Corn & Crab Bisque

I've been trying to work up the courage to make a crab dish for quite awhile now, so I finally decided on this bisque recipe from The Encyclopedia of Cajun and Creole Cuisine cookbook.

I was fortunate enough to have some frozen crab meat in the freezer that was pulled from the crab trap by my own hands (OK...my dad's hands) as well as cleaned, boiled, and picked by my hands. There was a tremendous amount of work invested in this crab meat so I really wanted to do it justice.

Corn & Crab Bisque

3 cups whole kernel corn

1 pound jumbo lump crabmeat

1 cup butter

1 cup diced onions

1 cup diced celery

1/2 cup diced red bell peppers

1/4 cup minced garlic

1 cup flour

2 1/2 quarts shellfish stock

1 pint heavy whipping cream

1/2 cup sliced green onions

1/2 cup chopped parsley

salt and white pepper to taste

In a 2-gallon stockpot, melt butter over medium-high heat. Add corn, onions, celery, bell peppers and garlic. Saute 5-10 minutes or until vegetables are wilted. Whisk in flour until white roux is achieved, but do not brown. Slowly add stock, one ladle at a time, stirring constantly. Bring to a low boil, reduce to simmer and cook 30 minutes. Add heavy whipping cream, green onions and parsley. Continue cooking 3 minutes. Gently fold in lump crabmeat, being careful not to break lumps. Season with salt and white pepper.

Note: I made a half recipe, because the original recipe is for 12 servings.

Overall I think this was a pretty great bisque. It didn't turn out quite as thick as I would have liked, but it still tasted really good. One mistake was that I paired it with the Lemon Parmesan Risotto. The risotto completely over-powered the bisque. It really didn't stand a chance when put up against the risotto. I guess that was a rookie mistake. If we would've been eating dinner properly, meaning soup then the main dish, it probably would've worked a little better. I also think I messed up a little in making the stock. For some reason I decided to use the cheapest dry white wine possible in the stock, and I really think that affected the overall taste. With all that considered, it's a great recipe and we all enjoyed it.