Aziminu

Aziminu comes from the coastal towns of Corsica and is the island's version of the Mediterranean rockfish soup that stretches along the same coast through Marseille (bouillabaisse) and Liguria. It shares bouillabaisse's logic — a way to make a meal of small, ugly, hard-to-sell reef fish — and its two-service ritual of broth and fish. Honest framing matters here: aziminu is not a separately invented dish so much as Corsica's local reading of that shared tradition, distinguished by Corsican olive oil and herbs and, in many recipes, a measure of pastis. There is no dated origin or founding charter as there is for Marseille's bouillabaisse.

First a deep saffron-and-tomato broth, orange-gold and smelling of the sea and aniseed, poured over toasted bread; it is intense, garlicky, faintly bitter from the fennel and the fish bones. Then the fish itself — firm white flakes of rascasse-type rockfish, sea bream, conger — eaten apart with more of the broth spooned over. The whole thing tastes of rock, brine, and herb rather than of any one fish.

As in bouillabaisse, the body of the soup comes from boiling bony rockfish heads and trimmings hard so their gelatin emulsifies with the olive oil into a cloudy, full broth — gentle simmering keeps stock clear, which is the opposite of what this soup wants. Saffron is bloomed in the hot liquid for color and aroma; fennel and orange or its peel deepen the background. The broth is strained before service. A splash of pastis reinforces the aniseed note already coming from the fennel; the garlic-rubbed bread thickens the broth as it soaks.