We were at the Asian market the other day for some hot pot supplies and to (of course) check out the sea food that was available.
Well, they had some Spiny Pacific lobsters! The live ones were a little spendy, but they had a few that recently moved on to lobster heaven at $4.99 / lb. So we picked one up!
Since this guy wasn't alive & kicking, we decided to use him in a recipe instead of the usual boil & serve with butter routine.
Tyson makes an excellent lobster bisque, and it's been a long time since we had it. It's very rich, creamy & delicious!
Here's what you do for lobster bisque:
1.5 - 2lb lobster
3-4 medium tomatoes
3 cloves garlic
2 table spoons olive oil
3 carrots
1 medium onion
2 stalks celery
4 tablespoons butter (unsalted)
1/4 cup heavy cream
1-2 generous tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon
1 cup white wine
4 cups chicken broth
1/2 15oz can tomato sauce
pinch sugar
salt & pepper
Roast 3-4 medium tomatoes and garlic with olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast at 350 for 30 minutes or until tomatoes have begun to shrivel and condense
Dice 3 medium carrots, 1 medium onion, and 2 stalks of celery.
Remove lobster tail meat from shell, set aside shells for broth. In small saucepan, add 4 tablespoons of butter, freshly chopped tarragon and melt butter on low heat
Add lobster tail meat add 1/4 cup heavy cream and bring to a very light simmer on low temperature, cover.
Occasionally spoon butter/cream mixture over meat as it gradually cooks.
In large saucepan, set to high heat and add 1 TB olive oil. Once oil is hot, add chopped vegetables, salt and pepper, reduce to medium high heat and cook until onions have started to become translucent.
Add lobster shells to cooked vegetables.
Pour 1 cup white wine (chardonnay) 4 cups chicken stock and 1/2 can of tomato sauce over lobster and vegetables. Set temperature to high, bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium and simmer for an hour.
Check in with the lobster tail often. Once it starts to turn pink, flip it over, cover with the sauce mixture and cover. Remove it from heat and keep covered. This will allow the residual heat in the pan to gently cook the lobster the rest of the way.
After about an hour of simmering, remove shells from stock, add your roasted garlic and tomatoes.
Blend stock until smooth with a hand immersion blender. If you don't have an immersion blender, you can do this in a regular blender, but be very careful handling the hot soup!
I recommend this Vitamix stick blender for blending soups. Image links to purchase on Amazon.
Remove lobster tail from sauce, set aside and slice into pieces.
Add lobster sauce to your blended soup. Salt/Sugar/Cream to taste.
Ladle soup into bowl, add lobster meat and garnish generously with freshly torn basil leaves. Serve with crusty bread! YUM!
