This begins by roasting the whole bell peppers under a hot grill / broiler, so their skins start to char and blister. They then get sealed in a plastic bag to steam in their own heat. Once they’ve cooled enough to handle, it’s really easy to scrape off their skins.

So, set your grill / broiler to high. When it reaches temperature, lay the peppers on a baking tray, and let them roast under that high heat for 15 minutes. You’ll need to turn them a few times as they roast to get a fairly even, dark char all over their surfaces.

Once they’re darkly charred and still hot, remove them from the grill / broiler, and quickly seal them inside a plastic bag. Because they’re still hot, they’ll steam themselves in the bag. After 5 minutes of that steaming, take them from the bag, and scrape of all the charred skin.

Halve the peppers lengthwise, cut away the top stem, and deseed them. Good, peppers done.

Add the prepped peppers to your food processor together with all the other rouille ingredients except the olive oil. The oil only gets added a little later. Blitz until you a have a smooth, red paste.

Now set the processor to a low speed, and very slowly — and I mean very slowly — pour in the olive with the processor running on low. If you add the oil too quickly, you’ll find it won’t blend fully with your rouille paste. So, you should reckon on taking at least 90 seconds to slowly trickle in the oil. Take it that slowly and the oil will become completely combined with paste — excellent, rouille done.

Turn the rouille into a pretty serving dish and set it in the refrigerator while you make your bouillabaisse. You’ll find that the rouille thickens a little more during this time — and that’s just what it’s supposed to do.

If you want to, you can begin this while the peppers are steaming away in their sealed bag.

You’ll need a big pot that can easily hold all the bouillabaisse’s ingredients. I used a large, cast-iron Dutch oven / casserole pot.

The first thing is to make the base for your broth. So, set your big pot on a medium heat and add the olive oil. Let it heat for a minute, then add the onion, leeks, fennel, garlic, bay leaves, thyme, and salt. You’re now aiming to soften everything in the pot with some slow stir-frying for about 5 minutes. The emphasis here is on softening the mix, rather than trying to add any color to it.

Now stir in the chopped tomatoes and their juices, and let the pot come up to a bare bubble. As soon as that happens, add the boiling water, saffron, dried orange peel, stock cube, and pepper. Drop the heat to low, and let the broth simmer slowly on that low heat for 30 minutes.

Time now to start poaching the seafood. Turn the heat to medium and add the firmest-fleshed white fish — mine was the monkfish. As soon as the pot comes back to its slow simmer on that medium heat, add the other white fish — mine was the hake — together with the shrimp / prawn tails, and the mussels. Once the pot starts to simmer again, drop the heat to low. Your bouillabaisse is very nearly ready. Check for saltiness, and perhaps add a little more salt according to your taste.

Let the pot slowly simmer at a very gentle bubble for 10 minutes. Done. Turn off the heat and give the pot a couple of gentle stirs. Take some care with those few stirs so as not to break up the seafood. All that’s left to do now is to warm some biggish soup bowls — then you’re ready to serve.