Crawfish and Shrimp Bisque

I love making crawfish bisque!

And. . .as with most of my original recipes, each is quite different from the previous one. For instance, this is the first time I've added shrimp. 

Start by sautéing the chopped vegetables in butter, until they're all snapping and becoming lightly browned.

6T butter

1 big carrot

2 stalks of celery

5 lg. cloves garlic

1/3 red bell pepper

1/2 lg. purple onion

5 sm. Yukon Gold potatoes

Add 4c chicken bone broth, Cajun seasoning, black pepper and chicken Better Than Bouillon to taste.

Blend this with an immersion leaving it a little textured, or smooth if you'd rather.

Simmer this, covered 10-15 minutes on low heat.

Add 2 cans of corn, one drained and one undrained. Check the flavors and make any needed adjustments.

12oz. crawfish
8oz. shrimp—cut into small pieces
chopped celery tops

Add the crawfish, shrimp, celery tops, and simmer another few minutes. If you'd like this thicker, which I decided would be good, this would be the time to add a few tablespoons of browned roux. Bring this to a low simmer so the roux can thicken the bisque. Take this off the heat and let it cool 10 minutes. 

Just before serving, stir in:

zest and juice of 1/2 lemon
2c half and half

Serve topped with crunchy garlic-parmesan croutons. . .Lin

Cream of Mushroom Soup

Wash and chop-slice the mushrooms into a big soup pot. Sautè them with the following ingredients:

20oz. crimini - baby portabella - mushrooms

2T finely chopped onion

1 minced garlic clove

4T (1/2 stick) butter

fresh ground pepper

Stir occasionally over low-medium heat until the liquid in the mushrooms evaporates and the mushrooms start to brown a little. Add the rest of a large onion, sliced. Cover and simmer a half hour or so until everything is nicely caramelized. Take 2/3 of the mushrooms and onions out of the pot. These will be added at the end and not blended with the other vegetables.

Make a roux with 2 heaping tablespoons of unbleached, all purpose flour and 1/3c± cold water and add that to the mushroom pot.

In another pot, combine the remaining chopped vegetables shown, part of a poblano pepper, 3 bay leaves, 3c water, and 1 package of beefy onion soup mix. Simmer, covered 30-40 minutes until the carrots are soft.

Remove the bay leaves, add the simmered vegetables to the mushrooms to be blended. Blend as smooth as you'd like with an immersion blender.

Stir in 1c half and half, and the chunky mushrooms. Bring this to a low bubble.

Serve with a drizzle of truffle-infused EVOO and some freshly chopped herbs. . .Lin

Broccoli-Cauliflower-Cheese (Apple) Harvest Vegetable Soup

1 med.-lg. head of cauliflower

4-5 sm. chopped potatoes

1-2c broccoli florets

1+c chopped celery

1+c chopped onion

3 chopped carrots

¼c dry white wine

¼c butter

1-2t Penzey's Smoky

½-1t  finely ground black pepper

4-6c water

1-2T Better Than Bouillon-vegetable flavor

*6oz. American cheese

*1c half and half

*⅔c sour cream

Combine all the chopped vegetables, wine, butter and seasoning in a 6 quart pot.  Simmer-saute' over low heat, covered to bring all the flavors together and pull the liquid out of the vegetables, for 20-25 minutes.  Uncover and increase the heat.  When it starts to sizzle, stay close and stir.

As the vegetables lightly brown, add water a little at a time and continue to simmer, covered another 20-30 minutes.  Add soup base, check flavors.  When everything's cooked the way you like, blend with an immersion blender.  *Stop now if you want for a dairy-free, delicious blended vegetable soup, or continue on - add cheese, stirring in to melt.  Pour in the half and half, about a half a cup at a time until the thickness and flavors are just right.  I used one cup.  If you also want to add the sour cream, stir that in now.



Increase heat only till the soup just starts to bubble right before serving.  I had my first bowl with a sprinkle of dill, and crispy croutons.  The apple with this was excellent and could also be chopped and blended into the soup!

Which is exactly what I did!  After the first bowl, I chopped up 2 big apples, unpeeled, simmer them in about ¾c water, covered for 10 minutes.  Added this to the soup and blended it all again.  This time topped with bacon crumbles. . .

Mmmm, tastes great! 😃

Be Bold - Be Creative!  Happy Cooking. . .Lin