Day 51 – Lobster Thermidor

Posted by Life with Lizzi on February 20, 2011 · Leave a Comment

Last night we treated ourselves to a lobster for dinner. The fish stall in Trevignon was my starting point to select fish that looked yummy and fresh, and as usual it didn’t fail. This time I took my trusty Fish Cookery Book from Rick Stein, so that we could pop into the local supermarket on the way back to buy all the bits and pieces needed to go with it. The lobster looked gorgeous, and as we were feeling extravagant (after all it was the first of our holidays!) we opted for the lobster. There was one huge monster, but we selected a good size but lively little lobster, and headed off to the supermarket.

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Ingredients

serves 2

1 x750g lobster

25g butter

2 large shallots chopped

600ml fish stock (I used chicken)

50ml Noilly Prat (I used Ricard, Pastis de Marseilles)

75ml double cream (creme fraiche epaisse)

1/2 tsp english mustard

1 tsp chopped herbs (chervil, parsley, tarragon and chives – I used a mixture of dried)

1 tsp lemon juice

15g finely grated parmesan cheese

salt and freshly ground pepper

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Directions

Cook the lobster as follows; if you are feeling humane (and unfortunately I didn’t as I was running short on time), place the lobster in the freezer for 2 hrs to kill it painlessly.

As you can see here, Thila dropped the lobster into the boiling water, no remorse!

Bring a pan of heavily salted water to the boil (150g salt for every 4.5 litres of water), add the lobster and bring it back to the boil. Cook lobsters under 750g for 15 minutes, and up to 1.25kg for 20 minutes. Remove and leave to cool.

Cut the lobster in half, and remove the meat. It’s best to follow a book at this point or use a site on the internet like;

Cooking Lobster with laura – learn how to prepare a live lobster, crack a lobster and use one of our lobster recipes, cooking lobster.

Keep any head matter for the sauce. Cut the meat into small chunky pieces and return it to the cleaned half shells with any roe. Cover and set aside.

For the sauce, melt the butter in a small pan, add the shallots and cook gently for 3-4 mins without browning. Add the fish stock, Noilly Prat and half the cream. Boil until reduced by a half. Add the rest of the cream, and simmer until it has reached a good coating consistency. Whisk in the reserved head matter, the mustard and herbs, and lemon juice. Season with pepper.

Preheat the grill to high. Carefully spoon the sauce over the lobster meat and sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese. Grill for 2-3 mins until lightly golden and bubbling. Serve with a mixed salad, and ice cold Chablis.

Enjoy!

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