Corn & Crab Bisque

In January 2020, my hubby turned 40. We headed over to New Orleans, Louisiana to celebrate. We'd never been there so everything was an experience for us. One of the things we did was take a cooking class at the New Orleans School of Cooking. There's lots of amazing food, a great teacher, and you get to keep all the recipes when you leave so you can make them at home. This recipe was one of our favorites while there.

This will probably be a bit longer post, since I'll try to impart some of the cooking knowledge I learned during the class. One thing was: roux! I had never heard of roux before, but apparently it's used for many things, usually to thicken a sauce. Roux is, very simply, fat and flour. A lighter roux has a greater capacity to thicken as you cook with it; a darker roux has a greater capacity to flavor.

 

• 1 qt stock
• 2 Tbsp Old Bay
• 1 tsp crab boil
• 24 oz whole corn with liquid or 1 lb frozen corn
• 1/4 lb butter (1 stick)
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1 qt heavy cream
• 1/2 lb crab meat (claw)
• 1 cup chopped green onion
• 1 Tbsp parsley chopped (for garnish)

In a large pot, place stock, spice and half the corn. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer for about 10-12 minutes. 

In a skillet make a blonde roux by heating butter and adding flour. Stir until smooth and fluffy. Be sure to allow butter to get hot enough before adding flour; this will prevent clumping. Add roux to your simmering pot. Add cream. Stir in remaining corn and crab meat and simmer another 5 minutes, stirring often so the cream does not stick. Do not boil because the cream will separate. 

Stir in half of the green onions. Use remaining onions and parsley for garnish. 

NOTES: I tried to put in all the notes we were told while making this recipe as well as re-order the ingredients list so it was a bit easier to follow in the recipe. For the roux: we were taught that you know a roux is ready when it is "fluffy puffy." 

The cooking school sold spices to go with their recipe, and the original calls for Joe's Stuff seasoning mix. We don't have that seasoning and our instructor told us we could use Old Bay, Paprika.....really anything we wanted. We had Old Bay and it's turned out well so we stick with that. Also, the crab boil liquid (I had never heard of it, had to Google it) can be spicy. A little bit goes a long way. 

Serves 6-8

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes

Recipe from New Orleans School of Cooking