Monday, December 31, 2012

Lobster Bisque


I've been waiting and waiting for a good time to make lobster bisque and New Year's Eve turned out to be it! My husband and I decided to make it a tradition to have a seafood meal each New Year's Eve and the grocery store was having a sale on lobster tails (a rarity in this land-locked land of Utah) which looked fairly decent. We don't get lobster enough to be snobby about it, so I took a few home to experiment.

Wow, was it a hit! We loved it. My husband could not stop raving about the bisque it during dinner. I have to say it was even better than most restaurant lobster bisques I have ordered in the past. If you like seafood or creamy soups, you will LOVE this.

I did spend the time to make my own lobster stock from the shells, which was amazing, but you could probably use lobster base or seafood stock if you have access to it. You could also easily substitute 2 cups half-and-half for the cream and milk)

I served it with an artisan garlic bread and spinach/pomegranate salad. We also had lemon-butter lobster tails and crab-stuffed mushrooms. How's that for a 3 course meal? The lobster bisque was our favorite part.

Lobster Bisque
1 TBSP olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 TBSP chopped shallot
1 large green onion, chopped
1/2 cup clam juice
1 tsp dried thyme
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp tabasco sauce
1 tsp paprika
1 cup lobster stock (see below)
3 oz. tomato paste
1 bay leaf
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup milk
1/2 cup lobster meat, cut in chunks (meat from 2 lobster tails)

Directions:
Heat olive oil in bottom of pot. Add garlic, shallot and green onion and saute for 1 minute. Deglaze pan  with 1/4 cup clam juice and reduce liquid down for a few minutes. Add Worcestershire sauce, tabasco, paprika, and thyme and saute, stirring constantly. Deglaze again with other 1/4 c clam juice. Add bay leaf, lobster stock and tomato paste and bring to boil for 10 min. Whisk in heavy cream and milk. Add lobster meat and bring to a simmer. Serve and Enjoy!

To make lobster stock:
Saute 2 garlic cloves, 1 stalk celery, and 1/4 cup onion (all roughly chopped) in a little olive oil in pot and then add lobster shells, stirring for a few minutes until shells start to turn brighter red. Add bay leaf and a couple peppercorns. Pour in enough water to cover the shells (I probably put in about 3 cups) and simmer for 1-2 hrs. on low heat. This yielded ~1 cup stock.

Here's what my stock pot looked like after boiling for a couple hrs.

1 comment:

  1. Ever since you talked about this one over New Years I have been craving it. It just made my list of 100 things to do before I die: #63- make Emily's lobster bisque.
    There you go. Wish me luck!

    ReplyDelete