By: Matt L (Contributing Writer)
Jimmy’s Note: The first guest post (Power Meal: Super Stuff Pork Tenderloin) was quite popular, and a handful of people have asked if they could contribute, so it looks as if a “series” has been created. I’m a fan of it, and I think it’s cool that others are getting on-board. Now…on to the lobster.
To begin, lobster bisque has to be one of my favorite soups. The one attribute of this particular soup that really matters to me is chunkiness. Now, I don’t really mean this in the traditional sense, but just that most places (no matter how nice), will charge you an arm and a leg for completely liquid soup that has some lobster juice thrown in. This recipe is far beyond any of those.
I researched for a little while in preparation for my bisque-venture and found 4 recipes, from which I gathered some insight. My parents recently went to Maine (following a trip to Bean-town to see GT play Boston College) and brought back several pounds of fresh frozen lobster. The lobster is obviously the main focus of the soup, but don’t worry, you can find good lobster fairly easily (not cheaply though). The bisque starts with a white onion, 2 stalks of celery, a shallot, a teaspoon of garlic, and 4 tablespoons of butter (no one ever said this soup was healthy). I chopped the veggies up in a pretty small dice, but you can use your own discretion here. Now, just throw everything in a nice and heavy soup pot over med-high heat. Let the veggies soften and mix up with the butter.
When they look good and are soft to the taste, add 1/3 heaping cup of flour and mix it in really well with a utensil of your choice (I like wooden spoons). I say “heaping”, because I added 1/3 cup and ended up having to dump some flour in towards the end to achieve a good texture, which is not ideal. Once you have all that mixed, which shouldn’t take very long, add 2 cups of half n half. Turn the heat to med-low and let this simmer for about 5-10 min. The next step is to add the seafood stock. Fish stock is recommended here, but if you are like me and traveled to 3 stores and found NO fish stock, you can use half clam juice and half vegetable stock (which ended up tasting amazing!!). Add roughly 3 and a half cups of your stock, with 3 tablespoons fresh chopped parsley, and turn the heat up a bit. You don’t want to boil the soup, but get it pretty hot for about 10-12 minutes, so it thickens a bit.
Once you have it at a decent thickness, its time for the LOBSTER!! I used half a pound of cooked lobster meat and chopped it up pretty well. You can use any size chunks you want.
Turn the heat back to med-low and let everything simmer for about 10 minutes. When this is done, you should taste and add salt and pepper as needed. I accompanied this soup with a few chunks of fresh Ciabatta bread, for sopping, and threw a few freshly chopped chives on top.
We have reached the conclusion of our Lobster Bisque lesson, and I am sure you will enjoy it. In the spirit of Jimmy, I shall pair this dish with a wine. I recommend a crisp chardonnay with an introductory blast of fruit and a woody finish…or just make a screwdriver.
