The secret to this restaurant-quality bisque is to make the stock yourself and take the time to go through the gyrations of cooking the shrimp shells in mirepoix (veggies), pureeing the cooked mixture, and then straining out the bits of shell. The result will be one of the greatest shrimp bisques you've ever enjoyed!
Great served in shot glasses during a party!
Directions
Peel the shrimp, keeping all of the shells. De-vein and butterfly ten of the shrimp and set aside for the soup. Use the other ten shrimp for some other dish.
To prepare the mirepoix, chop the carrots, celery and onion into equal size pieces. Thinly slice the white and non-leafy green parts of the leek. Mince the garlic and chili pepper.
In a large pot, sweat the mirepoix in two tablespoons of butter until the vegetables are soft.
Add the chicken broth, water and all of the shrimp shells to the mirepoix. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer for two hours.
Pour the entire mixture into a food processor and reduce to a puree. Pour the puree through a fine sieve, and then re-filter the stock through cheesecloth. You should have about three cups of stock.
In a medium sized pot, form a blonde roux by melting four tablespoons of butter over medium heat. Add four tablespoons of flour, stirring constantly until fully combined. Add the tomato paste and three teaspoons of paprika.
Return the filtered stock to the pot with the roux, whisking well to eliminate lumps. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer for twenty minutes.
Ten minutes before serving, add the cream and salt to taste. The soup will probably need at least a teaspoon of salt.
In a small saute pan, over medium heat melt two tablespoons of butter and then combine with one teaspoon of paprika and the ten shrimp prepared earlier.
Saute the shrimp until pink and opaque. Place a shrimp or two in the bottom of each soup cup or bowl, and ladle the bisque in the cups or bowls covering the shrimp.
Garnish with minced cilantro and serve.
Kids!
Chopping the veggies for the stock, and peeling the shrimp if you can talk them into it!
Notes...
One very important aspect of this recipe is to filter the puree really well so that no bits of grit or shell make it into the final soup. Other than filtering, the recipe is straightforward. I use gulf shrimp (shrimp harvested from the gulf of mexico) for this and pretty much every other dish I make involving shrimp. There's something about gulf shrimp - a slight hint of salt and a non-fishy, but bright shrimp flavor that can't be beat.