- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 medium onion, finely chopped
- 1 fennel bulb, coarsely chopped
- 8 cups fish stock or bottled clam juice
- 1 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
- 2 3-inch-long strips orange peel
- 3 pounds ripe tomatoes, peeled, coarsely chopped
- 1 pound medium-size red-skinned potatoes, peeled, cut into 1/4-inch-thick rounds
- 1 large red-skinned potato, quartered
- 1 large pinch of saffron threads
- 2 1/2 pounds lingcod fillets, cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces
- 1 red bell pepper
- 6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 3 garlic cloves
- 1 French-bread baguette, cut into 1/4-inch-thick rounds
- Heat oil in large pot over medium heat. Add onion and fennel. Sauté until onion is translucent, 8 minutes. Add stock, parsley and peel. Bring to boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer until fennel is tender, about 5 minutes. Add tomatoes, sliced potatoes, quartered potato and saffron. Cover partially; simmer until potatoes are tender, about 12 minutes. Remove from heat.
- Remove quartered potato from soup. Cool slightly. Peel potato; transfer to processor.
- Char bell pepper over gas flame or in broiler until blackened on all sides. Enclose pepper in paper bag 10 minutes. Peel and seed pepper. Cool.
- Transfer bell pepper to processor with potato. Add 2 tablespoons oil and garlic. Process until smooth. With machine running, gradually blend in 4 tablespoons oil. Season with salt.
- Preheat broiler. Arrange bread rounds on baking sheet. Broil until crisp, about 2 minutes. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover soup and rouille separately; chill. Cool toasts, then store airtight at room temperature. Bring soup to simmer before continuing.)
- Add fish to soup. Simmer until fish is just opaque in center, 5 minutes. Spoon rouille onto 12 to 16 toasts. Ladle soup into bowls. Top each with 2 toasts. Pass remaining toasts and rouille.