BISQUE****Provencal Seafood Bisque

By Unblond1

This is very good for both. It tastes like seafood, even with the fish alone. You could try adding some crab or lobster at the end too.
UPDATE - Valentine's Day 2015 - Added 1 - 6 oz. lobster tail, diced, from Tarini's at the end - yummy. The soup is very rich, I don't find you need anything with it.

Ingredients

• 6 servings
• 1 tbsp. EVOO
• 1 tbsp. butter
• 1 medium white or yellow onion, chopped
• 1 leek, sliced
• 1 large celery stalk, chopped
• 1 large carrot, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 2 plum tomatoes, chopped
• 1 pound white fish fillets, roughly chopped (Cod, haddock, halibut, sole, turbot, walleye, bluegill, or rock cod)[I used a piece of Haddock and a piece of Hake - altogether not quite 12 ounces - that was plenty]
• 1 teaspoon of orange zest
• 2 bay leaves and 5 - 6 sprigs fresh thyme, tied together in a piece of leek
• Pinch of cayenne
• Large pinch of saffron
• pinch of fennel pollen
• 2 tbsp. tomato paste
• 1/4 cup dry sherry
• 1/4 cup cognac
• 2 cups clam juice
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1/3 cup heavy cream
• Salt to taste
• 6 oz. lobster tail, diced

Details

Servings 6
Adapted from simplyrecipes.com

Preparation

Step 1

* Add the saffron to the sherry and cognac and set aside to steep.

* Heat the oil and butter over medium high heat and add the onions, leek, garlic, celery and carrot. Cook for 10 - 12 minutes, stirring often, until the onions are translucent. Do not brown. Sprinkle some salt over everything as it cooks.

* Add the tomatoes and cook for another 2-3 minutes, stirring often.

* Add the tomato paste, and the herbs and spices and the orange zest and stir for a couple of minutes more.

* Add the sherry and cognac with the saffron and cook for another five minutes or so.

* Add the clam juice and the chicken broth, bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 30 - 40 minutes, until everything is soft.

* Add the fish and cook for 5 minutes more, until the fish is done.

* Puree the soup in the blender until it is well puréed and add the cream.

* Reheat the soup on medium-low heat. Do not let this boil or it might break.

* If using lobster, rinse and dice into 1/2" cubes. Add to soup and heat gently for 3 - 4 minutes just to cook lobster without drying it out. (The soup wasn't re-heating fast enough so I cooked the lobster in a non-stick frying pan in a tablespoon of butter and added it to the individual dishes - it was okay but I'd prefer adding it to the soup)

* Serve garnished with bacon bits or dill fronds, and croutons for me.

NUTRITION: Without Lobster Tail (6 oz. lobster adds 33 calories and 6 1@ grams of protein per serving)

Calories 390.6
Total Fat 15.9 g
Saturated Fat 5.8 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 1.9 g
Monounsaturated Fat 7.4 g
Cholesterol 111.0 mg
Sodium 1,010.7 mg
Potassium 1,332.6 mg
Total Carbohydrate 20.0 g
Dietary Fiber 3.9 g
Sugars 6.9 g
Protein 32.3 g