Lobster Blinchiki Food

BLINCHIKI

Steps:

• Mix the eggs, salt and sugar until thoroughly blended. Stir in 1 cup of milk. Add flour until a thick batter is formed. Add a splash of vegetable oil to mixture. Pour the batter into a hot, oiled skillet. Fry until golden on 1 side, then flip over and brown the other side.

LOBSTER FARROTTO WITH LOBSTER MUSHROOMS AND ZUCCHINI

Steps:

• Heat the lobster stock in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the lobster tails and cook for 10 to 12 minutes. Remove to a sheet tray and set aside to cool. Reserve the stock for later. Remove the meat from the shells and cut into nice bite-sized pieces.
• To a large skillet, add the mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, until brown, 8 to 10 minutes. Add a drizzle of olive oil and some salt. Remove from the heat. Dice half of the sauteed mushrooms and leave the other half whole for garnish.
• Heat a large high-sided saute pan over medium-high heat with some olive oil. Add the onion and some salt and sweat until translucent, 5 to 7 minutes. Add the farro and stir to coat in the onions and olive oil. Toast for 5 minutes, then add the wine. Season with salt, then allow the wine to reduce, stirring occasionally, until it's almost completely absorbed. Add the tomato paste and stir to combine. Begin to add the stock 2 ladlefuls at a time. Cook, stirring frequently, until the stock has absorbed into the farro. Repeat adding the stock two more times until the farro is tender but still has some bite to it. (There may be leftover stock.) Stir in the zucchini. Add the butter and Parmesan and stir vigorously to combine. The farro should be loose and creamy. Fold in the diced lobster mushrooms, diced lobster meat and chives.
• Plate the farrotto and garnish each portion with a slice of lobster mushroom. Garnish with the micro basil.

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 MIRANDA HILL

Steps:

• Place lobster in large bowl of 96.8 degree water to drown.
• Bring large pot of water to boil and add 12 allspice berries and bay leaves. Remove claws and legs from lobster. Reserve legs and add claws and tail to water and cover pot. Cook 3 minutes for each pound, about 6 minutes total. Plunge in bowl of ice water when done, to stop cooking. Once cooled, cut lobster in 1/2 lengthwise and rinse. Remove meat from tail and claws and cut into small pieces and set aside. Rinse tail shell and reserve.
• In small pan, add remaining allspice and 1/2 of rum. Heat on medium low heat.
• Place lobster legs in blender and crush. Strain allspice/rum mixture into blender with legs and puree. Heat 1 tablespoon clarified butter in frying pan on medium heat. Add shallot and garlic. Stir in the tomatoes and season generously with salt and pepper. Strain pureed legs and rum mixture through a fine sieve into tomato mixture and add white wine; boil, stirring well. Sieve all this into a clean saucepan and reduce to 3/8 cup.
• Preheat warming oven to 400 degrees. In a small frying pan, melt fresh butter and cook mushrooms. Stir in lime juice. Add shrimp and lobster meat. Push contents of pan to edge, add remaining rum and flame. When flames have died down, stir in sour cream and tomato-lobster stock and reduce again. Stir in arrowroot mixture. Place tail shells in the oven to warm on a heat-proof platter. Toss watercress with oil and vinegar. Remove shells from the oven and spoon lobster mixture into heated shells and garnish with dressed watercress.

BUTTER POACHED LOBSTER RAVIOLI

Steps:

