CRAYFISH SOUP

Seldom will a soup last long in my apartment.

I’ll get all mumsy with my soup quantities and make enough to feed a large litter but I always find it lasts about 2 days.

This recipe followed suit.

I made it for two reasons: I wanted to feel skinny after a heavy weekend and I had crayfish tails to use up.

Smoky depth, soulful, comforting. It was the perfect Monday evening supper… that I intended to make a Tuesday supper also but unfortunately it saw the insides of my mouth before it ever saw daylight.

Gaining the most while doing the least is my favourite method in the Kitchen so again, I used my ‘roast everything God damn it’ method,

While I enjoy for being fuss-free, also ensures that every ingredient gets its own flavour profile heightened by the heat as opposed to being swilled out in a bubbling broth.

Bubbling broth has its place with a lot of soups, but not ones like this where flavour is the priority.

This is by no means a piss-poor can-style soup. It’s a velvety textured soup that is livened up with chunky, sea-salty crayfish (which you could absolutely substitute with prawns if need be). I guess it’s KIND OF bisque inspired (a creamy seafood based soup) but this has so little hassle that it’s done before you ever realise it.

Preheat the oven to 200c.

In a roasting pan, bung in 2/3 carrots that’s have been roughly chopped (skin on, give ‘em a wash, they’ll be fine).

Throw in the  neck part of a butternut squash that’s been peeled and hacked up into rough chunks. Don’t be previous.

Chop up one celery stick and one leek. Throw them in.

Add a teaspoon of paprika, a big dusting of salt, some pepper and throw in a few bay leaves.

Toss everything together and slip in the oven for 40 minutes. Do other things in this time. I walked the dog.

Once the roasting time is up, empty everything into a blender and scrunch in a vegetable stock cube and pour in a cup of boiling water.

Add a quick dash of tomato passata (if you don’t have this, just add half a can of chopped tomatoes).

If you have it, drop in a teaspoon of Oak Smoked Water (I buy mine from Halen Mon) but leave it out if you don’t have any.

Throw in a small handful of crayfish tails (you can get a cooked packet from Lidl. Cheap as chips) and blitz everything to a smooth and creamy consistency.

Pour into a bowl, add another handful of crayfish tails, drizzle over a little double cream and a leafy scattering of parsley.