How close is this to his version? I have no idea, as I was drunk on tequila. Besides the coconut milk, I can barely remember what he put in it. After doing a pre-show shot with his assistants, Besh jokingly instructed the floor staff to pour the audience a shot. Minutes later, much to his delight, shots of tequila were distributed throughout the room.
Anyway, I know it's been a while since I posted a real video recipe, but I really think this one will have been worth the wait. I loved how this turned out, and I think you will as well. I hope you give it a try, and maybe tweak it with some different combinations of seafood and garnishes. Cheers! Err, I mean, enjoy!
Ingredients:
1 pound shrimp, shells reserved
2 1/2 cups water
4 tablespoons butter, divided
1/3 cup chopped green onions
1/3 cup diced celery
1/4 cup diced jalapeno
1/4 cup flour
2 cups prepared tomato soup
1/2 cup coconut milk
1/4 teaspoon red curry paste, or to taste
salt and/or fish sauce to taste
basil chiffonade
49 comments:
Because it tastes like God :) LOL Looks delicious, Chef!
You have completely demystified making shrimp bisque for me! And can I tell you, the moment I started playing the video, my sleepy cat got up off my lap and put her law up on the desk and was watching your video. Then she got up on the desk and put her nose directly to the video. You had her at, "Hello!" Me too, by the way.
Thanks ladies! :-)
It looks delicious. I suppose you couldn't mention the brand of tomato soup you used?
Would you say this makes 4 servings?
Cant wait to make this it looks so good.
Hey chef John! Thank you for the Awesome video!
quick question. Can I use a thai red curry paste? or is that what you used?
andy, used Pacific Foods - Organic Creamy Tomato Soup
matt, yes!
that looks so good and perfect for the nippy weather we've been having.
Warm bowls sound great, but what if I have something else in the oven already? Is there some secret chef magic to warming bowls besides a 150 oven?
20 seconds under very hot tap water does the trick!
Chef John I love your blog and am glad that you are back from your video recipe hiatus. Two things:
I thought the holy trinity of cajun cooking always included garlic, am I wrong?
Second, wouldn't you agree that it would have been better to saute the curry paste with the butter for a few seconds instead of just adding it to the liquid?
Ah...if only I felt I could trust the safety of gulf seafood again. May have to try this with a nice Maine Lobstah instead.
I think you can. The testing they are requiring down there is pretty intense. Also, the stuff I'm getting is not coming from areas that were in the spill.
You can certainly add garlic, but the classic trinity is what I stated. At least that what my NOLA sources tell me. yes, I just forgot to saute in butter. More important for dry spices, but still a good idea.
Looks delicious, Chef. Thanks!
I have to ask though: why exactly do you only incite people to buy non-farmed seafood? Do you not use farmed meat in your recipes?
(Not trying to be a prick... just curious!)
Not all farmed meat is created equal! Not a philosophical thing at all. Farmed lamb, not problem. But if you research wild shrimp vs. farmed SE Asian shrimp I think you'll see why. Same for most farmed vs. wild salmon. etc.
If you're concerned about consuming sustainable seafood, or would just like to learn more, check out the Monterrey Bay Aquarium website:
http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/seafoodwatch.aspx
You can also download a "watch list" that will help you make more informed choices at your local fishmonger.
Nice to finally see some video recipes again...I was about to ask for a refund... =P
I'm eagerly awaiting the companion video to this one, "Son of a Bisque"...yes, I went there...
Keep up the good work, Chef...
Omg, this was absolutely amazing. Splurged and went to whole foods to get gulf shrimp, good tomato soup, green onions, etc. THANK YOU. Also, microwaves work well to warm plates prior to serving
"or something else" & "tastes like god" had me laughing out loud, you are too funny!!
SEA shrimp hater!
Chef John, I made this recipe with gulf shrimp for my boyfriend and my friend John, and they were both wowed. Thanks for making such a delicious dish look so easy to make.
