Vancouver spot prawn poutine

In this luxurious riff on Canada's comfort-food classic, poutine (hot chips and gravy), gravy is replaced with a creamy velouté sauce – like bechamel, but uses stock for a lighter result – which lets the fresh seafood shine.

• serves

  2

• prep

  5 minutes

• cook

  25 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 100 ml white wine
• 400 ml fish stock
• 200 g Vancouver spot prawns, or other good quality prawns, peeled and butterflied
• 65 g unsalted butter (50 g for the velouté sauce), 15 g for the seafood
• 50 g plain flour
• 100 ml pouring cream
• 1 tsp vegetable stock powder
• 100 g picked Dungeness crab meat
• 100 g picked lobster meat
• vegetable oil, for deep frying
• 400 g French fries, to serve
• 150 g cheese curds (see Note)
• 2 tbsp finely shredded dill
• 2 tbsp finely shredded chives
• 2 tbsp finely shredded parsley
• salt and black pepper, to season
• ¼ tsp espelette pepper, to serve
• lemons, to serve

Instructions

1. Place the wine in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer. Simmer until it stops smelling alcoholic. Add the stock and bring to a simmer again. Add the prawns to the stock mixture and poach for just a minute until cooked through. Remove and set aside. 
2. For the velouté sauce, add 50 g of the butter to a second small saucepan over medium heat and then add the flour. Stir to combine the flour with the melted butter, then add the stock mixture a little at a time to create a smooth velouté. Finally, add the cream and stock powder, whisking to combine, then taste and adjust seasoning as required.
3. Heat a frying pan over medium heat and add the remaining 15 g butter. Toss the crab and lobster meat in the butter just to warm them through. 
4. Fry the French fries and transfer to a serving dish. Season well with salt and a pinch of vegetable stock powder. Scatter with the curds and half the seafood, reserving half of the seafood for garnish. Pour the velouté over the fries. Garnish with the remaining seafood and scatter with the herbs. Season with salt and pepper, then scatter with a little espelette pepper. Serve with lemon wedges.

Note

• Cheese curds are young, unaged cheddar cheese known for their mild, salty flavour and springy texture. You can buy them in Australia at some specialty cheesemongers, or substitute them with torn fresh mozzarella or boccincini.

As featured in Adam Liaw’s North American Fan Feasts showing on SBS On Demand.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.