Don't Sweat the Aubergine

wooden spoon and grinding as much of it through the disc as possible. Or: pour the soup into another pan through a colander, again pushing down on the ingredients with a wooden spoon.
    Now refine the soup further: strain it into another pan (back into the first one, perhaps) through a sieve, pushing down on the pulp with the back of the ladle; discard the pulp that won’t go through the mesh. 2
    Rouille is a fiery mayonnaise. Make a mayonnaise with 2 egg yolks, 300ml oil and 3 crushed garlic cloves ( see here ); add to it 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper or 1 tsp harissa ( see here ). (Best add a little cayenne or harissa at first, and then taste before adding more.) You could put a little cayenne into the soup, too.
    Cut the baguette into rounds, then into spoon-sized halves or quarters. Lay them on a baking tray, and put them in a gas mark 6/200°C oven until lightly toasted.
    When you’re ready to serve, add the saffron (with its soaking liquid if you’ve used threads), but perhaps not the parsley unless you particularly like it, and reheat the soup gently without boiling; check the seasoning. Place a bowl of croutons and a bowl of rouille on the table; guests dollop the rouille on to the croutons, which they float in their soup.
    Soupe de poisson, as I just about dare to call this recipe, often comes with bowls of grated Gruyère to go with the croutons and rouille. As served in most restaurants, the cheese is sweaty and unappetizing, having been grated too far in advance. Even when it’s in tip-top condition, I’m happy to leave it.
    I don’t dare to call the stew version of this dish a bouillabaisse, although it resembles it in composition. ‘It is useless attempting to make a bouillabaisse away from the shores of the Mediterranean,’ Elizabeth David warns.
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WHY YOU DO IT
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    1 • What fish? I ask the fishmonger. The last time I made a soup, he gave me a snapper (which I chopped into three pieces), some coley and a cod fillet.
    2 • Double straining . This process is fun, provided you’re not in a hurry. The point is to get every last bit of liquid from the solid material.
    A food mill will make the first round a lot easier than will a colander. Put the soup into it a portion at a time; use a wooden spoon to force the fish and vegetables between the metal attachment and the disc. Brief anti-clockwise turns of the handle can help the stuff to go through.
    Sieve the pulp a portion at a time as well. The back of a ladle will help you to force the liquid through the mesh; throw away the dried pulp, and repeat.
MUSSELS
    Mussels are enjoyable to cook: you get, as you lift the lid of the cooking vessel, the small miracle of the opened shells, as well as the wonderful briny, winey aroma. But preparing them is a little tedious.
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HOW TO PREPARE THEM
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    Put them in a bowl of cold water. If any float, or are broken, throw them away. Drain them in a colander. Wash them again under running water, pulling off the beards if they have them. Look out for the following, and throw them away: any mussels that are open and do not close with a sharp tap on the side of the sink, or when you give them a little squeeze with your thumb and forefinger; 1 any with shells that you can slide sideways with your thumb and forefinger (they will be gritty).
    Phew. Now the more enjoyable bit.
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HOW TO COOK THEM
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    As a starter, for 2 – double the quantities for a main course
    500g mussels
    1 tbsp olive oil
    2 shallots or 1 onion, finely sliced
    1 garlic clove, finely chopped
    1 glass white wine
    1 tbsp chopped parsley
    Warm the oil over a medium heat in a heavy casserole or saucepan. Add the shallots or onion, and the garlic. Fry, stirring, for just a minute or 2, or for 3 or 4 if you’re using onion; a slightly raw taste is fine in this context. Throw in the wine, and let it bubble (you shouldn’t need salt – the mussel liquor is salty); tip in the mussels, and clamp on the lid. Shake the pan a few times while the mussels are cooking. Check after 3 minutes: a good many of them should be open. If not many are, they obviously need longer. If most are, put the lid back on for another minute to give the closed ones the benefit of the doubt; 2 if a few still refuse to cooperate, throw them away. (Don’t try to prise them open to eat them – they’ll probably poison you.) Scatter over the parsley.
    Serve from their cooking vessel; eat the mussels from bowls, with spoons for the sauce, and bread to mop it up. If you’re