Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• a pinch of saffron
• 1/2 bulb fennel
• 1 small onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon dried chili flakes
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 tablespoons anise liqueur e.g. pastis or 1/2 star anise + 4 tablespoons dark rum or brandy
• 1 tomato
• 100 g cherry tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon tomato concentrate
• 600 ml fish and seafood stock*
• salt and pepper, a pinch of brown sugar
• 400 g white fish fillets (e.g. monkfish, scorpion fish, halibut, cod)
• 12 Black Tiger shrimp
• 4 shrimp in shells with heads
• 300 g fresh mussels
• 4 small squid or 1 large
• optionally - 4 cleaned scallops

Preparation

1. Pour olive oil into a wide, large pot, add saffron and heat together for a moment. Add fennel cut into strips (reserve fennel fronds for garnish), onion cut into cubes, and garlic crushed on a cutting board. Sauté, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes, until vegetables soften and start to brown.
2. Add chili flakes, bay leaf, anise, and alcohol and cook for 1 - 2 minutes. Then add peeled tomato cut into cubes, halved cherry tomatoes, and tomato concentrate. Cook for about 3 minutes. Pour in hot fish stock or water and bring to a boil. Season with salt, pepper, and sugar, and cook for about 15 minutes uncovered over medium heat.
3. Prepare fish and seafood. Cut fish fillets without skin and bones into several smaller pieces. Clean Black Tiger shrimp from shells, make an incision on the back and remove the dark vein, rinse. Keep 4 shrimp in shells and with heads, only make an incision on the back and remove the vein, rinse. Wash mussels under cold running water. Clean squid (as in this recipe), cut across into strips. Rinse scallops.
4. In the pot with broth boiling over high heat, arrange in sequence: shrimp, fish, mussels, squid, scallops, gently submerge them in the broth (they don't have to be completely covered). Cook for about 3 minutes, briefly, as seafood cooks very quickly. Remove from heat, sprinkle with fennel fronds. Serve with slices of toasted baguette.