YOUR MAGNIFICENT BOUILLABAISSE BRUNCH

YOUR MAGNIFICENT BOUILLABAISSE LATE LUNCH

Awash with scents of salt and rosemary, fresh basil and ripe Roma tomatoes, crushed garlic and parsley, and fish, glorious fish, this broth stirs you, seeps deep inside you, softly settling; the foundation of all life, the sea.

Tumbled in a wave, bottom feeders, both shell and non-shell, rock clingers and sand scramblers, and fish, a good flesh that holds its own. All swirling with olive oil, first press, virgin, organic. You want to drink it, swim in it, slurp it and crunch it. Ah, your one and only Bouillabaisse. I well remember my first experience, as memorable as perhaps losing my virginity. It was on a winter Sunday evening in Portland, Oregon, where it’s always dark. We found ourselves driving along Sandy Avenue and saw OPEN flashing on the outside of what people had told us was a third generation Italian restaurant. Let’s try it, flashed into both our heads at the same time. On the menu in the crowded, very warm dining room, they had a square card clipped to the inside of the menu. Bouillabaisse for two with wine, nineteen dollars. We needed to splurge, we were young and feeling especially broke. A light salad was followed by a huge tureen of this dream of a meal. And then bread and wine, of course. Has it been said, the first time is the sweetest? This was certainly one of those evenings.

We were very excited, contacted friends whom we knew loved seafood, and trundled the four us down there a couple of Sundays later. Wouldn’t you know, well you may not, but this was the start of my history of going back to have the one dish I wanted, only to find it had been discontinued. Yes. They never had that deal again. But I’d been inducted.

When I say I dream about this, I mean snuggle down under my covers the Sunday morning before and fantasize about all the color, the atmosphere, the people, my choices of setting, colors, casual but elegant. But casual.

Bouillabaisse is not a tidy meal. There will be dunking of crostini, slurping of liquid, scrapping of mollusks, cracking of carapace, breaking a leg or two. Perhaps the use of a large bib for each guest could be in order. Or friends are experienced in dissecting creatures and won’t need such protection from flying liquid and shell. Ah, finger bowls with a slide of lemon. Consider the piles of garlic-buttery crostini.

GET READY: Start picturing your first gathering of good friends whom you haven't shared bread with for almost a year and a half. They are hungry for more than a meal, for camaraderie, face-to-face, laughter, touching a hand to an arm, finally hugging, gripping. This is a celebration of how and what has been endured. Truly more than food and drink, it is a metaphysical shift in the past year’s continental drift, a tossing off of the winter of our discontent.

WHAT YOU’LL NEED: Tablecloth(s), table, serving platter, soup tureen, serving utensils, small bowls for snacks, chairs, perhaps seat cushions as this is going to be a long meal; for each guest, and hosts, a wine glass, water glass, dinner napkin, dinnerware, dinner plate, large soup bowl.

PLAN: Use your imagination now, paint a glowing picture with your longest table covered by brightly colored cloth, contrasting napkins.

NOTE: If you do not have all that you need, consider asking each guest to bring their own table setting, bowl, plate, wine glass. Picture how this could add to a casual afternoon picnic, something lively in a grape arbor. When I was a child, everyone brought their own table service, plates, glasses, service ware, napkins to a potluck. Recently a friend decreed that when we started sharing meals and going to potlucks again, he would demand that we all bring our own table settings, that paper and plastic be banned. I like that idea. Ah, and this might also be perfect for you if you don’t have 8 or 10 plates, when guests ask what they bring, ask them to bring what you really need.

Collect wine glasses, colored bowls for the stew, water glasses, small platters for your piles of olives. You must have masses of different olives set out on the dinner table of your mind.

(NOTE: buy Marcona almonds and jars of good olives, long loafs of french bread for crosinis, olive oil, don’t forget the olive oil, two heads of crisp butter lettuce, a jar each of capers and roasted pimento, and a lemon).

For the salad, keep it simple, a salad of the crispest butter lettuce scattered with capers and slivers of roasted pimento, a lemon vinaigrette drizzle. In your mind place a few bowls of Marcona almonds amidst the gleaming glassware, and then, of course, baskets of crispy, toasted crostini. And the Wine, crisp white wine, of course, but you will offer a pinot for those who must have red.

