Bisque de Crevettes

Servings: 8 soup servings, 4 entree servings

 

 

 

Ingredients 

 

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided into tablespoon slabs

 

1½ pounds shrimp, peeled, deveined, shells reserved

 

2 cups peeled and minced carrots

 

2/3 cup minced celery stalks

 

1 medium onion, minced

 

½ cup cooked short-grain white rice

 

1 teaspoon grated nutmeg

 

3/8 teaspoon salt

 

Dash freshly ground white pepper

 

2 cups heavy whipping cream

 

Garnish

 

Parsley

 

Red Lumpfish Caviar

 

 

 

Directions:

Bring 8 cups of water to a boil in a large stock pot over high heat.

 

While the water is heating, melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a frying pan over medium heat.

 

Add shrimp shells to frying pan. Saute shells until lightly toasted.

 

Add shrimp shells to boiling water, reserving frying pan.

 

Reduce heat under stock pot. Simmer uncovered for 25 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

 

Heat frying pan used to saute shrimp shells, over low heat. Add 1 tablespoon butter. When melted, add onions.

 

Raise heat to medium-low. Saute onions until soft and translucent. Do not brown.

 

Add carrots and celery to onions. Saute, stirring frequently, until vegetables are very soft. Do not allow them to brown.

 

 

Cook’s Note: The smaller the vegetable pieces, the less time they will take to cook.It is very important that the vegetables are thoroughly cooked. If they are not done to a stage where they could be mashed, they will not blend into the broth properly and there will be a lot of vegetables left in the strainer.

 

 

Set a fine-mesh strainer over a large bowl.

 

Strain shrimp shells, discarding solids. Add cooked vegetables, rice, salt and nutmeg to stock.

 

Puree stock until very smooth,

 

Chill overnight.

 

 

 

Day 2:

 

Heat frying pan over medium heat.

 

Place 1 tablespooon butter in frying pan over low heat. Allow butter to melt, but not brown.

 

Reserve 24 (soup servings) or 12 (entree servings) raw shrimp.

 

Mince the rest of the raw shrimp.

 

Place minced shrimp in butter and quickly saute just until they barely turn white.  Remove immediately from pan with a slotted spoon, leaving butter in the pan.

 

Melt last tablespoon of butter in the frying pan.

 

Butterfly the reserved whole raw shrimp by deeply slicing through the back. without cutting through to the other side, from top to the tail.

 

Place reserved whole shimp on the frying pan with one side down and curl tail towards top. Saute until barely white on the down side.

 

Flip shrimp over, maintaining curved shape. Saute that side until until barely white.  Remove immediately from heat.

 

Place shrimp on cutting board.

 

Add any butter remaining in the frying pan to broth.

 

Add minced shrimp to broth.

 

Puree broth until smooth.

 

Strain broth into a saucepan, discarding any solids.

 

Heat broth over medium heat until it just begins to simmer.

 

Add cream to broth. Heat until broth just begins to simmer.

 

 

Cook’s Note: Do not allow broth to actually simmer as it may curdle.

 

 

Presentation Method 1 (does not use lumpfish caviar):

 

Mince each reserved shrimp, keeping each shrimp in a separate pile.

 

Mince pasley to make 4 teaspooons.

 

Combine each pile of shrimp with ½ teaspoon garnish.

 

Place a single pile of shrimp (for soup course or 2 piles of shrimp for entree serving)and garnish in the center of each  shallow soup bowl. Gently pour hot broth around the shrimp and garnish.

 

Serve.

 

 

 

Presentation Method 2 as an Entree

 

Place 3 whole shrimp, one on top of each other, in the center of a shallow bowl.

 

Gently place a spoonful of lumpfish caviar in the center of the top shrimp

 

Serve.

 

 

Cook’s Note: This is a more elegant presentation. However, it is more difficut to eat if one uses large shrimp (which the patron will need to cut up). Therefore it is suggested that the shrimp used with the garnish be no larger than medium-sized shrimp (approximately 31 – 45 shrimp per pound).