Ingredients
Prawn bisque
Method
- Peel the prawns, saving heads and shells in a bowl. Lightly salt the peeled bodies and refrigerate until finishing.
- Finely dice peeled carrots and onions, chop garlic and dice tomatoes, removing excess seeds if very pulpy.
- Heat olive oil in a heavy saucepan over medium heat. Roast heads and shells for about 5 minutes, stirring, until coloured and fragrant without burning.
- Add carrots, onions, garlic and tomatoes. Cook 4–5 minutes, stirring and scraping the base, until the vegetables begin to soften.
- Stir in tomato paste. Add and flambé the Cognac as directed by the source, allowing 1–2 minutes until the flames disappear.
- Add hot vegetable stock, bring to a simmer, lower the heat and cook 20 minutes until vegetables are soft and the liquid fragrant.
- Blend until homogeneous, then immediately pass through a fine chinois, pressing with a spatula to remove fibres and shell fragments.
- Return the strained liquid to the saucepan. Taste and adjust salt and pepper, then add crème fraîche and prawn bodies. Heat very gently, stirring without boiling.
- Poach the prawns for 3–5 minutes over very low heat until opaque and supple. Taste and serve immediately.
Equipment
Heavy saucepan; Blender or hand blender; Fine chinois; Spatula
Notes
- Browning: let the heads and shells colour over medium heat, stirring so they do not scorch. Burnt shells can make the bisque bitter.
- Concentration: allow the tomato-paste mixture to reduce slightly before continuing. Keep to the measured stock, and check the seasoning before adding cream rather than diluting the soup further.
- Smooth texture: blend while the mixture is hot and pass straight through a fine chinois. Press firmly with a spatula, leaving fibres and shell fragments behind.
- Gentle finish: stir in cream over very low heat or off the heat, keeping it below a boil. Poach the prawns just until opaque and supple and serve promptly; prolonged cooking makes them firm. Add pepper a little at a time.
- Accompaniments: offer toast rubbed with garlic. The publisher suggests a dry Gros Plant or Sauvignon and, for a vegetable accompaniment, a warm fennel and citrus salad.
- Refrigerating: put the cooled bisque in an airtight container. Covering the surface directly before closing helps prevent a skin. The recipe supplies no refrigerator storage duration.
- Freezing the base: freeze after straining and before adding cream. Thaw, finish with the cream and warm gently in a saucepan without boiling. No freezer storage duration is supplied.
Photos
1 photo
About this dish
A bisque is now understood as a soup made from a coulis of crustaceans, but earlier French cooks used the name more widely. The 1772 Dictionnaire portatif de cuisine includes poultry, fish and crayfish versions. That older family of rich soups helps explain the place bisque occupies between broth and purée.
Chloé's prawn version begins with heads and shells browned in olive oil. This draws flavour from parts that might otherwise be discarded, while the peeled bodies wait for a brief poaching at the finish. Carrot, onion and tomato build sweetness beneath the shellfish, with Cognac adding fragrance and crème fraîche giving the soup its rounded texture.
Blending brings shells and vegetables together, but fine straining makes the difference to the finished bowl. A chinois holds back fragments and fibres while a spatula presses out the liquid. The prawns return only after that work is done, keeping their tender texture against the smooth soup.
Recipe and cooking notes adapted from Les Bonnes Recettes.