Prawn Bisque

Name: Prawn Bisque
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 1 h 5 min
Yield: 1 serving
Cuisine: Mediterranean
Ingredients: 200 g whole raw prawns or langoustines; 10 g butter; 40 g onion; 30 g carrot; 20 g celery; 1 garlic clove; 1 tbsp tomato purée; 1 tbsp brandy; 50 ml dry white wine; 250 ml fish stock; 15 g long-grain rice; 1 bay leaf; 1 thyme sprig; 4 tarragon leaves; 30 ml double cream; 1 pinch cayenne pepper; salt and ground white pepper; 0.5 tsp lemon juice

A classic French shellfish soup, smooth and deep pink, built from the roasted shells of whole prawns with brandy, white wine and a little cream, thickened the old way with a spoonful of rice and finished with the sweet poached tails.

Snacks Lunch & dinner Pescatarian 25g+ protein

65 min20 prep · 45 cookMedium505 kcalper serving

Method

Peel 200 g of whole raw prawns, pulling off the heads and keeping every scrap of head and shell. Put the tails on a plate, cover and chill until the end. Squash the heads lightly with the back of a knife so the flavoursome juices are released.
Melt 10 g of butter in a heavy saucepan over a medium-high heat. Add the heads and shells and fry for 5 minutes, pressing and crushing them against the base of the pan, until they are deep pink and smell sweet and toasted.
Turn the heat to medium and stir in 40 g of finely diced onion, 30 g of carrot, 20 g of celery and 1 crushed garlic clove. Sweat for 5 minutes until softened but not coloured, then add 1 tbsp of tomato purée and cook it out for 2 minutes so it darkens and loses its raw edge.
Pour in 1 tbsp of brandy, stand back and let it flame or simply bubble away for 30 seconds until the alcohol has gone. Add 50 ml of dry white wine and boil hard until reduced by half and syrupy.