How to Make Crab Bisque Soup
Crab bisque is a delicious creamy soup that can be served for lunch or dinner as a filling treat. It’s highly suggested that you use fresh crabs for this recipe because the fresher the catch, the more delicious the soup is. It can be a quite complicated soup dish to make, but it’s worth it.
Ingredients:
- 4-6 cups crab shells
- 1/2 cup dry white wine
- 1 large yellow onion, sliced or chopped
- 1 carrot, roughly sliced or chopped
- 1 celery stalk, roughly sliced or chopped
- 2 Tbsp tomato paste
- 2 sprigs of thyme
- Several sprigs parsley
- 1 bay leaf
- 10-15 whole peppercorns
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 2 Tbsp butter, unsalted
- 1/3 cup shallots, chopped
- 3/4 cup dry white wine
- 4 cups of shellfish stock
- ¼ cup white rice
- 2 Tbsp tomato paste
- 1 ¼ lb or more of cooked crabmeat
- 1 ¼ cup heavy cream
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Instructions:
- First you will need to prepare the seafood stock.
- Start by breaking the crab shells into smaller pieces and putting them in a large stockpot with about an inch of water.
- Put the stockpot over medium high heat and slowly cook the shells in the water. But make sure that you don’t bring it to a boil. Try to maintain the heat and just simply simmer. Do not stir the shells because this will give you a muddy stock.
- If you notice any white foam that has collected on the surface of the stock, take them away using a slotted spoon. Do this as many times as required until no more foam collects on the surface.
- Allow the shells to cook for about an hour under a closely monitored temperature.
- While waiting for the stock to cook, put your selection of herbs, in this recipe, the thyme, bay leaves and parsley in a piece of cheesecloth to make a bouquet garni.
- As soon as you notice that the crab shells are not releasing any foamy substance anymore, then it is time to flavor the stock.
- Add the wine, some onions, carrots, celery, tomato paste and the bouquet garni, together with some peppercorns. Simmer for about thirty minutes.
- When the stock is finally cooked, strain the mixture through layers of cheesecloth placed over a mesh strainer. You can then get rid of the solid pieces of the stock.
- To make the bisque, sauté the shallots in some melted butter in a saucepan over a medium heat.
- As soon as the shallots become translucent, you can then add the stock, some white rice, the tomato paste and the wine. Raise the temperature and bring the mixture to a simmer.
- Simmer for about twenty minutes or until the rice is cooked.
- Then add some of the crabmeat to the bisque. Allow the bisque to cool for some time before you puree the mixture in a blender.
- Blend until the mixture has a consistent smooth texture.
- After blending, put the pureed mixture back into the pan and heat it with some cream.
- Don’t forget to season with salt and cayenne powder to taste.
- Serve immediately while still hot.
Serves 4 – 6