Chilled Shrimp Bisque - cooking recipe

Ingredients

1 tablespoon margarine
1/4 cup onion (finely chopped)
1/4 cup celery (finely chopped)
1 teaspoon instant bouillon granules (shrimp flavor preferred if available, but otherwise use another fish or seafood flavor ~ See NOTE #2)
1/2 teaspoon paprika
2 cups fish stock
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon salt
1 bay leaf
1/2 cup half-and-half
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 cup baby shrimp (coarsely chopped)
1/4 cup dry sherry
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice
hot pepper sauce (to taste) (optional) or Tabasco sauce (to taste) (optional)

Preparation

In a 3 qt saucepan, melt margarine over med-high heat. Stir in onion + celery & cook till onion is tender. Stir in bouillon granules + paprika & mix well.
Add fish stock, milk, salt & bay leaf. Reduce heat to low & simmer 15 minute.
Add half-and-half & bring soup back to a slightly rolling boil.
Dissolve cornstarch in 1 tbsp water or fish stock & stir into the soup. Cook till thickened, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. (See NOTE #1).
Stir in shrimp, sherry, lemon juice + hot pepper sauce (or Tobasco) to taste pref & allow to cool.
Cover, refrigerate overnite & serve soup chilled as needed.
NOTE #1: Altho not part of the recipe, I see the ideal bisque as mostly free of food solids except for the starring seafood, so I will prob opt to lightly puree the soup when removed from the heat in Step #4. Additionally, I see this soup garnished w/freshly snipped chives + 2-3 whole baby shrimp to add color & a finishing touch.
NOTE #2: As orig written, the recipe called for 1 tsp *Shrimp Base* which was not found in the Zaar data base, but I googled it to discover it is basically a highly-concentrated shrimp stock. If available for you, use it in place of the bouillon granules which I listed in its place.