One of my favorite luxury recipes is an old one. I first made this 30 years ago when learning about French cuisine and sauces. This takes a little effort, but I will also give some shortcuts. This calls for a splurge because it requires fresh lobster, so I serve it for Cheryl’s birthday, an anniversary, or for a holiday dinner. The perfect wine pairing is a white that is rich, has some natural sweetness to complement the lobster meat, and with good acidy to work with the cream.
I suggest pulling either the Blue Rock Chardonnay or Viognier from the cellar and give someone you love (and you!) a real treat.
-Kenny
Yield: 4 as a main course
Prep time: 45 mins
Cooking time: 45 mins
Total time: 1 hr, 30 mins
Ingredients:
- 3 1.5 pound lobsters
- ½ cup minced carrot (important, make a nice mince!)
- ¾ cup minced onion
- 3 tbs minced shallot
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 1 cup tomatoes peeled, seeded and chopped
- 1/3 cup Cognac (substitute Bourbon or other brown whisky)
- ½ cup lobster broth reduction (recipe to follow). Called glace de homard it is reduced to a glaze
- ¼ cup demi-glace (recipe and/or substitute to follow)
- 1 ½ cups heavy cream
- Minced parsley salt and pepper
Directions:
- Cook the live lobsters in boiling salted water for 6 minutes. Cool in an ice bath to stop the cooking.
- Remove the meat and reserve the shells for stock
- Make the lobster stock (see details below) as it takes an hour or more
- After you have made the lobster stock reduction, melt 4 tablespoons of butter in a 10 to 12 inch skillet.
- Add the carrot, onion, shallots, garlic and sauté over LOW heat until softened, 5 minutes. DO NOT brown.
- Add tomatoes and sauté for 5 minutes
- Pour the Cognac or Bourbon into the skillet and ignite and shake the pan until the flames die out.
- Now add the lobster reduction (Glace de homard) and demi-glace, heavy cream. Bring to a simmer until it is thick enough to lightly coat the back of a spoon.
- Season with salt and pepper. Taste!
- You could stop the process here if you want to finish at the last minute.
- Add the reserved lobster chunks and heat thoroughly to serving temperature.
To serve, spoon into warm plates or bowls and sprinkle with minced parsley.
This is guaranteed to WOW your guests. It is a rich dish so precede it with a salad and keep the dessert fresh and without too much cream or butter
Lobster Glaze:
Make Ahead To make lobster glaze put the reserved lobster shells in a pot and cover with water. Add ½ dry white wine, bay leaf, and bring to a boil. Simmer for 1 hour, strain, and put back into a clean pot. Reduce over medium heat to reduce to a syrup. It should be very concentrated but still liquid. If it doesn’t make ½ cup don’t worry. It will have plenty of lobster favor.
Demi-Glace
I make my own demi-glace and freeze it in cubes to be used when needed. I enjoy the process, but it is a lot of work! You can make life easier and get good results with a store bought demi-glace. I found a good one called “More than Gourmet” at our local market.
Download PDF for quick reference.
