Crawfish Bisque

A silky smooth, intensely flavored soup ramped up with Cajun spices and homemade crawfish stock. It's perfect for a family fête for quality time together while enjoying the decadence exemplified. Even better, this flavor-packed, Immaculately spiced deliciousness is ready in less than an hour.

Course Soup

Cuisine Cajun, Southern

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 50

Total Time 1 5

Servings

Calories 265kcal

Author Imma

Ingredients

3 pounds crawfish
3-4 cloves garlic
1 onion, quartered
1 large stalk celery, chopped
2 bay leaves
2 sprigs thyme
1 teaspoon bouillon powder
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
4-6 cups water
1 pound crawfish meat (from the crawfish for the stock)
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
1 medium onion, chopped
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
1 stalk celery, diced
1 red pepper, diced
1 teaspoon fresh thyme mined
1 teaspoon tomato paste
1 medium tomato, chopped
2 tablespoon flour
½ cup cooking wine
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon Creole seasoning
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
3 cups crawfish stock (from above)
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1 cup heavy cream

Instructions

The Stock

Boil the crawfish in a large pot of water for about 4-5 minutes. Drain the crawfish and allow them to cool to handle them easily.
Remove the tail meat by peeling off the shell in the tail. Save the head and shells for the stock and place the tail meat in your refrigerator until ready to use.
Add the head and shell of the crawfish to a large stock pot. Then add garlic, onion, celery, bay leaves, thyme, bouillon powder, salt, pepper, and water. Stir and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat and simmer for about 25-30 minutes. When the stock is ready, strain through a mesh strainer and reserve until ready to use.

The Bisque

Place a large, heavy pot over medium heat, melt butter, and drizzle over olive oil. Next, add onion, garlic, celery, bell pepper, and thyme. Cook until vegetables are soft and garlic is fragrant, stirring occasionally for about 5 minutes. Then add tomato paste and fresh chopped tomato. Continue to cook for about 3-4 minutes. Sprinkle flour over vegetables and cook it until smooth and it's fully absorbed, 1-2 minutes. This will help to thicken the soup later.
Pour in the wine, Worcestershire sauce, Creole seasoning, and cayenne pepper. Stir to combine thoroughly, then add prepared crawfish stock. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until the liquid reduces and the flavors meld, stirring occasionally for 10-12 minutes—season with salt and pepper to taste.
Carefully pour the bisque into a blender and puree until smooth. Alternatively, you may use a stick blender in the pot to puree until smooth.
Return the bisque to the pot, place over medium-low heat, and stir in heavy cream and half of the crawfish meat. Cook until just warmed through, about 5 minutes.
Serve in bowls, top with remaining crawfish meat, garnish with parsley, and enjoy!

Nutrition