Partan Bree (Crab Soup)
This is an old Scottish recipe. ‘Partan’ means ‘crab’ and ‘bree’ means ‘gravy’.
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Serves 6 as an entrée
⅓ cup long grain rice
600ml milk
600ml chicken stock
500g cooked crabmeat (see notes)
2 anchovy fillets (see notes)
Pinch ground cayenne pepper
Pinch grated nutmeg
150ml cream
Salt flakes and freshly ground white pepper, to taste
Sprinkling paprika, to serve
2 tablespoons finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
Place rice and milk in a small saucepan, bring just to the boil, reduce heat and simmer over a low heat, covered, for about 20 minutes, until rice is tender.
Meanwhile, bring stock to the boil.
Blend rice, milk, anchovy fillets and most of the crabmeat in a blender until smooth, reserving some of the best looking pieces of crabmeat for garnish. Add blended mixture to stock and combine well using a stick blender. Add cayenne, nutmeg and cream and simmer for a minute or 2. Taste and add salt and pepper.
Serve into warmed bowls and garnish with paprika, parsley and reserved crabmeat.
Notes: Pick meat from 2 x 1kg cooked Mud Crab or 4 x 350g cooked Blue Swimmer Crabs, or buy Abacus frozen crabmeat (from Western Australia). Be aware that most other frozen crabmeat is imported and can be quite watery when thawed. If available, use Ortiz brand anchovy fillets as they have a much better flavour and are less salty.
Alternative Species: Spanner Crab, chopped cooked Prawns.
For information on Crabs, click here >
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