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One of the great traditional Breton dishes, which I obviously didn't invent.
People in Cancale were feasting on this dish long before I was born.
But I've reworked this recipe, favouring small lobsters over big ones and spicing them up with aromatics.
This was one of our first "house" recipes. Customers liked it so much
that it has become one of our menu classics: some clients continue to ask for it.
Serves 4
Ingredients
4 small lobsters weighing 350g each (13 oz each) - 1 dl chicken stock (1/3 cup) - 1 leek, white part only - 1 carrot - 4 cm celery stalk (2 inches) - 5 ml coriander (1 tsp) - 1 bunch chervil - 1 strip of orange zest - 10 g salt (1/3 oz) - 3 dl water (1 1/4 cups) - 1 dl sweet white wine, such as Coteaux du Layon from the Loire (1/3 cup) - Two sprigs curly parsley - 5 fenugreek seeds - 3 tarragon leaves - 1 pinch Cayenne pepper - 4 cumin seeds - 1 sprig thyme - 100 g butter (4 oz) - 1 shallot
Easy and quick.
Basic preparation
A little beforehand, wash the carrots and leek. Chop them finely along with the shallot and celery. Let them sweat in a saucepan with a knob of butter, then add the sweet white wine.
Let the mixture reduce for 5 mins, add the chicken stock and 2 dl (3/4 cup) water, then the orange zest, fenugreek and freshly ground coriander.
Simmer the mixture for 30 mins. Let the stock cool without straining it, then strain it through a fine strainer.
Last minute
Remove the elastics from the lobster claws. Wash the herbs. Set aside about 30 chervil sprigs and roughly chop the rest with the parsley and tarragon.
Bring the stock to a boil. Add the lobster, which won't be completely immersed, but cover the pan with a heavy, airtight lid. After 8 minutes, remove the lobster.
Add the chopped herbs and fresh, diced butter to the stock. Whisk for a few moments to melt the butter. Pass through a fine strainer. Check the seasoning, perhaps adding a little salt, pepper or lemon. Bring the liquid to just under the boiling point (90 C/210 F), then cook the lobster, shelled or not, for five minutes.
At the table, serve in a hot tureen, sprinkling the preparation with chervil leaves. Give each guest a shallow bowl and a soup bowl so that they can taste the lobster and stock separately.
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© Olivier Roellinger - Maisons de Bricourt. |
