Seafood Bisque

A well  made seafood bisque is so flavoursome and satisfying. I hope you'll enjoy my take on this French classic. It's a lovely soup to serve for entree at your next dinner party. You can make the soup up to end of step 4 on the morning of the dinner party, keep it in the fridge. Continue on from step 5 close to serving. Bon appétit!

Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
8 large green prawns, peeled, deveined, heads and shells reserved 
1 brown onion, finely chopped
1 small carrot, finely chopped
1 celery stick, finely chopped
3 large garlic cloves, chopped
1 bay leaf
1L (4 cups) water
80ml (1/3 cup) dry white wine
55g (1/4 cup) medium-grain white rice
50g sachet tomato paste
Pinch of saffron threads
375ml (1 1/2 cups) water, extra
Salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper
8 Tasmanian scallops, deveined
250g piece salmon fillet, skinned, cut into 2cm pieces 
4 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves picked

 Method
1  Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the reserved prawn heads and shells, and cook, stirring, for 4-5 minutes or until the shells are browned (the shells will pop and crackle loudly).
2  Add the onion, carrot, celery, garlic and bay leaf, and cook, stirring often, for 5 minutes or until the onion is soft.
3   Discard the prawn heads only. Add the water, wine, rice, tomato paste and saffron to the pan, and bring to the boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, uncovered, for 15 minutes or until the rice and vegetables are tender. Set aside to cool for 10 minutes.
4  Transfer the mixture to a blender (shells included) and blend until very smooth. Strain through a coarse sieve into a clean saucepan. Stir in the extra water. Taste and season with salt and pepper.
5  Bring bisque to a simmer over medium heat and add prawns, scallops and salmon pieces. Cook, uncovered, for 3-4 minutes or until seafood is just cooked. Ladle into serving bowls, sprinkle with the thyme leaves and serve immediately.

​Serves 8 as an entree, 4 as a main course