Fish Soup

Serves 6

• 2¼ lb (1.3 kg) mixed fish, which must include: Gurnard or red mullet, Small soft-shelled crabs, Conger eel, John Dory, A handful of langoustines, A piece of dogfish

• 2 leeks, chopped

• 2 onions, chopped

• 2 large ripe tomatoes, chopped

• 2 large cloves garlic, crushed

• Olive oil for frying

• 4 pints (2.3 litres) water

• 1 teaspoon orange peel zest

• 1 bay leaf

• 1 frond fresh fennel

• Salt and pepper

• 4 oz (110 g) small vermicelli

• 1 sachet saffron

• Rouille

• Aioli

• 5 oz (150 g) Gruyère cheese, grated

Method

Cut, wash and clean the fish. Chop into pieces about 2½ (6 cm) long head, bones and all. Fry the leeks, tomatoes, onions and garlic in ail until soft but not brown. Add the water to the vegetables and bring to the boil. Now add all the fish, the bay leaf, fennel and orange zest and cook rapidly for another 15 minutes.

Remove the fish and allow the soup to simmer gently. Meanwhile, crush or grind the fish in a liquidiser and return it to the soup. Stir it well and strain the lot through a fine sieve into another pan. Throw away any bits left in the sieve. The soup should be smooth, not lumpy, and have no bones or bits of shell in it.

Bring this strained soup to the boil, add salt and pepper to taste and add the vermicelli and saffron. Once the vermicelli is cooked, the soup is ready. (It is sensible to make the soup well in advance otherwise you will be exhausted by the time you eat it - in which case do not add the vermicelli until just before you serve the soup, otherwise it will have swelled and become glutinous, overwhelming the soup.)

Let your guests add their own rouille, according to their taste, and help themselves to grated cheese, which they also stir in. Tell them to spread the aioli on bread and dunk it in.