Humboldt Bay Pacific Style Bouillabaisse

Humboldt Bay Pacific Style Bouillabaisse It was a howling Saturday in Humboldt as we met with our local Fortuna Dutch Oven Society friends for an early April D.O.G. Here is our creation for the event where we break in our brand new Camp Chef 12" Dutch Oven. A special recipe follows which is based upon the famous French Fish Soup called bouillabaisse. We've used a variety of fish and shellfish, which are abundant in Humboldt Bay and the Pacific waters, to bring you a new type of Seafood Soup. Enjoy this stellar West coast version of Bouillabaisse, Humboldt style.
(Sorry for the wind noise in the audio....it was REALLY blowing hard that day!!!)




Ingredients: For the soup stock/building blocks of bouillabaisse
1 fennel bulb with a bit of the stalk and fronds
1 tsp. fennel seeds
garlic sea salt (about ½ tsp. grinder style)
½ tsp. of peppercorn medley (grinder style)
1/8 cup of virgin olive oil (part for sauté and part for soup)
2 TBS. premium fish sauce (we used Thai Kitchen brand)
1 large yellow onion, peeling off and thick sliced
5-7 garlic cloves, crushed coarsely
3 medium carrots, each cut into 6 to 8 pieces
1 large leek (you will use the white parts separate from the green)
4-5 sprigs of parsley (flat leaf)
4-5 sprigs of thyme
Old Bay Seasoning (comes in a tin)
2 cartons of Vegetable Broth
2-3 cups of water
1 ½ cups white wine** (dry)
**We used a Humboldt County bottle from Lost Coast Vineyards (2009 Viognier)

The season and your region will determine what kind of fish/shellfish you include.
Seafood used was from Humboldt Bay region -- try to vary the textures and flavors:
Some of your seafood should be soft, some firm, some briny, others mild. You should try to use at least 4 types of fish, and 2-3 types of shellfish for best results.

1 lb. of Pacific halibut fillet, cut into approximately 1 inch chunks
2 lbs. of Pacific fish fillets - (*about ¼ lb. to ¾ lb. mix-n-match of white fish below) *Our recipe had ¼ lb. Ling Cod, ¾ lb. Petrale Sole, ½ lb. True Cod, ½ lb. Rock Fish
1 lb. of Calamari rings & tentacles (fully cleaned & trimmed)
2 lbs. of Mixed Seafood such as octopus, cuttlefish, squid. shrimp, clams, mussels
(Due to seasonal quarantines on clams/mussels in our region we substituted with frozen using a Seafood Mix packaged brand called AquaStar)
1 lb. of freshly cooked Humboldt Bay Dungeness Crab -- cracked body meat & legs
THAT'S RIGHT FOLKS......7 LBS. OF SEAFOOD WENT INTO THIS SOUP!!
This is one special recipe, and you vary it with what you have on hand or is in season

Directions: Ready to go ?

Split the leek lengthwise and rinse between the layers. Slice the leek from bottom (white part) and continue up the leek, cutting almost to the top of the green in about one inch slices. You will separate the white part from the green part as they go into the sauté at separate times. Prepare the fennel bulb by cutting off most of the top fronds (discard these) and slice the bottom part of the bulb just slightly up the stalk.
You will use all of the bulb, and some of the lower part of the fennel stalk & fronds.

Start by heating up an oiled 12-14 inch Dutch Oven, (bottom heat only) using about 4 TBS. of the olive oil. When oil is heated, add in the sliced onions, cut up carrots, crushed garlic cloves, and the white part of the leeks. Saute these 2-3 minutes until onion slices were limp and tender/transparent. Add in the two cartons of vegetable broth, leek greens, fennel bulb-stalk-fronds, fennel seeds, parsley, thyme, salt, pepper, Old Bay seasoning, rest of olive oil, and fish sauce. Cover and Heat to a slight rolling boil. Add in water, wine, and tomatoes. Cover with lid and Let come to a low boil again. Check Dutch Oven coals. Stir the pot - at this point you MAY wish to add more of the Old Bay Seasoning, sea salt or peppercorn medley to suit your taste, and any additional water if you want a thinner broth.
(Our total cooking time for this recipe was 1 ½ hours using two batches of coals on the bottom only)

Add all seafood to mixture (except the crab) and stir thoroughly. Let the fish and other seafood cook for about 5 minutes before adding in crab body meat and legs. Allow these seafood morsels to simmer together about 15-20 minutes. Skim off any foam.

Now you are ready to enjoy and savor this Pacific style seafood soup. Ladle up a cup of the broth into a bowl and then fill it with the seafood pieces. C'est le best!

Bon Appetite from the Fogcrawler and The Teardrop Nanny

Remember, "It's All About Eating Good In The Great Outdoors!"

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• Outdoor Cast Iron Cooking
• outdoorcastironcook
• Humboldt Bay Bouillabaisse
• Bouillabaisse
• Seafood Soup
• Dutch Oven
• Camp Chef

[outdoorcastironcook]

The veggie broth is our alternative to making a soup stock from scratch. that recipe could be a whole other webisode! We had considered doing our own base, but went for the convenience and ease of the organic broth or we would have had an incredibly thick seafood mixture....not that Dean would of minded as he LOVES seafood.

[aznprincess319]

bouillabaisse is french and its pronounced boya-base. 

[outdoorcastironcook]

@aznprincess319

Sorry about that... This ol' Norwegian has a tough time sometimes getting French words off the tounge correctly.

One thing I know for sure is, a good French coffee makes me go wee-wee.

[zazay1710]

I like your soup base. But why the vegetable broth when you already use lots of nice fresh vegetables and herbs? I would think that it only tones down the taste of fresh produce and renders the base generic. Following your recipe, I would add to the base some of the less attractive pieces of fish to the base soup and have it simmer long enough to have a solid flavor. At the end, I would add all the good stuff just as you do for a few minutes. This being said, your stuff looks very good!!

[msdonnarene7]

Made me HUNGRY!

[KasCooks]

Great stuff!

[oldgravely]

awesome