Your setting, under an awning, amidst an arbor, on your stone patio shaded by vines or covering? Even two folding tables pushed together in your kitchen or living room.

The time, one-two in the afternoon, when the early summer air is still fresh. Guests will arrive in a hurry, then fall into convivial relaxation as they bask in the atmosphere you are creating. They are part of this creating, the dream that guides as you roll up your sleeves and plunder your pocketbook.

GET READY: You see all this as you clean the patio, wash the linen and table ware, shine the wine glasses. Guests will arrive then guzzle, munch and ready themselves for what is to come, to astonish and delight, as they partake of this most delectable and enrapturing feast, your Bouillabaisse Feast.

Check the weather for the next weekend, if not good, then wait until it will be charming. Then a week in advance, start calling people until you come up with the right number of friends who are free the next Sunday. You might let them know what you will be serving. If the person you are inviting the phone doesn't like seafood (yes, strangly enough there are those people who don't) they can beg off. You want everyone at this party to love seafood, the friend who doesn’t can come by for coffee another day.

Your guests may, if well brought up, immediately ask what they can bring. Tell them wine, a light white. Perhaps a red if they prefer. But nothing else. Well, maybe beer. But nothing else. They will want to bring a small dish, like fruit salad or a humous dip with crackers, perhaps a little rice and pea salad? They will ask, and if you don’t politely but sweetly assure them the menu is all arranged and only wine, they will show up with something to add to the table. Emphasize no dessert. No dessert. You have the menu set. Such a meal should not be trampled, the memory of all the orchestrated flavors should not be trampled by a pair of coconut cream pies picked up at Safeway on a guest’s way into town.

Note: if a guest does show up with food in their hands, immediately thank them, take their offering into your kitchen and set it asie. If there is room, put the dish(es) in your refrigerator. At the end of the party you can offer them back to your guests.

PROCESS: Inventory what you have and what you need. Hey, this is a causal “Mediterranean” afternoon meal, you could be serving in the side yard to your own family, just home from catching your meal from the sea, no ceremony needed. If your wine glasses, your water glasses, your large soup bowls don’t match, nor your napkins, no worries. Adds to the atmosphere, the mix and match thing. Each person will require both a wine and a water glass, a large soup bowl and soup spoon, cloth napkin, finger bowl, and small salad plate. Accumulate and clean all a couple a few days before the brunch, polishing with a soft dish towel all glassware and eating and serving utensils. Set them aside on a table. Then cover with cloth.

Make sure your table cloth and napkins are clean. How wrinkly you leave them or not, up to you. If you want a flower arrangement, now is the time to plan, but first consider whether you will even have space on the table. Same with candles. Keep it simple.

Dust, wash down, sweep, clear off the patio. Ten people, ten chairs, a side table or two, maybe also with cloth covers, a long eight foot table. We have flags and party lights strung around the patio for atmosphere.

Remember to clean your kitchen and any part of the house guests will need to visit, even if only momentarily. In the event of sudden rain, you may need to move inside.

PURCHASE. Here it gets sticky, in more than one way. First, do you purchase only local, or only sustainable? When I begin to dream of bouillabaisse, the one we are going to make this June, when friends gather again, it starts as I wander by and peruse the offerings at my local market’s seafood counter. This has been true wherever I have lived, east coast, west coast, and once in Des Moines, Iowa. Any market worth it’s salt will have a decent fish counter, either tucked or sprawling next to the butcher's counters. Before you’re buying, when you are dreaming, start to envision what will be appearing in your miniature sea.

And then make the acquaintance of the fish monger behind the counter, ask questions, find out about deliveries, what is freshest, what is recommended. Forty percent of the world’s population lives within 100 kilometers (62 miles) from coastal waters, so chances are you can find fresh fish. Check on pricing, what will going on sale?

Start to build your bouillabaisse in your mind and then on notepaper. If you are in doubt, look up recipes in books or online, and remember as tempting as it might be, don’t overload the pot of stew. Your soup pot should not resemble the shoreline after a huge storm, keep it simple. A handful of shells with their living creatures still residing, a few crustaceans, some drifts of herbs and a good solid fish, really are all you need. The secret is in the broth, this is what you want to build on your way to a fabulous late lunch.

