Lobster Bisque

Lobster Bisque. Creamy, buttery, smooth, savory and of course, full of lobster. Need I say much more? So many times I have enjoyed a bowl of this delicious soup, and so many times I have said "one day I am gonna make this." Well, I finally decided to go for it... and what better day to make such a romantic bowl of love than Valentine's day.

Dina finalizing the recipe

After much deliberation I chose a recipe that did not call for a live lobster. Thanks Gregg, for convincing me to spare myself the agony of having to assassinate several crustaceans. And thank you for offering to pick up the pre-steamed lobsters and have the shiny red shelled critters waiting to be made into soup.

Off I went with my list to the grocery store. Much more than I expected to have to buy, with vegetables ranging from fennel and leeks to oranges and carrots - wait, I don't remember all these fruits and vegetables in my lobster bisque, where do they come in? Well, before making bisque it turns out, you have to make stock. So with all my veggies and cream in shopping bags I head to the liquor store. Yes, now we add sherry and cognac. Yum.

Then the fun part, playing with the food. We pour the wine, gather all the ingredients, and then set them up all pretty and posed for the pictures. To me, this was the most fun of the entire event. I love the way food looks - especially big, red lobsters - and I really enjoyed "food styling" all the ingredients for Tammy to masterfully photograph. After a few glasses of wine Deni, Tammy and I joined the food for a few pictures of our creation to be, then we really started playing.

Down to business... chop, chop, chop, ew! have you ever cut up a lobster? Gross! It's a good thing it is dead and cooked. Simmer, strain, and oh this is fun - ignite! And then finally we have - stock. So now that we have been cooking for hours we can start to make the bisque. A little cream, some more butter - hey, where did that other stick of butter go?!? Oh... the dog ate it. Yikes. That's ok, we have more on reserve (and it's not my dog!).

Deni was so happy the onion matched her shirt. :o)

Yes, orange peel in lobster bisque.

Photographer / Supervisor / Wine tester

In the end it was a great day, full of hard work, wine, friends and lots of fun. The soup was delicious and I will NEVER make it again. It is much too much work when they make it so good at the restaurants!

(Written by Dina, Photos by Tammy, Cooking by Dina, Deni, Tammy & Gregg)