Crab Tomato Bisque

Strolling along the Albert Cuyp market, something drew me to crab legs. The North Sea crab (Noordzeekrab), widely available in the Netherlands, is a think-shelled bugger, large and brownish-white in colour. Boxes full of crab claws were just sitting there, staring at me. The fish man came at me before I had a chance to move on. I was trapped, and bought crab claws for two.


This wasn't the first time I'd come home with crab legs. Same crabs, same fishmonger. Last fall, I'd bought them to make a crab curry inspired by a Portuguese Mozambiquan girl I used to know. I'd had them the same way when she made them once - boiled and left in the curry, claws and all. When we ate, we had to break open the curry-laden shells with a hammer, and wound up splattering orange sauce all over ourselves.

Not really in the mood for clearing orange stains, I figured I'd take a safer route by removing the crab meat from the shells before serving it up. Now what to do with it...? A bit of brainstorming later, I had it: crab bisque. Yes.

Ingredients (serves 2):
400g North Sea crab legs (or 'tourtou' in French - but you can use king crab too)
1 celery stalk, chopped
2 red onions, diced
1/2 red chili pepper, finely chopped
1 can of tomatoes (400g)
2 cups cream
2 cups chicken broth (tablet-based is fine)
100ml dry white wine
6 tbsp butter
2 tbsp flour

some sprigs of fresh basil
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Instructions:
1. Add the celery, red chili pepper and onions to a small saucepan and sautee for 5 minutes until softened.

2. Add the tomato and broth to the onion-celery mixture and cook for another 5-10 minutes.

3. In a larger saucepan, melt the butter over low heat. Stir the flour into the butter with a whisk. Cook for roughly 1 minute, stirring constantly.

4. Slowly add the cream to the butter-flour mixture, stirring constantly. Then, add the tomato mixture, still stirring.

5. Add the white wine, salt and pepper and stir. Bring to a boil over low-medium heat, then lower the heat and add in the crab meat and basil. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes (check on the soup and stir a few times in this half hour). Taste, add seasoning if necessary, and serve.

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