Crab Soup and Three Cheese Semolina Bread. Easy dinner for midweek. Enjoy!

While I was pondering what to cook in my new Le Creuset pots, I finally got a suggestion from my dad. I think really he was beginning to think I was excessively weird for keeping them on my coffee table in the living room to admire them night after night. But let's not split hairs here. He suggested Maryland Crab Soup. You will notice in the winter and fall, I live for soup. All kinds of soup. Sweet potato, potato, loaded baked potato, french onion, pumpkin, homemade chicken noodle.  It goes on and on to the point that I've scarred my children, whose favorite soup is now Lipton Extra Noodle out of a PACKET that comes in a BOX. 

I have never made Crab Soup, and truth be told, I've never tasted it. I had no clue what to expect, but I did know looking at the classic recipe that no one in my household would eat Maryland Crab Soup. So I modified it a bit, and I think the results turned out really well, and waaaaaay better than I expected. And in case you doubt my opinion I have back up in the form of both parents and my two closest friends, who I asked a dozen times if they wanted any until they both broke. But I may take the opportunity to say that if you do doubt my opinion, you just may be on the wrong site. Awww... just joking. Kind of.

Any who, this is what you will need. And there's no hyperlink to this recipe, since it's my own. And there's no rhyme or reason as to why this is s p a c e d funny below, other than I couldnt get it to remove the s p a c e s.

 1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup chopped carrot
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped red bell pepper
5 garlic cloves, minced
1 jalapeno, seeded and chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon herbs de Provence
1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon of hot sauce, depending on your taste

1/2 teaspoon of Adobo All Purpose Seasoning

1 teaspoon of garlic salt 

1 bay leaf
4 cups water
1/2 cup cornstarch dissolved in 1/2 cup water
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 pound lump crab meat
2 tablespoons Crown Royal

Melt the butter and the olive oil in a Dutch oven or large pot over medium-high heat.

Add the carrot and the next 5 ingredients (through jalapeno), and sauté 5 minutes until the vegetables are tender.

Add salt, black pepper, herbs de Provence, and bay leaf. Cook for 1 minute. Stir in the water, and cornstarch/water mixture and bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes or until slightly thick, stirring frequently.

Stir in the milk and cream and cook 5 minutes

Stir in crabmeat and Crown Royal and simmer for 10-15 minutes or until the soup is thoroughly heated and thickened. Serve.  That's it. But on another note, how fun is this picture? When was the last time you saw a picture of a huge bowl of lump crabmeat and Crown Royal together? And I will note that both had more in it before this picture was taken. Occupational hazard, sorry.

I served the soup with a side of crusty, three cheese semolina and sweet cream butter.

Lastly, I was a little intimidated by making crab soup because it seems to be something people have strong opinions about and it has to be made "just so". But it was very simple and substantial. Trust me, I wouldn't steer you wrong. After all, you trust my opinions, right? RIGHT?!