Baby It's Cold Outside | Shrimp Bisque

SNOWSTORM...I WANT SOMETHIN' HOT

Monday was another big snow day here in the Northeast, and nothing takes the chill out of your bones like a nice steamy bowl of soup (or bisque). This particular bisque recipe was published in the January 2008 issue Cook's Country magazine. I don't subscribe to Cook's Country, but my friend Emily gave me this particular issue when I visited her at the Test Kitchen just before Christmas. Yep, it's another winner. Not hard to make, and so delicious. Sorry the picture looks like crap - it just wasn't that easy to photograph it, especially when I was dying to just eat it and not spend all day photographing it.

Also, I apparently drank way too much water with dinner because I woke up this morning at 1:05 with the most ungodly pains in my stomach because apparently my bladder was about to explode like a water balloon slapped on hot pavement. I read somewhere recently that if you need to get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom that you shouldn't turn on the bathroom light, because the sudden surge of brightness completely screws up your Circadian rhythm (the 24-hour cycle your body goes through everyday telling you when to sleep and when to wake), thus making it making it much harder for your body to fall back asleep.

Bull Shit.

I scampered out the bedroom, through the dining room, past the laundry room and into the bathroom, sans lights; I then proceeded to go to the bathroom sans lights and then proceeded to navigate back to the bedroom sans lights, only to get into my nice comfy bed and stare at the stupid frigging clock until 3:30 in the morning. I was not able to fall back asleep until two hours before my alarm went off. Circadian Rhythm My Ass. I'm now very tired, probably so tired that I'll have one of those nights were I'm "too tired to sleep". Does this happen to you - you just get so tired that sleep evades you. Ugh. If any of you have tricks for getting back to sleep in the middle of the night, please let me know them.

Shrimp Bisque Cook’s Country

4 tbsp unsalted butter
2 lbs medium shrimp, peeled, deveined, and chopped, shells reserved
2 onions, chopped
2 celery ribs, chopped
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
6 tbsp all purpose flour
6 tbsp tomato paste
6 (8-oz) bottles clam juice
2 cups white wine
2 cups heavy cream
Salt and pepper

Melt butter in large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add reserved shrimp shells and cook until spotty brown, about 5 minutes. Stir in onion, celery, and carrots and cook until beginning to soften, about 8 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in flour and cook, stirring constantly, until lightly browned, about 2 minutes. Stir in tomato paste and cook for 1 minute. Add clam juice, wine and thyme and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer until slightly thickened, about 30 minutes.

Pour broth through a fine mesh strainer into a large saucepan, pressing on the solids to extract juices. Discard solids in the strainer.

Bring broth to a simmer over medium heat. Stir in the shrimp and cream and simmer until the shrimp are cooked through, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Serve. Enjoy.

Make Ahead Note: The broth can be prepared through step 2 and refrigerated in an air tight container for up to 24 hours.

Rating = Damn Good