WHISKEY CRAB BISQUE

For very special celebrations, such as birthdays or anniversaries, my husband and I go to a popular seafood restaurant in Seattle. I always order their crab bisque. They are made with Dungeness crabs from the Pacific Northwest. Over the weekend, two friends of ours caught several Dungeness crabs in the pristine waters off the coast of Salt Spring Island. They very kindly gave us several cleaned crabs. Thank you so much Jim and Cec! If you live where Blue crabs are available, the bisque will taste equally as delicious.

Lee's Kitchen Tips:  
If you prefer to buy crabmeat already cooked and cleaned or you do not want to make the crab broth with the shells, buy a carton of seafood broth or crab base to use in place of the 4 cups of water. Omit the first part of the recipe and go directly to cooking the onion and carrots.

2 large Dungeness crabs, cleaned, shells intact or 8 Blue crabs

4 cups water, divided

4 T unsalted butter

1 medium onion, shredded or minced

2 medium carrots, shredded or minced

¼ cup all-purpose flour

¼ cup dry sherry

Pinch of cayenne pepper

1 to 2 t Old Bay Seasoning

3 cups half-and-half or cream

3 T tomato paste

¼ cup Whiskey

Sea salt and finely ground black pepper

Finely chopped chives, for garnish

Paprika for garnish

Place cleaned crabs in a Dutch oven with 2 cups water and lined with a steaming basket.

Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 15 minutes.

Set aside to cool and when cool enough to handle, remove meat from shells and place in a bowl.

Place shells on a baking sheet and bake in a 400 F degree oven for 15 minutes. This enhances the crab flavor.

After shells have baked, place shells back into the Dutch oven and add the crab-cooking broth and the other 2 cups cold water.

Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes.

Strain crab-cooking broth into a 4-cup measuring pitcher and discard shells.

In the same Dutch oven, heat the butter over low heat and add the onion and carrots. 

Sauté for 10 minutes, until vegetables are tender. 

Stir in the flour and cook for another 2 minutes while stirring.

Add the sherry and crab-cooking broth and simmer another 2 minutes.

Turn off heat and using an immersion blender, blend soup until smooth.

Alternatively, you can pour the soup into a blender to puree, and then pour back into the Dutch oven.

Add the cayenne, Old Bay, half-and-half, or cream, and tomato paste.

Simmer until soup is slightly thickened, about 5 minutes.

Stir in the whiskey and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Add crabmeat (saving some for garnishing the bisque) and simmer for a couple of minutes, just to heat through.

Ladle into 4 warm bowls, top with some crabmeat, and garnish with chives and paprika.