Lobster Bisque

If it has lobster in it, I’m either going to make it or order it! I love the flavour and there is something almost special about eating lobster (you almost feel little spoiled right?). If I had my choice between clam chowder or lobster bisque, I would definitely pick the latter, and therefore the attraction to this particular recipe from Food,Wine & Mode Podge.
Ingredients:
1 to 2 cups cooked lobster meat (we used the frozen/canned lobster meat from Farm Boy)
1/2 cup dry sherry
3 tbsp. butter
3 tbsp. flour
1/2 cup onion, diced
1/4 cup celery, diced
1/4 cup carrot, diced
Salt and white pepper, to taste
1/2 tsp. seafood seasoning (we couldn’t find the recommended Old Bay at Loblaws, so we used the President’s Choice variety and it seemed to work)
2 tbsp. tomato paste
1 cup whole milk
1 cup half and half
1 cup chicken stock (lobster stock is recommended, but you can use chicken stock like we did)
Preparing this recipe with Greg certainly made all the steps a lot easier.  You start by combining the lobster meat (defrosted) with the sherry. Cover and refrigerate. We weren’t sure how long the lobster needed to marinate in the sherry, but figured the 30 minutes or so it took to prepare the rest of the recipe was probably enough time.
Melt butter until it stops sputtering in a hot pan over medium heat. Then add: onion, celery, carrot, salt and pepper and seafood seasoning. We initially used a little less seasoning than the recipe calls for (we add more later to taste).  Stir veggies until they are translucent and begin getting soft. Add the tomato paste and let cook for a few more minutes, and then the flour, cook for two to three minutes, constantly stirring (I know the mixture looks dry, but don’t worry).
While whisking, add the cold milk, the half and half and the stock, bring to a boil for approximately one minute (don’t stop whisking!). Turn your heat down and let simmer until it is slightly reduced.
Now the recipe is like a choose your own adventure book, remember those?  You can either use your immersion blender and blend until the soup is smooth OR you can strain your soup through a fine mesh strainer, using your muscles to  press down on any solids. We definitely chose the blender 🙂
Now the fun part…tasting! Feel free to add more seafood seasoning (we did), salt, pepper. And then the piece de resistance you add the lobster and sherry mixture to your pot and let it simmer making sure your lobster is heated through.
Served with some crusty bread, this is by far the best lobster bisque we have ever had, seriously. ~kM