Photo: Crab Bisque with Crab Toasts Recipe
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup bleached all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1 1/2 cups chopped yellow onions
- 1/2 cup seeded and chopped green bell peppers
- 1/2 cup chopped celery
- 1/2 cup chopped carrots
- 4 bay leaves
- 2 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne
- 6 gumbo crabs, each cut in 1/2
- 1 cup peeled, seeded, and chopped fresh or canned tomatoes
- 1/2 cup brandy
- 8 cups water
- 1 teaspoon liquid crab boil (recommended: Zatarain's Concentrated Liquid Shrimp and Crab Boil), optional
- 1/2 cup chopped green onions, green parts only
- 1/4 cup finely chopped fresh parsley leaves
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 1 pound lump crabmeat, picked over for shells and cartilage
- Crab Toasts, recipe follows
Directions
Combine the flour and oil in a large nonstick saucepan and whisk until smooth. Over medium heat, stir constantly until the mixture is the color of peanut butter, about 10 minutes. Add the onions, bell peppers, celery, carrots, bay leaves, salt, and cayenne. Cook, stirring often, until the vegetables are soft, about 10 minutes.
Add the crabs and tomatoes and stir to mix. Cook for 10 minutes. Add the brandy, water, and crab boil. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, uncovered, for 1 hour and 45 minutes.
Add the green onions and parsley. Remove the bay leaves. Remove from the heat and add the cream. Mix to blend. Ladle into individual serving bowls and sprinkle each with 1/4 cup crabmeat. Top each with a half crab and a crab toast.
Crab Toasts:
1/2 pound lump crabmeat, picked over for shells and cartilage
1 large egg
1 large egg white
2 tablespoons minced green onions
1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley leaves
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper
3 ounces cream cheese, cut into pieces
2 tablespoons heavy cream
8 slices brioche, or home-style white bread
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
Combine the crabmeat, egg, egg white, green onions, parsley, garlic, salt and white pepper in a food processor and pulse until blended but still chunky. Add the cream cheese and pulse until smooth and thick. Add the cream and pulse until just blended, being careful not to over process.
Spread 1/4 of the crabmeat mixture on each of 4 slices of bread, spreading it to the edges and smoothing the top. Place another slice of brioche on top and press down to make a sandwich.
Heat the vegetable oil over medium-high heat in a large skillet.
Add the crab toasts to the hot oil, in batches if needed, and cook until golden on the first side, about 3 minutes. Turn and cook until golden on the second side, about 2 minutes. Drain on paper towels if needed.
To serve, cut each toast diagonally into halves or quarters. Serve alongside the Crab Bisque.
Yield: 8 servings
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By goodstuff4u_108...
American Fork, UT
on December 19, 2009
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I made this a few years ago for the first time. Lost the recipe when my computer crashed, came back to get it and decided to leave a favorable review.
This is definately not your weekday, easy super soup. However, for a special occasion like Christmas dinner or a dinner party it will not disappoint. I don't think I followed the recipe exactly (I rarely do, but didn't make any huge changes. I think I added a bit of tomato paste to up the color and flavor a bit.
Basically, anytime you use shells (or bones to make soup you will WOW yourself with the flavor. Thanks for a great recipe Emeril, this will be 3rd year running and we all can't wait!
By sjbracco_11410645
Palm Desert, CA
on December 26, 2008
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Made this for Christmas Eve.......... Everyone loved it, those that do not like the crab meat loved the bisque. I did leave out the green peppers (picky eaters add a little extra cayenne. The flavor was just wonderful. The family voted this to be our new Christmas Eve Dinner every year.....
By pbg333_8592475
Anchorage, AK
on October 05, 2007
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I live in Alaska and we do not have gumbo crabs here. I doubled the recipe and used 2 dungeness crabs (they are very large for the stewing portion of this recipe. I split the bodies in half and separated the claws. I reserved about 4 tablespoons of the tomalley and stirred into the broth for added flavor. I also couldn't see using 1-1/2 cups of oil (to double recipe , so I only used 1 cup oil to 1 cup of flour. After the 1 hour and 45 minute time was up, I removed the crab and bay leaves. I added about 4 tablespoons of Uncle Ben's rice and continued cooking the broth until the rice was well cooked. I cracked the dungeness crabs, removed the meat and returned to the broth. Once cooled down, I pureed the broth and stirred 1 cup whipping cream and 2 pounds of lump crabmeat into the soup. Seasoned to taste and re heated. It made quite a large batch and it was to die for. It turned out to be a really tasty creole style crab bisque. Couldn't find the liquid Zatarains seasoning so I used P. Prudommes seafood spice. I did not make the toast and served with a fresh picked green salad and hot bread. This will now be my standard crab bisque soup for chilly Alaska days. Superb!
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