Shrimp and Red Pepper Bisque (DF)

A cool November morning in 2018 I woke up with food on the brain and a particular craving in-mind. Seafood bisque.

Around this time, I was cooking without dairy to accommodate dietary sensitivities for friends so the usual heavy cream bomb that is bisque was out of question.

But by this point, I had been pouring over great vegan and dairy-free recipes from bloggers like Minimalist Baker & Oh She Glows to learn from the pros. Minimalist Baker’s excellent Romesco Soup recipe was the proof-of-concept for me that you could make a rich, creamy soup with without dairy (this is where the red pepper stems from in my bisque).

My first take used roasted cashews, but the texture wasn’t as smooth as I was hoping for. So take two was built around coconut milk.

I wouldn’t say anything here is earth-shattering, but I hadn’t found a recipe that pulled it all together.

I keep tweaking it over the 20-ish times I’ve made it since, so the page in the red notebook looks like the walls in that movie The Number 23 now (side-by-side for reference):

Ingredients

• 1 lb of shrimp deveined, shell-on (we’ll need the shells!)
  • Can be fresh or frozen, can also increase shrimp up to 2 lbs
• 1 large red bell peppers
• 1 shallots
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1 medium yellow onions
• 1 medium carrots
• 1 stalks celery
• 1 cans coconut milk
• .75 cup sherry wine
• 3 cups chicken stock
• 1 tbsp tomato paste

Seasonings & Staples

• 1 tbsp dairy-free butter
• 2 tbsp olive oil (+ glug for red peppers)
• Pinch red pepper flakes
• 1/2 tbsp Paprika
• 2 Bay leaves
• Salt & pepper to taste
• Old Bay to taste

Process

1. Roast Red Peppers
   • Pre-heat oven to 450F
   • Lightly oil red peppers and cook in the oven for 15 mins
   • Turn peppers 90 degrees so remainder can cook for another 15 mins until blackened/blistered
   • Remove from oven, tent with foil and set aside
     • Note: You can also put them into a Tupperware with a closed lid so they will steam and make for easier peeling
2. Cook and peel shrimp
   • You can cook the shrimp one of two ways, depending on your equipment:
     • Steam (preferred if you have a steamer basket)
       • Food Network guide to steaming shrimp
     • Sauté (recipe below is good technique, but only use salt for seasoning)
       • A Couple Cooks recipe for sautéed shrimp
   • Set aside to cool
3. Prep your veg
   • Fine dice onion, celery and carrot and set aside (can be in one bowl)
   • Mince garlic and shallot and set aside (can be in one bowl)
4. Make Shrimp Stock
   • Peel shrimp, separating shells and shrimp into two bowls
     • Video here from First Class Amateur on how to peel shrimp
   • Sprinkle shrimp with old bay, then put into the fridge to stay cool
   • Melt 1 tbsp butter in saucepan over medium heat
   • Add shells to saucepan, sauté on medium for ~5 mins til red and vibrant
   • Add:
     • 3 cups chicken stock
     • 2 bay leaves
     • 3 smashed cloves garlic
   • Bring to boil and simmer for 25 minutes
     • Note: I’ve tried longer simmers in hopes of deeper flavor, but found it actually subdued shrimp flavor
   • Strain into clean bowl and set aside
5. Start building the Bisque
   • Add 2 tbsp olive oil to soup pot (at least 6-8 quart capacity) over medium heat
   • Sauté onion, celery, carrot, and pinch of salt til soft and fragrant (~5 mins)
     • Note: just trying to “sweat” these veg, not caramelize
   • Add garlic and shallots, sauté until fragrant (~2-3 mins)
   • Add sherry wine, and cook 3-4 mins until alcohol is cooked off
     • Note: sherry is not high-proof alcohol like tequila, vodka or bourbon, you shouldn’t have any big flames from the pan, but always good to be careful when cooking w/booze
   • Add:
     • Strained shrimp stock
     • Can of coconut milk
     • 1/2 tbsp paprika
     • Pinch red pepper flakes
   • Mix to combine, and then set aside to cool
6. Peel Red Pepper
   • While Bisque base is cooling, peel the skins off of the red pepper, remove stem and core so you just have the flesh
7. Blend together
   • Note: blending hot liquids can be super dangerous as the steam released from the food can blow the top off the blender if not sufficiently cooled or safely done. Please watch this super quick tip from America’s Test Kitchen first!
   • Blend cooled (warm/lukewarm is fine) soup in batches with the bell pepper to get smooth
   • Return to soup pot over medium heat to bring it back up to temperature and ensure it is well-combined
8. Serve
   • Cut shrimp into 1/2 or 1/3 pieces so they can fit onto a soup spoon
   • Pour soup into bowls and top with shrimp and old bay to taste
   • Pair with bread (toasted sourdough slides are my favorite)

Have questions or feedback? I’d love to hear from you at arednotebookblog [at] gmail.com or on Twitter.

Standard disclaimer: I make no claims to authenticity of the food I cook, especially when it’s food I didn’t grow up with. My goal is always to share what I learned in my take and link to primary sources from experts. My main pursuit is knowledge over ego.