recipe: corn and crab bisque

terrible picture, delicious soup!

one of the perks of living in the PNW is that every now & again alaskan king crab legs will pop up in the grocery store on sale for $9.99/lb. yesterday was one such event, so it seemed like the perfect opp to cook a nice din for the man piece. i decided to make a crab bisque, using the Corn and Crab Bisque recipe from allrecipes.com. 

i made a few adjustments, adding in some Old Bay seasoning (seemed like a sin not to have the OB in the pot), shallots, extra garlic, white wine, swapping canned chicken broth for homemade crab stock that i had frozen, and double the amount of crab. 

it came out fantastic, although i personally prefer a little bit thicker/creamier of a soup... next time i think i'd cut back slightly on the seafood stock. and possibly add in bacon into the pan with the onion/garlic mixture... that sweet & smokey bacon flavor would have been dope in this. 

ingredients list (scaled back to 4 servings):
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1/4 cup onion, chopped
- 1/4 cup shallot, chopped
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1/4 cup wine
- 21 ounces (roughly) of crab stock or chicken broth
- 1 bay leaf
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1/2 tsp cajun seasoning
- 1/4 tsp old bay seasoning
- 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce 
- 2 ears corn, kernels cut from cob
- 1/4 cup half-and-half
- 2 tbsp flour
- 1/4 cup milk
- 1 lb fresh crab meat
- salt & pepper to taste




to make: 
heat butter in a large pot over medium heat. stir in onion, and cook until soft and translucent. add garlic and cook for one additional minute. pour in wine and reduce until reduced by half. 

pour in seafood stock (or broth), and bring to a boil. stir in bay leaf, cayenne pepper, cajun seasoning, old bay, Worcestershire, and salt and pepper. stir in corn, reduce heat to medium low, and simmer for about 10 minutes.

while soup is simmering, remove 1 cup of soup, and set aside to cool slightly. pour in to a food processor, along with half-and-half, and puree for 30 to 45 seconds until completely blended. 

in a small bowl, stir together flour and milk until all flour lumps are gone. slowly stir into simmering soup, and simmer for 1-2 minutes additional. stir in pureed mixture.

reduce heat to low, and stir in crab meat, cooking until warmed through, about 5 minutes. 

serve with soft, pillowy bread. MMMMMMM!