Mussel Bisque

Bisque–Soup just for Seafood, Now that’s a Soup!

Although Bisque is traditionally a Seafood Soup, specifically shellfish, it can be made with chicken or other meats. However, to me that’s not what comprises a real bisque, so we’ll call it our soup just for seafood.

We start out with mussels steamed in wine, add a handful of aromatic vegetables simmered in butter, the winey mussel juices, and indeed a beautiful soup is created. Tomorrow those flavors will have joined hands and married one another, and I’ll most like add some steamed shrimp, and scallops, and if I had oysters on hand…well, you get the picture.

 A little crusty bread, and we have a nice bowl of mussel loveliness

Ingredients;

1 bottle of dry white wine (750 ml)

3 pounds of fresh mussels, cleaned

6 Tbsp unsalted butter (3/4 stick)

1 1/2 cups chopped yellow onions

2 carrots, chopped

4 tsp minced fresh garlic

1/2 tsp saffron threads

4 whole plum tomatoes (canned), chopped

1 1/2 cups half-and-half

1 cup heavy cream

2 Tbsp fresh parsley and/or dill minced (I used both)

salt and black pepper

Proceed to;

Bring 1 1/2 cups of water and 1 cup of the wine to a boil in a large shallow pot. Add the mussels, cover, and cook over medium heat until the mussels open–about 5 minutes. Discard any that did not open. After the mussels are cool enough to handle, separate them from the shells and set aside. Reserve the cooking liquid–I call it the mussel liquor. If necessary, strain it

In a large heavy-bottomed pot, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the onions, leek, carrots, garlic, saffron, two tsp salt, & 1 tsp pepper. Saute, stirring occasionally for about 5 minutes. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and cook for 20 minutes. Next, add the tomatoes and cook for another minute or so. Add two cups of that reserved mussel liquor, and the rest of the white wine. Bring to a boil, lower the heat, and simmer uncovered for 5 minutes. Add the half-and-half and heavy cream, and the mussels. Just let this heat through. Do not boil. Stir in the parsley and dill, season to taste with salt and pepper. Get those bowls and plates out and serve!



Some of our ingredies

Chopped the mushrooms, fresh parsley, and dill

Scrub the mussels with a kitchen brush, and remove the beards

 Add our white wine and water to the pot, bring to a boil

In go the mussels

Saute the onions, carrots, leeks, and garlic

Saffron threads

Give it all a good stir together---creating a very nice aroma

The mussels have steamed open

Off with their shells! That's love on a plate

Adding in the chopped tomatoes

Stir them in

Half and half

Adding the cream...almost there!

In go those lovely mussels

The fresh parsley and dill

Let's give it a nice stir and that's it, we're done

Serve it this way, with that crusty bread shown at the outset, or...

...over a bed of rice with steamed mushrooms

Mussel Bisque