Tivoli's Seaharvest Bisque

For 10 years Anthea and I owned a restaurant. We created this particular dish ourselves and it became a house special and indeed a signature dish of the restaurant. It was so popular that we could not take it off the menu. For almost the whole ten years we had the Seaharvest Bisque, but we never parted with the recipe, so here it is. The secret's out. Enjoy!!
Makes 6 Serves Ingredients For Soup base 500ml Fish Stock 500ml Shellfish Stock Please Note We made our own special preparation of a combined fish and shellfish stock (see below for the recipe) 30g Plain Flour 30g Fresh Butter 3 French Shallots (chopped) 1 Clove Garlic, (crushed and chopped) 2 tsp Paprika 2 tsp Cayenne Pepper
Method Put the butter into a saucepan and melt until completely melted but with no colour. Add shallots and garlic and cover with a lid. Gently sweat off the shallots and garlic until shallots are translucent but again, without colour. Remove the lid. Add flour and stir in well. Then imediately after add tomato paste, paprika and cayenne pepper. Stir together well. Add fish and shellfish stock 200ml at a time. Bring back up to heat each time stock is added until the soup base thickens. When all of the stock is added simmer very gently for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and pass through a sieve. This is the soup base
Ingredients To finish the Soup 30g Fresh Butter 1 Clove garlic, (crushed and chopped) 6 Raw King Prawns, Peeled and deveined but leave the end of the tail on 6 Large Scallops 6 Coujons of Fish 6 Pieces of Cuttlefish cleaned and scored (see illustration) 12 Black shell mussels 1 tbs Chopped Italian Parsley 150ml Cream 30ml Cognac Salt and cracked white pepper 1 Bunch Water Cress
Method In a wide, deep sauté melt the butter. add the garlic and heat until it sizzles. Then add the seafood in the order that they are listed. Cook until the seafood is just cooked and the mussels open and give of their liquor. To this add the soup base. Heat until it just starts to boil. Turn off the heat. Add 100ml of the cream, the cognac and season with salt and cracked pepper to taste. Be careful not to over salt because the seafood may already be quite salty. Arrange the seafood into 6 hot soup plates. Spoon the soup over the seafood, garnish with chopped parsley, the remaining cream, a pinch of cayenne and freshen with a large sprig of watercress
Special fish and shellfish stock Ingredients 300 - 400g Shellfish shells. Prawns Crayfish and lobster are good  2 medium sized fish frames (around 300 - 400g) 1 large onion, peeled and chopped 6 cloves garlic roughly chopped  1 carrot, roughly chopped 2 stalks celery  roughly chopped 2 sprigs of thyme ½ bunch parsley (washed thoroughly and roughly chopped)  2 bay leaves 10-15 whole peppercorns 30g butter  Put the shellfish shells in a roasting tray and roast at 180°c for about 15mins or until the edges of the shell just start to change colour Melt butter in a stock pot of at least 6 litre capacity. Add fish frames, onion, garlic and bay leaves. Cover with a lid and sweat off until onion takes a glassy appearance. Using pestle, pound the shellfish shells in the roasting tray to break them up a little. (The butt end of a meat cleaver can also be used). This greatly helps to release the flavour. Put the shells in the stock pot with the fish frames. Add the carrot, celery, thyme, parsley and peppercorn. Add enough water to just cover the packed down ingredients, but at least 1½ litres. Bring to the boil and simmer very gently for 35 minutes. If any foam or scum comes to the top of the pot skim it off. After it has simmered for 30 minutes, remove from the heat. Pass the stock through a muslin cloth in a strainer or just a very fine strainer. The stock is now ready for use. Note. The stock can be made a few days in advance and held in the refrigerator. It can also be frozen and held for weeks, after which, use as needed