I’ve been looking forward to a shrimp bisque for a while, and when I was in the market last week I saw a 2lb bag of deveined but uncooked and unpeeled shrimp for $14.99, which seemed like a pretty good deal to me, especially since I wanted the shells for their stock value.

Shrimp Bisque (Gluten and Tomato Free)

• 2 lbs frozen shrimp, uncooked and un-shelled
• 2 qts water
• 1 tbs Old Bay seasoning
• 3 tbs olive oil
• 1 larger white onion
• 2 cups chopped carrots
• 1 chopped jalapeno pepper
• 2 stalks chopped celery
• 2 tbs garlic
• 1/2 cup uncooked Nashiki (sticky) rice
• 2 tbs Better Than Bullion Chicken (low sodium) base
• 1 qt half and half
• 1/2 tsp white pepper
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tbs salt

Today’s Soundtrack: Simon and Garfunkel, a mix of early and later albums.

I put the shrimp in my stockpot with 2 qts water and brought it to a boil, at which point it foamed up dramatically and I took it off the heat. I strained the stock off into another stockpot, and put the shrimp in a bowl with cold water. Then I set up a little workstation with the stockpot on a low burner, just simmering , the bowl of shrimp in the middle and an empty bowl on the side. Shell shrimp, put shells in stock, shrimp in bowl. Repeat. For the next half hour, at the end of which I had a qt of clean shrimp, just cooked through, and a pot of stock that had been going for a half hour. I added two cups of the water the shrimp had been resting in, which had gotten pretty pink by this point.

While the stock simmered away, I chopped onions, garlic, carrots, jalapeno (remembering last week’s caution about jalapenos and sensitive skin), and celery. After bringing a saucepan with the olive oil up to heat,  which is to say that the vegetables should sizzle when they go in, I added the onions and garlic and tossed them around in the oil for about five minutes before adding the rest of the vegetables. Once they were all in and mixed up I turned the heat down a bit and let them cook for fifteen minutes, stirring periodically to keep them from burning.

Finally, I strained the stock back into my first (though now cleaned) stockpot, and added the vegetables and brought to a solid simmer. To the soup I added a half cup of uncooked Nashki (sticky) rice, which I’m going to use as a thickener rather than flour. I set the timer for 20 minutes and took a break,then did some cleanup.

A quick check confirmed that the rice was done, so I took out my immersible blender and ran it in the soup until it was smooth. The rice won’t quite break up completely and if I was feeling compulsive, I’d put it through my screen, but it’s fine as is. In fact, it this was the final soup, it would be excellent, with or without the shrimp added.

Speaking of the shrimp, they’re a little large to put in whole. though I don’t usually think of 50-60 shrimp (they’re measured by the number in a pound) as large. I give them a very coarse chop and add them to the stock. Then I slowly pour the Half and Half in while stirring so as not to shock it too much.

All that’s really left is adjusting the seasoning, which I do by adding the white and red (cayenne) pepper and a tbs of salt to bring out the flavor. I let it sit on very low heat for about twenty minutes, then turn it off to cool.

Last week’s soup as vegetarian as well as gluten free, and since this has both shrimp and chicken stock, it’s obviously not vegetarian. It is, gluten free though, thanks to using rice instead of a roux for thickening, and because I didn’t use tomato paste for richness, which is where the carrots come in as a substitute, it should be pretty low in acid for those with sensitive stomachs. Granted, the jalapeno and tsp of cayenne might be counter-indicated for some, but they can easily be omitted without any harm.