Crawfish Bisque

Description
A terrific soup from Texas Tapestry cookbook. Enjoy!

Ingredients

 * ½ cup corn oil or bacon fat
 * ⅓ cup all-purpose flour
 * 1 large onion, peeled and chopped
 * 1 – 2 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
 * 1 stalk celery and leaves, chopped
 * 4 scallions, white and green parts chopped separately
 * 1 quart water
 * ¼ cup tomato paste
 * 1 teaspoon dried thyme
 * 1 bay leaf
 * 6 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
 * 8 allspice berries
 * 3 cloves
 * 1 teaspoon salt
 * ¼ teaspoon black pepper
 * ¼ teaspoon white pepper
 * ¼½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
 * 2 tablespoons lemon juice
 * 3 lbs uncooked crayfish tails, with fat if available
 * hot freshly cooked rice

Directions

 * 1) Heat the oil in a large, heavy pan.
 * 2) Add the flour and cook, stirring, to make medium brown roux (the color of peanut butter).
 * 3) Add the onion, garlic, celery and the white parts of the scallions and cook until softened, stirring occasionally.
 * 4) Gradually stir in the water, then add the tomato paste, thyme, bay leaf, 4 tbsp of the parsley, allspice berries, cloves, salt, peppers, cayenne to taste and the lemon juice.
 * 5) Bring to a boil, stirring well.
 * 6) Chop about one-quarter of the crawfish tails and add with the fat, if available.
 * 7) Cover and simmer for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.
 * 8) Add the remaining whole crawfish tails and simmer, covered for 15 minutes or longer.
 * 9) Stir in the green parts of the scallions and the remaining parsley.
 * 10) Serve hot over rice.

Note
If available, add 12 or more stuffed crawfish heads (thawed if frozen) 5 minutes before serving.