Food Network: Dungeness Crab Bisque

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Dungeness Crab Bisque
Recipe courtesy Wolfgang Puck, Modern French Cooking for the American Kitchen: Houghton Mifflin, 1981

Ingredients
4 Dungeness crabs
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 carrot, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
3 tomatoes, chopped
5 cloves garlic, chopped
5 shallots, chopped
3 sprigs fresh tarragon leaves, chopped
3 tablespoons Cognac
2 cups dry white wine
2 tablespoons tomato paste

10 cups fish stock or water
Salt
Freshly ground pepper
Cayenne pepper
Pinch dried thyme
1 bay leaf
2 cups heavy cream
1 lemon, juiced
1 tablespoon minced chives or parsley leaves

Directions
Remove the claws from the crabs and quarter the
bodies. Heat a 6-quart stockpot. Add the oil and saute the crab pieces until they
are red. Remove the pieces as they are cooked. Add the carrot, celery, tomatoes,

garlic, shallots, and tarragon and continue to saute for 10 minutes. Pour in the
cognac and ignite. When the flame has subsided, deglaze with white wine, and add
the tomato paste, crab, and enough fish stock to cover. Season with salt, pepper,
cayenne, thyme, and bay leaf and boil gently for 15 minutes.
In a small saucepan, reduce the cream by half. Remove the crab bodies from the
pot and set aside. Add the reduced cream to the soup. Puree the soup, in batches,
in a food processor. Strain the pureed soup and keep warm.
Remove the meat from the claws and cut into bite-size pieces and add to the soup.
Season with lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Serve in heated soup bowls and garnish
with minced chives or parsley.