Tales from the Kitchen: Lobster Bisque Soup

Recently a friend of mine asked me to teach her how to make Lobster Bisque soup. I held the class in our home kitchen and then we ate it with a glass of room temperature Sherry. The first step, of course, is getting the lobster, which can be expensive. However, if you go to one of the Asian markets in our area, you can buy a whole live lobster pretty inexpensively or you can buy frozen tails.

Ingredients (for 4 people)

• 4 lobster tails

• 2 tablespoons butter

• 1 tablespoon olive oil

• 1 onion, finely chopped

• 2 carrots, peeled and finely chopped

• 2 celery stalks, finely chopped

• 1 teaspoon of fresh thyme

• 1 teaspoon of chopped tarragon

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

• 4 garlic cloves, minced

• 2 tablespoons of tomato paste

• 4 tablespoons of all-purpose flour

• 1 1/4 cups dry white wine or sherry wine

• 4 cups of lobster stock

• 1 cup of heavy cream

Preparation:
Instruction for making lobster stock:

1. Sweat* the onion, carrrots, celery, garlic, herbs, and tomato paste in olive oil

2. Fill a large pot with 5 cups of water. Stir in 1 teaspoon salt and bring to a boil

3. Add the lobster tails, cover with lid and let boil for 5 minutes, or until bright red

4. Remove lobster tails, reserving the liquid stock. When the lobsters have cooled slightly, remove the meat from the shells, reserving the meat and any liquid that comes out of the shells.

5. Return lobster shells back to the water in the pot. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium low and let simmer for a further 15 minutes to draw as much flavor out of the shells as possible.

6. While the stock is simmering, chop the meat into bite-sized pieces. * Sweat means saute until vegetables are translucent

Instruction for making the soup:
1. Make a roux on low heat four and butter

2. Strain the lobster stock and whisk the stock and the white wine and sherry together. Then add the cream and cook for 5 minutes.

3. Add the pieces of chopped lobster meat and a dollop of creme fraiche.
Serve with sourdough toast.

Bon Appetit,
Alain Guichard