Elegant Shrimp Bisque
ETA: If you don't have the time to invest in this dish, check out the post just before this one for a stir fry using shrimp marinated in a prepared tamarind-date chutney. Delicious and very fast to put together. It's even elegant enough to impress company.
When you finish cooking this dish, you'll end up exhausted, and with a sink full of dirty dishes.
But it's worth it ... for the sheer decadence and amazing flavour of this dish.
Bisque (the name may have the same origins as biscotti ... twice cooked, because the shrimp is cooked twice, once to get out the flavour from the shells into the broth and once to cook the shrimp) is traditionally thickened with rice and that's what I chose to do. I wanted to enhance the red brick colour you get from shrimp shells so I added tomatoes to my bisque, in three forms: as diced tomatoes and ground tomatoes scavenged from my freezer, and as tomato paste. Just the tomato paste would have been fine but I had odds and ends of the others in my fridge that I wanted to try.
I started the day before I made the bisque by making a seafood stock. And because I wanted to be as authentic as possible. I bought a small bottle of good quality French brandy (I left out the dry sherry that's used in many recipes) to flavour the bisque.
Shrimp Bisque
Because the bisque is so rich, you may want to just serve half a cup as a starter. However, I ate this portion and then guzzled down another one. I was going to toast some rounds of French stick as an accompaniment but never got around to it. If you want to go over the top, you may even make a batch of gougeres (cheese puffs) to serve with the bisque.
Maybe next time.
Shrimp Bisque - makes 4 one cup servings
1/2 -1 pound raw shrimp, peeled and deveined (leave tail on 4-8 of the nicer looking shrimp for presentation/garnish)
4 cups seafood stock
1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 onion, peeled and finely diced
1/2 celery stalk, finely diced
1/2 carrot, peeled and finely diced
1/2 garlic clove, peeled and finely minced
1/2 cup diced tomatoes with liquid
1/2 cup ground tomatoes
1 tbsp tomato paste
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tbsp good quality brandy (St. Remy VSOP brandy)
2 tbsp dry sherry (optional)
1/4 cup uncooked long grain or Arborio rice
1/3 cup whipping cream
salt to taste
chives or green onions, for garnish
NOTE: I would have used the larger amount of shrimp but I ran short.
In a large pot or Dutch oven, heat olive oil on medium-high and saute shrimp for a minute or two on each side or until they turn pink but the inside is still opaque. Remove the shrimp to a small bowl and reserve until later.
Add onion, celery, carrot and garlic to the pot and saute for a few minutes, scraping up as much of the browned bits from the shrimp as possible. Add the diced and ground tomatoes to the veggies, continuing to scrape up the browned bits on the bottom, and saute until most of the liquid from the diced tomatoes has evaporated. Clear a spot on the bottom of the pot and add the tomato paste, cooking until the tomato paste is a bit toasted (3-5 minutes).
Add the cayenne pepper, rice, seafood stock, about 1/2 tsp of salt, and brandy (and sherry, if using), bringing to a boil. Cook, uncovered for 5 minute to cook off the alcohol.
Cover the pot, reduce the heat to a low simmer and cook for 15-20 minutes until the rice is tender.
Remove the pot from the stove and using a hand blender, puree until you get a homogenous mixture. (Use a regular blender if you don't have a hand blender, though you may have to do it in batches.)
In order to get a really smooth mixture, and to remove any seeds if you used diced tomatoes, pass the pureed mixture through a fine metal sieve into a large bowl. You may have to do this twice if you overload your sieve and get some spillage. Use the back of a soup spoon or a spatula to gently push the mixture through the sieve.
Return the sieved bisque to your pot and place back onto the heat. Chop the cooked shrimp into 3 or 4 pieces and add to the bisque. Add the whipping cream and warm the mixture making certain not to bring to a boil. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed.
Spoon the bisque into each individual bowl, making sure everyone gets some chunks of diced shrimp.
For garnish, thinly slice 2-3 chives or young green onion tops and sprinkle over the each bowl of bisque. Add a whole shrimp to each bowl.
I don't know how people get their shrimp to stand up in the soup bowls. I got a single tail-on shrimp to sort-of LEAN on the wall of the tea cup. :)
Seafood Stock - makes 10-12 cups stock
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 lobster carcass from which all meat has been removed
shells from 2 pounds uncooked shrimp
shells from 2 pounds cooked shrimp
1 medium onion, peeled and roughly chopped
1 carrot, peeled and roughly chopped
1 stick celery, rinsed, roughly chopped
1 large clove of garlic, peeled and sliced thickly.
2 dried bay leaves
1/2 tsp dried thyme leaves
3-4 stems and leaves of flat parsley
dark green tops from 2 leeks
stems from a bundle of Swiss chard
water, enough to cover
1 tsp salt
In a large stock pot, heat up the vegetable oil to medium-high and add the uncooked shrimp shells, sauteeing until they turn pink.
Add the onion, carrot, celery and garlic, sauteeing for another few minutes. Add the remaining shrimp shells, lobster carcass, and remaining ingredients.
Cover the vegetables etc. with water, add salt and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to a low simmer, cover and cook for one hour.
Line a large colander or conical strainer with a double layer of cheesecloth placed over a very large pot and pour the stock through. Remove the hard lobster shells and then press down on the remaining ingredients in the colander to get as much of the liquid out as possible. You may need to strain the broth a second time through a fine metal sieve in order to ensure that no lobster shell has remained.
I ended up with 11-12 cups of a dark and flavourful seafood stock.
