Classic Lobster Thermidor Food

LOBSTER THERMIDOR

Steps:

• Cut the lobster in half lengthwise, and remove the meat from the claws and tail. Leave to one side. Remove any meat from the head and set aside. Cut the meat up into pieces and place back into the shell.
• Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the shallot; cook and stir until tender. Mix in the fish stock, white wine and double cream. Bring to a boil, and cook until reduced by half. Mix in the mustard, lemon juice, parsley, salt and pepper.
• Preheat your oven's broiler.
• Place the lobster halves on a broiling pan or baking sheet, and spoon the sauce over the lobster meat in the shell. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese over the top.
• Broil for 3 to 4 minutes, just until golden brown. Serve immediately.

LOBSTER THERMIDOR

Steps:

• Place a medium saucepan on a burner and add 2 cups water. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and slowly whisk in all of the butter. Hold warm until ready to heat lobsters.
• Marinate filets in 1/4 cup olive oil, cracked black pepper, and thyme for 1 hour at room temperature.
• Preheat a grill. Season filets with kosher salt and grill to desired temperature. Remove from grill and allow to rest for 4 minutes before serving.
• While meat is coking, reheat the melted butter if needed. While meat is resting, place the lobster tails and claws in the butter and heat until warmed all the way through, about 3 minutes.
• Meanwhile, heat remaining 1/4 cup olive oil in a saute pan over medium heat. Add chopped garlic and blanched baby spinach and saute until heated through.
• For each dish, place a potato cake in the center of a plate, top with sauteed spinach, and a lobster tail. Thinly slice the filet into 6 slices and fan the filet out in front of the potato and spinach. Top with the lobster claw and pour sauce around the plate. Serve spaetzle as a side dish.
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
• In a baking dish, toss the whole potatoes with the olive oil, salt, and pepper. Roast until mostly cooked through. Remove from oven and cool. Peel potatoes and grate. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
• Melt the butter in a saute pan over medium heat. Saute the onion until tender. Add the cooked onion to the grated potato mixture. Form into 4 patties, place on a cookie sheet, cover with plastic wrap, and chill in the refrigerator.
• Heat about 1/4 cup of olive oil in a large saute pan over medium-high heat. Add potato cakes and saute until golden brown on both sides and heated through, about 2 minutes on each side. Drain on paper towels.
• Preheat oven to 500 degrees F. Place lobster heads on a sheet tray and roast until slightly browned, approximately 15 to 20 minutes. In the meantime, sweat onion, carrot, celery, shallots, and garlic in 1/2 stick of butter in a large saucepan. Add brandy and reduce until almost dry. Add white wine and reduce. Add tarragon, bay leaves, parsley, thyme, basil, chicken stock, tomato paste, and roasted lobster heads. Bring to a boil and simmer for 2 hours, skimming periodically. Strain through a chinois, return to the pan, and reduce by half until the sauce starts to thicken, approximately 30 minutes. In the meantime, reduce heavy cream by half in a small saucepan. Whisk in the heavy cream and finish sauce by slowly adding the remaining 1/2 stick of butter, 1 tablespoon at time. Keep warm until ready to serve.
• Beat egg, yolks, and milk in bowl and set aside. Measure all dry ingredients and place in bowl. Add egg mixture to flour mixture and blend with hand, then add the melted butter. Let batter rest for 30 minutes.
• Bring a large pot of boiling, salted water to a boil. Place a perforated hotel pan over the boiling water. Pour the batter into the perforated pan and press it through into the water. Cook until spaetzle rises to the top. Drain and shock in ice water. Drain again and toss with the oil. Serve as a side with the lobster.

LOBSTER THERMIDOR

Steps:

• Gather the ingredients. Preheat the oven to 400 F.
• With a sharp chef's knife, split each live lobster in half lengthwise, starting with the head and working the knife back toward the tail. When you begin at the head end, the process kills the lobster instantly .
• Brush the lobster with the olive oil and bake for 15 minutes.
• Remove the lobster from the oven and let it cool.
• Gather the ingredients.
• In a small skillet or saucepan, make a roux by melting the butter over medium heat and adding the flour, 1 spoonful at a time, mixing vigorously.
• Continue cooking and whisking until the roux is blonde or caramel in color, about 3 to 4 minutes.
• Add the stock and whisk well to combine.
• Let the mixture come to a simmer, about 2 minutes, then slowly add the milk, whisking continuously.
• After the mixture has simmered again-about 2 more minutes-add some salt and pepper to taste and then the nutmeg. Be mindful of not letting the béchamel boil. Remove from the heat and set aside.
• Gather the ingredients.
• With the help of a fork, remove the meat from all parts of the cooled lobster. Reserve the empty lobster shells (just the main body) for the dish.
• Chop the lobster meat coarsely.
• In a small frying pan over medium-high heat, add the wine, sherry, lobster stock, shallot, and tarragon. Boil it down until it is thick in consistency, almost like a glaze-about 10 minutes.
• Add the béchamel sauce to the glaze, and stir well to combine.
• In a separate bowl, mix the heavy cream with the egg yolk.
• Slowly add about 1/2 cup of the béchamel-glaze mixture into the egg yolk and cream, stirring constantly. (By tempering the cream-egg mixture, you won't get scrambled eggs in your sauce.)
• Pour the egg mixture into the pan with the rest of the béchamel-glaze.
• Bring the sauce to a simmer over medium heat, but don't let boil. Add the dry mustard and some salt to taste.
• Cook until the sauce is thickened-about 3 minutes- then remove from the heat.
• Preheat the oven to 375 F. Add the lobster meat to the sauce and mix well.
• Fill the empty lobster shells with the lobster Thermidor mixture, then place on a baking sheet (lined with parchment paper if you like) and bake for 5 to 8 minutes.
• Sprinkle the top with a little paprika as a garnish. Serve and enjoy.

LOBSTER THERMIDOR

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and set aside.
• Bring a pot of salted water containing the lemons, quartered onion, and bouquet garni to a boil. Add the lobsters and cook until red and firm, 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer the lobsters to an ice bath to stop the cooking process.
• When the lobsters are cool enough to handle, cut in half lengthwise with a heavy sharp knife and carefully extract the tail meat. Remove the large claws from the body and gently crack with the back of a heavy knife to extract the meat. Gently pull the front legs from the shell and discard. Dice the tail meat and claw meat and set aside.
• Place the halved lobster shells on a baking sheet, cut sides down, and roast until dry, 5 to 6 minutes. Let cool on the baking sheet.
• Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the shallots and garlic and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the flour and whisk to combine. Cook, stirring constantly with a heavy wooden spoon to make a light roux, about 2 minutes. Add the cognac and cook, stirring, for 10 seconds. Add the milk slowly, stirring constantly to incorporate. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, 2 to 3 minutes. Slowly add the cream, stirring constantly, until all is incorporated. Cook, stirring, over medium heat for 1 minute. (The mixture will be very thick.) Add the salt and pepper and stir well.
• Remove from the heat and stir in 1/2 cup of the cheese, the mustard, tarragon, and parsley. Fold in the lobster meat. Divide the mixture among the lobster shells and place stuffed side up on a clean baking sheet. Sprinkle the top of each lobster with a portion of the remaining cheese and broil until the top is golden brown, 5 minutes.
• Place 1 lobster half on each of 4 large plates, garnish with additional parsley, and serve immediately.
• Place the bay leaf, thyme, parsley sprigs, and peppercorns in the center of a 6-inch square piece of cheesecloth or a large paper coffee filter. Draw up the sides to form a pouch and tie with kitchen twine or unflavored dental floss.

LOBSTER WITH THERMIDOR BUTTER

Steps:

• First make the butter. Put the wine and shallot into a pan, then bring to the boil and simmer until nearly dry. Tip into a bowl to cool, mix all the ingredients together, roll into a log, using cling film or foil, then chill to harden. Can be frozen for up to 1 month.
• Snap away the claws from the lobster. Using a large chef's knife, cut the lobster in half and wash the head cavity under cold water, then dry with kitchen paper. Lay the lobsters, cut side up, on a baking tray. Crack the claws and remove the claw meat. Divide claw meat between the head cavities. This can be done the day before and the lobster kept in the fridge ready for grilling.
• Heat grill to high. Slice the butter into thin rounds and lay it along the lobsters so all the meat is covered. Grill for 5-8 mins until the butter is bubbling and starting to brown. Put the lobsters on plates, pouring any butter from the tray over them. Serve with new potatoes and some dressed salad leaves.