A Note on Costs: This will be the main dish at your meal, so choose per person approximately 2-3 mussels, a few clams, 2-3 shrimp, depending on size, a crab claw or a few legs, and the fish which can be cod, maui-maui, black cod, flounder and even salmon. These will all be added into the broth at the very end of cooking, the mussels and clams will open, the fish will cook, and whatever else will warm. All this to ensure that each sea item tastes of itself, not of everything else. This is not grandmas beef stew!

A Note on Not Going Fresh: If you aren’t able to obtain fresh materials, in a pinch you can use fish sauce and clam juice to create the broth you want, and add frozen mussels and clams, and the fish. As long as it isn’t a dinner party where everyone is conducting a taste test, you can create a full bodied flavor that will stand up under the wine, the crostini and the dessert.

Once, long ago before I knew anything about fixing fish, I was invited to a potluck dinner out at someone’s horse ranch when my little daughter was taking riding lessons. This was something I just stumbled into, and impoverished and worried I wandered through our market hoping for inspiration. My brain just blew up and I picked up two cans of evaporated milk, two cans of pureed tomatoes and two cans of pink salmon. Took them home, stirred them in a big pot, added a few dashes of red chili, some salt. In a well-weathered soup tureen I self-consciously set it out on my hostess’ table. People were wild about it and wanted the recipe, which I said I would try and remember to send to my host. But of course never did. You can’t do that, stir three cans together and go voila! Well, you can, but you can’t tell people about it.

So, you’ve looked at the creatures, figured out cost, decided where you can splurge and where you shouldn’t. Made a friend with the fish monger, so they say. Here’s a list of what else you will need the morning you build your broth, one that is sweet and savory, mellow and picante.

ripe plum tomatoes (there are fantastic ones sold canned from Italy in the market) . fresh parsley - 1/2 cup chopped. 1 stalk celery - chopped 1/2 red pepper - chopped 1/2 medium onion - chopped 3 cloves of garlic - crushed and chopped fine 1/4 tablespoon thyme 1 dried bay leaf pinches of salt 2 bottles of clam juice 1 small bottle of Tai Fish Sauce White wine, one that is light to give life to the broth.

VEGETABLES IN YOUR POT: I believe that for bouillabaisse the less vegetables the better, but if you feel you need them, limit it to: a) cut up white potatoes, cooked mostly before adding them to the broth before the seafood, b) a chopped up smaller zucchini or two, added to broth before the seafood, and/or 3) a small onion chopped fine cooked in the beginning of the process (see recipe at end of this article).

AH YES THERE WILL BE AN EASY RECIPE SHARED.

PREPARE THE BOUILLABAISSE BROTH: You have a choice, prepare the broth the day before or start it four hours before your guests arrive. (NOTE: you have already begun to perceive having a partner(s) in this endeavor is a good idea if you are having more than a few guests.) You can make this dish for only a few people. Over the years, I’ve made it for just me and my husband. Just be brave and request from your fish monger only four mussels, four clams, a few shrimp, maybe a lobster tail and 1/4 pound of fish. Works well. Not as splendid as a group feast, but very satisfying.

RECIPE. There are many recipes in cookbooks and online to make this dish, as well as cioppino, seafood bisque, chowders, seafood stews. My suggestion is get down the skill of creating this broth and you can use it as the base for any of these dishes.

Warm a heavy 3-4 quart soup pot on stove, add 1/4 cup oil, then add in the chopped vegetables, turning them until all coated, put lid on and slow cook, stirring every few minutes until onions are translucent. Add bay, thyme, red pepper flakes and a pinch or two of salt. Put lid on for a few minutes, wanting the the veggies to almost stick to the pot, but not to burn. Now break up and include the plum tomatoes, you may only need 3-4 depending on the number of guests. Add five cups of filtered water and work your wooden spoon around to loosen all the vegetables and oily crusting from the bottom and sides. Next you can choose to pour one bottle of clam juice into the broth. Slowly simmer your broth, adding salt to taste, but remember it is easier to add salt at the end then to remove it. well as salt to taste.

CLEAN SEAFOOD: This is critical, you do not want sand in your soup! Scrub the mussels, the clamshells, clean the lobster as well. Scrub them in cooled, icy water, you don’t want to call the creatures out yet.

