Recipe serves 2, adjust as needed.
Lemon-Butter Poached North-Atlantic Lobster:
- 2 10-12 oz Canadian/North-Atlantic Lobster Tails
- (the big giant ones you sometimes see at the fish counter, theoretically this will work with other tails but I’ve yet to test it.)
- 6 TBSP Salted Butter
- (sliced into 1.5 TBSP slices)
- 2 Lemons
- Slice one lemon with mandoline set to “2” (or roughly ⅛” thick slices)
- Slice the second in half, wrap with cheese cloth tied with butcher twine. Trim excess cloth/twine and save for plating.
If frozen, place tails in cold water bath for 30 minutes or until the tails bend easily and one end can be bent to touch the other. Cut along each side of the (softer) bottom of the tail with heavy kitchen shears, peel away the bottom shell, carefully remove the meat and toss the shells. Butterfly the meat from the top (be careful not to go all the way through), remove any unwanted material (poop), rinse and pat dry. Place in individual vacuum seal bags, slice one of the 1.5 TBSP slices of butter into two equal rectangles, place evenly inside butterflied opening on top, place the other 1.5” slice of butter on the bottom, repeat with lemon directly over the butter; (2 slices of lemon on the top and one on the bottom). Vacuum seal bags and refrigerate until ready to cook.
* Double bag and seal lobster, (or any other food with a high fluid content).
Preheat sous vide to 140 degrees and cook for no less than 30 and no more than 45 minutes.
Lemon, Rosemary Beurre Blanc Sauce:
- ½ cup of: Chablis (or) Cote de Beaune (or) Chardonnay
- (depending on what you can find – in order of ‘best’ to ‘still pretty damn good’)
- Save the rest of the bottle (and have a second bottle ready) for drinking with dinner.
- 2 TBSP White Wine Vinegar
- (good stuff; not the crap you clean pet urine out of your carpet with)
- ¼ cup Shallot – chopped
- 1-2 TBSP Fresh Garlic (3-6 cloves) – chopped
- 2 TSP Fresh Rosemary – chopped
- ½ Cup Heavy Cream
- 1 Stick High Quality, High Fat (European) Unsalted Butter – sliced into small cubes (<1”)
- 2 TBSP Fresh Squeezed Lemon Juice
(Mise en place cook time: approx 15-20 minutes)
In a small, heavy, (preferably round bottom), saucepan: simmer wine, vinegar, shallot, garlic, and rosemary at medium heat until reduced to about 2 tablespoons of remaining liquid (whisk very often/constantly throughout entire preparation), <taste the sauce> reduce heat to Med-Low. Add cream and simmer until liquid is reduced by about half, <taste the sauce> reduce heat to low. Add butter all at once and cook over LOW heat, whisking pan constantly, just until creamy and butter is incorporated. (Sauce must not get hot enough to liquify. It should thick and creamy) stir in lemon juice. <taste the sauce: by now it should be so delicious that it causes you physical pain to think of life without it> Strain from saucepan into glass pouring container/measuring cup. Clean pan, fill with about 3” of water, place entire pouring container in water and set aside (this way you can reheat slowly and safely when ready to serve).
Sauteed Asparagus with Crispy Garlic
- 10oz young (thin) asparagus. (look in organic sections as those tend to be younger)
- 2 TBS Unsalted Butter
- 1-2 TBSP Fresh Garlic (3-6 cloves)
- Kosher Salt (to taste)
- Ground Pepper (to taste)
- Fresh Lemon Juice (to taste ~ 1-3 TSB)
(Mise en place cook time 7-10 minutes)
Cut 1-2” from bottom of asparagus stems until tender and non-fibrous. Melt butter in a non-stick skillet over medium heat. Saute garlic until slightly brown, add asparagus and toss to evenly coat with garlic and butter. Cover and cook on med heat for about 4 minutes, flip/toss cover again for another 2-4 minutes or until asparagus is slightly flexible. Remove and place on paper towels to drain/dry for about 15-20 seconds. Plate asparagus in a tight bunch, spoon out garlic pieces and set in a little mound on top of asparagus. Serve immediately.
