Creamy and delicious with lobster and shrimp.
Don’t you just love creamy soups? I do and until I really started cooking my favorite soup was “canned” Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom Soup. Believe it or not I still eat that soup; and one day I’m going to make some homemade cream of mushroom soup and may never eat it from a can again.
I don’t know why some recipes refer to a creamy soup as a bisque instead of just a cream soup because the definition of a bisque is that it’s a smooth, creamy, highly seasoned soup of French origin, classically based on a strained broth of crustaceans.
My friend, Peggy, has been trying to get me to try this recipe for a few years. She got the recipe from her daughter who found it at asweetpeachef.com. I can’t believe it took me so long to try it. I didn’t have the three lobster tails it called for so I used some shrimp in place of the third tail.
So it is official winter here in Texas and we have lost a bunch of plants to our several days of hard freeze. Are you bundled up in front of a fire with your favorite soup? If so, what is it? Here are just a few of my favorite creamy soups: Cheesy Vegetable Soup, Corn an Crab Bisque that my son, Paul, made, Cornbread and Buttermilk Soup, and I can’t forget my Winter White Vegetable Soup.
BLAST FROM THE PAST: So for a non-creamy soup, try my Pisole which is made with pork and hominy.
I cooked my lobster tails and a little shrimp. Let cool before peeling.
Chop the lobster up into small pieces and I cut each shrimp into four pieces.
heat the oil and add the shallots and onion to saute. Then add the garlic. After a few minutes you will stir in the flour and wine and stir to thicken.
Stir in the Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco, salt, pepper and thyme.
Slowly stir in the sherry and deglaze the pan of the bits sticking to the bottom of pan.
Add in the paprika, tomato paste and the lobster base.
After deglazing the pan and simmering for 10 minutes using a blender or immersion blender to make the soup smooth. Return the blended mixture to pan and add the cream and butter.
Add in the lobster (or lobster and shrimp).
- 2 whole lobster tails, in shells
- 1/4 lb. shrimp in shells
- 1 Tbsp. olive oil
- 2 whole shallots, minced
- 1/2 small onion, chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 Tbsp. flour
- 1/2 c. white wine
- 2 tsp. Worcestershire Sauce
- 1 tsp. Tabasco or Choulula Sauce
- 1 tsp. Kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
- 1 tsp. dried thyme
- 1/3 c. dry Sherry
- 1 Tbsp. Tomato Paste
- 1 1/2 c. lobster base (see instructions below)
- 1 tsp. paprika
- 2 c. whipping cream
- 4 Tbsp. unsalted butter
- Fill a large pot halfway with water and bring to a boil over high heat. Once boiling, add the lobster tails and boil for 8–10 minutes, or until the shells are bright red and the flesh is opaque. Remove the lobster from the boiling water and allow to cool. Reserve the water — this will become your lobster base.
- To make the lobster base, remove the lobster from the shell either by cutting through the shell with kitchen shears (my preferred method) or chopping in half and pulling out the flesh. Place the lobster on a cutting board and, after removing any remaining veins, chop into bite-size pieces. Throw the shells back in the water you just boiled the lobster in and boil for another 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, strain the water from the shells using a fine mesh strainer, reserving 1½ cups of the base.
- Heat olive oil in a sauce pan over medium-high heat. Add the shallots and onion and saute until tender, about 5–6 minutes. Add garlic and cook for an additional 1–2 minutes, until the garlic becomes fragrant.
- Add flour to the onion-shallot-garlic mixture and stir to combine. Cook for 2 minutes. Slowly add wine, taking care to slowly incorporate the wine into the thickened mixture. Once mixed in and smooth, add the Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco, salt, pepper and thyme. Cook for 1-2 minutes until this mixture becomes a thick paste.
- Slowly add the sherry and deglaze the pan if any bits are sticking to the pan at this time. Add paprika, tomato paste and lobster base and stir to combine well. Simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes.
- Blend mixture in a blender or using an immersion blender. The mixture should be very smooth. Return the blended mixture to the pan and add in the heavy cream and butter. Taste at this time to check if any additional salt or pepper is needed. Bring the mixture to a simmer. Once simmering, add the lobster chunks back in and cook until heated though.
- Serve hot and with crusty sourdough bread.
- I had only two lobster tails so decided to add a little shrimp to make up the difference.
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