Seafood or Shrimp Bisque

Seafood Bisque

SHRIMP/or SEAFOOD BISQUE

1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
4 tbsp. all purpose flour

1 small yellow onion (minced)
2 cloves garlic (minced)
2 stalks celery (minced)

1 can tomato paste
1 can chopped & peeled tomatoes (I used petite diced)
1-1/3 cups dry sherry

1 tsp. hot pepper sauce (I used Tabasco)
1/2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp pepper (or to taste)

1 qt. seafood stock (see below)
1 qt. heavy whipping cream (ok to use part half-n-half mixed with heavy cream)

15 or so medium size shrimp (peeled and de-veined) The small bags of 26-30 size work well.

Optional: (Fresh Dill or Parsley for garnish.)

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Seafood stock - I use a couple or three tilapia fillets and 4-5 medium shrimp in the shell to make stock with, but any mild tasting white fish will do. I brought 2-qts of water to boil and tossed in the fillets with about 1/2 tsp. of Old Bay seafood seasoning & 1/2tsp. of salt. Bring it to a boil, reduce heat, cover, and allow to simmer for two hours. Remove fillets and shrimp. They are pretty well not worth much now, they will most likely fall apart so I dont use them in the final bisque. The cat doesnt mind that at all since she gets the leftovers.
Strain the stock through a collendar and fine screen. I strain mine two or more times until I feel the stock has been clarified enough. This produces enough stock to be able to freeze some for another day when I dont have as much time.
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In the same large pot that I am going to use for the bisque, cook the onion, garlic, celery and salt/pepper until transparent. Stir in the flour when they reach that point.

Add the quart of seafood stock. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium low. Stir in heavy cream. Then add the tomato paste, pepper sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and diced/peeled tomatos. Stir well to break up tomato paste.

Add the dry sherry and raw shrimp (Note: After peeling and de-veining the shrimp, I cut them into thirds. They work better smaller in a bisque.
Cook for 35-40 minutes on medium to medium low heat. I dont cover it and I stir often. The cream mix will boil over quickly if not careful.

I served topped with some fresh cut dill, but parsley could work also. A couple of peices of a good coarse white bread for dipping and your done!

btw-this was not my original recipe, I just modified it to balance it out some. Some suggest to use canned chicken broth/stock, but it is NOT the same.