Seafood Bisque

The main difference between soup and bisque is that bisque is a French style soup and as you might expect, is rich, contains seafood, and is thick with a smooth texture. Since crab is hard to come by in the desert where I live and is expensive, I usually use imitation crab, “sacré bleu,” right? I also sometime make this with shrimp and have even used walleye. The real challenge is finding fish stock, and trust me, you don’t want to make it yourself or you’ll never eat fish soup again. The only place I’ve found that sells fish stock is Natural Foods Grocery. With one substitution, this becomes a keto friendly soup.

Ingredients

  • 1 lb. Seafood: Crab, Imitation Crab, Shrimp or Walleye are good choices
  • 1 Onion – finely diced
  • 2 Celery stalks – chopped
  • 2 Garlic Cloves – minced
  • 2 TBL Tomato paste
  • 3 TBL Flour – use coconut flour for keto
  • 32 oz. Fish Stock – can use Vegetable stock in a pinch
  • 8 oz. White wine – dry
  • 4 oz. Heavy cream – told you this was French
  • 1 tsp Old Bay seasoning
  • Kosher salt and black pepper
  • 1 Bay leaf
  • Parsley chopped or in sprigs – for garnish

Process

  1. Mise en Place – measure and prepare your ingredients prior to starting.
  2. Melt butter in cast iron Dutch oven as it heats.
  3. Cook the onions and celery ~5 mins., until onions are translucent.
  4. Season with salt and pepper and Old Bay seasoning.
  5. Add tomato paste and garlic and cook ~2 mins. Don’t worry about the paste sticking to the pan, the wine acids will get the fond off.
  6. Add flour and stir into the paste. Cook 1 min.
  7. Add wine and work the lump out of the roux and the fond off the bottom of the pan.
  8. Add the fish stock and bay leaf and bring to a boil.
  9. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 mins.
  10. Transfer soup to a blender and puree, then return to pot. You can strain the soup to make a fine texture or leave solids in the soup. Most French chefs would strain any solids out.
  11. Add cream and fish and cook 5 mins.
    1. If using crab or imitation crab, shred the meat.
    2. If using shrimp, I will saute the shrimp in olive oil first, 1 min on each side. For small shrimp I leave whole for medium or large shrimp I cut into smaller chucks.
    3. If I am using fish fillets, I cut them into 1″ chunks and let them fall apart during cooking.
  12. Serve with parsley garnish

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