PS: The stock and bisque recipes are an amalgamation of ingredients and techniques found on various blogs, cookbooks and internet recipes. Everyone from Eva and Lola, Ina Garten and Christine Cushing (though I didn't use the chipotle chile) are credited.
When you finish cooking this dish, you'll end up exhausted, and with a sink full of dirty dishes.
But it's worth it ... for the sheer decadence and amazing flavour of this dish.
Bisque (the name may have the same origins as biscotti ... twice cooked, because the shrimp is cooked twice, once to get out the flavour from the shells into the broth and once to cook the shrimp) is traditionally thickened with rice and that's what I chose to do. I wanted to enhance the red brick colour you get from shrimp shells so I added tomatoes to my bisque, in three forms: as diced tomatoes and ground tomatoes scavenged from my freezer, and as tomato paste. Just the tomato paste would have been fine but I had odds and ends of the others in my fridge that I wanted to try.
I started the day before I made the bisque by making a seafood stock. And because I wanted to be as authentic as possible. I bought a small bottle of good quality French brandy (I left out the dry sherry that's used in many recipes) to flavour the bisque.
Shrimp Bisque
Because the bisque is so rich, you may want to just serve half a cup as a starter. However, I ate this portion and then guzzled down another one. I was going to toast some rounds of French stick as an accompaniment but never got around to it. If you want to go over the top, you may even make a batch of gougeres (cheese puffs) to serve with the bisque.
Maybe next time.
Shrimp Bisque - makes 4 one cup servings
1/2 -1 pound raw shrimp, peeled and deveined (leave tail on 4-8 of the nicer looking shrimp for presentation/garnish)
4 cups seafood stock
1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 onion, peeled and finely diced
1/2 celery stalk, finely diced
1/2 carrot, peeled and finely diced
1/2 garlic clove, peeled and finely minced
1/2 cup diced tomatoes with liquid
1/2 cup ground tomatoes
1 tbsp tomato paste
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tbsp good quality brandy (St. Remy VSOP brandy)
2 tbsp dry sherry (optional)
1/4 cup uncooked long grain or Arborio rice
1/3 cup whipping cream
salt to taste
chives or green onions, for garnish
NOTE: I would have used the larger amount of shrimp but I ran short.
In a large pot or Dutch oven, heat olive oil on medium-high and saute shrimp for a minute or two on each side or until they turn pink but the inside is still opaque. Remove the shrimp to a small bowl and reserve until later.
Add onion, celery, carrot and garlic to the pot and saute for a few minutes, scraping up as much of the browned bits from the shrimp as possible. Add the diced and ground tomatoes to the veggies, continuing to scrape up the browned bits on the bottom, and saute until most of the liquid from the diced tomatoes has evaporated. Clear a spot on the bottom of the pot and add the tomato paste, cooking until the tomato paste is a bit toasted (3-5 minutes).
Add the cayenne pepper, rice, seafood stock, about 1/2 tsp of salt, and brandy (and sherry, if using), bringing to a boil. Cook, uncovered for 5 minute to cook off the alcohol.
Cover the pot, reduce the heat to a low simmer and cook for 15-20 minutes until the rice is tender.
Remove the pot from the stove and using a hand blender, puree until you get a homogenous mixture. (Use a regular blender if you don't have a hand blender, though you may have to do it in batches.)
In order to get a really smooth mixture, and to remove any seeds if you used diced tomatoes, pass the pureed mixture through a fine metal sieve into a large bowl. You may have to do this twice if you overload your sieve and get some spillage. Use the back of a soup spoon or a spatula to gently push the mixture through the sieve.
Return the sieved bisque to your pot and place back onto the heat. Chop the cooked shrimp into 3 or 4 pieces and add to the bisque. Add the whipping cream and warm the mixture making certain not to bring to a boil. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed.
Spoon the bisque into each individual bowl, making sure everyone gets some chunks of diced shrimp.
For garnish, thinly slice 2-3 chives or young green onion tops and sprinkle over the each bowl of bisque. Add a whole shrimp to each bowl.
I don't know how people get their shrimp to stand up in the soup bowls. I got a single tail-on shrimp to sort-of LEAN on the wall of the tea cup. :)
Seafood Stock - makes 10-12 cups stock
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 lobster carcass from which all meat has been removed
shells from 2 pounds uncooked shrimp
shells from 2 pounds cooked shrimp
1 medium onion, peeled and roughly chopped
1 carrot, peeled and roughly chopped
1 stick celery, rinsed, roughly chopped
1 large clove of garlic, peeled and sliced thickly.
2 dried bay leaves
1/2 tsp dried thyme leaves
3-4 stems and leaves of flat parsley
dark green tops from 2 leeks
stems from a bundle of Swiss chard
water, enough to cover
1 tsp salt
In a large stock pot, heat up the vegetable oil to medium-high and add the uncooked shrimp shells, sauteeing until they turn pink.
Add the onion, carrot, celery and garlic, sauteeing for another few minutes. Add the remaining shrimp shells, lobster carcass, and remaining ingredients.
Cover the vegetables etc. with water, add salt and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to a low simmer, cover and cook for one hour.
Line a large colander or conical strainer with a double layer of cheesecloth placed over a very large pot and pour the stock through. Remove the hard lobster shells and then press down on the remaining ingredients in the colander to get as much of the liquid out as possible. You may need to strain the broth a second time through a fine metal sieve in order to ensure that no lobster shell has remained.
I ended up with 11-12 cups of a dark and flavourful seafood stock.
PS: The stock and bisque recipes are an amalgamation of ingredients and techniques found on various blogs, cookbooks and internet recipes. Everyone from Eva and Lola, Ina Garten and Christine Cushing (though I didn't use the chipotle chile) are credited.