Crab Soup

Name: Crab Soup
Yield: Serves 4—6
Cuisine: British
Ingredients: a glass of white wine; a few sprigs of thyme; salt and freshly ground white pepper; 1 bay leaf; 4 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped; 1 small fennel bulb, trimmed and roughly chopped; 1 small onion, peeled and roughly chopped; 1 small leek, rinsed, trimmed, roughly chopped and washed; 1 tablespoon vegetable oil; 500-700 g crab shells, broken into small pieces; 3 tablespoons plain flour; about 100 g white crab meat (optional); 3-4 tablespoons double cream; 2 litres fish stock (or 2 good stock cubes dissolved in this amount of boiling water); a few good knobs of butter; ½ teaspoon fennel seeds; 2 tablespoons tomato purée

Preparation info

Serves
4—6

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

British Seasonal Food

By Mark Hix

Published 2008

About

Crab isn’t cheap to buy, so it really makes sense to get full value from it. Once you’ve enjoyed your crab feast, or made a sandwich or salad, you can crush the shells and freeze them for later use, or make this soup straight away if you have time and freeze it.

Ingredients

500-700 g crab shells, broken into small pieces
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1

Europe
United Kingdom
Fish course
Pescatarian
Soup
July
Summer

Method

Put the shells into a strong carrier bag and smash them up with a steak hammer or rolling pin (the bag will stop the shells flying around all over your kitchen worktop).

Heat the oil in a large heavy-based saucepan and fry the crab shells over a high heat for about 5 minutes, stirring every so often until they begin to colour. Add the onion, leek, fennel, garlic, fennel seeds, thyme and