Lobster Bisque and Garden Pictures

Good morning, winged bears. Have you been nice to yourself today? The much anticipated lobster bisque recipe has arrived. But here’s a warning about the level of Paleo-ishness of this recipe: it contains a cup of half and half and three tablespoons of white rice. I don’t usually have half and half in the house, but it was leftover from my mom’s stay and I wanted to use it up. The white rice is an awesome thickener, and I’m not sweating three tablespoons for a six+ serving batch of ballin’, Julia-Child inspired lobster bisque.

Guess what I woke up to this morning? A thriving garden. It’s my first garden, in case you can’t tell…. and watching everything grow and NOT get eaten by squirrels has been pretty thrilling. And I woke up to a big flower in the garden! Zucchini! Or was this the straight neck? Whoooops…

Sexy Squash

You can’t see it in this picture, but there’s another bud right next to it It gives me the fuzzies. And doesn’t this picture look half-decent? K got a new phone. Right now all the pictures you’re getting are taken with my phone instead of an actual camera-camera. Maybe later this summer I’ll be able to deliver pictures from a device that was made specifically to do so. That would be sweet sauce. But not that important.

My phone takes crappier photos… but ANIMALS!

Lobster Bisque. That thing in the title. Yes.

Assume everything is wild/organic/blah blah blah

Serves: ~6

INGREDIENTS:

2+ lbs lobster
5 tbsp butter
1 c. heavy cream
1 c. 1/2 and 1/2*
1-14oz can diced tomatoes (about 1 1/2 c.)
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 c. mirepoix (equal parts onions, celery, and carrot, diced)
3 tbsp white rice**
1 tbsp dried terragon (or 2 tbsp fresh, minced)
1 bay leaf
Salt, pepper, garlic, and cayenne to taste

*Were I to make this recipe again, I would add another 1-2 tbsp butter and use raw milk instead of 1/2 and 1/2.
**You could do without it, but it went a long way toward thickening the soup.

PALEO NOTE: Subbing ghee for butter and coconut milk for the cream/milk combo would probably be delicious. Coconut seems like it would really compliment the spiciness of the dish (assuming you’re cayenne-happy like we are in this house). I didn’t make it that way, though, so I can’t promise anything.

‘Splosion

DIRECTIONS FOR COOKING LOBSTER & STOCK (and I apologize in advance for the complete lack of precision you’re about to deal with):

Split your lobster tails down the middle as seen here.
Bring 2-3ish quarts of water to a gentle boil.
Season that water with salt, pepper, granulated garlic, and cayenne. This will be your soup-base.
Cook lobster tails for about 10 minutes, or until the shells turn bright red. Trust me, the color-change is noticeable.
Extract lobster from water (SAVE THIS WATER)
Remove meat when cooled and set aside.
Eat some of the meat with melted butter!
Wait, don’t do that.
Or do.
Place empty shells back into water and heat water to a simmer or even just below that.
Gently cook shells with the bay leaf and tarragon for at least 30 minutes. We had ours on the stove for more than 2 days and even though I don’t see doing that recommended anywhere on the internet (and I might be committing some giant culinary faux pas), it turned out really, really well.
Reduce stock until you have about 6-7 cups remaining.

DIRECTIONS FOR LOBSTER BISQUE:

Sautee mirepoix in butter for a few minutes, until onions are translucent.
Add diced tomatoes, tomato paste, and 3 cups lobster stock. Bring to a boil.
Add white rice to stock and vegetable mix. Boil for 20-25 minutes, or until rice is cooked.
Remove bay leaf, if you haven’t already.
Combine remaining stock and vegetable mix
Add remaining butter and about 1 c. lobster meat (up to half of what you have).
Puree!
Chop the rest of your lobster meat and add it to the soup.
Add heavy cream.
Taste, adjust seasonings, and add as much milk as (and if) necessary.
Garnish with fresh chopped parsley or scallions.
Be happy in your tummy.

Viola

I’m also trying to do this new thing where I write posts ahead of time, and then upload it the morning of. While I’m getting this new little website up-and-running, I’m aiming to post at least every other day… once I get this whole thing figured out maybe I’ll give you a schedule. With *lists*. Great lists.

I’m going to go lie down in my backyard while my dogs use that as an excuse to lie down on me.

Later this week you’re getting a post on how to have sexy sex while in pain. Because I wanted other people to have that to look forward to, too