Lobster Bisque

In December, Kev and I went to this fancy French restaurant to celebrate 3 wonderful years as a couple. The restaurant had a fabulous tasting menu. It was about 15 courses! Our favorite was the restaurants signature dish, the lobster bisque. It was light and fragrant.

The following months, whenever we had lobster, i'd keep the lobster shells in the freezer to eventually make lobster broth for a bisque.

1 cup chicken broth or homemade lobster broth
2 medium slices onion
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups cream or milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 pound cooked and cubed lobster meat
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
2-3 tbs tomato paste
1 pinch ground cayenne pepper

1. if making homemade lobster stock, boil lobster shell in water and let it simmer for about 15-20 minutes.
2. In a small frying pan place 1/4 cup stock and the onion. Cook over a low heat for 5 to 7 minutes.
3. In a medium size pot over medium heat melt the butter. Slowly whisk in flour. Whisk until a creamy mixture is created.
4. Gradually pour in stock, whisking constantly. Whisk in milk, salt, onion, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce and cayenne pepper. Heat until soup is almost boiling. Do not boil the soup as the milk will curdle when boiled. Simmer at low heat for about an hour. Add cooked lobster meat into bisque before serving.

The bisque was thick, creamy, and heavy, not what we had at the restaurant. But this was still good. More like a meal soup than an appetizer soup. I used heavy cream for this recipe, which I thought was too much. Next time i'd suggest using light cream or do 1 cup milk and 1 cup cream. The recipes takes quite a bit of time to make, but i'd make it again...if only it didn't make my house smell like lobster for 2 weeks.