Crawfish Bisque

Ingredients

• 6 Tbsp. (3 oz.) salted butter
• 6 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
• 1 medium-size yellow onion, diced
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 2 celery stalks, diced
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 medium tomato, diced
• 1 ½ tsp. kosher salt
• ½ tsp. black pepper
• ¼ tsp. cayenne pepper
• 3 cups seafood stock
• 4 fresh thyme sprigs
• 2 bay leaves
• ½ cup dry sherry cooking wine, divided
• 1   Ib. frozen peeled crawfish tails, thawed and divided
• ½ cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
• 1 tsp. hot sauce
• 2 Tbsp. chopped chives

Directions

1. Melt butter in a saucepan over medium. Whisk in flour until combined. Reduce heat to medium-low, and cook, stirring constantly, until roux is pale brown, about 10 minutes. Add onion, bell pepper, celery, garlic, tomato, salt, black pepper, and cayenne pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally, 5 minutes. Increase heat to medium-high. Whisk in stock, thyme, bay leaves, and 1/4 cup cooking wine, and cook 10 minutes. Add half of crawfish, and cook 2 minutes.
2. Transfer mixture to a blender and process until smooth, 30 seconds. Return to pan, and place over medium-low. Stir in cream, lemon juice, hot sauce, and remaining crawfish and 1/4 cup cooking wine. Bring to a low simmer, and cook until heated, about 5 minutes. Spoon into six bowls, and top with chives.

Notes:
We in South Louisiana cannot use unseasoned crawfish, so after we drain the crawfish we sprinkle them with seasoned salt. This adds a little more flavor to the dish.