This is a restaurant quality creamy crab soup that you can make right
from home. Do not let the country gravy part fool you – it really works
in this recipe. This is an especially good soup to make if you won’t be
eating it until the next day because it gives it a better flavor. The
recipe serves 4 but you can easily double it as long as you do not
double the spices. In a double recipe, only use one and a half times the
amount of spices as called for in the original recipe.
There is no reason you couldn’t substitute shrimp for the crab, or
even flaked white fish, making this an amazing creamy fish soup. The key
to being a good cook is experimentation and flexibility.
Homemade Creamy Crab Soup
Ingredients:
1/2 cup of butter
1/3 cup of all purpose flour
1 teaspoon of your favorite seafood seasoning (Old Bay Seasoning is a
good one)
1 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce
1 410 g can of low sodium chicken broth (14.5 ounce)
1 cup of dry white wine
1 cup of half and half
1 package of country style gravy mix (about 70 g - 2.5 ounce)
8 ounces of fresh crabmeat
4 drops of Tabasco or other hot sauce
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon of fresh ground black pepper
a pinch or two of powdered garlic
Procedure:
Place the butter in a large sauce pan and melt it over low heat. Stir
in all the flour at the same time and let it continue to cook until it
starts to bubble. Add the seafood seasoning and the Worcestershire sauce
and stir. A little at a time, add the chicken broth, white wine, and
half and half while stirring.
Follow the directions on the package of country style gravy mix to
prepare it. Stir it into the soup and blend. If you need to, you can add
more half and half or more chicken broth to thin the mixture out a bit.
Allow everything to simmer for about 10 minutes making sure to stir
it a few times.
Add the crabmeat, the Tabasco or other preferred hot sauce, the salt
and pepper, and the garlic to taste. NOTE: This soup has a propensity to
be salty already, so if you don't like a lot of salt, you might consider
omitting it from this step. If you used low sodium chicken broth, you
may not have to worry about it, but the seafood seasoning also has salt
in it.
Stir well and allow the crab soup to simmer for a couple more minutes
to make sure that it is thoroughly heated.
The soup is best stored in the refrigerator overnight then served hot
the next day. This allows the flavors to blend more and it makes a huge
difference in the creamy crab soup. But, if you just can't wait to try
it, get out the saltines and have at it while it is piping hot off the
stove.
