King Crab Bisque Recipes

Steps:

• Melt butter in a medium sized pot (non stick), add flour, salt and pepper - as though you were making a rue (blonde rue). Allow flour to melt into the butter and stir constantly until the flour is a blonde rue.
• Combine rue with Tomato Paste and slowly add the chicken stock whisking as you go. Once this has come to a moderate heat add marsala and cream - not together or you will cruddle - if you want a dryer taste use a dry sherry instead.
• Finally add your star ingredient - Crab and allow to come full heat slowly and serve with a wedge of crusty bread and salad for a full meal or just by itself for a great intro to a wonderful dinner.

Steps:

• In a large sauce pan add olive oil, onions, celery and garlic.
• Heat on medium until onions are translucent.
• Add butter and melt, then add flour, salt and pepper and make a roux.
• Once the rue is golden brown add the milk and cream; blend well.
• Crumble crabmeat and add to the sauce pan. Slowly bring mixture to a boil and simmer for a few minutes.
• Add the sherry and serve garnished with parsley and a dash of paprika.

Steps:

• If using live crabs, add to pot of boiling water using tongs. Cover pot and cook over high heat until crab shells are red, 5 to 6 minutes. Drain crabs in a colander.
• Put crabs (cooked or frozen uncooked) into a large metal roasting pan. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and pound shells with meat pounder to crush (including claws).
• Heat butter and oil in same pot over medium-high heat until foam subsides, then cook onion, carrot, celery, and garlic with bay leaf, thyme, clove, peppercorns, and 1/2 teaspoon salt, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes. Add Cognac, wine, and crushed crabs and bring to a boil. Add broth and water and return to a boil. Skim foam, then simmer, covered, stirring and skimming occasionally, 1 hour.
• Put colander in a large bowl, then drain crab broth, reserving solids for crab butter (if making). Transfer broth to a medium saucepan.
• Ladle out 2 cups broth and transfer to a 1-quart saucepan. Add rice and simmer, covered, until very tender, 15 to 20 minutes (not all of liquid will be absorbed).
• Blend together rice with cooking liquid and 1 cup more crab broth in a blender until smooth (use caution when blending hot liquids), then add to remaining broth in medium saucepan.
• Just before serving, reheat bisque over medium heat until hot, then stir in tarragon, lemon juice, cayenne, and 1/8 teaspoon pepper.
• Ladle bisque into bowls and spoon a little crabmeat into center, then drizzle with some of crab butter (if making).

Steps:

• In a medium saucepan, combine bisque, 2 1/4 cups heavy cream, lemon juice, parsley, and crabmeat with juices and bring to a simmer over medium heat for 5 to 10 minutes. Season soup, to taste, with salt and cayenne pepper. Divide soup among 6 bowls. Add 1 tablespoon of cream to each bowl and swirl with butter knife to create a pretty design. Serve immediately.

Steps:

• Remove the claws from the crabs and quarter the bodies. Heat a 6-quart stockpot. Add the oil and saute the crab pieces until they are red. Remove the pieces as they are cooked. Add the carrot, celery, tomatoes, garlic, shallots, and tarragon and continue to saute for 10 minutes. Pour in the cognac and ignite. When the flame has subsided, deglaze with white wine, and add the tomato paste, crab, and enough fish stock to cover. Season with salt, pepper, cayenne, thyme, and bay leaf and boil gently for 15 minutes.
• In a small saucepan, reduce the cream by half. Remove the crab bodies from the pot and set aside. Add the reduced cream to the soup. Puree the soup, in batches, in a food processor. Strain the pureed soup and keep warm.
• Remove the meat from the claws and cut into bite-size pieces and add to the soup. Season with lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Serve in heated soup bowls and garnish with minced chives or parsley.

Steps:

• Bring stock and bay leaves to a boil in a large pot. Cook asparagus until tender and add to stock pot. Melt butter in a separate saucepan and gently saute onions, celery, and carrots (mirepoix) until tender, then gradually add flour (with a non-reactive utensil such as a wooden spoon), and cook until similar to a roux. Transfer to the pot of stock to thicken soup. Let simmer for 45 minutes. Remove bay leaves from soup. *Blend to a puree with an immersion blender, or in batches in a blender or food processor. Add cream to the soup, and keep warm over low heat.
• For the crab "souffle," mix crab, mayonnaise, thyme, salt and pepper, and squeeze of fresh lemon juice, trying to avoid breaking up the lumps of crabmeat. Place a scoop of the crabmeat in the center of soup bowl and ladle the asparagus soup around. Garnish with a lemon wedge.
• *When blending hot liquids: Remove liquid from the heat and allow to cool for at least 5 minutes. Transfer liquid to a blender or food processor and fill it no more than halfway. If using a blender, release one corner of the lid. This prevents the vacuum effect that creates heat explosions. Place a towel over the top of the machine, pulse a few times then process on high speed until smooth.

