Crab Bisque Recipes

WINNING CRAB BISQUE

Steps:

• In a Dutch oven, saute the onions, celery and green pepper in margarine until tender. Add garlic; cook 1 minute longer. Reduce heat to medium; add the potatoes and milk. Cook, uncovered, for 20 minutes or until potatoes are just tender, stirring occasionally., Remove 1-1/2 cups of the potato mixture; mash and return to the pan. Reduce heat to low. Stir in half-and-half and process cheese. Cook and stir until cheese is melted. Add the crab, salt and pepper. Cook 10 minutes longer or until heated through.

LOBSTER OR CRAB BISQUE

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.

CRABMEAT BISQUE MADE EASY

Steps:

• Spray a stockpot with cooking spray.
• Melt butter in the prepared stockpot over medium heat; cook and stir celery, onion, paprika, seafood seasoning, thyme, salt, and white pepper until onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Whisk flour into vegetable mixture until smooth and dissolved. Pour seafood stock over vegetable mixture.
• Mix half-and-half, cream, and milk into broth mixture; decrease heat and simmer until bisque is thickened, about 15 minutes. Add crabmeat and simmer bisque until crabmeat is heated through, about 5 minutes more.

CRAB BISQUE

Steps:

• In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the shallots and saute until they are soft, about 5 minutes. Add the stock, rice, wine and tomato paste, increase the heat to medium-high and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 25 minutes.
• Stir two-thirds of the crab meat into the soup, then transfer it to a blender (work in batches if you have a small blender) and puree until smooth. Return the pureed soup to the saucepan and place over medium-low heat.
• Stir in the remaining crab meat, cream, salt and cayenne pepper. Heat until the cream and crab meat are warmed through, about 5 minutes. Leftovers can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.

DECADENT AND EASY CRAB BISQUE

Steps:

• Saute onion in the butter, over medium heat, until translucent.
• Add 2 T. of the flour to the onions, mixing well with a wooden spoon. Cook for about a minute.
• Add 3 cups of the half-and-half, heavy cream, salt and pepper. Whisk while bringing up to a boil (you can turn up the heat a bit here - just be careful not to scald the cream).
• Shake 2 T. of the flour and 1 cup of the half-and-half - using a jar with a lid. Shake until the flour is blended well.
• Add to the soup by whisking. Keep whisking until the soup thickens.
• Stir in the crab and cook for about 5 more minutes.
• Ladle the soup into the bowls and garnish with snipped chives, if desired.

CRAB BISQUE

Steps:

• Put crab shells, bay leaves, and crab-poaching liquid in a medium pot. Bring to a simmer, covered, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until broth has a gentle but distinctive crab flavor, about 1 hour. Strain broth through a fine-mesh strainer. If using crab-poaching liquid, return to pot and boil, uncovered, until reduced to 2 cups, 10 to 15 minutes. Set aside.
• In another medium pot, heat oil over low heat. Add onion, celery, and bell pepper and cook, covered, stirring often, until very soft and translucent but not browned, about 15 minutes.
• Add wine and tomato paste to vegetables and cook over medium heat, uncovered, until wine has reduced by half, about 10 minutes. Add 2 cups cream and the crab broth and simmer over low heat 15 minutes, uncovered, to meld flavors and thicken a bit.
• Put six small, shallow soup bowls in a 200° oven to warm. Whip remaining 2 tbsp. cream into soft peaks.
• Strain soup through a fine-mesh strainer into a large bowl and stir in butter and salt. Ladle about 2/3 cup into each soup bowl. Top with a mound of crab, if using, a small spoonful of whipped cream, and a sprinkle of herbs.
• *Call your fish shop a few days ahead for crab shells, as they're not always available.

CORNISH CRAB BISQUE WITH LEMONY CROUTONS

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.

SHE CRAB SOUP

Steps:

• Melt butter over medium low heat, add shallots, celery, carrots and bell pepper, and sauté until translucent, about 5 minutes.
• Deglaze pan with 1/2 white wine, scrapping up any browned bits.
• Whisk in clam juice and chicken broth (or fish stock), rice, tomato paste, Worcestershire, Old Bay seasoning, nutmeg and salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a simmer, cooking until vegetables are tender and rice is very soft, about 10-15 minutes. Remove from heat.
• In batches to avoid burning yourself, puree crab soup in a blender until smooth. Once soup is pureed, bring it back to a simmer over a medium low heat.
• Add in crab meat, and whisk in 1/2 cup of heavy cream. Cook just until hot, adding 1/2 cup sherry the last 2-3 minutes for additional flavor. If necessary, thin soup with additional broth to desired thickness.
• Ladle into soup bowls, garnish with fresh chopped parsley and a dash of paprika and an additional shot of sherry if desired.

