A Simple Lobster Bisque for Valentine’s Day

Ok guys, how’s this for a great fish course? Lobster Bisque. A bisque is a cream soup that uses the shells of crustaceans (shellfish like shrimp & lobster) and is often pureed. What’s not to love? Sweet, succulent lobster, creamy base, and easy, too (but you don’t have to tell her that).

There are recipes out there that call for setting things on fire (flambé), chopping up whole lobsters, and that have ingredient lists as long as your arm. That’s all well and good, but what we’re aiming for here is maximum impact with a minimum of frazzled nerves, so you can both enjoy your romantic Valentine’s Day dinner and not smell like you just crawled out of the sea.

Easy but Elegant Lobster Bisque

Ingredients

1 - 2 cups cooked lobster meat (you can now find lobster meat frozen or canned in most supermarkets, otherwise buy one and cook it yourself)
½ cup dry sherry or dry white wine
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
½ cup onion, diced
¼ cup celery, diced
¼ cup carrot, diced
Salt and white pepper, to taste
½ teaspoon Old Bay Seasoning, or to taste
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 cups whole milk
1 cup half and half
1 cup chicken stock (if you have lobster stock, use that instead)

How to Make Lobster Bisque at Home

Combine the lobster meat with the sherry. Cover and refrigerate.

In a hot pan over medium heat, melt the butter. Once it stops sputtering, add the onion, celery, carrot, salt and pepper and Old Bay. Stir and let cook until the vegetables are translucent and are getting soft.

Add the tomato paste and cook for another couple of minutes.

Add the flour and cook for two to three minutes, stirring all the time.

While whisking, add the cold milk, half and half and stock and bring to a boil. Let boil for about 1 minute, still whisking constantly. Turn the heat down and let simmer until slightly reduced.

Now, you have two options.

Option 1: using an immersion blender, blend the soup until smooth.

Option 2: Strain the soup through a fine mesh strainer, pressing down on the solids.

Taste, and add more salt, pepper or Old Bay, if you think it needs it. Add the reserved lobster and sherry to the pot and simmer for just a couple of minutes, so the lobster is heated through.

Serve with crusty bread and maybe a little sour cream on the top. If you want to be really fancy, sprinkle on a little chopped tarragon as garnish.

Alternative Direction

If you don’t want to make your own lobster bisque, you can look for a quality commercial brand at your local supermarket or gourmet store. Many of them now have there own signature label and are making some decent soups. I buy fresh soup from Genuardi’s supermarket once in a while and it is good but not as good if you make it yourself.

You can also buy find some good lobster bisque online. These are commercial companies that sell lobsters but also sell bisques and chowders. Of course they do, what are they suppose to do with all those shell? You will end up paying a lot in shipping and because lobster bisque is really easy to make at home, I encourage you to give the recipe above a try.

LobsterGram.com - sells whole lobsters as well as their own lobster bisque

Gortonsfreshseafood.com- another good choice for buying seafood online

Linton’s Seafood

Another alternative is homemade but with the help of a commercial product. There is a good lobster stock reduction called Glace de Fruits de Mer that you can read about at GatewayGourmet.com - lobster stock. They have a recipe for Lobster Bisque using this Glace de Fruits de Mer that is sort of homemade but not entirely.

Serving Instructions

There’s going to be a lot of food served on this special night and lobster bisque is rich and creamy so go easy. A small cup should be plenty. Think of it as a tasting menu. A lot of small servings. Go the extra mile and buy some fresh chives to chop up and use as a garnish. Home cooks just don’t use enough garnish with their cooking. It is simple enough to do but really improves the presentation. I might suggest a dollop of creme fraiche, but this soup should be rich enough.

Next, we’ll look at salads. Don’t forget to check out my Squidoo lens called A Romantic Valentine’s Day Dinner. It’s full of interesting information about Valentine’s Day and pulls all these blog posts together with additional recipes, videos, movie suggestions and a lot more.

Image from Linton’s Seafood

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