Steps:

• Melt butter in oil in a large pot and saute onions, carrots and celery until onions are translucent.
• Add the other ingredients except cognac, cream and salt and pepper.
• Bring to a boil and cook about 45 minutes.
• Strain into another pot and add cream and cook on low for about 10 minures.
• Season with salt and fresh ground pepper.
• Add cooked meat from 1 large Dungeness crab and heat.
• Add cognac and serve hot.

Steps:

• Melt butter in heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Add 3/4 of crabmeat, tomato, 1/3 cup chopped fresh basil, and garlic. Sauté 2 minutes. Whisk in flour; stir 2 minutes. Whisk in clam-tomato juice and next 5 ingredients. Reduce heat to low and simmer until slightly thickened, about 10 minutes. Cool soup slightly.
• Puree soup in batches in blender until smooth. Return soup to pot. Stir in 3/4 cup water and lemon juice; bring to simmer. Season with salt and pepper. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Chill uncovered until cold, then cover and keep refrigerated. Bring to simmer before continuing.) Divide soup among 6 bowls. Sprinkle with remaining crab and 3 tablespoons basil and serve.

Steps:

• Heat 1 tbsp oil in a large saucepan, add the onion, fennel, carrot and bay leaves with a pinch of salt and cook for 10 mins until really tender. Add the garlic and cook for 1 min more, then stir in the tomato purée for another 1 min. Add the brown crabmeat, saffron, brandy and some pepper, stirring until the brandy has bubbled away. Add the stock and stir until smooth. Cover with a lid and simmer for 15-20 mins or until the vegetables are soft.
• Using a hand blender, blitz the soup until smooth. Pass the soup through a sieve back into a clean saucepan, making sure you push through as much liquid as possible. Add the cream and simmer for another 5 mins - the soup should be thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Add a few drops of lemon juice, taste and season or add more lemon if necessary, then chill until ready to serve.
• Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Toss the croutons with the remaining oil, the lemon zest and some black pepper on a baking tray. Bake for 10 mins, tossing halfway through, until crisp and golden. Leave to cool, then store in a plastic container until ready to serve. The soup and croutons can be made up to 1 day ahead.
• To serve, reheat the soup and divide between shallow soup bowls. Spoon a mound of white crabmeat into the centre of each bowl, then drizzle with a little oil and add a few of the reserved fennel fronds. Float a few croutons on top and serve with a little extra black pepper, if you like.

Steps:

• Crabs: Preheat oven to 425 F. Place crabs on a roasting pan and bake in the oven about 30 minutes, until deep red and slightly browned. In a stockpot set over medium heat, add olive oil and roasted crabs, breaking them up with a wooden spoon as they cook, 5 minutes. Add onion, bell pepper, and celery (the "holy trinity" of Cajun cooking) and stir, cooking just till the vegetables soften, 5 minutes.
• Stock: Add wine and stir to deglaze the pan. Turn heat to high and cook 6-8 minutes, until the wine has nearly evaporated. Add tomato paste and water. Stir, bring to a boil, then reduce to low heat. Cover and simmer, 45 minutes.
• Bisque: Remove the crab shells from the stock and discard. (If you miss a couple small pieces of shell, don't worry: they'll get strained out later.) Ladle the stock into the blender, then add the juice of half a lemon and ¾ cup bread cubes. Season with a big pinch of salt and a small pinch of pepper. Cover and let sit so the bread can absorb some of the liquid, 30-60 seconds. Blend on low speed (to avoid splattering hot liquid) for 30 seconds. As the soup blends, turn to high to emulsify, 1 more minute. Taste to adjust for seasoning and texture-the soup should coat the back of a spoon. Add remaining bread, small pinches of salt and pepper, and blend on high to further thicken and emulsify, 1½ more minutes. Taste again for seasoning, then strain through a chinois to remove any small shell pieces, using the back of a ladle to push the soup through into a bowl.
• Assembly: Ladle bisque into individual serving bowls. Chop chives into ½-inch lengths (you should have about a ½ cup total). Garnish each bowl with crab meat and chives. Serve immediately.

Steps:

• Saute onion and carrot in 2 tablespoons butter until soft. Set aside.
• In 4 quart saucepan, melt 4 tablespoons butter and add flour, whisking constantly over medium heat until roux becomes light brown (about 5 minutes). DO NOT BURN!
• Slowly add chicken broth, whisking constantly to ensure mixture stays smooth.
• Add onions and carrots, cover, and simmer for 1/2 hour.
• Add cream, sherry, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, cayenne pepper, salt, and lobster or crab and simmer an additional 5 to 10 minutes.
• Garnish with fresh minced chives if desired.