Scallop Bisque Recipe | Irish Scallop Bisque
This creamy Irish scallop bisque is packed with luxurious and decadent flavors. Curl up with a warm bowl of this scallop bisque and some cheesy garlic bread for the ultimate seafood comfort food.
Ingredients
Measuring cup used, 1 Cup = 250 ml, 1 tsp = 5 ml
- 1/2 lb large sea scallops, about 8
- 3 tbsp butter
- 1 tbsp oil
- 1 medium white/yellow onion, chopped
- 3 stalks celery, diced into 2 inches,
- 1 Russet potato, diced into 1 inch cubes
- 2 carrots, diced into coins
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1 to 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 1/2 to 1 tbsp lemongrass paste, optional
- 1/2 tsp sugar
- 1 cup dry white wine
- 3 cups seafood stock
- 2 bay leaves
- 2-3 fresh thyme sprigs, or 1 tsp dried thyme
- 1 cup heavy cream
- Salt, to taste
- 1/4 tsp Freshly cracked black pepper, or to taste
Instructions
- Melt butter in a large dutch pot or heavy-bottomed soup pot over medium heat, add carrots, onions, potatoes, and celery and sauté over medium heat until the veggies are slightly tender, about 6-8 minutes. Season the veggies with some salt.
- Add the minced garlic, and sauté until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
- Add tomato paste, lemongrass paste, sugar and cook for another 2 minutes.
- Add the dry white wine, mix well. Cook for another 5 minutes.
- Add the seafood stock, along with bay leaves, and thyme, mix well, lower the heat, and simmer for 15 minutes.
- Turn off the heat. Discard the celery, bay leaves, and thyme stalks.
- Blend the contents in the dutch pot with an immersion blender or wait for it to cool, transfer into a blender and blend the bisque in batches until you have a smooth pureé.
- Return the bisque to low heat and add the heavy cream, stirring. Adjust salt and pepper. Simmer the bisque for another two minutes.
- To sear the scallops: Remove the small side muscle from the scallops. Rinse with water and pat dry thoroughly with paper towels. Heat oil in a skillet until hot, but not smoking. Season the scallops with salt and pepper, place the scallops on the heated skillet, sear on one side for 1 & 1/2 to 2 minutes. Season the other side with salt and pepper, flip and cook the other side for another 1 & 1/2 minutes.
- To serve scallop bisque: Ladle the bisque in a shallow bowl, place 1-2 scallops in the center. Drizzle some extra virgin olive oil or heavy cream if desired.
Notes
- You may omit the celery if you want to skip an additional step of fishing out the celery from the stock. Pureeing the celery ruins the texture, even if you strain the puree, you can still feel the fibers.
- You may substitute seafood stock for chicken stock, though the seafood flavor will not be as prominent.
- You may drizzle some hot sauce if you like a spicy bisque.
- This recipe makes approx 4.5 cups of bisque, which is perfect for 4 people if serving as an appetizer or good for 2 people if serving as a light main course along with some salad.
- Recipe adapted from here