A deliciously healthy one-pot fish dish

I like this one-bowl meal so much that I could quite literally live on it. It is easy to make and completely adaptable to whatever fish you can find. You can use just about any kind of seafood to make this wonderful meal.

Another thing I like about this fish soup is that it is so cheap to make. Go to your fishmonger or supermarket and ask them for all the parts of fresh fish they usually throw away – the skeletons, the heads, the fins. Toss them all into a pot and make the fish stock. This can keep in the refrigerator for two to three days or in the freezer for two to three months. You will use this not only for La Bourride Pacifica but any number of other dishes. If you are feeling really lazy go and buy fish sauce, which you will find in any oriental shop or in the speciality section of a good supermarket, and mix it with water to make the stock. But it is so much more delicious to make your own stock, and fun too.

For the fish in this recipe try to mix fish and shellfish so you end up with large pieces of fish, some clams or mussels, some shellfish and some small pieces of fish, or even tiny whole fish. The more variety you get, the more gorgeous will be the result. Look for variety in colour too. Here are some of my favourites, but go for whatever is cheap and easy to come by: snapper, cod, groper, turbot, bass, eel, halibut, mussels, clams, prawns.

What you need:
4 carrots cut into julienne strips
2 leeks, just the white parts, chopped in ringlets.
1 fennel bulb, chopped
100g chopped broccoli
100g spring onions, sliced
1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1.5 litres fish stock
500ml dry white wine
1.5 kg of 5 to 8 varieties of fish and shellfish
2 tsp roughly cut lemon zest in lemon grass

1. Sear the vegetables briefly in olive oil. Do not cook clear through.
2. Bring the fish stock and the wine to the boil. Toss the vegetables into the stock and add the largest pieces of fish and shellfish.
3. A minute later, add the medium pieces. A minute later, add the tiny fishes, clams and mussels.
4. Cook for another couple of minutes and serve immediately with aioli (a garlicky mayonnaise) on the side and bread.

Source: Cook Energy by Leslie Kenton (Ebury, £16.99)

To order your copy of Leslie Kenton's Cook Energy, visit www.amazon.co.uk

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