Lobster Bisque with Langostino Lobster Tails

The Lobster Bisque Challenge!

Lobster Bisque isn’t over rated, but it is often over cooked. You’ll find that most recipes use a ton of cream to define their soup recipe as a “bisque”, then hours of waiting time to reduce. Is all of this really necessary? I say Nay-nay! I’ll prove it to you in this recipe I’ve developed that not only cuts your cooking time in half but knocks out 2/3 of the fat content because you don’t really need that much cream. Even Bobby Flay’s Lobster Bisque recipe has 6 cups of Heavy Cream in it. Crazy! I use only 2 and I promise you it’s just as good and if not, even better.

In this Lobster Bisque Recipe I’m going to be using Langostino Lobster. I honestly prefer Squat Lobster if you have it available. The benefits of each are the same but there are some differences. First, the price is incredibly reasonable. I bought 3 pounds of solid meat, not shell, for just 20 bucks! The difference in my opinion is a sweeter, softer lobster tail meat when you are using Squat Lobster to make Lobster Bisque. Don’t ask me why, it’s just that way. Regardless of the reasons, they’re both very affordable and they both make a very impressive Lobster Bisque come to life.

Lobster Bisque Ingredients:

1 cup water
2 tsp Tomato Bouillon
6 Roma Tomatoes
2 Celery Stalks
1 Carrot
3 Garlic Cloves
1 Tbsp Chopped Ginger
3 Parsley Sprigs
3 Large Basil Leaves
3/4 cup Red Wine (sweet)

1 Onion
2 Tbsp Butter
1/3 cup Corn Starch
2 cups Heavy Whipping Cream
1Tbsp Italian Seasoning
1 tsp Ground Black Pepper
2 lbs Langostino Lobster tails

Set the water and bouillon on medium heat on the stove. Combine all the vegetables except for the onion in a food processor or blender and puree. Then add mixture to the Tomato Stalk. Chop onion and sauté until Caramelized, and then add the Corn Starch and Cream. When the Cream thickens like a country gravy, add the seasoning and add all the onions and cream to the soup. Chop half of the Langostino Lobster tails into small pieces and add to the Bisque. Stir frequently and wait to reduce; 20 to 25 minutes. It will burn the bottom if you’re not stirring! Once it has reduced to your desired consistency, add remaining Lobster tails and serve. If you are using large lobsters for this Lobster Bisque Recipe, all directions still apply, only adding the meat in increments isn’t necessary.

Salt and Pepper Calamari – P.F. Chang’s Recipe

Calamari Steaks

For most people, making Tender Calamari is not an easy chore. Even restaurants struggle with it. When you get it in rings, it’s slices of the body on those six inch squid, so it tends to be very chewy. When you get all eight of the legs and tentacles, you are just getting the lower half of the same squid. Understand? Top and Bottom. No matter what you do, Cooking Calamari like this isn’t ever going to make it any less chewy, and tenderizing them with a mallet is just ridiculous. So you need another solution, and here it is; Calamari Steaks!

This isn’t just a good alternative; it’s the best way to turn out Tender Calamari. It’s not chewy this way at all. It’s soft yet Crispy and very flavorful. In fact I can eat an entire plate of it cooked this way, and you will to if you haven’t already. Oh, and if you can’t find it at your local grocery or seafood market, tell them to order it for you. How do you think I got these? Smith’s Food and Drug just pitches me a phone call when ever anything I ask them to order arrives. No extra cost to me, and they get exactly what I want, when I want it. It’s sweet!

Anyway, the Salt and Pepper Calamari recipe can be found at various restaurants around the globe. I think the most popular menus include P.F. Chang’s Salt and Pepper Calamari (my personal favorite), and Typhoon’s, which I don’t like at all. So today I’m going to model P.F. Chang’s. If you’ve ever had their recipe, you know it’s to die for. So let’s dive right in to this Tender Calamari recipe and get started.

Salt and Pepper Tender Calamari video tutorial by PoorMansGourmet.

Tender Salt and Pepper Calamari Ingredients:

2-4 Calamari Steaks Thawed and sliced
1-2 Green Onions thinly sliced
2 Pinches of Margarita Salt and Pepper

Marinade:

1 egg white
2 tbsp canola oil (any oil is fine)
1 pinch of Garlic Powder
1 pinch of Ginger Powder (Curry powder isn’t bad either)
½ tsp Soy Sauce
½ cup of Corn Starch

Calamari Dipping Sauce:

1 pt Hoisin Sauce
½ pt Black Bean Garlic Sauce (or Bean Curd)
1 pt Orange Chili Sauce
You can also add a little bit of sugar soy and vinegar if you’d like.

After ½ hour of marinating the Tender Calamari, dredge the slices through Potato starch, or cornstarch until it is evenly coated, then fry at 375 degrees for 1 ½ minutes. Be sure to separate each piece with a spider or a slotted spoon while frying. Then toss the Tender Calamari in a bowl with Slices of Green Onion and season with Salt and Pepper to your taste.

Cooking King Crab Legs

The Best King Crab Legs

The thing about King Crab Legs, or any crab legs for that matter, is that they are already cooked when you buy them. I know, Shocker, right? So all we need to do is reheat them and you just need to choose the method you’d like to prepare them. Steaming is an easy way if you have a big enough pot that can be covered with a lid. A few inches of boiling water in the bottom will get them done in about 4 minutes. Just make sure that you get the water to a rolling boil before you actually add the King Crab Legs. Most people don’t realize that you can actually cheat and take it a step further; you can usually have them steamed at the place of purchase when you are buying them. Of course this means you need to be picking them up at meal time but if you’re waiting on the oven for bake potatoes, a quick trip to the grocery is perfect for that waiting time; just a suggestion.

Be Careful Grilling King Crab Legs

Grilling King Crab Legs leaves people oohing and awing every time you flip open the lid, but you need to be very careful not to dry them out. Even though you tend to gain the Smokey flavor of the grill, you lose the natural flavors of the crab meat. Remember this is just a reheat anyway so you don’t want them on the grill for too long. 10 minutes on low with the lid down, tops!

The oven will have a similar effect that grilling does if you don’t cover up the Crab Legs. It will dry them out, and you will lose flavor. The way I show you how to cook them in this tutorial is on a broiler pan covered with tin foil. The reason I do it this way is because you get the best of both worlds. By adding a half cup of water to the pan you get the steaming effect with convection as the heat rises from underneath the King Crab Legs, then the heat reflects off the foil, cooking the top. It’s win-win.

You can do a reheat in the microwave, but I don’t recommend it. In fact I don’t recommend that any meat go in the microwave for a reheat, EVER! I’ll get into that at later time.

King Crab Legs and Santolla Reds

Now, the crab legs that I’m introducing are not your traditional King Crab Legs. These are called Santolla Reds. The reason I’m using these instead of the other is they are practically the same thing. First off, they are almost exactly the same size; same look and everything that way. The only difference that I’ve noticed is they are a little bit saltier, so I just use unsalted butter. Second, it’s about the cost. I wouldn’t be living up to my reputation as the Poor Man’s Gourmet Kitchen showing you recipes at “A Low Budget Wonder”, if I was showing off recipes that aren’t affordable. Santolla Reds, if you can find them, are usually at least half the price of regular King Crab Legs. I can pick them up at Smith’s right now, for $6.99 a pound, and that’s year ‘round! Try getting more than a pound and a half of king crab legs at any restaurant these days for under $26 bucks! It’s worth doing it at home, and worth knowing a few tricks to cooking King Crab Legs and other gourmet meals at a low budget wonder.