Lighten up!

If you're like me, one of your new year's resolutions is to get back on track with healthy eating habits. Last night I made a lightened up version of a Shrimp Bisque that was soooooooooooo good!

For all you fellow Weight Watchers, it comes out to 6 points for a 1 1/4 cup serving. The nice thing is that because it's not quite as rich as the original, you actually can eat a serving that size without feeling sick about it. Add a lightened up garlic bread for dipping, and you've got a meal!

In the interest of giving credit where credit is due, this is a takeoff/combination from two other recipes... I took the best parts of each and added a couple of my own tweaks and here's the result! It's part of a shrimp stock recipe from Bobby Flay's Boy Meets Grill cookbook, and part of a bisque recipe from cooking light, and part my own ideas. Anyway, here goes:

First you need to make the stock. This is actually the most time consuming part.

Cooking Spray (olive oil flavor if you have it)
1 white onion, roughly chopped
1 small carrot, peeled and roughly chopped
1 celery rib, roughly chopped
About 4 cups of shrimp shells and tails (I save mine whenever I make shrimp and freeze them in ziploc bags)
6 cups water
1 cup dry vermouth (or other dry white wine, but I really like the flavor this gives)
1 medium tomato, chopped
1 bay leaf

Spray a stock pot with cooking spray and heat over medium. Add onion, celery, carrot and shrimp shells to the pot. Cook for about five minutes or so. Add water, vermouth, tomato and bay leaf. Cover partially (rest the lid on the edge of the pot) and simmer for about an hour and a half. The longer you let this simmer, the more concentrated the shrimp flavor will be and since we're trying to lighten up this dish, concentrated is better.

Soup:
1 Tbsp. butter
1 lb. of shrimp, uncooked, roughly chopped (you'll want it to be big enough chunks so that you can notice them once they're in the soup.)
1 can of no salt added corn kernels (frozen works too)
2 Tbsp. tomato paste
1/4 cup dry sherry
3 Tbsp. all purpose flour
4 cups of the shrimp stock
1 1/4 tsp. salt
1.4 tsp. white pepper
1 cup half and half (yes, the real stuff! It's still a big upgrade from the amount of heavy cream this soup usually calls for)

In a large, nonstick saucepan, melt butter. Add corn kernels and tomato paste. Cook for a couple minutes, stirring frequently. In a separate bowl, combine sherry and flour and whisk until they create a slurry. Add the slurry to the pan and cook for a minute, stirring constantly. Add shrimp stock and cook for a few minutes, stirring constantly. Add shrimp. Allow to simmer for about 10 more minutes, until the bisque starts to thicken and shrimp is fully cooked. Stir in half and half and simmer another minute to bring temp back up. Serve immediately. (and try to convince yourself there's nothing sinful about it!)

Off topic, but too bad... Attention North Jersey yarnies! Stix n Stitches in Montclair is having a pre-inventory sale this weekend and it is sooooooooooooooooo worth the trip! (Just a quick brag, I got Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk DK weight for $3 a ball!)