Green Pepper and Crab Bisque

My husband recently met me for lunch in downtown Houston. We decided to splurge and go to Ibiza. Normally, I only go here when my company is paying for it. They have this really tasty green pepper crab bisque. My husband loved it. So we decided I'd have myself a throw down. Ultimately, my husband said it was a tie. They both taste different enough to make comparing difficult. Here is the recipe I came up with.

Recipe:
4 c. fish stock (frozen is best)
2 bay leaves
2 tsp. old bay seasoning
1/3-1/2 lb. jumbo lump crab meat (the prepackaged kind at Whole Foods is good)
1 small lobster tail
1 c. heavy cream
1 tblsp. butter
1 tblsp. flour
1/2 onion
1 green bell pepper
1 poblano pepper
1 c. fresh spinach
1 celery stalk
salt and pepper to taste

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Wash the two peppers and place on a cooking sheet. Bake in the oven until soft, about 20-25 minutes.

2. Cut the lobster tail in half and remove the meat and set aside.

3. Place the lobster shell in a stock pot with the fish stock, bay leaf, celery stalk, and old bay seasoning. Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer for 10-15 minutes. The lobster shell gives a nice flavor to the stock.

4. Meanwhile, in another pot melt butter with the onions saute until soft.

5. Mix flour into the butter/onion mix. Cook the flour for a rouge.

6. Strain the stock in a seeve into another bowl, netting out the tail shell, the bay leaves, and the celery stalk from the stock, and slowly pour the stock into the butter/onion rouge, one cup at a time, mixing constantly.

7. Add the heavy cream to the mix.

8. Remove the peppers from the oven. Remove seeds and stems (haha, that sounds interesting)and place the peppers with the spinach in a food processor. Grind it all up and add it to the soup.

9. Put the lobster meat into the food processor to shred it up.

10. Add the lobster meat to the soup. Cook for 10 minutes.

11. Add the crabmeat to the soup. Cook for an additional 5-10 minutes.

Note: If you have a basic understand of what "bisque" is, you can go crazy with making your own version. Crab Bisque is basically a 1 part cream to 4 parts fish stock with about 1 tbslp butter for every 2 cups of stock. Variations of this recipe might include adding butternut squash instead of peppers or cauliflower. Also try adding some cream sherry to the bisque. It gives it a little kick and sweetness. You could add corn. Mix it up. Good luck!