Scallop Bisque. Gorgeous New Song From First Aid Kit.

Q: How does a seahorse quickly get from one place to another?
A: He scallops.

This Scallop Bisque is simple and elegant, light and creamy and so much easier to make than it sounds. Especially if you take a short cut like I did.

Instead of making fish stock from scratch, I doctored up 32 ounces of clam juice with the aromatics in step 1, used only 1 cup of wine and simmered for 10 minutes before straining.

Searing the scallops before adding to the bisque is lovely visually as well as taste-wise.

Scallop Bisque

Ingredients:

5 lbs bones and trimmings from a non-oily fish, such as red snapper or flounder
2 carrots, peeled and halved
2 onions, halved
3 stalks celery, halved
2 cups dry white wine
2 bay leaves
1 stalk lemongrass, coarsely chopped
2 Tbs extra-virgin olive oil
1 lb large sea scallops
1 cup heavy cream
1 Tbs chopped chives or snipped green onions

Directions:

1. Make a stock by combining fish parts, carrots, onions, celery, wine, bay leaves, lemongrass, and salt to taste with 8 cups water in a large stockpot. Bring to a simmer, skim foam, and cook for 40 minutes. Strain. Return stock to pot and simmer until reduced by half. (Or do the shortcut.)

2. Heat olive oil in a large skillet until very hot but not smoking. Sear scallops about 1 minute on each side. Set aside.

3. Add cream to the stock. Simmer until slightly thickened, about 15 minutes. Add scallops. Adjust seasoning. Garnish with chives.

Serves 4

Recipe from Saveur Magazine

Swedish sisters Klara and Johanna Söderberg have a new album, “Stay Gold”, due out in June. If ‘My Silver Lining’ is any indication of how good the rest of the songs are, it will be one fabulous release. This song is flat out gorgeous.

“I’ve woken up in a hotel room, my worries as big as the moon
Having no idea who or what or where I am
Something good comes with the bad
A song’s never just sad
There’s hope, there’s a silver lining
Show me my silver lining”