Reagan's Seafood Bisque (recipe)

I made this bisque after adapting a couple of classic recipes to include more vegetables and cut down on heavy cream. I wanted a soup that had more lean protein in it, and ended up deciding to add a final step, of adding in my favorite types of seafood after the bisque has been pureed. This is a rich, delicious soup that goes wonderfully with fresh bread, and any fresh, seasonal seafood and herbs that you have on hand.The whole prawns create the base for this dish, but aside from that, you can add just about any favorite fish or shellfish. I chose to use shrimp, lump Dungeness crab meat, and Alaskan cod. I also used fresh thyme and parsley from the garden. This recipe creates a giant crock pot of soup- I made it this way so that I could share it with friends, and freeze small containers to pull out for a quick meals down the road. If you are planning to make just enough to serve a family for one night, I would cut the recipe in half- which would then fill up a 4 qt saucepan rather than a crock pot, and easily serve 6 people as a main dish (and would give you 12-16 small cups of soup for side dishes/appetizers).

Ingredients

1 yellow onion
1 medium leek, chopped
1 bulb fennel, chopped
3 Tablespoons olive oil
4 Tablespoons butter
2 cans peeled, diced tomatoes, drained
1 small can tomato paste (around 5-6 Tablespoons)
1 cup Oloroso sherry
1 pound medium sized, whole, shell on, prawns
1 cup uncooked Basmati rice
4 cups heavy cream
4 cups half-and-half
2 cups vegetable stock
8 sprigs parsley & sprigs thyme- tied with cooking twine
2 teaspoons crushed, dried bay leaf
2 teaspoons crushed, dried basil
fresh ground salt and pepper
8 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
a few pinches of cayenne pepper
1 pound shrimp-I like the cooked, peeled, deviened shrimp meat (looks like tiny baby shrimp)
1/2 pound lump Dungeness crab meat
1/2 pound fillet of Alaskan Cod

Tools needed: Blender (standard or emulsion) and large crock pot

Step 1: Heat butter and olive oil in a large crock pot over medium heat. Add onion, leek, and fennel. Cook until translucent (about 8 minutes).

Step 2: Add tomatoes and tomato paste. cook until most of the liquid from the tomatoes has evaporated (about 6 minutes). Add sherry, and simmer until reduced by half (about 10 minutes). Count your whole shell on prawns, and write the number down. This will help you later when you need to remove all of them from the soup.

Step 3: Stir in prawns, rice, cream, half-and-half, and vegetable stock. Bring to a simmer. Add bundle of fresh herbs, as well as dried basil and bay leaf. Simmer gently, stirring every few minutes, for 25 minutes. Add lemon juice, cayenne pepper, and salt and pepper to taste. Continue to simmer for 20 minutes more (total time simmering = 45 minutes).


Step 4: Remove herbs and whole prawns. Discard. Puree soup in a blender. You could also use an emulsion blender or a food processor. I just have a small blender, and I ended up needing to blend two batches (about 90 % of the soup). The bisque can be served at this point. If adding seafood such as crab, shrimp, cod, halibut, shellfish, scallops, etc. follow step 5.


Step 5: After pureeing, return soup to crock pot, over medium heat. Add cod, shrimp and crab (or desired seafood). Simmer for a final 5-10 minutes, stirring frequently. If adding fish, flake into small pieces with a wooden spoon as you stir.

Step 5: Garnish with sprigs of parsley, and serve with warm bread. Enjoy!

Orecchiette Pasta with Brown Butter Sage Sauce (recipe)

This is such a quick and delicious meal. It is rich and flavorful, and is a good choice as a side dish to roasted veggies or chicken dishes. Here, I served it with some homemade meatballs. I added lots of fresh sage, garlic, and Pecorino-Romano cheese to the meatballs, along with extra red pepper flakes. See the previous meatball recipe for details on how to make homemade meatballs. Once those were in the oven, while the pasta was cooking, I made the sauce. One important factor with this sauce is the type of pasta- It works well with smaller, thicker types of pasta such as campanelle, orecchiette, and is outstanding with stuffed pastas such as a cheese or mushroom ravioli.

Ingredients

Two large handfuls of fresh sage leaves, julienned (30-40 leaves)
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
3 Tablespoons olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound of pasta (see above for pasta types)
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
a pinch of salt

optional- homemade garlic-sage meatballs with Pecorino cheese

Step 1: Make and cook meatballs. See previous recipe for details. Modify as follows: add 5 cloves minced garlic, 15 diced sage leaves, 1/3 cup Pecorino cheese, and 2 extra teaspoons red pepper flakes, into ground beef mixture before shaping meatballs.



Step 2: Boil water for pasta. Add pasta, cook to al Dente, and drain. Pasta should still have a nice 'bite'

Step 3: Make sauce. In a medium sauce pan, melt butter over medium heat until it begins to foam. At that point, add in 3 Tablespoons olive oil, and all of the julienned sage leaves. Continue to cook, stirring slowly. Be careful that the heat is not too low (needs to be high enough to maintain foam and slowly brown butter) and not too high (be very careful not to burn/overcook). Just as the sauce begins to turn a pale golden color, add minced garlic. Continue to cook until sauce is golden throughout, but not burned. Add a pinch of salt, to taste.




Step 4: Pour sauce over cooked pasta, and toss pasta so that it is evenly coated. If using meatballs, add those to the pasta as well. Serve immediately. Garnish wish Parmesan cheese and a couple of fresh sage leaves.