Cake, Batter, and Bowl

Crab and Red Pepper Bisque

Soups

As promised, here’s the recipe for the crab bisque I served at our lab ski retreat. This is my favorite soup recipe on my blog so far, although it’s not really a fair comparison because it’s the only one that contains heavy cream and butter – it’s nice to splurge every once and awhile!

We always get our fresh lump crabmeat from Costco (it’s in the produce section by the guacamole) because it’s high quality and not too pricey at $13 a pound. I had a feeling we wouldn’t be able to find crabmeat at the small grocery store by our ski house, so my PI, Carla, was nice enough to go to Costco, stash the lump crabmeat in a cooler, and bring it with her! It was a good thing too, because the seafood section at the store was pretty sad, and I couldn’t even find pancetta for the stuffed chicken recipe below and ended up having to use bacon instead!

The crab is definitely the star of this dish, but I did build additional layers of flavor by also using leeks, garlic, roasted red peppers, and tomato paste (which I finally found in a tube – yay)! I also thickened the bisque with a roux and added some red wine vinegar for a little extra tang. I used an immersion blender so there were still some pieces of crabmeat, which I actually enjoyed, but you can definitely put it in the food processor if you want a smoother consistency. It’s so rainy and miserable in Boston right now that just looking at the picture is making me crave a nice big bowl. Although, I actually have a feeling I’m going to crave a bowl every time I look at this post, even in the middle of summer!

Crab and Red Pepper Bisque
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 leeks, white and light green parts only, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1/4 cup flour
4 cups chicken stock
1 12-ounce jar roasted red peppers, drained and chopped
1/4 cup tomato paste
1 pound fresh lump crabmeat
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1 cup heavy cream
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 teaspoons salt

Directions:
Heat olive oil over medium heat and sauté leeks for 5 to 7 minutes or until tender. Add garlic and sauté 1 additional minute.

Meanwhile, melt butter over medium high heat in a large stockpot. Whisk in flour until smooth and cook one minute or until mixture starts to brown. Add chicken stock, red peppers, tomato paste, 14 ounces crabmeat, basil, and sautéed leeks to the stockpot and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes or until thickened. Use an immersion blender to puree soup until smooth.

Add heavy cream, red wine vinegar, and salt to the stockpot and simmer for 2 to 3 minutes or until heated through. Scoop into serving bowls and garnish with remaining 2 ounces crabmeat. Makes 4 servings.

Nutrition: 687 calories, 55.3g fat, 2.5g fiber, 14.8g protein per serving
Cost: $5.30 per serving

Roasted Carrot and Parsnip Soup with Pumpkin Bread Croutons

I have a love-hate relationship with carrots. Carrot cake is my very favorite (although I'm not sure that really counts!), and I tend to enjoy hearty carrot chunks in vegetable and chicken noodle soup, but raw carrots just don't do it for me. I always pick around them...

Spinach and Lentil Soup

If you follow me on twitter, you may have noticed that I’ve been raving about Apolinaras’ spinach and lentil soup. He has tweaked the recipe to perfection and it’s so good that I find myself filling up a bowl with it instead of ice cream for my late night snack. Don’t...

Caribbean Sweet Potato and Plantain Soup

Well hello, I hope you all had a lovely Christmas celebration! We unplugged for the week and met my parents and brother in Palm Beach, Florida. A relaxing break with warm weather was just what we needed to recharge and it was so nice to spend time with my family. We...

Spiced Pumpkin Soup with Turkey Bacon

We had a blast in Chicago this weekend, but now I’m exhausted and it’s only the beginning of the week! There wasn’t a moment of downtime between Emily’s wedding downtown, navigating our way through the suburbs to visit our friends with babies, and squeezing in meals...

Pumpkin Apple Soup

Well hello, did you miss me? Last week was a whirlwind, and try as I might, I never quite managed to get a post up. I spent the first couple of days attending a conference for work just outside of Boston. Then Apolinaras and I headed over to Portland, Oregon for my...

Indian Spiced Mini Meatball Soup

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, I just love mini meatballs in soup! They turn almost any broth into a legitimate one pot meal and are just so delicious and cute. I make mini meatball soup fairly often and this time around decided to give my bowl a little...

Roasted Yellow Pepper and Leek Soup

The first thing I always do when I’m planning a vacation is figure out where to eat. In fact, I would say our days tend be structured by what activities are around the restaurants we want to visit! I had more difficultly than usual planning our NYC trip because my mom...

Thai Sweet Potato Soup

Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of all our goodies from Eva’s farm share this week, but the bounty was similar to last time, except we got green peppers and wheat berries instead of the baby spinach and golden beets. I made quick use of the green peppers in...