This bright, light fragrant soup, redolent with the sweet warmth of the baked veg and the seafood shells and flesh, is easy peasy to make, yet worthy of an extremely decent fish restaurant. It’s amazing how much flavour you can extract by baking the lobster and prawn shells (see photo above), and baking some of the veg alongside the shells adds a layer of richness that works very well indeed. And, of course, the sautéed lobster and prawn meat added at the end is the icing on the cake, so to speak

2 big lobster tails, peeled, shells reserved, the flesh chopped into 2cm pieces

3 big crevettes, peeled, shells and heads reserved, the flesh chopped into 2cm pieces (make sure any green gunk has been cleaned out, but not by rinsing under water)

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 large onion, half finely chopped, half roughly chopped

350g carrots, half finely chopped, half roughly chopped

4 celery sticks, half finely chopped, half roughly chopped

1 fennel bulb, half finely chopped, half roughly chopped

Half a small red chilli, chopped

1 heaped tspn finely chopped tarragon

juice of a clementine or half an orange and 2.5cm of zest

4 sprigs thyme

small pinch saffron threads

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp cayenne

2 tbsp tomato puree

4 tbsp dry sherry or saké

3 ripe tomatoes, roughly chopped

300ml white wine

chives, finely snipped, to serve

25g butter

• Preheat the oven to 220C. Place the prawn and lobster shells and heads and the tomatoes in a baking tray with the unchopped veg, a sprinkle of olive oil, a good grind of black pepper, and bake for 10 minutes. Place them in a wok with the thyme, tarragon, orange zest, chilli and juice. Cover with water by an inch, bring to a boil, then simmer gently for one hour. Strain and set aside, wipe the wok clean with kitchen paper.
• Heat the oil in the wok and add the chopped onion, carrots, celery, fennel and saffron. Fry for around 7 minutes, then add the paprika, cayenne and 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper. Stir in the tomato puree, sherry, tomatoes, white wine and the strained stock. Bring to a gentle bubble, and simmer for 20 mins
• Process the bisque in a blender till very very smooth; seriously, you’ll need to blitz it long and hard. Wipe the wok clean with kitchen paper, and add the bisque.Bring back to a bubble and reduce by no more than a quarter, scraping down with a rubber spatula every now and then. Correct the seasoning, set aside, keeping warm
• Heat the butter in a frying pan, add the reserved lobster and prawn pieces and toss until just cooked through. Divide the pieces of seafood among 6 soup bowls, add the soup, garnish with the chives, and serve