Rosie Makes Lobster Moreovers.

Rosie is actually back in the kitchen! I hadn't realized what our "vacation" had taken out of me. So, I apologize to my readers for not offering many cooking posts this week. And ... I still have to post Days 3 and 4 of our trip - our visit to Biltmore Estate. Please stay tuned for more of our "vacation." Now, back to the kitchen. Lobster Moreovers coming up. In the form of a bisque. This is perfect for today (which happened to be last Tuesday, May 10), since a cold front blew through and it's in the 50's and we've been used to 80's - 90's. Mr. Hawthorne made lobsters for us on Sunday, May 9, and I finished them up with this Moreover Lobster Bisque.

Mr. Hawthorne was kind enough

to extract what lobster meat we didn't eat Sunday night as he sipped a glass of Two Buck Chuck from Trader Joe's in Raleigh. We bought a case of the Chard for him and a case of the Cab for me. Pretty good wine. Especially since I've paid a lot more for crap wines.

I'm kinda doing this on the fly, so bear with me. My ingredients: baby portabellas 1/2 sweet potato 1/2 potato celery carrot red onion white onion scallions colorful peppers lime

Chop up the baby bellas ...

... and the potatoes, white onion, carrot, and celery.

Melt a little butter in the pan, add in some olive oil, then add in the shrooms and saute. Rosie Hint #259: Never salt mushrooms until after you saute them. If you salt beforehand, your shrooms will exude moisture and steam not saute.

I cooked the mushrooms for a minute or so, then added in the chopped onion, taters, carrot, and celery.

Saute for about 2 minutes.

Next I made a roux. Sprinkle in a bit of flour (1/4 cup maybe, gradually) and cook, stirring.

Cook the flour for about 2 minutes.

I had fish stock in the freezer but you could use chicken stock as a substitute.

Gradually add in the stock, stirring, ...

... and thickening.

If you need to thicken it up

a bit more, shake in some more flour. I'm using all purpose flour in a shaker canister. A flour shaker is a nice kitchen gadget to have. My flour doesn't clump and I don't have to use a special Shake 'n Blend Instant flour for gravies. Get a flour shaker.

When you have a consistency a tad thicker than you'd like, finish off with some heavy cream ... ... and some sherry. You just want a hint of the sherry flavor. You don't want to overpower.

Taste and adjust seasonings. I only added a bit of pepper.

Here are the toppings for my lobster bisque: I minced a little bit of the green, yellow, orange, and red peppers, the red onion, some parsley, and some cilantro and cilantro flowers.

I zested a little bit of the lime and sliced my scallions.

And I found some Brie and goat cheese ...

... which I sliced into small pieces.

Mr. Hawthorne sliced corn kernels off an ear of corn.

I sauteed the corn in a bit of butter.

Stir ...

... until popping and slightly browned. Try a few kernels and see how sweet it is.

Nice chunks of lobster went into the bisque.

I taste tested again and poured in a little white wine.

Next the corn went in.

And here's my lobster bisque with small pieces of Brie and goat cheese, melting, and all the toppings.

I think the cilantro flowers gave it a nice touch. This was pretty. It was colorful. Just look at all those flavors! The vegetables still had a bit of crunch to them. And the best part, every spoonful had a big bite of lobster in it. Adding the potatoes gives a natural starch thickener to the bisque. I was entirely satisfied with this and I had no complaints.