For a nice dinner, prepared for four people, it is nice to make a bisque d’homard, a lobster soup, from scratch. Or a lobster salad. You can get the lobster in several ways: You can get a frozen lobster from the fishmonger, you can have a fishmonger cook a lobster, whether or not selected yourself and you can buy one or more lobsters yourself and cook them yourself. The latter is difficult for many people. The animal is put alive in a pan with boiling water and cooked. Another recipe is that for shoulder of lamb. With a very special potato gratin.
Lobster
Lobster guarantees delicious dishes. The meat is so tasty.
For many people it is a terrible idea to get your own live lobsters from the fishmonger or the Chinese. If you want to make a fine dish, the lobster will have to be put alive in the boiling water. And that’s not an animal-friendly idea.
Real chefs don’t turn their backs on that.
All the animals we eat are killed in some way before we get them on our plate.
So don’t think about it …….
Or eat less meat, seafood and fish!
Recipe for a lobster soup and a lobster salad
For 4 persons
Supplies for the soup
- 2 pound lobsters
- one or two shallots
- the white part of a leek
- some carrots
- butter
- 300 grams of tomato paste
- 1 pot of fish stock, fish stock or chicken stock
- a third bottle of white wine
- flour or cornstarch
- 15 cl cream
- creme fraiche
- sprig of dill
- some saffron
- possibly some cayenne pepper
- blender
You need for the salad
- arugula lettuce or rocket salad
- stem ginger sauce
- Worcestershire sauce
- cooking cream
- mayonnaise
- lobster
Preparation of the soup
First boil the lobster
Boil two lobsters in boiling water for 15 minutes. They must be submerged. Then discard the water and let the lobsters cool in cold water. Dismantle the lobster, with or without lobster tongs, and remove the meat from all parts with a lobster fork. Save that meat. Do not use the cup. It contains bitter flesh that will spoil the taste completely. Also remove the intestinal tract from the diaphragm, which is the dark line that you see. You would also get a bitter taste from that. Then cut the armor into small pieces, not the head. Prepare the vegetables, finely chop the leek, shallots and carrots.
Draw stock
Put a knob of butter in a large stockpot and let it melt over a small fire. Add the chopped vegetables. Add the lobster shell and sauté it briefly. Add 300 grams of tomato paste to deacidify the shell (this is a tip from the chef). After three minutes, deglaze it with a third of a bottle of white wine. Let it reduce for a while. Then add a pot of fish stock (or stock) and an equal amount of water. Bring it to the boil and let it steep for an hour.
Blender
Half of the whole is now put in the blender to run for a few minutes, then the other half. After one pass, the mixture goes back to the pan. After heating, a second pass through a fine sieve follows. To thicken the soup, use a paste consisting of a tablespoon of cornstarch or flour and four tablespoons of water. Also add 15 cl cream. Playfully drip some stem ginger into the soup. Optionally, some salt can be added. Also put some lobster meat in the soup.
Put the soup in a deep plate with a dash of crème fraîche and a sprig of dill.
Preparation of the lobster salad
Dressing for the lobster
Make a dressing with 2 tablespoons of mayonnaise, 3 splashes of Worcestershire sauce, one tablespoon of stem ginger and add cooking cream until the desired consistency is reached. Mix with the whisk and fold in the lobster meat.
Dressing for the arugula
Make another salad dressing with a dash of nut oil, two shallots and a little white vinaigrette.
Add the last dressing to the arugula and put the lettuce on a nice plate. Then garnish the salad with the lobster mix.
Recipe for lamb shoulder and potato gratin spiced with lamb shoulder gravy
For 4 people you need
- one and a half kilos of potatoes
- butter
- lamb shoulder
- rosemary
- thyme
- chopped shallot
- garlic
Preparation of the gratin
Peel the potatoes and cook them briefly. Slice the potatoes and place them in a butter-greased baking dish, overlapping them with the shredded shallot. Spread a few lumps of butter between and on the slices. Place the dish in the bottom of the oven and set it to 150 degrees. Only top heat.
The lamb shoulder
Stick a sprinkle of rosemary and thyme and some cloves of garlic here and there in the lamb shoulder. Place the lamb shoulder at the top of the oven. When roasting in the oven, the fat from the lamb shoulder drips onto the potato gratin. After an hour, the gratin is deliciously crispy and has a delicious taste.
Of course you eat the lamb shoulder with it. Together with a delicious, mixed vegetable from the wok.
Mixed vegetable recipe
You need
- haricots verts
- winter carrot
- paprika, yellow is nice for the color
- Oyster sauce
- shallots
- half a clove of wafer-thin garlic
- sunflower oil
- half a fresh pepper
Preparation of the mixed vegetables
Cut the bell pepper along the seeds, then into strips. Scrape the carrot, cut it crosswise in three and then into strips. Clean the beans. Add two spoons of oil to the wok, fry the shallots, garlic and pepper. Then add the carrot strips, half a minute on medium heat, then the beans and then the pepper strips. After two minutes in total, three tablespoons of oyster sauce are added. Shake the vegetables in the wok. Delicious to serve with the lamb shoulder and the gratin.
I wish you a good meal