Prawn and Sweetcorn Chowder with a Puffy Top

To Y

Chowder, I think, is the ultimate soup to Y. Whenever I ask him what soup he would like, he would invariably answers ‘clam chowder’. I always let him down by not making it as it is difficult to get nice fresh clams here (the ready-prepared clams available in the supermarket often has sand in them). Having disappointed him for so many times, I decided to make chowder with prawns... the result was amazing and I unashamedly crowned it as the best chowder I have ever had! I topped the soup with ready-rolled puff pastry to make it more filling, which makes an ideal Friday light dinner.

Serves 2

Ingredients

1. 1 small onion
2. 1 clove of garlic
3. 4 rashers of streaky bacon
4. Butter
5. 1 medium-sized potato
6. 50ml double cream
7. 6 raw jumbo size king prawns
8. 1 sheet of ready-rolled puff pastry
9. 100g frozen sweetcorn
10. 700ml hot chicken stock (I used Knorr’s chicken stock pot and dilute one pot with 750ml of boiling water)
11. Beaten egg mixture
12. 1 teaspoon of scallop coral powder*

Method

• Peel and finely chop onion and garlic. Peel the potatoes and chop them into 2 cm chunks. Cut the streaky bacon into strips. Remove the shells and de-vein the prawns and cut them into 2 cm chunks.
• Using medium heat, gently cook the onion, garlic and bacon with a knob of butter in a saucepan for 2 minutes until they are softened but not coloured.
• Add the sweetcorn, potato and stock into the pan and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and let it simmer for 15 minutes.
• Add the prawns and simmer for another 5 minutes.
• Remove about ¼ of the chunks (i.e. potatoes, onion, garlic, bacon and prawns) from the soup and use a hand blender to blend until smooth.
• Return the blended mixture to the pan. Stir to combine. Depending on the consistency, you may want to blend more chunks to thicken the soup.
• Add the double cream and season to taste and bring it to the boil. Turn off the heat.
• Pour the soup into 2 soup pots. In the meantime, preheat the oven to 200c.
• Cut 2 squares of puff pastry big enough to cover the top of the soup pots and top them on the soup pots. Stick the corners of the puff pastry to the soup pot with some egg mixture. Brush the pastry lightly with egg mixture.
• Put the soup pots in the oven and cook for about 20 minutes. Serve immediately.

Note

*Scallop coral powder: I made this from Gordon Ramsay's recipe on timesonline. Spread fresh scallop corals on a baking sheet in a very low oven for a few hours until they are completely dry and brittle. Use a food processor to grind them to a powder. This coral powder gives a very strong seafood flavour and is ideal for adding into soups.