• For the Pasta Dough: Put the first 2 ingredients into a mixing bowl and mix briefly. Make a well in the flour and add eggs into it. Mix the eggs into the flour and knead the mixture with your hands until smooth. Add water only as needed to reach desired consistency. Avoid adding more than necessary. Flatten dough slightly and cover with plastic. Chill dough in the refrigerator for about 1 hour.
• For the Lobster Filling: Drop the lobsters in boiling water for no more than 45 seconds to a minute. Separate the tail, body, and claws. Split the tail and remove the meat. Crack the claws and knuckles open and remove their meat - setting aside the meat from the larger claw and its knuckles.
• Smash the shells (including the body) with a cleaver or meat mallet. Covering the shells with a kitchen towel first helps avoid making a mess. Heat the clarified butter in a large, heavy bottomed pot over medium/high heat. Add the lobster shells, celery, carrots, and onions. Cook until the mixture caramelizes. This may take up to a half hour. Keep the heat on medium to high. Use a wooden spoon to scrape the brown residue from the bottom of the pot. Add the water (should be enough to cover the contents of the pot. If not add more) and simmer for about 45 minutes.
• While this lobster stock is cooking, cut 8 ounces butter into small cubes. Place them in a small saucepan and add 1 tablespoon of water. Heat the butter slowly - whisking it with the water until fully melted. Add the lobster tail meat and the claw and knuckle meat from the smaller claw. Cook the meat in the butter over low heat for a total of about 5 minutes. Check the claw and knuckle meat after about 3 minutes. When cooked, remove the meat from the butter and set aside to cool slightly. Cut the tail and knuckle meat into small cubes. The claw meat will break up in your fingers.
• Returning to the lobster stock, strain the mixture through a fine mesh sieve - saving the stock and discarding the rest. Pour the stock into a clean saucepot, return to the stove and bring to a boil. Continue at a rolling boil until it has reduced down to about a quart of liquid. Remove half of the liquid and set it aside.
• Add the white wine and reduce again - this time down as much as possible. When fully reduced, the bubbles from boiling will be much tighter. There may be as little as a tablespoon of liquid left. Reduce the heat to low and whisk in the 1-ounce of butter. Set this wine reduction aside.
• In a food processor puree the claw and knuckle meat from the larger claw (that you set aside earlier) until it is a smooth paste. Fold the poached lobster meat and about a tablespoon of the wine reduction into the pureed meat. Add a pinch of sea salt and pepper. Cover and refrigerate filling until ready to use.
• For the Vanilla Bourbon Sauce: Combine the lobster stock set aside from the filling, the bourbon, vanilla bean, and thyme in a saucepot and bring to a rolling boil. When the mixture has reduced by about half remove the thyme and discard. Remove the vanilla bean and set aside. Continue reducing the liquid until it thickens. Reduce heat to low. Split the vanilla bean and scrape its seeds. Add the seeds to the sauce and discard the pod. Cube up the butter and whisk it, bit by bit, into the sauce to finish it. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper.
• For the Celeriac Puree: Place the diced celeriac in a medium saucepot and pour the cream over it. Cut a disk out of parchment paper just big enough to cover the celeriac (the inner diameter of the pot). Using this to cover the mixture instead of a pot lid will help prevent boil-over. Cook the mixture on low heat for 45 minutes or until celeriac is very tender. Remove paper and strain the mixture - reserving both the celeriac and the cream. In a food processor puree the celeriac. Add just enough cream to make a smooth puree. Season with salt and pepper.
• For the Chanterelle Mushroom Ragout: Melt the butter in a saucepan and add the onion. Cook over medium heat, stirring often, for about 15 minutes and then add the fennel. When this mixture has caramelized (may take about 15 minutes) add the chanterelles and the herbs. Add the wine and cook until it reduces by two thirds. Swirl in the butter and season, to taste, with salt and pepper.
• For the Ravioli: Roll the pasta dough out into sheets using a pasta roller. Brush 1 sheet at a time lightly with egg wash. Spoon small mounds of filling (about 1 teaspoon each) onto 1 side of the dough - about 1-inch apart. Fold the dough over the filling and press it together just around the filling - working outward. Cut the ravioli with a pasta wheel or with a ring mold. If making a large batch, freeze the ravioli. This will make cooking them much easier. If not, cover and refrigerate until needed. Just before service, cook the ravioli in a large pot of salted boiling water for about 4 minutes.
• To plate: Pipe 3 small mounds of the celeriac puree in a row in the center of the plate. Gently set 1 ravioli on each mound - slanted upward. Spoon some of the mushroom ragout around the side of the ravioli and drizzle sauce on the plate. If edible flowers or fresh herb sprigs are available they can be used as a garnish.

