot or Sauvignon Blanc). Cover and increase the heat to medium. After about 10 minutes, all the mussels will pop open. Discard any that don't. Toss in a handful of chopped parsley and either A) enjoy your steamed mussels or B) keep going to make bouillabaisse.

Next are the littleneck clams. Make sure they're purged of sand beforehand by putting them into a big bowl of cold water that's liberally salted and had about one-half cup of cornmeal added. They'll purge their sand and suck in the cornmeal.

Drop the littlenecks into the mussel mixture, along with one large can of whole plum tomatoes, one whole chopped fennel bulb, five or six chopped celery stalks. You can also add any large fish heads that you have at this point--sounds gross, but makes a wonderful stock.

Add enough water to just cover the tips of the mussel shells, reduce the heat and wait 30 minutes.

At this point, toss in half a pound of shrimp and several filets of your favorite fish, laid across the top. Once the fish is done, the dish is done.

Spoon it out into bowls, sprinkle more parsley and enjoy.

Play around with the quantities and ingredients a little. You can add scallions, green onions, separate the shells from the shrimp and put the shells in at the very beginning to extract their flavor, etc.


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## Dixie719 (May 12, 2003)

I take it the French use Bunker Heads to make the stock???


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## Fish Bait (Feb 10, 2003)

You forgot the calamari!


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## AL_N_VB (Apr 3, 2002)

the only thing I like French are: .................Fries...........Long live feesh head soup


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