Ingredients

 

500g/1lb 2oz Crayfish shells

1 lemon, zest only

10 coriander seeds

Pince of Ground Turmeric

Rapeseed oil

 

Method

Place the Crayfish shells onto a baking tray and bake in the oven until dry and brittle.

Smash the shells in a clean tea towel with a rolling pin, place in a kilner jar.

Add the remaining ingredients and enough rapeseed oil to cover. Seal the jar, place into a large saucepan and add enough water to come halfway up the side of the jar. Bring the water to the boil, then remove the pan from the heat and set aside to cool. Strain the oil through a fine sieve and put aside for use later.

 

Crayfish Capers, Sunny days and a wonderful Paella

what could be better

Where	When
Banbury Spring	12th April 2026
Witney Food Festival	16th May 2026
Taste of Thame	23rd May 2026
Oundle Food Festival	20th June 2026
Bovingdon Classic Cars	5th July 2026
Towcester Mill Crayfish day	26th July 2026
Waddesdon Chilli Festival	5th - 6th September 2026
Olney Food Festival	12th - 13th September 2026
Higham Ferrers Sparkle	21st November 2026
Oundle Christmas Lights	5th December 2026

   

 

Keep an eye on this page as we will be adding more venues throughout 2024

 

 

Ingredients

 

2 litres Fish Stock

500g Baked Crayfish shells (legs, claws & backs)

6 Freshly cooked and peeled Signal Crayfish per serving

3 Shallots roughly chopped

3 tbsp Corn flour

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1 medium Carrot roughly chopped

1 Stick of Celery roughly chopped

2 garlic clove, peeled and crushed

2.5cm piece root ginger, roughly chopped

1 tsp Cumin seeds

1 tbsp Tomato Puree

  tbsp Dried Parsley

1tsp Anchovy Paste

1 tbsp Smoked Paprika

2 tbsp Brandy

150 ml White Wine

100ml Double cream

1 tbsp lime juice

 

Preparation method

 

Place the Vegetable oil in a saucepan large enough to hold 2 litres of the Bisque.

Gently sweat the Shallots, Carrots, Celery, Ginger and Cumin seeds for 5 minutes.

Throw in all of the cooked Crayfish shells and stir well to completely combine.

Watching closely increase the heat up to maximum and wait for 30 seconds.

Carefully pour in the Brandy keeping yourself clear in case it flames.

Combine all the ingredients in the saucepan well.

 

Now add the Fish Stock, Wine, Anchovy paste, Tomato Puree, Parsley, and Smoked Paprika and bring to a rapid boil.

Then turn heat down to the lowest simmer you can and add the Lime juice.

Simmer for at least 30 minutes or until the liquid has reduced by about a quarter.

 

After the Bisque has reduced remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly.

Pour the Bisque through a sieve to separate the liquid from the solids.

Return the liquid Bisque to the saucepan and put aside.

 

Now place all the solids into a blender and whizz until you get a gritty consistency.

Return this to the saucepan that has the liquid Bisque in and return to a low heat.

Simmer for a final 5 minutes to extract the extra flavor you’ve released by whizzing.

 

After the 5 minutes pass back through the sieve pressing with the back of a spoon to make sure you get every drop of the

liquid into a clean saucepan.

Once again return the Bisque to a low heat.

 

Combine the Corn flour with 100ml of cold water.

Slowly pour into the Bisque while whisking continually to avoid lumps

Simmer for 5 minutes to cook out the flour.

 

Just before serving remove from heat and gently stir in the double cream and serve.

When serving ladle onto bowls and just before taking to the table drop in 6 of the freshly cooked and peeled

Signal Crayfish for that extra little surprise.

 

Yummy

Crayfish Paella served all day plus crayfish finger sandwiches. Get there first or you may miss out!

 

Diary 2026 TBA

County Shows

Where	When
2026	TBA

 

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