Dear Chef John, my girlfriend and I (me french, she Irish) think you absolutely rock. We did this today and it was fabulous. Thank you for all the great recipes, we owe many a great dinner to you. Nico and Poppy from London.
Hi Chef John.
I have a small doubt, have you used green garlic? and if I do not have the jalapeno pepper, I can use another pepper? which pepper?
Thanks (sorry for my bad English, I am Brazilian and I love your blog)
Chef John,
I thought this was a thoroughly enjoyable recipe. I had exactly 15 semi-peeled & deveined U/15 shrimp in my freezer, so this worked out perfectly. My question is about the "vein." My (ocean caught) shrimp already had the top vein removed, but after removing the rest of the shell, it looked like there was another, smaller vein on the bottom of the shrimp. This one actually did look like it might be a real vein. I removed it, but I was wondering if this one is OK to leave, since it isn't full of poop.
Thanks.
No, you just have to remove the vein along the top. You could have left hat. Thanks!
Chef John,
I have the same doubts that Diego. If I don't have the jalapeno pepper, Can I use another pepper? which pepper?
Thanks.
Yes, of course! Any fresh pepper will work!
Thanks Chef.
Your blog is amazing...
You were right, it was worth the weight, I mean wait. Seafood bisque simplified is one to learn with a daughter who doesn't eat livestock. It was as if you read my mind because I just discovered bisque and got all excited in a crappy soup buffet! I've been getting the ladies thanks to your recipes! (Remember the Thai green coconut chicken? !!)
You were right it was worth the weight, I mean wait. You read my mind with the seafood bisque simplified. I just discovered Bisque to my delight in a crappy soup buffet. You know, Chef John, I've been getting the ladies with your recipes :D (Remember your Thai green coconut shrimp?? !!)
Made it last night and words cannot explain how good it was!
LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!
hahaha... "or, something else..."
this is why I love this blog.
Tried this tonight, and when I first got to the "taste for seasoning" part, I was bitterly disappointed. But turns out it's just cause the organic tomato soup I used was HORRIBLE. So bland. I was stupid and didn't taste it before using it. I would have been better off with the red and white label. Tip for anyone else with this problem: I added like 4 tablespoons of tomato paste, and that brightened it right up. Totally delicious after that! I will definitely make it again as soon as I find a better soup!
I just made this and am devouring it as I type. Can't believe how good it is by using actual shrimp stock!
I doubled the recipe and used green curry paste (didn't have any red on hand).
Thanks for giving me a new delicious soup to add to my repertoire!
As an aside, have you considered making haggis as a food wish? Would love to learn your take on it!
What brand(s) curry paste and fish sauce do you prefer?
Just from the supermarket, "Thai Kitchen" I think.
unsweetened!
I made this tonight for my wife and me and it was amazing! The addition of the coconut milk and curry paste gives it just a hint of something exotic, and the shrimp cooked this way just melted in your mouth. Wow. Just... Wow.
First, if you've never made shrimp stock before (I have not) be prepared. It smells wonderful.
I pretty much followed the recipe as written and demonstrated, but only used one small jalapeno -- so it was probably a bit less than called for and went a little heavier on the celery (one whole stalk) and green onion (three whole stalks). I did sweat my curry paste before adding the liquids. I don't have fish sauce so I salted, and though it needed more than the 1/2 tsp I used, and I did put in just a pinch of cayenne when tasting the broth (I thought it needed more heat still, but as it was it was very subtlely spicy).
For those wondering how to divide the butter: I went half in the stock and half in the soup, but ended up needing more butter to make the roux... Had I been paying more attention I would have realized that before dividing (I think roux usually use equal parts fat and flour, and 3 tbsp = 1/4 cup).
It's winter and nice fresh basil is hard to come by, so I skipped that and finished mine with a quarter cup of rice instead of crackers.
What about the chemicals they used in the gulf? I don't trust the gulf water shrimp.
