Oyster Bisque

This was very good and not difficult to make. I cooked and pureed the vegetables a couple of days in advance. Then I simply reheated it and added cream and oysters. I couldn't find seafood stock, so I substituted vegetable stock. It was delicious!

I really liked this soup ... until I added the oysters! The base is good. I had to cook it longer than the recommended time and the parsnips were still hard. I may try it again with shrimp or lobster.

Made this soup for a Valentine's dinner, and was thoroughly impressed! Very easy and quick to make, especially since I used a stick (immersion) blender to puree the soup in the pot rather than pouring it into a blender. Just like the description says, it came out silky-smooth with a wonderfully rich flavor. I did use the Kitchen Basics Seafood Stock, which I happened upon at a specialty shop -- not sure how easy it is to find normally though. I also used a container of freshly shucked oysters from a seafood store (rather than shucking them myself or purchasing a lower-quality container from the grocery). The oysters were a bit pricey, so I would probably consider this a "special occasion" recipe, but if you are an oyster lover you won't be disappointed!