Taste of the isles
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This impressive bouillabasse recipe from Marcello Tully uses cod loin. You can substitute cod and sea bass for other suitable white fish, like hake, plaice or whiting. Use the crusty bread to mop up the sublime, rich sauce.
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Ingredients
Metric
Imperial
Fish
- 4 sea bass fillets, skin on
- 4 cod fillets, each weighing 80g, skin on
- 200ml of white wine
- 16 mussels, cleaned and de-bearded
- salt
- black pepper
- 20ml of sunflower oil
Sauce
- 110g of large white onions, roughly chopped
- 45g of white leeks, roughly chopped
- 100g of celery, roughly chopped
- 85g of fennel, roughly chopped
- 80g of carrots, roughly chopped
- 110g of red pepper, roughly chopped
- 1 pinch of thyme
- 15g of anchovy fillets
- 25g of tomato purée
- 1l fish stock
- 250g of plaice
- 50ml of double cream
- 1 saffron strand
- Tabasco to taste
- Worcestershire sauce to taste
- 1 tsp white wine vinegar
- 1/2 garlic clove, roughly chopped
- 1 tsp caster sugar
- 20ml of sunflower oil
To serve
- crusty bread
- 4 sprigs of dill
SAVE RECIPE
Equipment
- Food processor or blender
Method
1
For the sauce, in a pan sweat off the onions, leeks, celery, fennel, carrots, red pepper in sunflower oil for 2-3 minutes, adding the anchovies, tomato purée and thyme to the pan
- 110g of large white onions
- 45g of white leeks
- 100g of celery
- 85g of fennel
- 80g of carrots
- 110g of red pepper
- 1 pinch of thyme
- 15g of anchovy fillets
- 25g of tomato purée
- 20ml of sunflower oil
2
Add the stock to the pan. Reduce the heat and simmer for 1 hour
- 1l fish stock
3
Add the plaice and gently simmer for 10-15 minutes
- 250g of plaice
4
Transfer the contents of the pan to a food processor and blend for 2-3 minutes. Pass through a sieve into a clean pan
5
Add the cream, saffron, Tabasco, Worcestershire sauce, salt, sugar, garlic and vinegar. Stir and set aside to keep warm while you prepare the fish
- 50ml of double cream
- 1 saffron strand
- Tabasco to taste
- Worcestershire sauce to taste
- salt
- 1 tsp caster sugar
- 1 tsp white wine vinegar
- 1/2 garlic clove, roughly chopped
6
Place a pan over a high heat and add the oil. Turn the heat down and place the cod fillets into the pan, skin-side down, for 4 minutes. Season and turn the fillets over and cook for a further 3 minutes, or until golden all over. Set aside to keep warm
- 4 cod fillets
- black pepper
- 20ml of sunflower oil
7
Fry the sea bass using a similar method, but fry for 3 minutes, skin-side down, and for 2 minutes, flesh-side down. Set aside to rest
8
Place a saucepan over a medium heat. Add the white wine and mussels and cook for 1-2 minutes with the lid on. Drain and add some of the cooking liquor to the sauce
- 200ml of white wine
- 16 mussels
9
To serve, divide the cod and sea bass fillets across 4 large soup bowls. Add 4 mussels to each bowl and pour over the sauce. Garnish with some sprigs of dill and serve with some crusty bread
- crusty bread
- 4 sprigs of dill
First published in 2015
When Brazilian-born chef Marcello Tully started his career at fourteen, he may not have anticipated working on the starkly beautiful island of Skye – but then he probably didn’t expect to be crafting some of the most exquisitely refined Scottish-influenced food on the planet, either.
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