Serves: 4 – 6

Florence Fabricant is a NY Times food writer.

I subscribe to the NY Times Food app (a very worthy $50/annum) and the pro trick is to navigate primarily to those recipes that have hundreds, often thousands and thousands of 5-star ratings.

This is one of them.

Rustic. Easy to prepare. Absolutely moorish, especially as the sriracha mayonnaise breaks up in the juices.

This is definitely the way to kick off the week. Rude not to have a glass of white alongside.

Nat reckons her cheats Bouillabaisse is better. I’m on the fence.

You could cook this for me every week and I’d never be bored of it.

Yum.

Ingredients

3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
6 cloves garlic, sliced thin
1 small head fennel, diced
1/4 tsp red chilli flakes, or to taste
2 large beefsteak tomatoes, cored and chopped with their juices
1 tsp sea salt, or to taste
1 cup dry white wine (or whatever it is you have opened to have whilst you cook!)
500gm potatoes, peeled and diced*
Ground black pepper
1 tbsp lemon juice
1kg bass fillets or similar, cut into 12 pieces
6 basil leaves torn
1 c mayonnaise seasoned with 1 1/2 tsp sriracha or other hot sauce

Method

1. Warm the oil in a heavy saucepan or casserole over a medium heat. Stir in the onion and garlic until soft but not brown. Add fennel and cook a few minutes, until softened. Stir in chilli flakes. Add tomatoes and salt, cover and cook on medium for about 10 minutes.
2. Stir in the wine and 2 1/2 c water, bring to a simmer, add the potatoes and cook for another 6 minutes or so, or until potatoes are tender. Season and add the lemon juice.
3. Season the fish pieces with salt and pepper, place them in the stew and simmer on low, covered, until the fish is just cooked through; about 5 minutes. Warm 6 generous soup plates.
4. When the fish is done, remove to your it to the warm soup plates. Remove the pot from the heat and stir in the basil to wilt it. Divide soup among the 6 plates and serve with a good dollop of the spiced mayonnaise.

* The recipe asks for Yukon Gold potatoes of which I don’t know if I have seen in Australia. For me, there are white and red potatoes and then there are kipflers.

It seems the recipe is asking for the white or red varieties, though I did kipflers. Always so good.

I can see either working and for different reasons.

Enough potato talk.