Additional Items
- 1 fresh baguette
- 1 tsp FINELY chopped parsley leaves
- 1 tsp finely chopped rosemary leaves
- Combine into small bowl, save for plating
- 2 Berry or Chocolate Tarts from Whole Foods (sure you can scratch make these too but why bother, the WF ones are amazing and only cost 2 dollars.)
Plating:
Using a squeeze bottle or plating/saucier spoon create a pleasing design/grid/swirl/hearts and dots of beurre blanc on a spotless, large dinner plate.
Remove lobster from sous vide, discard lemon slices and sauce from bag. Pat dry with paper towels (don’t worry about soaking up the butter the lobster was poaching in, the sauce is better), plate. Zig-zag across the top of the lobster with a thin line of beurre blanc and sprinkle with a small pinch of kosher salt, one turn of ground pepper and a tiny pinch of finely chopped parsley and rosemary leaves.
Remove asparagus from pan and place on paper towels. Let sit for about 15-20 seconds to absorb excess butter. Plate carefully in tight bunch. Add a drizzle of beurre blanc on top of asparagus stalks being careful not to spill over onto plate. Spoon out garlic from pan, and make a little mound with it on top of the stalks. (optional: sprinkle a pinch of shredded or sliced parmisean cheese on top just before serving)
Garnish by crossing small branches of rosemary and/or parsley, place bagged lemon half on top of the garnish.
Sprinkle tiny pinches of finely chopped rosemary and parsley to garnish/decorate empty spaces on the plate
Place a small/dipping bowl filled with sauce on serving plates. Sprinkle a tiny pinch of finely chopped rosemary and parsley on top for color.
Serve Immediately
Simple Dessert Plating:
Chose a complimentary sauce:
- fruit/berry puree, honey, thickened heavy cream, icing, etc.
- anything that works with your choice of tart (double chocolate tart pictured, honey selected as sauce because it is what I had in the cupboard)
- Cocoa powder
- A packet of hot cocoa would work great here as well
Drizzle sauce of choice in a pattern across dessert plate, dust entire plate with cocoa powder, carefully place tart in the center. (looks great and makes that 2 dollar tart look like something from a 20 dollar dessert cart)
Timeline:
- Early afternoon (>2.5 hours before dinner)
- Prepare lobster, bag and vacuum, place in refrigerator.
- 1.5 to 2 hours before dinner: Prep
- Fill and preheat sous vide now.
- Complete all non-cooking steps of recipes now.
- Use as many small bowls as necessary to have ready access to everything. (Don’t forget to save the nicest two dipping-sized bowls for plating)
- Refrigerate chopped/prepped items as you go.
- Once everything is chopped/prepped, area is clean, etc. Mise en place all dry spices, utensils, measuring cups, towels and anything else that does not require refrigeration now.
- Prepare the sauce.
- 45 minutes before dinner: Mise en place of cold foods:
- Pull all remaining ingredients from fridge, have everything ready to begin cooking before dropping lobster in sous vide.
- 40 minutes before dinner: Drop The Lobster (35 mins cooking, 5 minutes to remove from bags, dry and plate)
- 25-30 minutes before dinner: Slowly reheat the sauce and use some to decorate plates (5-30 minutes <art>)
- Place glass container of sauce in water bath, heat the water bath on low heat until sauce is creamy again (this requires very little heat and happens quickly) then turn off heat; the water bath should keep the sauce nice and creamy for at least 15 minutes, if it starts to thicken too much, turn the heat back on again/repeat as necessary.
- Taste the sauce again 🙂
- Do something cool with the sauce on your places using a squirt bottle or sauciers spoon.
- Keep the sauce warm but never so hot that it fully liquifies beyond hollandaise/dish soap consistency; this will permanently separate the fats into oils and solids and ruin the sauce.
14 minutes before dinner: Cook Asparagus (2 minutes for pan to come to temp, 7-10minutes to cook, 2 minutes to plate)
Stay At Home Bob 