LOBSTER SOUFFLE

Steps:

• For the lobsters: Place the lobsters into a large stainless-steel pot and add about 4 cups of water. Cover, and bring to a strong boil, which may take nearly 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium, and continue boiling gently, still covered, for about 5 minutes. Set aside, covered, for 30 to 45 minutes, until the lobsters in the pot are cool enough to handle. Retain the broth for use in the sauce. Break off the tails and claws from each of the lobsters, and crack the shells, taking care to retain any liquid released and add it to the broth. Remove all the meat, split the tail in half lengthwise, and remove and discard the intestinal tract. Cut each half tail into 3 or 4 pieces, and halve the claw meat. Arrange all the meat in a gratin dish lined with plastic wrap. Set aside. The recipe can be prepared ahead to this point and refrigerated. Reserve the shells for the sauce.
• For the Americaine sauce: Heat the olive oil in a very large saucepan. Cut the lobster bodies open, and remove and reserve any liquid tomalley or row in a bowl. Cut each body into 4 or 5 pieces and add to the pan along with the shells from the tails and claws. Saute over high heat for 10 to 12 minutes, until the shells begin to brown and become crusty, and most of the moisture has evaporated. Add 2 tablespoons cognac to the pan and carefully light it to flambe the shells. Add the onion, carrot, and celery and cook with the shells for 4 to 5 minutes. Add the tomato, thyme, tarragon, bay leaves, tomato paste, wine, and reserved lobster broth. Bring to a boil and boil gently for 40 to 45 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
• Strain the mixture through a colander set over a bowl, and shake the colander to get out as much juice as possible. Strain the juice again through a very fine strainer. Pour the liquid into a saucepan and reduce it to about 3 cups. Mix the potato starch (or arrowroot or cornstarch) with the water and stir it into the boiling reduced liquid. Return it to a boil and stir in 1/2 cup heavy cream, remaining 2 teaspoons cognac, and salt and pepper to taste. The sauce is now ready. Break cold butter into pieces and distribute them on top of the sauce. When the butter has melted, spread it lightly over the surface of the sauce with the tines of a fork. This will prevent the sauce from forming a skin or discoloring. The butter will be stirred into the sauce at serving time.
• Prepare the lobster:
• When you are ready to complete the recipe, melt 4 tablespoons butter. Unwrap the plastic wrap from the reserved lobster and pour the butter gently over the meat. Season with salt and pepper and sprinkle on the tarragon. Bring the plastic wrap back over the lobster meat so the meat is held tightly together and can soak up the butter.
• For the souffle: Make the bechamel sauce by melting 3 tablespoons butter in a saucepan and cooking until it is light brown in color to give some intensity to the sauce. Add the flour and mix well. Stir in the milk and season with salt and pepper. Mix well with a whisk, bring to a boil, and boil for about 30 seconds. Continue whisking while adding 4 egg yolks to the hot bechamel and stir well to incorporate. (Reserve the remaining 2 egg yolks for another recipe.)
• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly butter a 6 or 7-cup gratin dish and sprinkle with 2 to 3 tablespoon of the grated Parmesan, tilting the dish so the cheese sticks to the butter and coats the bottom and sides. Tap out and reserve any excess cheese for use on top of the souffle. Beat the 6 egg whites until firm but not dry. Add about 1/3 of the egg whites to the bechamel and mix with a whisk to incorporate. Add the remaining whites and the Gruyere and fold in with a rubber spatula. It is important to work quickly so the beaten egg white gets incorporated into the mixture without getting grainy. Pour into the prepared dish and sprinkle on the remaining Parmesan. Place in the center of the oven and bake for about 35 minutes, or until golden, crusty, and brown.
• While the souffle bakes, place the lobster meat into a 170 degree F oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or just until warmed through, leaving it in the plastic wrap. The lobster should be warm but not hot. If heated too fast or at too high a temperature, it toughens. Just before serving, heat 6 soup plates in the oven.
• Divide the lobster meat among the warm soup plates, bring the sauce to a boil, and spoon it over the lobster meat in each plate. Spread the meat to create a little space in the center of each plate. Spoon about 1 cup of the souffle, along with some of the crust, into the middle of each plate. Garnish with truffle slices, if using.