Lightened Up King Crab and Shrimp Bisque

After a fine dinner out on Saturday night, Hubby and I found ourselves with some leftover steamed king crab legs. Well, the crab legs were his, but he was nice enough to donate them to a worthy cause -- a bisque for dinner on Sunday night. Rather than use heavy cream, I lightened things up with milk. Considering that I added potatoes, the soup really ended up somewhere between a bisque and a chowder. It was pretty satisfying, not to mention a great use for the king crab.



Lightened Up King Crab and Shrimp Bisque
2 tablespoons butter
2 cloves garlic, minced 1
1 c onion, finely chopped
1/2 c celery, finely chopped
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 c seafood stock
2 c whole milk
1/2 cup white wine
1/4 tsp Zatarain's crab boil
1 large, red-skinned potato, peeled and diced
2 bay leaves
1/2 pound medium shrimp, boiled, peeled and deveined
1/2 pound king crab, steamed and cracked
1 cup fresh or frozen (not thawed) white or yellow corn kernels
1 1/2 Tbsp fresh thyme
2 Tbsp fresh chives, snipped
kosher salt
freshly cracked black pepper
cayenne pepper
Tabasco sauce

1) Sweat the onion, celery, and garlic in the butter over low heat. Sprinkle in the flour and stir to make a blonde roux. Add a generous pinch of salt, and season with pepper and cayenne.
2) Whisk in the stock, milk, wine, bay leaves, and crab boil. Add the diced potato. Turn up the heat and let the mixture simmer until potatoes are tender and the mixture thickens.
3) Remove the bay leaves. Using an immersion blender, blend some of the soup to thicken further.
4) Lower the heat, add the shrimp, crab, corn, fresh thyme, and half of the chives.
5) Let the soup heat through, season with more salt, pepper, cayenne, and Tabasco.
6) Serve and garnish with remaining chives.