La Bourride is one of the great classic fish dishes of Provence. It's a bit time-consuming to make - not difficult, just a little long-winded - but well worth the effort.

There are many, many variations. All sorts of fish can be used: sea bass, sea bream, John Dory, brill, mullet, monkfish, etc. Some restaurants include luxury items like langoustines and lobster. But I don't think that's necessary. Use a selection of just two or three fish - sea bass, sea bream and monkfish seem to work very well - and if you want to be a bit flash just throw in a few large prawns near the end of the cooking process.

Many restaurants along the Mediterranean coast use whole fish, and fillet them at the table after cooking. All wonderfully authentic, of course, but it normally means that everybody finishes up with mouthfuls of little bones!

So this is a slightly more genteel version, using fish that has been filleted beforehand.

Aioli and rouille are essential components of this dish - so if you don't like too much garlic, try something else instead!

Ingredients (for 4 servings): Approx. 1kg assorted white fish fillets (see note above); 25ml olive oil; 2 shallots; half a bulb of fennel; 1 small leek; 4 cloves garlic; 250ml dry white wine; 2 medium tomatoes; 2 strips orange peel; 1 bay leaf; 1 sprig fresh thyme; 1.5 litres fish stock; approx 350ml aioli (see recipe below); sauce rouille (see recipe below)

Method: Heat the olive oil in a very large pan (one of those high-sided sauté pans would be ideal). Peel and slice the shallots and garlic. Slice the fennel and leek.

Add these prepared vegetables to the oil and sweat for 5-6 minutes, stirring frequently.

Next slice the tomatoes and add these to the pan, together with the orange rind and the fresh herbs. Stir well together.

Add the wine. Boil briskly for 3-4 minutes to cook off the alcohol. Now add the fish stock and simmer for a further 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, cut each fish fillet into three or four pieces, depending on the size of the fish. Try to keep the pieces more or less the same size to ensure even cooking.

Add the fillets to the poaching liquid, lower the heat and simmer very gently for about 5 minutes.

Do not overcook!

Very carefully, remove the cooked fillets from the poaching liquid, place on a large serving dish and set aside in a warm place. (An oven that has been heated to a low temperature and then switched off would be ideal - so long as the fish doesn't continue cooking!)

Strain the poaching liquid, pressing down hard with the back of a ladle to extract maximum flavour from the vegetables and herbs.

Put the aioli in a large mixing bowl. Little by little, whisking all the time, add the hot poaching liquid to the aioli. When all the liquid has been added, pour the mixture into a clean saucepan. Place it over a gentle heat and, stirring all the time, allow the mixture to heat and thicken.

Be very careful at this point. If you allow the sauce to heat too quickly, you could finish up with very expensive, fish-flavoured scrambled eggs! You must stir or whisk constantly. To tell if the sauce is hot enough, stick the end of your (washed) little finger in it. If it's just too hot to bear, the sauce is ready!

Take the serving dish out of the oven, pour the aioli sauce all over the fish fillets, sprinkle with some finely chopped parsley and serve without any further ado.

Bourride is traditionally served with boiled potatoes and croutons of French bread that have been dried out in the oven and rubbed with olive oil and garlic.

You can also serve rouille (see below) to spread on the croutons.

Aioli: Crush 4 or 5 large cloves of garlic. Season with a generous pinch of salt. Place in a large bowl with 2 medium egg yolks (free-range if possible), a teaspoon of Dijon mustard and 1 tablespoon cold water. Very slowly, whisking all the time, add approximately 500ml of oil. I prefer a half-and-half mixture of extra-virgin olive oil and good quality vegtetable oil. As the mixture starts to emulsify and thicken you can add the oil more quickly - but don't rush it! If the end result is too thick, thin it out with a little warm water.

Rouille: A quick, simple method of making this rust-coloured condiment (the French word rouille means "rust") is to take about 150ml of aioli and stir in a teaspoon of the fiery North African paste called harissa, which you can buy in little tins in most supermarkets these days. If you can't find it, just pound together 3 small dried red chillis and a small cooked potato, and stir this into the garlic mayonnaise instead.