CONTINUE: In a deep, preferably cast iron skillet, add olive oil, some crushed garlic and parsley. Once that is warmed and cooking, and the garlic is softened, shred several of your canned Roma tomatoes in with the garlic, add a bottle of clam juice, stir thoroughly, then slide in only tightly closed mussels and cook on low heat until they fully open. Then scoop them out and set on a platter. Toss if they don't open. Do the same for the clams until they open. Again, toss if they don’t open. Suggest you purchase a few more of each shellfish than you think you need as contingency.

I prefer peeling my shrimp before they are cooked for most dishes, then I sauté their skins in the skillet separate, to make sure I gain all the pure flavor of the shrimp, with out the mess of the shells. In addition, I may also clean the lobster from it’s tail, and in this instance I will sauté it along with the shrimp skin. The lobster and the shrimp meat will be added near the end of this cooking process, along with the fish. Once your shell fish are attended to, then you will add a cup of water to the skillet, increasing the amount of juice, then add a cup of white wine. Carefully pour this into the soup pot. At this point your broth needs to simmer on low heat. You may want to cook your white potatoes, cut up, in a separate pot right at this point, with salt, so they are ready to add later.

SALAD: Let’s take a few minutes to pull out a glass salad serving bowl, break up your crisp butter lettuce, fill the bowls, top it with capers and a few string of pimentos. Then cover this and put it back in the refrigerator. Make up your lemon vinaigrette, there are many recipes on the internet.

CROSTINI: One of the great pleasures of this soup is the broth, and having plenty of crusty bread to dunk is a must! Buy several loaves of french bread, figure 1/4 to 1/3 loaf per guest. Slice them on the diagonal. Make up a wash of olive oil, parsley and crushed garlic, and brush it over one side of each slice, lay them out on cookie sheets and place in an oven preheated to 375 degrees. Watch them closely, so you pull them out just a they brown and crust around the edges.

DESSERT: Individual small bowls of miniature trifles - lemon pudding, torn white cake and fresh berries. You can include whipped cream, or coconut cream. Suggest preparing early and keeping cool in the refrigerator. If you do not have enough space, consider half-filling an ice chest with ice and using it as extra storage.

PUTTING THE BOUILLABAISSE TOGETHER: About 30 minutes before your guests will arrive, taste the broth. Is it “fishy” enough for you? If not, you can add a tablespoon of Fish Sauce, which smells just incredibly horrible but works like magic. Also determine if it needs more salt or more liquid. Now, you slide into the broth all shrimp, lobster, crab, scallops, as well as the cooked mussels and clams. Once this all settles into simmer, you have a choice to make. You can add your pieces of fish to the pot, or you can grill it separately while the pot simmers. If you are going to grill the fish, then add the potatoes to the pot now, along with a long sprig of rosemary, or two sprigs. Otherwise, add your fish after the potatoes, breaking it up into enough pieces for everyone at the table.

AND THE PARTY BEGINS. You hear the bell rung at the garden gate, voices in the breezeway, and wearing a clean apron, you greet you guests as they emerge on to the patio. A gracious, laugh filled greeting, all the relief one feels at the end of a very dark long winter in your voice, in theirs. Show off where you’ve created the drinks corner, wine and/or beer, stow it on bottom shelf of butler’s trolley. Invite them to snacks, and say you’ll be back in a minute. Know that your partner will keep them entertained.

While fish, soup is finishing, bring out the salad and put it on the table. There, salad, olives, almonds, wine, friends. A breeze picks up, your wind chimes tingle, a cloth napkin starts to stir, someone rescues it and tucks it under a fork. Make sure all looks good, then dash in to bring out salt and pepper. Bring out the baskets of Crostini, then back in for the main affair. Again, you can accept help to bring this all out.

If you grill your fish, then break into pieces for everyone, I suggest the following: when serving, have all the soup bowls stacked by you and the soup tureen/pot, and the fish on a platter. Fill the each bowl with the Bouillabaisse and then place a piece of fish on top of the soup, and pass it down the table to a guest. It looks handsome and puts it all together.

SUMMATION: Bouillabaisse, Crostini, Salad, Wine, Trifle, iced/flavored pitches of water, table setting for a party? Secret is preparation, so once you trundle out the soup pot you are ready to enjoy all this yourself too.

MUSIC?

CONVERSATION?

Best wishes and the rest is up to you. I need to go have a glass of wine and give my brain a rest.