Yield: 6-8 Servings

Ingredients:

• Bisque:
• 2 cups diced onion
• 1 cup chopped carrots
• ½ cup diced celery
• ½ diced fennel bulb
• 2 sliced shallots
• 8 sliced cloves garlic
• 8 sprigs parsley
• 2 sprigs thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 large sprigs tarragon
• 2 Tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 teaspoon saffron
• 1/2 cup brandy
• 1 cup white wine
• 1 Tablespoon Pernod
• 6-8 lobster bodies, roasted and smashed
• 12-14 cups lobster stock
  
  To Assemble and Serve:
• ½ cup heavy cream
• Tabasco sauce, to taste
• 8 Tablespoons butter
  

Method:

For the Bisque:
Lightly sauté onions, carrots, celery, fennel bulbs, shallots, garlic, parley, thyme, bay leaf and tarragon in a large stockpot and cook over low heat until vegetables are lightly browned. Add the tomato paste and saffron to the vegetables and herbs and continue to sauté at low heat for an additional 2 to 3 minutes. Add the brandy, white wine and Pernod to the stockpot and simmer over low heat, stirring the mixture to loosen the browned bits on the bottom of the pot. Add roasted lobster bodies, and cover with lobster stock. Simmer the mixture for 1 to 2 hours. Strain with a fine mesh strainer.

Place the strained mixture in a two gallon stock pot and boil until the liquid thickens, about 4 hours. Strain with a fine mesh strainer half-way through the 4 hours. The reduced liquid should yield one quart.

To Assemble and Serve:
Heat the cream over medium heat until it boils and thickens and add to the bisque. Check the seasoning and add Tabasco to taste. Whip the butter into the bisque and serve.

Wine Pairing:
Vilmart and Cie Grand Cellier d’Or, Grand Cru, 1998

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