Live, Love, & Eat in Sayulita: Thai Bouillabaisse

Are you a soup person? I normally am not, but Thai Bouillabaisse is so delicious! Chocked full of delicious seafood, coconut milk, and Thai flavors. This recipe is so delicious I have to share it with you! It's great and I hope that you and your Sayulita friends and family love it as much as I do! 

INGREDIENTS and METHOD:

-2 Tablespoons olive oil

-3 Cloves of garlic finely minced

-2 Shallots finely minced - or - 2 Tablespoons finely minced sweet white onion

-2 Tablespoon finely minced fresh ginger*

*I usually prepare equal amounts of the garlic, shallots, and ginger.

-3 nice stalks fresh lemongrass. The organic growers at our Friday market in Sayulita (Mercado del Pueblo) always sell beautiful fresh stalks of lemon grass. I often buy quite a few stalks, cut off most of the green stem and then freeze in a freezer ziplock bag.

SAUTE the above for 1 minute in a soup pot just until fragrant

ADD TO POT: and bring to a slow boil

-4 Cups chicken broth

-2 Cans coconut milk - they sell this at Alas Blancas in Sayulita 

-1/2 Cup white wine

-2 Tablespoons fish sauce

-2 Kaffir lime leaves. You can also buy these from the organic grower at the Mercado del Pueblo that sells all sorts of Asian flavors. 

REDUCE heat and simmer for 30 minutes

Use any fish and/or seafood that you prefer. I used a filet of red snapper; fresh shrimp, peeled and deveined if necessary, scallops, and salmon. The La Cruz fish market, not too far from Sayulita, has great seafood. 

CUT fish into bite size chunks. Remove muscle that is attached to the side of scallops. If not removed, you will find that portion too tough to chew. If scallops are large, cut them in half. Keep shrimp whole.

SAUTE shrimp in half olive oil and half butter with 1 Tablespoon finely minced garlic and the zest of a fresh lemon or lime. Citrus is very highly sprayed, so scrub your whole lemon or lime with dish soap and then rinse it very thoroughly before zesting**. Set aside.

**Saute just until shrimp turn color, no more than 1 minute. They will be added at the end to the hot broth.

STIR together 2 Tablespoons cornstarch and 2 Tablespoons water and IMMEDIATELY pour into the broth, stirring constantly. This will thicken your broth to just the right amount.

ADD all the fish and scallops to the broth.

ADD 2 or 3 chopped tomatoes, fresh basil, cilantro, and grated nutmeg to taste. Sana Spices sells nutmeg at the Mercado del Pueblo in Sayulta. 

ADD salt to taste.

Simmer for about 2 minutes.

Remove from heat and ADD in sauteed shrimp.

Serve with fresh bagettes from my May 13th, 2016 column. Oh, so delicious!

I am not certain what recipe I will share with you next time. Stay tuned!