Cooking Lesson #173 Corn and Crab Bisque

The 2020 Holidays Recipe Collection

How you doin’? Hopefully, you had as good a holiday weekend as could be expected. Thanksgiving and Black Friday are in the rearview mirror and Christmas and the New Year are still in front of us. In Los Angeles, we been advised to stay in place for another 3 weeks while “they” (whoever “they” are) are trying to get things back under control. In a new report “they” are reporting that the positive rate will rise to 1 in 148 people and may triple or quadruple before the end of the year if we don’t lock down now. Who knows for sure? Hopefully with a couple of successful new vaccines, 2020 will all be a memory and we can get back to some sense of normal shortly. Now let’s talk about some “infectiously” great soups to keep you warm as the weather begins to change.
 
Hail to the Bisque… the second most popular seafood soup after chowders. Bisques are hearty, creamy and all around awesome! This Corn Bisque is good with or without the seafood. Serve it with crusty French bread and maybe a cold beer!
 
Exactly what make a Bisque different from a chowder or ordinary soup? Bisques are smooth, creamy, highly seasoned soups of French origin, classically based on a strained broth of crustaceans—lobster, langoustine, crab, shrimp or crayfish.
 
The name is derived from Biscay, as in Bay of Biscay. The crustaceans are certainly bis cuites "twice cooked." They are first sautéed lightly in their shells, then simmered in wine and aromatic ingredients before being strained, followed by the addition of cream.
 
Bisque is made by extracting flavor from imperfect crustaceans not good enough to send to market, but good enough for soup. In an authentic bisque, the shells are ground to a fine paste and added to thicken the soup. Bisques are traditionally thickened with rice, which can either be strained out, leaving behind the starch, or pureed or milled during the final stages. That was one of the questions asked on the culinary school final—and I got it right.
 
Prep time:  15 minutes
Cook time:  30 minutes
Yield:  8 servings
 
Ingredients
1/4 cup unsalted butter
3/4 cup chopped white onions
42 ounces chicken broth
3 tablespoons minced garlic
2 bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon Cajun seasoning
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
4 ears corn, kernels cut from cob
1/2 cup half-and-half
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 cup milk
16 ounces lump crab or lobster meat
 
Directions

1. Heat the butter in a large pot over medium heat.
2. Stir in onion; cook until soft and translucent.
3. Pour in chicken broth and bring to a boil.
4. Stir in garlic, bay leaves, cayenne pepper, Cajun seasoning, salt and pepper.
5. Stir corn into boiling broth. Simmer about 10 minutes. Reduce heat to medium low.
6. Remove 2 cups of soup and set aside to cool slightly.
7. Pour the rest into a food processor.
8. Pour in half-and-half. Puree for 30 to 45 seconds and set aside.
9. In a small bowl, stir together the flour and milk. Slowly stir into 2 cups reserved soup and return it to the pot. Stirring constantly, simmer for 1 to 2 minutes. Then stir in pureed mixture.
10. Reduce heat to low, stir in crab or lobster meat, and cook until warmed through, about 5 minutes.

ChefSecret:  If fresh corn on the cob is out of season substitute with 6 cups of frozen corn.

Covid-19 Quip of the Day:  “Where do sick boats go to get healthy? The dock! ”
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Here is wishing you the very best for the upcoming holidays. To you and everyone dear to you, be strong, be positive, stay well, stay safe and be kind welcoming in the holiday season. If you have a little extra in your pockets to share with others at this difficult time, please consider donating to Feeding America.

#Soup #Bisque #Crab #HolidayRecipes #Entrees #Holidays2020 #QuarantineKitchen #Covid19 #FeedingAmerica #PerspectivesTheConsultingGroup 

                                            ©Perspectives/The Consulting Group, Inc., 2020

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