Recipe - Crawfish Bisque With Fresh Tarragon

3 pound Live crawfish
One half cup Vegetable oil
1 Carrot, finely chopped
2 Stalks celery, finely
chopped
1 Onion, finely chopped
3 Cloves garlic, finely
chopped
3 tablespoon Tomato paste
1 Bay leaf
1 teaspoon Thyme
1 teaspoon Peppercorns
1 cup White wine
One fourth cup Brandy
4 cup Fish stock

BISQUE
2 cup Cream
1/3 cup Chopped tarragon
2 tablespoon Butter
4 tablespoon Flour
Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation : In a large skillet heat 4 tablespoons of oil and cook the
crawfish for 5 minutes. Let cool slightly and break the tail from the body.
Remove the tail meat and crush the bodies in a food processor. Heat the
rest of oil and saute the vegetables and herbs. Add the crushed crawfish
and deglaze with brandy and wine. Add the fish stock and tomato paste. Let
boil and simmer for One half hour. Strain the stock to make bisque. Add cream to
the strained crawfish stock and bring to a boil. Melt butter in a skillet
and add the flour to form a roux. Whisk the roux into the bisque bit by bit
until slightly thickened and right consistency. Let simmer 10 minutes and
add the fresh tarragon. Adjust seasoning. When serving, put some tail meat
in a bowl and ladle in the bisque. Posted to CHILEHEADS DIGEST V3 #267 by
"Harry Jiles" harryo@daveworld.net on Mar 18, 1997