Lobster and Crawfish Bisque

Ingredients:
2 lobster tails, 5 oz each
1 lb steamed crawfish
3 T olive oil
2 T unsalted butter
2 shallots, minced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 carrot, peeled and chopped
1 celery rib, diced small
1/2 cup unbleached a.p. flour
4 bottles clam juice, 8 oz each
1 can diced tomatoes, 14.5 oz (drained)
1 sprig fresh tarragon
1 cup heavy cream
1 and 1/2 cups white wine
1 T fresh lemon juice
1/4 tea cayenne pepper
4 T sherry (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste

Cut lobster tails in half and remove the meat.  Cut meat into bite-sized pieces and place in refrigerator.

Place the lobster shells in a large bowl.

Remove the tail meat from the crawfish (as well as any claw meat you can extract). Store the crawfish meat in the fridge as well.

Place the crawfish heads, claws, and shells into the same bowl with the lobster shells.

Heat the oil in a large cast-iron skillet over high heat until it starts to smoke.  Place the shells/heads/claws into the skillet and cook for 2-3 minutes (stirring every minute or so) until the lobster shells start to turn orange

Place the shells into a food processor.

Make sure your food processor is powerful enough to handle crushing shells before attempting.

Process the shells in the food processor for 20-30 seconds until it is ground up nicely and there are no more big pieces of shell.

In a Dutch oven, heat the butter over medium heat.  Add the celery, carrots, shallots, garlic, and ground shells.  Cover and cook for 5 minutes, stirring often.

Add the flour and cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly.

Add the wine to the Dutch oven; using a wooden spoon, deglaze the pot by scraping all the brown bits that are stuck to the bottom.  Add the clam juice and tomatoes.  Bring to a boil, then cover pot and reduce heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes.  Stir frequently.

Strain the soup into a large bowl using a fine mesh strainer (very important not to get any bits of shell into the bowl).

Press the solids through the strainer with a large spoon or ladle and try to extract as much liquid as possible.

Wash out and dry the Dutch oven.  Place the strained bisque back into the pot and add the heavy cream, cayenne, tarragon, and lemon juice.

Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat.  Add the lobster meat and cook for 3-4 minutes until lobster is tender. (If you are using raw crawfish this would be the time to add it as well).

Add crawfish tail meat and cook for another minute, until crawfish is heated through.  Remove the sprig of tarragon, add salt and pepper to taste, and ladle into bowls.  If desired add 1 T of sherry to each bowl.

Red Lentil Soup

1 cup red lentils
1 onion, diced
1/2 carrot, diced
2 T cumin
1 T coriander seed
2 tea kosher salt
1 tea coarse-ground black pepper
2 cubes beef bouillon
1 cube chicken bouillon
1 can (15 oz) crushed or diced tomatoes
1 T olive oil
4 cups water
Fresh-squeezed lemon juice (optional)

Heat olive oil in a Dutch oven or large pot over medium-high heat.  Saute carrot and onion for 8-10 minutes until onion is just starting to turn translucent.

Add cumin and coriander and let the spices bloom for 1-2 minutes.  You can start to smell them getting fragrant when they're ready.

Add tomatoes and cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.

Add lentils and all 3 cubes of bouillon to pot along with 4 cups of water.

Make sure you are using red lentils; brown lentils are good but have a different flavor  altogether.

Bring to a boil then turn heat down to medium, cover, and let simmer for 30 minutes.  Stir every 10 minutes to make sure lentils aren't sticking to the bottom of the pot.

After 30 minutes lentils should look like this; add water if too thick.

Take off heat and let cool.  Add the lentils to blender in 2 batches, puree till smooth.

Lentils should have smooth consistency after blending.

Place back in pot and add salt and pepper.  Adjust salt to taste.

Add 1 tea fresh lemon juice per bowl, if desired.  Can also be served over rice.