Bourride — Provençal Fish Stew Bound with Aïoli

Ingredients

• For the broth
• 1 onion, finely diced
• 1 leek, finely sliced
• 1 fennel bulb, finely diced
• 1 celery stalk, finely diced
• 30 ml olive oil
• 200 ml dry white wine, Cassis or Bandol rosé
• 1 litre fish fumet
• 1 strip of orange zest, fresh, pared without pith
• 1 bouquet garni, including dried fennel stalks
• 1 generous pinch saffron threads
• For the fish
• 800 g firm white fish, monkfish, John Dory, and/or sea bass, cut in 5 cm chunks
• For the aïoli binding
• 200 ml aïoli, made by hand in a mortar for a more stable emulsion
• 2 egg yolks, optional, whisked into the aïoli before tempering for a richer liaison
• To serve
• 4 slices bread, toasted, rubbed with a cut garlic clove
• 1 quantity aïoli, additional, served on the side

Method

1. 1
   Sweat the diced onion, leek, fennel, and celery in olive oil over a moderate flame until the vegetables are soft and translucent but have taken no colour. Add the white wine and reduce by half. Pour in the fish fumet and add the orange zest, bouquet garni, and saffron threads. Bring to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes. Strain the broth through a fine sieve, pressing the solids lightly; discard all vegetable debris. The broth should be clear, pale gold, and fragrant.
2. 2
   Return the strained broth to the pan and bring it to a bare simmer — 80 °C, not a rolling boil. Lower the fish pieces into the broth and poach for 8–10 minutes. The fish is done when the chunks yield to gentle pressure and the flesh is opaque throughout but not yet flaking apart. Lift the fish carefully to warm serving bowls and keep warm while the sauce is finished.
3. 3
   This is where the dish lives or dies. Place the 200 ml aïoli in a bowl (with the optional additional egg yolks whisked in, if using). Ladle 2–3 measures of the hot poaching broth into the aïoli one spoonful at a time, whisking constantly between each addition, until the aïoli is fluid and the temperature of the two is equalised. Pour the tempered mixture back into the broth in the pan in a steady stream, stirring without interruption over the lowest possible heat. The broth must not boil — above 80 °C the egg yolk curdles irreversibly. The sauce is ready when it has thickened to a consistency that coats the back of a spoon in a pale, ivory-gold film and leaves a clean line when a finger is drawn across it.
4. 4
   Ladle the finished sauce over the fish in the bowls. Set a slice of garlic-rubbed toast at the edge of each bowl and pass additional aïoli separately. The bread should begin to absorb the broth immediately on contact.