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Oyster and champagne soup
Serves 4 Starters and mains
Ingredients
- 50g butter
- 1 large banana shallot, finely chopped
- 3 sticks of celery, finely chopped
- 1 small fennel bulb, finely chopped
- 1 medium potato, peeled and chopped
- 150ml champagne or white wine
- 500ml fish stock
- 200ml double cream
- 12 oysters, shucked and liquor retained
- 4 medium slices of bread, toasted
- Handful of celery leaves, refreshed in cold water
- 2tsp truffle oil (optional)
- 6cm pastry cutter
Method
Melt the butter in a large saucepan and cook the shallot for 3 minutes. Add the celery, fennel and potato then sweat for about 8 minutes.
Add a pinch of salt and a little pepper, pour in the champagne or wine and simmer for around 10 minutes.
Pour in the fish stock and simmer for 20 minutes or until the vegetables are completely soft.
Reserve 1 tablespoon of the oyster liquor in a bowl and add the rest to the soup (along with any other oyster liquor you may have frozen from the other recipes). Add 5 tablespoons of the cream to the reserved oyster liquor and pour the rest into the soup. Simmer for 5 minutes. If it looks curdled at this stage, don’t worry it will be fine once liquidised.
Add 4 of the oysters to the soup and cook for 2 minutes. Cool a little before liquidising.
Using a 6cm pastry cutter, stamp 8 circles out of the toast.
Drain the celery leaves and pat dry. Gently reheat the soup.
Meanwhile, whisk the reserved oyster liquor and cream with a pinch of salt until thick. Pour the hot soup into warmed bowls, put an oyster on each circle of toast and top with some of the oyster cream. Place two circles on each serving of soup and spoon over a little truffle oil, some black pepper and a few celery leaves.
Serve immediately.
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