seafood extravaganza

Soup night was a success! It really was a seafood extravaganza. On the menu was Clam Chowder and Crab Bisque...mmmm mmm. So I've been asked by a few people to share my recipes...and I usually don't until the end of the year. One of the perks of coming is that at the end of the year I put together a cookbook with all the recipes and hand it out at our last Soup Night. But since this month's soups were soooo good...I wanted to share one of them with you!

Now...I don't really like to measure things out. I'm a throw it in and see what happens kind of cook. I think that is what makes cooking fun. So these measurements are not exact and I can't take responsibility for any "mishaps" that might happen along the way!!


Dungeness Crab Bisque
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup flour
6-8 ribs celery, finely chopped
2 onions, finely chopped
2 cups boiling water
4-5 cups milk
couple pinches of ground cloves
salt to taste
garlic
pepper
2 Tbs. Worcestershire sauce
1 red bell pepper, quartered
3 bay leaves
crab meat - i used probably 1 1/2 lbs. of Dungeness crab meat
~ 1 pint heavy whipping cream
chopped green onions (garnish)

In a large Dutch oven or soup pot, make a light roux by stirring butter and flour over medium-high flame until light brown. Add celery & onion. Cook until soft. Add water, milk, cloves, garlic, salt, pepper, Worcestershire, bell pepper & bay leaves. Turn down to low! Do not let your milk boil, it will break (I know...because mine did and I had to dump it and start over. total rookie move!) Simmer for an hour or so.

Add cream to your liking. I added a little milk at this point as well, as I do not like really thick soups. Remove bell pepper and bay. Add crab meat. Warm through. Garnish with green onions.

xoxo
baby chick