Ann’s Christmas Eve Bouillabaisse

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 leeks, sliced
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
• 1 bay leaf (optional)
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes
• 2 (8 ounce) bottles clam juice
• 2 3/4 cups dry white wine
• 2 teaspoons fennel seeds, crushed
• Salt and ground black pepper to taste
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• 1 pound red snapper fillets, cut into 2 inch pieces
• 1 pinch saffron
• 24 sea scallops
• 30 small mussels, scrubbed and debearded
• 1 pound cooked lobster meat, cut into bite-size pieces

Directions

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Stir in the celery, garlic, leeks, thyme, and bay leaf; cook and stir until the vegetables have softened, about 5 minutes.

Stir in the diced tomatoes, clam juice, white wine, fennel seed, salt and pepper, and parsley. Simmer for 15 minutes. Add the snapper and cook for an additional 10 minutes.

Gently mix in the saffron, scallops, and mussels. Cook until the scallops are no longer translucent and the mussels have opened their shells, about five minutes. Add the lobster pieces and cook until heated through, about one minute.

Ladle the bouillabaisse into serving bowls, making sure each portion contains 5 mussels, 2 to 3 sea scallops, fish, and a piece of lobster.