Chopping lots of fish - bouillabaisse !

blog, blogspot, Cordon Bleu, Intermediate Cuisine, Paris, SjoerdAfter yesterday's demo about the bouillabaisse, it was now time to chop up the fish ourselves. First I went to the cafe (7.30 am) on the corner for two espresso's, had a chat with chef Patrick (in Franglais, interesting) and was at school before 8 'o clock. Since I was still assistent, I was there early because there was actually quite a bit of work to be done; 3 big trays of different kinds of fish, a tray of general ingredients and 2 trays of veggies had to come from the basement to our kitchen on the second floor; but my co-assistent didn't show up this morning...... he was in class, but not early enough to set up the stuff. %$#@ ! Well, I got it all out on time with a bit of help from James and off we went... Today, there were only 9 of us, one didn't feel like chopping up fish on an early morning I guess....

Today's dish; this is my creation.

chop,chop,chop,chop ! veggies, fish, rinse, chop more veggies, filled the fish, remove all the pinbones, deseed and skin tomato's, chop more fish, sweat the stuff, cut fishbones and pop the eyes, remove gills of the suckers without getting hurt, brown the fishbones, chop more veggies, add water, add tomato puree, add more tomato puree, slice potato on a mandolin and slice off some skin as well (idiota!), cut onions, crush garlic, clean the blood (of your finger) on the chopping board, and clean the blood again 20 seconds later, and above all: add lots (and I mean lots) of saffron! To cut a lot story short - we made bouillabaisse.

Not a bad dish, but a lot of work. My result was sort of OK, the liquid was just a bit too thin. Too bad, better luck next time. The fish was cooked to perfection though! (If I may say so myself.)

King of Chinoix - strain/sieve the soup!

Plating the dish at the end. Everything looks yellow from the saffron.