Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 35 minutes
Total Time: 50 minutes
Ingredients:
- 3-4 lobster tails
- 8 T unsalted butter (or 3 pounds)
- 2 T olive oil
- 1 large finely chopped shallot
- 4 finely chopped garlic cloves
- 3 cups lobster, fish or chicken stock
- 2 chopped roasted red peppers
- 1 T mild paprika
- 1 T sherry or white wine vinegar
- 2 T cilantro or parsley to garnish
Preparation:
There are two ways to butter-poach a lobster: Sticking the tail and some butter in a vacuum bag, sealing it and dropping it into hot water is my preferred method. But if you don't have a vacuum-sealer, you can melt enough butter to cover the lobster tail and cook it that way. It requires a lot of butter, but you can reuse it three or four times before it goes off.
If this has daunted you thus far, don't worry: You can come close to this with a simple steamed lobster. Butter-poaching will make your lobster silkier and richer, but steamed is OK, too.
I prefer Maine lobsters for this recipe, but I have done it with spiny lobster and it worked just fine.
If you are butter-poaching the lobster, make sure the butter doesn't get too hot. If it is in a vacuum bag, I drop it in a very large pot of water that has been heated to 180 degrees, but with the heat turned off. Drop it in, cover the pot and walk away. That's it. 15-25 minutes later, depending on the size of the lobster tail, and you're ready.
If you are poaching in a butter bath, don't let the butter get past 160 degrees. Use a thermometer to be sure.
No matter how you cook your lobster, make your sauce the minute it starts cooking.
Heat the olive oil in a small saucepan over medium high heat. Add the shallots and cook, without browning them, for 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another minute.
Add the lobster stock (instructions on making it are below), turn up tyhe heat to high and boil it down by half.
Add the roasted red peppers, the paprika and the vinegar and turn off the heat. Stir well to combine.
Pour into a blender and buzz on high for 2-3 minutes. You want it well blended. If you want to go fancy, push the saice through a fine-mesh strainer to catch any stray pepper seeds or solid bits. Pour into a small pot and keep on very low heat.
To serve, pour some sauce on the plate, slice some of the lobster tail and place it on top. Garnish with cilantro; if you don like cilantro, use parsley.