CREAMY CRAB BISQUE (30-MINUTE RECIPE)

Steps:

• Sauté the carrots and the onion in 2 tablespoons of butter in a large heavy pot or Dutch oven on medium heat until soft. Set aside. Next, create a white roux mixing together the remaining flour and butter until cooked through and browned being careful not to burn.
• Slowly pour in the chicken broth whisking consistently until smooth. Add the onions and carrots and simmer for 10 minutes. Add in the remaining ingredients including the crab meat and simmer for an additional 10 to 15 minutes. Garnish with fresh black pepper or white pepper and dried parsley. Store the leftovers in an airtight container.

CRAB BISQUE

Steps:

• In a heavy-bottom soup pot, sauté all vegetables in olive oil until tender.
• Add garlic and sherry. Then, cook for one minute.
• Add cream, stock and tomato paste.
• Allow soup to come to a low simmer, and cook for 20 minutes.
• Add thyme and fennel fronds. Then, season with salt, pepper and sugar.
• Add crabmeat to each of the bowls. Distribute soup between the bowls and serve immediately with your favorite bread.

CRAB BISQUE

Steps:

• If the shells are not already cooked, you will want to break them up into smaller pieces, drizzle a little olive oil on them and roast them in a 350-degree oven until they become fragrant and just begin to brown. This may take about 30 minutes.
• In a large stockpot, place shells, coarsely chopped onion, celery stalks, leek, and carrot. Cover all ingredients with enough water so the shells are completely submerged by 1 to 2 inches. Cook the stock on low for 3 to 4 hours. Strain stock, discard all solids. Return stock to a pan, and reduce by half by turning up the heat until the stock just begins to boil.
• Place 2 tablespoons of butter in a 2-quart pot with the shallots, and celery. Saute until the shallots and celery become soft. Add 2 tablespoons of flour and cook until the roux becomes fragrant. Add seafood stock and sherry. Stir until the soup becomes thick. Add cream and heat through. If you desire a bisque that is smooth, process the soup with a food processor or a stick blender, then strain the soup with a fine sieve. Return soup to the pot. Add cooked crab if desired. Serve immediately.

CRAB BISQUE

Steps:

• In a large saucepan over medium heat, saute celery and onion in butter until tender. Stir in flour until blended; gradually add milk. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. , Stir in the bouillon, cream, crab, mushrooms, basil, garlic powder, 1/4 teaspoon Creole seasoning and 1/8 teaspoon pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring frequently. Season to taste with remaining Creole seasoning and pepper if desired.

DELICIOUS BALTIMORE CRAB BISQUE

Steps:

• Warm half and half and milk in a double boiler until warm.
• In a large sauce pan, melt margarine and add flour. Once you add the flour, stir constantly until well-combined.
• Add stock, Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, and Old Bay. Mix well.
• Add milk mixture and mix well.
• Add sherry and crab meat and heat until almost boiling.
• If desired, make homemade croutons for your bisque. Simply cube several thick slices of bread and broil for approximately 5 minutes in oven. Watch closely to prevent croutons from burning! (You can season this croutons if desired, but this bisque already has plenty of flavor so plain croutons work, too!)

CREAMY CRAB BISQUE

Steps:

• Spread the crab legs and claws over a baking sheet or pan and bake at 350º F until heated through (6-8 minutes if thawed, 12-16 minutes if frozen, depending on packages instructions). Let them cool. Once cool to the touch, crack the shells open with crab shell crackers or strong scissors, and carefully remove the meat, setting it into a large bowl. Reserve your crab shells in a separate bowl.
• Roughly chop the crab meat. You can leave a few larger lumps for soup garnish if you wish. When done, cover the crab meat and place it in the fridge.
• In a large stockpot or Dutch oven, bring your veg or seafood broth to a simmer. Add the crab shells to the broth and let simmer for about 20 minutes. When done, place a strainer over another pot in the sink, and carefully pour the broth into the pot through the strainer to catch any shells and bits. Set the broth aside.
• Give your original stockpot a quick rinse to rid of any possible shells or bits that might have been missed. Set on top of the stove over medium heat. Add the butter and heat until melted.
• Stir in the onion, garlic, carrots, and celery, and cook until soft and tender-about 5 minutes.
• Transfer your strained broth to your stockpot with the veggies and bring to a boil. Stir in the bay leaves, smoked paprika pepper, old bay seasoning, salt, and pepper. Simmer for about 10 minutes.
• Discard the bay leaves and carefully transfer the soup to a high-powered blender. Do this in batches if you must. Blend until smooth. Transfer the smooth soup back to the stockpot on the stove. (If you have a good immersion blender, you can keep the soup in the stockpot and blend it right in there.)
• Over medium heat, bring the soup to a low simmer. Pour in the heavy cream, stirring to blend.
• In a small bowl, mix the corn starch and milk vigorously with a fork; ensure there are no clumps. Then, slowly stir this mixture into the simmering soup, stirring constantly to thicken.
• Reduce heat to low, stir in crab meat, and simmer until warmed through-about 5 minutes.
• Serve and garnish with a drizzle of cream, chopped fresh parsley, and lumpy crab meat if you reserve some.

