Poached Fish “Soup”

Every Friday night, for Shabbat, we prepare a delicious meal that marks the end of our work week and ushers in the weekend. Sometimes we go all out with a fancy meal, other times we make something quick and easy, but we always create a wonderful, leisurely evening spent with food, each other, family and friends. This week’s dish blended fancy and easy with a taste of French Bistro:

**Poached fish “soup” served with a garlic rouille baguette**

1 lb cod filet
1/2 cup Israeli couscous (ptitim)
3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
3-4 garlic cloves, chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 carrots, diced
1/2 head Napa cabbage, chopped (fennel or celery might be better here, I only had cabbage)
Spices: Fennel seed, cumin, bay leaves, salt and pepper
Thai red chili pepper (I used 1, but use as much, or little as you’d like, or even omit it)
2 T tomato paste
Garlic Rouille: 1 clove garlic, 1 egg yolk and extra virgin olive oil

Put 4 cups of water up to boil. Saute the garlic and onion in olive oil for a few minutes, until soft. Add the cabbage, chili and carrot. Add 1 teaspoon fennel seed, 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin and 2 or 3 bay leaves, salt and pepper. Cook until the vegetables have a bit of color and then add the tomato paste and stir for a few minutes, until the paste becomes a little thicker. Add the 4 cups of boiling water, and stir so the tomato paste dissolves. Stir in the couscous. When the soup comes to a boil, turn down the heat to low, cover and simmer for 10-15 minutes. Add the cod pieces in the last five minutes of cooking. Salt and pepper to taste.

Rouille is a garlicky mayonnaise that is traditionally spread on a toasted baguette to accompany bouillabaisse (a luxurious French fish soup that takes MUCH longer to cook than this dish.) Ours is more of a garlic aioli with egg yolk, but it achieves the same thing. It really goes well with the fish soup, taking the flavor to a whole new level.

Put an egg yolk and a garlic clove in a food processor, and with the food processor running add the olive oil in a slow and steady stream to create an emulsion. (You want it to become as thick as Hellmann’s)

Mishap Disclosure: In my first attempt, I must have added the oil too quickly, since the emulsion never took, and the mayo ended up super runny (see pic). So I threw out that batch and tried again, this time dripping the oil at a comically slow pace, drop by drop, and it worked!

To serve, smear two toasted baguette slices with the rouille, garnish the soup with chiffonade (thin strips) of spinach, and voila, dinner.