For many years I had been making a starter in the restaurant which I feel dated back to my days in The Wife of Bath in Kent.
This I called a Bourride of Smoked Haddock and it really was as authentic as putting garlic with Bacon and Cabbage.
Smoked haddock is not a fish available on the Mediterranean coast and more importantly the dish contained tomato, a sin of the first order.
I will quote Ann Willian in French Regional Cuisine on this:
“Bourride is pale, flavoured only with garlic, onion, herbs and olive oil, with none of the distracting tomato and saffron found in bouillabaisse. Aioli sauce is its indispensable accompaniment- a thick pungent garlic mayonnaise which is served with anything from snails to vegetables to hard-boiled eggs.” (Regarding the amount of garlic in an aioli, Elizabeth David says that it should “tingle in your throat as you swallow it” !)

Notwithstanding the untraditional tomato and the smoked fish, that version of Bourride is extremely good but, bearing in mind my intended move to Languedoc and my intentions to operate a Table d’Hôte there I decided to make myself conversant with an authentic version of the dish of Bourride. This led me back to both Ann Willian and Elizabeth David’s French Provincial Cooking.
From these two ladies I cobbled together a version of La Bourride which I put out on the radio last week.
Since then, as is my wont, I have done some tweaking and, as I was giving a dinner party on Friday I produced my latest , tweaked version. This one I have decided was the best and I enjoyed it so much that I am going to make it for dinner again tonight. It sounds like a bit of a palaver to make, and does require the chef in some strenuous last minute activity but it is I promise worth the effort. As our nearest fishing port in Languedoc is Sète I decided to call it by that name.

La Bourride Sèteoise
(serves 6 as a main course)

1kg (2 lbs.) Brill , Turbot or Cod (weighed on the bone)
1 kg (2 lbs) Monkfish
12 Whole (Heads on)Prawns
1 Onion, peeled and sliced
1 Bottle White Wine
Olive Oil for cooking.

Vegetable Garnish
1 large onion
1 Head Fennel
1 head celery

1 Baguette or French Stick

Aioli;
6 Cloves Garlic
2 Egg Yolks
250ml (9 oz.) Olive Oil
Juice of 1 lemon
Salt and Pepper.

.

First make the fish stock.
Ask the fishmonger to fillet the fish you are using and to give you the bones and heads. (or ask him for appropriate fish bones if the fish is already filleted)

Put the onion in a large pot with a tablespoon of olive oil and sweat gently for about 10 mts until soft.
Put the bones into the pot with the onion and continue to sweat for another few minutes.
Take the heads from the prawns and bash these in a pestle to break up.
Add these to the fish bones.
Pour over the white wine and enough water to cover
And bring to the boil and simmer for 20 mts.
Strain carefully and then transfer back into the pot and boil hard to reduce by about a half.
(you want about 1 litre of reduced stock)

Now make the Aioli.
Crush the cloves of garlic or chop them very finely.
Add these to the egg yolks in a heavy bowl and with a beater beat them well.
Dribble in the olive oil and, beating all the time, make a thick garlicky mayonnaise. Add the lemon juice and the seasonings half way through.

Cut the baguette in slices and coat in olive oil.
Bake these at 150C for about 30 minutes until crisp and golden.

For the vegetable garnish;
Peel and slice the onion finely.
Slice finely the celery and the fennel.
Sweat these together in a little olive oil in a lidded pan on a low heat until they are soft.
Keep warm, or you can re-heat before serving.

All these stages can be done in advance.

Cut the monk into large chunks and cut the flat fish in 2 or 3 pieces..
Cut the prawn tails in two along their length.
Bring the stock to a slow simmer.
Taste and season.
Slip in the monk in and simmer for 10 minutes until just cooked.
Remove these pieces with a slotted spoon and keep in a warm oven.
In the same stock poach the flat fish and the prawn tails for 5 minutes then put with the monk.

In a heavy based pot heat some of the stock and then, off the heat whisk in two thirds of the aioli.
(The remaining third serve in a bowl on the table.)

Put the aioli and stock mixture on a low heat, add the rest of the stock and continue whisking until it thickens a little.

Put a spoonful of the warm fennel and celery mixture in six large soup plates.
Divide the fish between the plates, on top of the vegetables and ladle over the soup.
Serve the roasted bread separately.
It is also traditional to serve some plain boiled potatoes on the side.

As this is part soup and part main course and very hearty I think there is no need to serve a starter .