AUNT BEE'S CRAB BISQUE

Steps:

• In a large pot, melt butter over medium heat. Add onion, celery and scallions and cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Stir in the flour and cook, stirring constantly, for about 2 minutes. Gradually whisk in the broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-high and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the broth thickens and the vegetables are tender, about 5-7 minutes.
• Reduce heat to low and whisk in the sherry, ketchup, tomato paste, seafood seasoning and cream. Bring to a simmer, but do not let it boil. Season with salt and pepper (to taste), then add the crab and shrimp. Cook just until the crab and shrimp are warmed through, about 5 more minutes.
• Ladle into individual bowls and garnish with additional sliced green onion or fresh parsley, if desired.

CRAB BISQUE

Steps:

• Stir the soups and milk together 'until smooth. Add the salt, pepper, and curry powder to taste and the crabmeat. Heat 'til steaming (don't boil). Serve.

CRAB BISQUE

Steps:

• Break up the large pieces of crab shell: If you have large pieces of crab shell, you'll want to break them into smaller pieces. A good way to do this is to put them in a plastic freezer bag and use a rolling pin or wine bottle to roll over them to break them up a bit. Don't crush them.
• Roast the shells: For extra flavor at this point, put them on a roasting pan in a 400°F oven for 10 minutes. That will help bring out more of the crab flavor.
• Cover the shells and (almost) simmer: Put the crab shells in a large stock pot and cover with an inch of water. Put the heat on medium high and slowly heat up the water. When you see little bubbles of air starting to rise to the surface, lower the heat to medium. Do not let the water boil! You want to keep the water temp at just below a simmer, around 180°F if you have an instant thermometer. The bubbles should only occasionally come up to the surface. Do not stir! Stirring the shells will muddy the stock. As foam develops on the surface of the water, skim it away with a large spoon. Keep skimming off the foam every so often, and maintaining the heat at just below a simmer, for about an hour.
• Add the wine, carrots, onions, celery, tomato paste, herbs, and peppercorns: Once the stock is no longer generating foam, add the wine, carrots, onions, celery, tomato paste, thyme, bay leaves, parsley and peppercorns. Increase the heat to return the stock to a low simmer, then lower the heat to maintain that very low simmer for 30 minutes. Skim off any new foam that develops. Add salt and remove from heat.
• Remove the large solids and strain through a lined sieve: Use tongs or a spider strainer to remove and discard the largest pieces of shells from the stock. Then place a few layers of dampened cheesecloth or paper towels over a large, fine mesh strainer placed over a large bowl or another pot. Pour the stock through the strainer to strain. Discard the solids. Either use the stock right away, or cool for future use. If you aren't going to use the stock in a couple of days, you can freeze it. Remember to leave enough headroom at the top of any jar you use so that the liquid has room to expand as it freezes. You should use frozen shellfish stock up within 2 months. Makes 2 to 3 quarts. Reserve 4 cups for the crab bisque, refrigerate or freeze the rest.
• Sauté the shallots in butter: In a large, 4 or 6 quart saucepan, melt butter on medium heat, add the shallots and cook gently until translucent, about 5 minutes.
• Add the wine, stock, rice, tomato paste, and then simmer: Add the wine, stock, white rice, and tomato paste. Raise the heat and bring to a simmer; reduce heat to continue to simmer until rice is completely cooked, about 25 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool for several minutes.
• Add two thirds of the crab meat, and then purée: Add about two thirds of the crab meat to the soup. Working in batches, ladle the soup into a blender and purée until completely smooth. Return puréed soup back to soup pan.
• Add the cream, remaining crab meat, salt, and cayenne: Add cream and gently heat soup until it is hot enough for serving. Add the remaining one third of the crab meat. Add salt and cayenne pepper to taste (about 1⁄2 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon cayenne).

DUNGENESS CRAB BISQUE

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.

CRAB BISQUE

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).

CRAB BISQUE

Steps:

• In a large stock pot, bring water to a boil over high heat.
• Add crab and cook for 8 minutes.
• Remove the crab from the water, reserving the water.
• Once the crab is cooled, remove all the flesh from the legs and body, reserving the flesh and bones separately.
• In a large sauce pan, heat oil over medium-high heat.
• Add anise seed and crab bones, and cook for 2-3 minutes.
• Add the Pernod and cook for 2-3 minutes to burn off alcohol.
• Add garlic, celery, onion, pepper and water. Simmer for one hour.
• Remove from heat and place in food processor.
• Blend until perfectly smooth, and return to sauce pan.
• Add tomato paste, paprika and cream.
• Simmer another 45 minutes, and remove from heat.
• Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.
• Serve hot and add crab meat over the top.

CRAB BISQUE

Steps:

• Melt the butter over medium heat in a large pot. Add the carrots and celery, cook until just softened, 5-7 minutes. Sprinkle in the flour, and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Pour in the chicken broth, add the garlic, chopped celery leaves, chopped parsley, sherry, and pepper. Bring to a boil and cook for one minute. Reduce heat, stir in crab meat and light cream, stir and cook over low heat until heated through.