The pictures below are
showing some catches and the boat used by our guide to take you
fishing on the Mediterranean. The boat is docked in Saint Raphaël.
Our
guide is an expert instructor in fish detection via sonars etc.. for
the brand Lowrance Marine Electronics. The
boat can take up to 5 anglers or 7 people. All the necessary tackle
-and advice- is
provided.
La soupe de poissons de roche
Recipe of a classic best seller of the French cuisine &
the pride of the young fishers
I have noticed among foreign visitors that the fish soup
prepared like in Provence, always meets an incredible success. This dish
looks like wizard work that only a few Grand-chefs cand do but the
reality is
much simpler. It is actually one of the easiest dishes that can be
obtained
with a mixture of love and simple products. Why love ? 1st because you
should put some in anything you cook, and 2nd because the fish soup is
THE
PRIDE of very young fishermen. In my own memory, "La soupe de poissons"
is
probably the most beautiful fisherman souvenir. When you're 10 years
old,
anything you hook around 3 inches long is already big game fishing and
going back home with a plastic bucket full of shiny prays make you feel
like... Well nothing compares ! In the future "perfect world" some
people
are building, young kids will probably be told that it is cruel to go
fishing, but before this delicious moment you can still enjoy your
summer
holiday, waiting for the "fishermen's return" and get prepared to
another
pride: Preparing la "Soupe de Poissons".
You need a kid's bucket of very fresh, non silty (1) small fish. Olive
oil.
Two big potatoes, two big tomatoes, 1 big onion, 2 or 3 garlic "teeth",
salt, pepper, a bit of saffron, thyme, bay leaf, and 1/2 pint of water
for
each person.
Get roughly rid of fish bowels but keep heads and tails and all the
rest.
Heat your olive oil with the garlic, the onions and smoothly add the
fish and let it fry for a short while. Add the tomatoes and potatoes
that
you have cut into small parts.
When it is all warm "singing" enough, put the water and season
accordingly
with salt, pepper, saffron, thyme, bay leaf etc...
Boil until the moment the potato pieces are starting to disappear.
Pass it all through a strainer, taste and add salt or pepper
if needed.
It must be served with slices of French baguette, toasted in the pan
with
olive oil and garlic. You can also put on the table grated
"gruyère" cheese
that you spread over soup and toasts, in the plate and this special
spicy
mayonnaise called "rouille". La "rouille" is obtained very simply by
making
a normal mayonnaise in which you incorporate a mashed garlic clove plus
a
bit of saffron making the "rust" colour.
I am not sure that all kids will enjoy the dish but adults surely will
especially if a chilled rosé or dry white good wine comes along.
But all
kids will be proud to see parents and friends enjoying the result of
their hard
fishing days.
(1) Small colorful sea "rock-fish" like in the Mediterranean sea are
the best but
almost any fish can be used. Almost each region of France has
its "soupe" and all species
of fish are used. Below sarans, girelles royales, roucaous, rascasses.
Elodie"s rock fish soup in Cassis
Traditional fishing boats named
pointus in the port of La Madrague - Les
Lecques.