February 20: Seafood Bouillabaisse

I'm not sure how to pronounce this one. I think it's BOO-yah-baze. Correct me if I'm wrong. I started this dish at around 1:00pm. I didn't have raw mussels or clams, so I substituted a can of baby clams. So here are the ingredients:

I chopped up 1/2 fennel bulb and an onion and 2 cloves garlic. Then I cooked them in a skillet for a few minutes:

To make the broth, I put that in the crockpot, added a 28oz can of tomato puree, 8oz of clam juice, 2 bottles of beer, a bay leaf, some salt and pepper. I cooked that for 4 hours on high.

I added the fish: 1/2 pound red snapper, some clams, and 12 large unpeeled shrimp. I let that cook for about 20 minutes on high:

Then I served it with a lemon wedge:

I didn't like this soup and neither did my husband. The kids didn't like it either - none of them. The shrimp was good (but why couldn't it be peeled?), and the red snapper was good. The broth was bad. I thought it would be good. But it was very bitter. I will not make this recipe again.