Bouillabaisse soup recipe

Bellingham-based chef Samantha Ferraro has cooked up a bouillabaisse recipe, a traditional French soup recipe that mixes shellfish, fish and vegetables to create a flavorful meal. Ferraro’s bouillabaisse was featured in Bellingham SeaFeast’s Keep It Simple Seafood recipes. 

Ferraro is the author of “The Weeknight Mediterranean Kitchen” and founder of the food blog, The Little Ferraro Kitchen. Her recipes have been featured in PBS Food, The Huffington Post, Los Angeles Times, Babble, Yummly and The Washington Post. 

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter

• 1 leek, thinly sliced and washed well

• 1 small fennel, chopped

• 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped

• 2 tablespoons tomato paste

• 2 large tomatoes, chopped

• 3-4 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves removed and chopped

• 2 pinches saffron

• 1 large piece of orange peel

• 1 bay leaf

• 4 cups seafood stock

• 1 pound clams and/or mussels 

• ½ pound large shrimp

• ½ pound scallops

• 1 pound halibut 

• Salt and pepper, to taste

• Chopped parsley, leaves, finely chopped for garnish

• Baguette, for serving

Directions

Bring a large wide stock up to medium heat and add olive oil and butter.

Once melted, add the sliced leeks and fennel and sauté until softened and fragrant, but not browned.

Add the chopped garlic and sauté for another minute. Stir the tomato paste into the garlic for another 30 seconds.

Add the chopped tomatoes, with their juices along with the thyme, saffron, orange peel and bay leaf and give everything a good sauté for 30 seconds to one minute.

Pour the seafood stock in and simmer for 30 minutes.

While simmering, add the fish that take longer to cook, the halibut or rockfish and simmer until halfway cooked through, about 5 minutes.

Add the mussels and clams and continue cooking for another 3-4 minutes.

Then add the shrimp and scallops and continue cooking for another 4-5 minutes. At this point, the fish should be cooked through and mussels and clams just opened.

Remove from heat and taste broth for seasoning.

Ladle the bouillabaisse into bowls and garnish with chopped parsley. Serve with toasted baguette.

Watch the recipe video at bellinghamseafeast.org/kiss.

This recipe was used for Keep It Simple Seafood (KISS), a monthly seafood cooking workshop that is running in partnership with Bellingham SeaFeast and Bellingham Dockside Market. The next KISS workshop will feature Hotel Bellwether’s chef Marcello Mazzoleni’s halibut ceviche and will be held 6-7 p.m. Friday, July 7 in the Greenhouse store, at 1235 Cornwall Avenue in Bellingham. 

The Bellingham Dockside Market, which offers fresh seafood for purchase, runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. the first and third Saturday every month at Gate 5 in Squalicum Harbor in Bellingham.