Bisque is a creamy, rich, and strongly seasoned soup of French origin. It classically uses strained crustacean broth (coulis) as a broth. It may be made of lobster, crab, shrimp, or crayfish.
Bisque is a method of extracting flavor from crustaceans, that are not sufficiently good for sending to the market. The shells are ground into a fine paste in an authentic bisque and used to thicken the broth.
This soup tastes super complex but begins with some pretty essential ingredients. The goal here is to create flavors. Then, you add your mirepoix— finely chopped onion, carrot, and celery. Next, stir in fragrant tomato paste and freshly minced garlic. A sprinkle of flour will thicken things up, then wine and stock will give it the perfect bisque consistency.
Traditional French Lobster Bisque
- Author: Romae Chanice Marquez
- Recipe Category: Soup / Main Dish
- Cuisine: French
The whole preparation and cooking time is 1 hour. This recipe is suitable for at least four servings.
Photo credit: @danlwebsterinn / Instagram.com.
Traditional French Lobster Bisque Ingredients
- 5 tbsp. butter
- 2 medium onions, finely chopped
- 2 carrots, peeled and finely chopped
- 3 stalks celery, finely chopped
- Kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 tbsp. tomato paste
- 3 tbsp. all-purpose flour
- 5 cups seafood or fish stock
- 1 1/4 cups dry white wine
- 1 bay leaf
- 4 sprigs fresh thyme
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1 lb. cooked lobster meat, chopped
- Finely chopped chives
Traditional French Lobster Bisque Ingredients
Step 1: Heat butter in a big, heavy pot over medium heat. Add onion, carrots, celery and cook for about 7 minutes, until tender. Season with salt and pepper, then stir in tomato paste and the garlic. Cook the vegetables until the garlic is fragrant and the tomato paste coats them, about 2 minutes. Sprinkle the flour in the mixture and cook another 1 minute.
Step 2: Pour the stock and wine in with the fish, then whisk in the bay leaf and thyme. Reduce heat and allow it to simmer until liquid is reduced and flavors and melded, occasionally stirring, for about 30 minutes.
Step 3: Remove the bay leaf and thyme, and purée the rest until very smooth with an immersion blender. Return to medium-low heat and stir in heavy cream and lobster meat for about 5 minutes.
Step 4: Garnish with chives before serving.
Traditional French Lobster Bisque Additional Information
- Per serving, this recipe has 380 calories, 125mg of cholesterol, 730mg of sodium, 15g of carbohydrates.
- This dish will take one hour to prepare.
- This recipe will make enough to feed four people.
- Bisque is also generally used to refer to cream-based soups that do not contain fish, where the ingredients are sometimes precooked or refined in a food processor. Popular varieties include squash, mushroom, tomato, and red pepper.
Image source: keviniscooking.com
About Traditional French Lobster Bisque
Bisque is a thick, flavourful soup whose ingredients have been puréed into a creamy consistency. The term technically denotes a soup based on shellfish. An American take on bisque adds a bit of spice like cayenne or ground red pepper.
Conclusion
This warm, rich soup is the ultimate comfort food on a cold winter day. Also, because it is so rich and decadent, it is also great for special occasions.
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