So I’ve been craving shrimp or lobster bisque lately, but it’s difficult to find decent bisque around here for some reason. You’d think the proximity to the NC coast would make it easier but nope. As much as I enjoy cooking, working full-time doesn’t always allow me time to get as creative in the kitchen as I’d like so I look out for simple versions of recipes for food I enjoy but just don’t have time to fiddle with most days. I decided I’d start sharing the recipes here! That also lets me keep track of them.
So I found a recipe for a slightly spicy shrimp bisque, and made a couple minor modifications to it.
This is particularly good served with real San Francisco-style sourdough bread (the chewy thick stuff with the nice crispy-crunchy crust). If you don’t live on the West Coast you can generally find it at Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s. Unless your supermarket sells DiCarlo, don’t waste your money because most other commercial sourdoughs have a taste and texture like plain white bread with sour cream mixed in. Yuck.
- 1 small onion, chopped (fairly finely)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 2 teaspoons powdered chicken bouillon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon dried cilantro
- 12 oz package uncooked medium shrimp, peeled and deveined, cut into bite-sized pieces.
- 1/2 cup sour cream
In a saucepan, saute onion and garlic in oil until the onion is tender. Sprinkle in the flour, stir until blended. Stir in water, cream, chili powder, bouillon, cumin and cilantro. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 5 minutes.
After the soup has simmered, put the sour cream into a container and gradually add about 1/2 a cup of the hot soup so the sour cream. Stir until it’s all blended. Add shrimp to soup, let it simmer for another 5 minutes or so until the shrimp is pinked up and cooked through, but not overcooked. Add the sour cream mixture to the soup and let it come back to a simmer to heat through, but do not boil.
This yields about 3 cups. I found this recipe doubles very well.