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Feed your appetite for cooking with Penguin’s expert authors

Feed your appetite for cooking with Penguin’s expert authors

Dinner with Rukmini

Browse all of the recipes in Rukmini Iyer’s cookbooks by ingredient.

Saffron Fish Stew with Fennel and Leeks

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Saffron Fish Stew with Fennel and Leeks

This fragrant fish stew is perfect for colder days, served up with a hunk of crusty bread and butter for a hearty winter meal.
Serves 4
Total 40 min
Prep 10 min
Cook 30 min
Easy

Introduction from Rukmini Iyer

Otherwise known as bouillabaisse, the classic Provençal fish stew. For a definitive description of the dish, see John Lanchester’s A Debt to Pleasure. This version uses many of his suggested ingredients, but in an easy, quick oven version, perfect for a relaxed weekend lunch. Serve with lots of crusty bread to mop up the soup.

Ingredients

220g cherry tomatoes on the vine, halved
1 bulb of fennel, halved and very finely sliced
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 small leek, halved and finely sliced
2 strips of orange zest
1 bay leaf
A good pinch of saffron threads
500ml good fish stock
50ml olive oil
500g mixed fish fillets (think salmon, smoked haddock, cod, large raw prawns or monkfish if you are feeling fancy; fish can be ready-cubed as fish pie mix)
sea salt flakes, to taste
1 lemon, juice only
frondy fennel tops or a few sprigs of fresh dill, to serve (optional)
crusty bread and butter, to serve

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C fan/200°C/gas 6. Tip everything except the fish, salt, lemon juice, and fennel tops or dill into a small deep roasting tin or lidded casserole dish. Don’t forget to include the tomato vines – as ever, they’re your secret ingredient for maximising flavour. Cover the dish with tightly scrunched foil or a lid, then transfer to the oven and bake for 20 minutes.

If you haven’t bought ready-cubed fish pie mix, cut your fish fillets into 2½cm pieces.

Once the broth has had 20 minutes, remove the tin or casserole dish from the oven, then use a wooden spoon to squash the tomatoes down. Add the mixed fish, then return the dish to the oven uncovered and cook for a further 7 or so minutes, until just cooked through. (The broth is so hot that the fish and prawns will cook very quickly.)

Fish out the tomato vines, taste and adjust the seasoning with salt and lemon juice as needed, scatter over the fennel tops or dill (if using) and serve immediately, with crusty bread and butter.

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From the book: The Quick Roasting Tin

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