Corn & Crab Bisque

Ingredients
1 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup minced onions
1 cup uncooked sweet corn from the cob
2 tablespoons minced shallots
1 tablespoons minced garlic
2 tablespoons minced celery
“Essence” (I’m sure you can buy this already mixed at the store as “Emeril’s Bayou Blast”, or you can mix it up yourself with the recipe below)
1 cup crab stock or fish stock
3 bay leaves
Salt and pepper
2 cup milk
2 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoons liquid crab boil
3 tablespoons blond roux (equal parts of melted butter & flour mixed to form a soft paste)
1/2 lump crab meat, picked over for shells and cartilage (I didn’t, and still don’t, know what “1/2 lump” meant. I also didn’t want to spend the money on fresh crab, so I bought the “best” canned lump crab and just added the drained crab meat from a 6 oz. can into the soup – it seemed to be the right amount.)
1/4 cup chopped green onions
1/2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
Chives for garnish

Directions
In a large sauce pot, heat the olive oil. When the oil is smoking hot, add the onions, corn, shallots, garlic, celery and saute for 1 minute. Season with Essence. Add the stock, and bay leaves. Season with salt and pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil. Whisk in the milk, cream, and crab boil.Bring back to a boil, reduce to a simmer. Simmer for 5-7 minutes. Whisk in the roux, 1 tablespoon at a time. Reduce the heat to low and continue to cook, whisking until the mixture thickens. Stir in the crab meat, green onions, and Worcestershire and simmer for 6-8 minutes. Reseason if needed. Ladle into a shallow bowl and garnish with chives.

ESSENCE Creole Seasoning (also referred to as Bayou Blast):
2 1/2 tablespoons paprika
2 tablespoons salt
2 tablespoons garlic powder
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon dried thyme
Combine all ingredients thoroughly.

Addendum 12/9/11

Since I had all of the ingredients for the corn & crab bisque, I decided to make it again last night. It seemed so incredibly easy the second time around, making the process of putting it all together much more enjoyable, and it turned out even better than the time before. (I did improvise a bit this time around – always more fun when you’re comfortable enough to improvise.) I also tried this recipe for biscuits below. Turned out to be a perfect compliment to the bisque. Not the path to healthy cooking and eating, but a wonderful winter’s night treat!

Peppery White Cheddar Biscuits

Ingredients
4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tbsps baking powder
1/2 cup shortening
1/4 cup butter
1 1/2 cups cheddar cheese (shredded sharp white cheddar cheese 6 ounces)
2 1/2 tsps black pepper (fresh coarse ground)
1 1/2 cups milk
1 egg (beaten)

Directions

Lightly grease a large baking sheet; set aside. Combine flour, baking powder, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Cut in shortening and butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add cheese and pepper; mix well. Make a well in center of the dry mixture. Add milk all at once; stir until just moistened.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Quickly knead dough 10 to 12 strokes until almost smooth. Divide dough in half. Roll or pat each half into a 6-inch square, about 1 inch thick. Using a sharp knife, cut dough into 2-inch squares. Combine egg and 1 teaspoon water; brush tops of biscuits. Place on prepared baking sheet.

Bake in a 400 degree F oven 13 to 15 minutes or until golden on top. Transfer to a wire rack. Serve warm.

Ingredients

• 6 (6-inch) corn tortillas, preferably a little old and dried out
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 2 chilies (My own picks would be a poblano & a jalapeño)
• 4 cups chicken broth or homemade chicken stock
• 1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained
• Coarse salt (kosher or sea salt)
• 1 1/2 cups shredded cooked chicken
• 1 ripe medium avocado
• 1/2 cup Cotija cheese
• Chopped fresh cilantro
• Sour cream
• 1 lime, cut into wedges

Method

Heat a small amount of the oil in saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook onion in oil 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Add garlic and chile; cook 2 to 3 minutes, stirring frequently, until vegetables are crisp-tender. Stir in broth, tomatoes and about a 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Heat to boiling. Reduce heat; cover and simmer 15 minutes. Add chicken; heat until hot.

Cut tortillas in half; cut halves into 1/4-inch strips. In 3-quart saucepan, heat oil over medium-high heat. Fry strips in oil, 1/3 at a time, until light brown and crisp. Remove from pan; drain on paper towels; sprinkle them with course salt.

When you’re ready to serve, put out crumbled cotija, chopped cilantro, lime wedges, sour cream, and tortilla chips out to top the soup right before eating.

You’ll see how ridiculously decadent these brownies are when looking at the recipe.

• 12 ounces bittersweet chocolate
• 1 1/2 cups of unsalted butter (3 sticks) cut into 1 inch pieces
• 6 eggs
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 3 2/3 cup superfine sugar
• Pinch of kosher salt
• 4 1/3 cups cake flour
• 1 11 ounce jar of think caramel sauce (I used Fran’s).
• 1 1/2 teaspoons flaked sea salt

Preheat oven to 350 and grease 9×13 pan with butter or cooking spray.

Line pan with parchment paper or foil, leaving a couple of inches on either side to use as handles when removing brownies from pan.

Melt chocolate & butter over a double boiler. Whisk together. Set aside.

Beat eggs, vanilla, sugar and salt together on high for 5 minutes or until the batter is thick and holds a ribbon when the beaters are lifted from the bowl.

Gently fold in sifted flour. (Be sure to avoid flour pockets,)

Quickly fold in the chocolate mixture. (Make sure you get all the way to the bottom, this is a lot of batter at this point and it’s pretty thick and heavy.)

Pour half the batter into the prepared pan.

Dollop half the caramel sauce onto the batter and swirl into the mix.

Sprinkle 1/2 teaspoon of the flaked salt over the top.

Spread the remaining batter into the pan. Dollop and swirl the rest of the caramel sauce. Sprinkle the rest of the salt over the top.

Bake until the top has a thin, flaky layer the sides begin to pull away from the pan and is slightly domed. The recipe I had said this would be about 50-60 minutes, but I think mine were in there for about 1 1/2 hours and it never quite got to that point. I finally got impatient and took them out. The recipe also says a knife inserted into the center will come away with just a crumb or two.

Cool and refrigerate to set before attempting to cut.

Serve at room temperature.

I plan to add a bit more salt to the top of the baked & cooled brownies because for me the salt flavor doesn’t come through quite enough with the amount provided in the recipe.

Enjoy!!

• 3 cans french cut green beans (drained)
• 2 tablespoons butter (Plus 1 tablespoon for topping)
• 1 tablespoon flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon white pepper
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 teaspoon dried mustard
• 1/2 cup grated swiss cheese
• 2 tablespoons instant onions
• 1 cup stuffing mix

1. Grease baking dish
2. Drain green beans and place in large mixing bowl
3. Heat butter/flour/salt/pepper till it bubbles — stir continuously
4. Add sour cream, onion, mustard (be careful, keep stirring)
5. Remove from heat
6. Stir sauce into mixing bowl with green beans
7. Stir in grated cheese
8. Pour mixture into baking dish

1. In sauce pan, melt 1 TBS butter, and stir in one cup of stuffing mix
2. Pour stuffing mix on top of green bean mixture
3. Bake at 350 for 20 min until bubbles.