Thanks for a great bisque, I may use it with another seafood.
Censoring your comments regarding "gulf" shrimp? Give me a break. Unsubscribed John.
Wow, relax. All comments have to wait until I read them to be approved. I don't monitor the blog 24/7. You can think what you want about the gulf shrimp, but you'd be wrong. Do some actual research.
So so so good!! We made your jambalaya recipe last week an tonight tried this one! Love it! I'm about to surf your blog for what's going to be on the menu tomorrow! I thank you, my husband thanks you and my very happy tummy thanks you!!!
or something else... you're too funnee! I've been a big fan/follower home cook for a year now. I love this soup! You probably have a lot of Asian connections because this is the first time I've seen anyone do what we, Filipinos do to shrimp shells(Only diff is we always have heads attached to that shrimp, American shrimps are always headless ;-). Fantastic!
Only thing I changed was the addition of choice(we call it 'atsuete' liquid for more color. Love all your recipes & great sense of funny!
My usual method for warming plates or bowls quickly is to heat in the microwave oven for about 2 to 2 minutes depending on the plates/or bowls,some heat quicker than others. This if for 4 plates/bowls
Made this last night and both my husband and I loved it. Looking forward to making it again. I used fresh Mayport shrimp (from our coastal waters in NE Florida), but they were very soft. Fresh but soft. Slicing them in half wasn't easy. My favorite part of assembling this recipe was that big bang of shrimp aroma when the shells hit the hot butter. OMG. Divine! You weren't kidding when you said it tastes like God. Next time, I think I'll add a little more coconut milk and red chili paste. We like it spicy.
Where do you find shrimp with the shells still on? I live north of the bridge and have only seen the already de-shelled shrimp.
So I made this fantastic bisque just like you said to, taking care to follow every step faithfully,
...but I didn't have any shrimp. I did happen to have some shrimp shells in the freezer so I sautéed those in butter and put those into some boiling water. While rooting around the freezer for those shrimp shells, I found a few ounces of crab meat from a party so I put that out to thaw.
Realizing four miserable ounces of crab meat wasn't going to hack it, I pulled out four little filets of tilapia to make my shrimp bisque more "seafoody."
Hoping to "kick it up a notch," my freezer yielded up about two cups of homemade fish broth, so I dropped that in a pan to melt on low heat. It began to look like a pretty good, gently heating poaching broth so I added the tilapia filets in there.
Then I melted some butter and put the trinity in to sauté, except I didn't have a fresh jalapeno, so I substituted a few pickled ones instead. I added my flour and cooked it a few minutes to turn it into a nice roux.
That was when I realized that both my roux and my broth were hot, and that it would take forever to cool down all that broth, so I stuck the roux in the fridge so that at least one of those components would be cool when combined to avoid clumping.
Sadly, I didn't find even one box of good tomato soup, but I did have a small can of tomato paste so I put that with the fish broth and now poached tilapia. I discarded the shrimp shells and added that liquid to the pot, too.
Well, my roux cooled down pretty fast, so I combined all of the above, except for the crab meat, then I put the whole shebang into my blender to achieve the smooth texture that would look more like your picture. I thought this might be a good time to add the coconut milk, and, of course, there wasn't any, but I did have a little heavy cream so I added that to the blender.
Lacking curry paste, I made do with curry powder and a little fish sauce and a few other seasonings that appealed to me at the moment, including, obviously, cayenne.
I returned all this to the pot to simmer a bit, dumping in the crab meat I had reserved way up in step one at the last minute and a wee bit of sherry – okay, quite a bit of sherry - just for kicks. I nuked the soup bowls with a little water, put basil on my shopping list for there was none, and finely sliced some green onion from my garden into circlets for garnish.
And that is how I made my absolutely authentic shrimp-less, coconut-less, "Coconut Shrimp Bisque."
After all, I can take any risk with my very own bisque.
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