Saturday, December 13, 2008

Saturday Soups-- # 7 Fall, 2008

Our church's Soup Bistro is over for another year.



The setting is our Fellowship Hall which is magically transformed into a friendly bistro.

As promised, this week's recipe comes from the event. I tried two soups (eating, not making). This week's recipe is most unusual, but I can vouch for the soup being wonderfully tasty.
So, here it is!

SHRIMP QUINOA BISQUE
Serves 12

Ingredients:

4 Tbsp. butter
2 Tbsp. canola oil
1-1/2 lb. thawed, peeled, and deveined medium shrimp (reserve the shells!!!)
1-1/2 cup chopped onion
½ cup celery, chopped
½ cup carrot, chopped
½ cup dry white wine
2 Tbsp. brandy
1 Tbsp. minced fresh ginger
1 4-inch piece of lemongrass, diced
2 cups cold water
1 qt. seafood stock
1 14-oz can. lite coconut milk
8 oz. water
1 cup
quinoa*
½ Tbsp. salt
1 cup cubed zucchini

1. Melt butter in large saucepan. Add 1 Tbsp. canola oil. Add shrimp shells to the pan and saute for a few minutes until shrimp shells become fragrant. Add onions, carrots, and celery to saucepan and stir to coat. Sauté until vegetables start to soften, about 3 minutes.

2. Add ½ cup dry white wine and 2 Tbsp. brandy and cook until liquid is nearly evaporated.

3. Add 2 cups cold water, cover pan, and simmer ½ hour. You should have about 1-1/2 cups very fragrant broth.

4. Strain broth carefully to remove shells and other solids. Reserve this broth.

5. In a large saucepan, sauté ½ cup chopped onion in 1 Tbsp. canola oil. Add lemon grass and ginger and sauté briefly. Add shrimp broth to pot and simmer for 5 minutes.

6. Add seafood stock, coconut milk and water to pot. Bring to a gentle boil.

7. Add quinoa and reduce to simmer. Cook 3 minutes. Add zucchini cubes and cook for about 1 minute. Add shrimp to pot. Add salt to taste.
To serve the soup, cook shrimp until finished. You may garnish with chopped scallion, toasted coconut, or cilantro.

*You will need to wash your quinoa before using by gently rubbing the grains between your fingers while running it under cold water.
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This is one tasty soup. But since I haven't made it, I can't predict for its ease of preparation.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

That sounds fantastic. I do wish my family was a soup family. Sigh.

Ginnie said...

I stay away from alcohol, even in recipes, so I won't be trying this...but I loved the picture of the yearly "Bistro", it looks very inviting.

KGMom said...

Liza--I don't think I would try this soup on a non-soup eating family. Best to get them to try something a bit more "normal"!
Ginnie--I know that there are certain ingredients in some of these recipes that some folks can't or shouldn't include. I think you could easily make this one without the alcohol. Some people have prefered to omit the butter (or at least the quantity) from some of the other recipes I have posted.

Ruth said...

I love the taste of quinoa and serve it regularly as a side dish. I have never considered it an option for soup. The recipe looks interesting and delicious. A little extra stock instead of the wine would be fine. I would think the coconut milk would be the dominant flavour in the broth anyway.

Mary said...

Your church setting looks so festive and pretty, Donna. The recipe sounds delicious, although a bit much for a more casual cook like me.