CHEF JOHN'S LOBSTER THERMIDOR

Steps:

• Cut bottom shell of lobster tails using kitchen shears along each side where it meets the top shell; do not remove the shell at this point.
• Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a skillet over medium-high heat. Place lobster tails cut side down in the butter. Cook, covered, about 3 minutes. Turn lobster tails over (they are curved so will lean to 1 side); cover and cook 1 minute. Lean them to the other side; cover and cook 1 minute more.
• Remove from heat. Transfer lobster tails to a bowl. Remove any shell pieces from the skillet.
• Place 1 tablespoon butter in the skillet over medium heat; add shallots and pinch of salt. Cook and stir until pan starts to deglaze and shallots soften, 3 to 4 minutes. Add mushrooms; cook stir until golden brown, 5 to 6 minutes. Add flour; stir until mushrooms are coated and cook for 2 minutes. Pour in cognac; use a kitchen torch to flame cognac to burn off alcohol. This will take just a few seconds. Add milk; cook and stir until pan is completely deglazed and milk begins to thicken and turn bubbly, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in creme fraiche. Let cool.
• Remove lobster meat from the shell, leaving top shell intact. Remove any bits of bottom shell from the meat.
• Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). Line a baking pan with crinkled up foil. Make 4 channel-like indentations in the foil to hold and stabilize the lobster tails as they bake.
• Slice lobster meat down the middle and check for and remove any dark veins. Chop into 1/2-inch pieces. Transfer meat to a mixing bowl. Add cooled sauce, tarragon, pinch of salt, and cayenne pepper. Stir gently until well blended.
• Divide mixture among the lobster tail shells; place in prepared foil-lined pan. Sprinkle each lobster tail with about 1/2 teaspoon bread crumbs and 1/2 teaspoon grated cheese. Drizzle melted butter on the stuffed shells.
• Bake in preheated oven until nicely browned and heated through, about 10 minutes. If you like, you can turn on the broiler and broil 1 minute until tops are golden and crispy.

LOBSTER THERMIDOR A LA JULIA CHILD

Steps:

• Simmer all of the ingredients under Step 1 (except the lobsters!) in a large enameled or stainless steel pot for 15 minutes.
• Bring to a rolling boil and then add the live lobsters.
• You can tell when they are done because they are bright red and the long head-feelers can be pulled out pretty easily.
• While the lobsters are steaming, stew the mushrooms over low to medium low heat in a covered saucepan with all of the other ingredients from Step 2 for 10 minutes.
• When the lobsters are cooked, remove them from the kettle.
• Pour the mushroom juices in the kettle (not the mushrooms!) lobster-juices pot and boil down rapidly until it is reduced to about 2 1/4 cups liquid.
• Strain the liquid into a large saucepan and bring to a simmer.
• Cook the first 2 ingredients from Step 3 slowly together in another saucepan.
• Be sure not to brown it!
• Remove from heat, and beat in the lobster-mushroom liquid.
• Boil, stirring constantly, for 1 minute.
• Drizzle the cream from step 3 on top of the sauce.
• Split the lobsters in half, lengthwise, making sure to keep the shell halves intact.
• Discard 'sand sacks' in the heads and intestines.
• Rub 'lobster coral' and 'green matter' through a fine sieve into a 3 quart mixing bowl, and blend it into the ingredients from step 4.
• Beat the lobster-mushroom sauce into this mixture in small spats.
• Return the sauce to the pan, and, stirring with a wooden spoon, bring it to a boil.
• Boil slowly for 2 minutes.
• Thin out with step 5.
• By now the sauce should be thick enough to coat a spoon pretty heavily.
• Set aside, top filmed with a spoonful of cream.
• Remove the meat from the lobster tails and claws, cut into 3/8 inch cubes.
• Set the skillet with the butter from step 6 over medium heat.
• When butter foam begins to dissipate, stir in the lobster meat and saute, stirring slowly, for 5 minutes, until the meat has turned a rosy color.
• Pour the cognac in and boil for a minute or two, shaking the skillet, until the liquid has been reduced by half.
• Preheat oven to 425°F.
• Fold cooked mushrooms and 2/3 of the sauce into the skillet with the lobster meat.
• Arrange the split lobster shells on a shallow roasting pan or fireproof serving platter.
• Heap the lobster mixture into the shells, and cover with the remaining sauce.
• Sprinkle with cheese and dot with butter (you can refrigerate it at this point to finish up later on).
• Place in upper 1/3 of the oven for 10-15 minutes, until lobster is bubbling and sauce is a nice brown.
• Serve immediately!

LOBSTER THERMIDOR

Steps:

• Heat oven to 450 degrees.
• Saute onion and mushrooms in butter.
• Blend in flour and seasonings.
• Cook over low heat until bubbly.
• Remove from heat and stir in cream, chicken broth and Worcestershire sauce. Bring to boil, stirring constantly.
• Boil 1 minute. Add egg yolk, flavoring and lobster.
• Place mixture in shell of lobster or individual baking dishes and sprinkle with 3 tablespoons fine buttered cracker or dry bread crumbs.
• Bake 5 minutes.