I’m taking you for a trip down memory lane this week with a twist on a recipe that’s been a staple in my family for generations, my grandmother’s crab bisque. This is one of those recipes we will cook once every summer, it’s a tradition, the whole process is a tradition and takes ages. Going out, rain or shine, with the children to collect shore crabs from the beach in front of the house. It can take a few hours to fill a good bucket of them, with many of them getting released by a child who doesn’t want to see it later in its plate. The bisque takes a long time to cook and I don’t know where to find shore crabs here so I’ve had to adapt it whilst in Lisbon.
What I love about a seafood bisque is the base starts with using something you would usually discard: the shells. The fact that something so good comes out of something which is usually thrown in the bin baffles me. It makes it taste even better.
My tips:
Make sure you roast/ fry the shells to get the maximum flavour out of them
Don’t use cream, it dilutes the flavour too much.
Keep it simple: the fewer ingredients the purer the taste.
Between my grandmothers recipe and my Instagram food feed, I came up with this prawn bisque recipe which takes a little more patience than my usual recipes but is entirely worth it. Prepare it a day ahead so all you’ll need to do on the day is cook the pasta in the bisque and prepare the prawn tartare.
Red prawn tartare with its bisque pasta
Serves 4
Cooking time. 1 hour 15 mins
Ingredients:
16 raw red prawns, medium-sized
extra virgin olive oil
salt & lack pepper
1 onion, chopped finely
2 garlic cloves
extra virgin olive oil
A generous splash of cognac/ white wine if not
500g of cherry tomatoes, halved
2 tbsps chilli powder
3 garlic cloves
extra virgin olive oil
400g of spaghetti
Half a lemon
Instructions
Shell the prawns and keep the heads for the sauce. Chop the prawns with a knife and season with olive oil, salt and pepper. Set aside.
For the bisque, in a pan sweat the onion with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Add the prawn heads and increase the heat. Brown the heads very well then add the cognac or wine and cook until reduced. Don’t be afraid to give the heads a good squish to make those juices pour out of them.
Add the tomatoes, garlic gloves, chilli and continue to simmer for about 30mins hour. Cool and blitz in a blender to obtain a silky sauce. Pass through a sieve to make sure it’s super smooth.
Cook the spaghetti in boiling salted water until al dente – remember that spaghetti will be cooked in the pan with the sauce for the last 2 minutes so do not overcook it.
2 mins before the end of the cooking time, transfer the spaghetti (don’t be afraid if there is some extra water- it’s required!) into the pan with the bisque, add a knob of butter and mix generously.
To serve, create pasta ‘nests’ using tongs and place onto each plate. Place the red prawn quenelles on top of the nest. Squeeze half of lemon into the raw prawn mixture and spoon on top of each nest.
It great one for a dinner party or just a romantic date night for two.
Enjoy,