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Shrimp Bisque

Author: Doug Allen CEC

Ingredients

  • 4 oz onions fine diced
  • 4 oz carrots fine diced
  • 2 oz butter unsalted
  • 2 lb shrimp shell-on, medium to small
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 sprig of fresh thyme
  • 10-12 fresh parsley including stems
  • 2 oz tomato paste
  • 4 oz Brandy warmed and alcohol burned off
  • 12 oz dry white wine
  • 2 qt velouté made from fish or seafood
  • 1 qt stock shrimp
  • 16 oz heavy cream
  • salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
  • Old Bay seasoning to taste
  • Fresh parsley for garnish

Instructions

  • Sweat onions and carrots in butter.
  • Add shrimp, bay leaf, thyme, and parsley. Sauté until shrimp turns red.
  • Add tomato paste and cook for 3-5 minutes.
  • Deglaze with wine and brandy. Reduce by one half.
  • Remove shrimp and peel and devein them. Save meat for garnish and return shells to pot.
  • Add velouté and stock. Simmer for 15 to 20 minutes.
  • Strain soup through fine sieve and return to heat.
  • Warm the cream and add to the soup.
  • Correct seasoning with salt and pepper. Add Old Bay as desired.
  • To serve, ladle soup into bowls and add diced shrimp and parsley.

Veloté

  • To 8 oz blonde roux add 2 ½ quarts shrimp stock. Simmer one hour while skimming foam from top.

Shrimp Stock

  • Finely dice 2 parts onion, 1 part carrot, 1 part celery in small amount of butter. Add a quantity of raw shrimp shells or the shell of the appropriate shellfish and sweat with the vegetables. Add bay leaf, parsley, cracked black peppercorn, dried thyme, tied in cheesecloth for a “garni bouquet.”
  • Cover with water and simmer for at least one hour or until good flavor develops. Strain through cheesecloth or fine chinois.

Blonde Roux

  • Blend equal parts by weight of flour and butter. (Approximately 1 ½ cups of flour to 1 cup of butter) Cook over low heat until lightly cooked but very little color develops.