Trio of Lobster – Lobster Thermidor Tail, lobster & Prawn Pie, Crispy Lobster Claw with a Tomato and brown shrimp Salsa
Serves 4
Preparation time: 1 hour
Ingredients
2 x 700g Lobsters
Lobster Tails
85g gruyere or comte cheese
2 x large king scallops
12.5g Panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
Fish Cream Sauce
1 fennel bulb
1 clove garlic, 1 stick celery, 1 onion
200ml white wine
200ml fish stock
35ml brandy
2 star anise
400ml double cream
Thermidor Sauce
2/3rds of fish cream sauce (prepared from above)
10g English mustard
Lobster & Prawn pie
70g Greenland Prawns
35g capers
2 Maris piper potatoes (peeled, chopped and mashed with 25g unsalted butter)
Crispy claws
1 egg (beaten)
1 tbsp plain flour
12.5g Panko
Salsa
35g brown shrimp
6 blush tomatoes (finely chopped)
1 red onion (finely chopped)
5g coriander, 10g dill, 10g basil (finely chopped)
Squeeze of fresh lemon juice
Method
Preheat fryer to 180 C
Preheat oven to 200 C
To prepare the Lobster
Stab lobsters through the back of the head and then add to boiling water for eight minutes
Remove and run under cold water until cold
Cut each lobster in half, directly through the back of the lobster, discarding the brain and the tract pipe.
Crack the claws and arms and remove the meat – keep the claws whole
Remove the tails with the meat inside the shell
Once completed on all the lobster halves, flip the tails over so the red tail meat is showing
For the fish cream sauce
Peel and slice the onion, fennel bulb, garlic and celery. Cook for 5 minutes on a low heat, stirring occasionally so as not to colour too much. Add the wine, fish stock, brandy and star anise, reduce by half and then add the double cream. Bring to the boil, season well and drain. Divide the sauce into two pans, one third in one (Fish cream sauce) and two thirds in the other (for the Thermidor sauce)
For the Thermidor Sauce
Add the mustard to the pan with the two thirds fish cream sauce and bring to a boil. Set aside
For the lobster tails
Chop the scallops into quarters. Remove the meat from the lobster tail shell and chop into three nuggets. Place the meat back into the shell, alternating with the scallop quarters. Add the cheese onto the lobster tails. Pour over the Thermidor sauce and top with the Panko breadcrumbs and set aside until needed.
For the Lobster and Prawn pie
Use a small dish, approximately 5cm x 5cm. Put the capers, prawns and two nuggets of the arm meat from the lobster in the pie dish. Add a few drops of the fish cream sauce and top with the mash. Place into a preheated oven for 4 minutes, then place the tails in the oven too and cook for a further 6 minutes
For the Crispy Claws
Flour the claws, shells removed, then coat in the beaten egg and then the Panko breadcrumbs. When the pie comes out of the oven, pop the claw into the fryer and cook for 3 minutes.
For the Salsa
Mix all the ingredients together
TO SERVE
Plate as pictured. Serve with the leftover Thermidor sauce