- Who doesn’t love lobster (Ok Josh, I know you don’t, but you’re fish-phobic which is different). Ellie, clearly does. She and I had a thoroughly enjoyable Saturday afternoon, creating a variation on a classic lobster thermidor which involved lots of claw cracking and flambeeing which was terrific fun ( pyromania and crustaceans combined, what’s not to love?). This recipe will serve four people for a generous starter or a light lunch with salad and bread. I have to admit the result was completely delicious, here’s how we did it if you want to give it a try.
You will need: - 1 ready cooked lobster and 4 uncooked lobster tails (actually this was all we could get that day, so improvise if you wish!)
- 10fl ozs of dry white wine
- 10fl ozs of fish stock
- 75ml brandy
- 1/4 teaspoon of dried chervil
- 1 tablespoon of chopped fresh tarragon (1/2 teaspoon dried),
- 1 tablespoon of chopped fresh parsley
- 2 small shallots, finely chopped,
- 50g butter
- 2 teaspoons of vegetable oil
- 5 fl ozs double cream
- 1 teaspoon of wholegrain mustard
- salt and pepper, half a lemon to taste
- 2ozs grated emmenthal.
Method:
First place the uncooked lobster tails in a pan with the white wine, bring to the boil and simmer for 3 to 5 minutes or until the shells have gone pink. Remove the lobster tails and keep the liquid to one side. 
Remove all the flesh from the the cooked lobster and the lobster tails, making sure you keep all the shell…especially the head! To do this you can use a variety of implements ranging from nut crackers, skewers and hammers! Of course, you may be lucky enough to have proper lobster claw cracking implements, but we aren’t that fancy and anyway, mole grips are multi functional! You will end up with a bowl of delicate, delicious flesh.
In a heavy frying pan melt half the butter and oil, when sizzling add all of the lobster debris, trust me there will be a lot of debris! Fry on high for a few minutes until it starts to brown. Now add the shallots and fry for a further 4 to 5 minutes. Add the brandy to de-glaze the pan and then add the reserved wine from cooking the lobster tails and the chicken stock. Add the tarragon and chervil. Bring to the boil and simmer for 20 to 30 minutes or until the liquid has reduced to about a third of its original size (check by tasting to see if it’s reduced enough, it should be delicious).
Remove the lodster shells from the pan, making sure you have extracted as much juice from them as possible. Add the cream and the mustard and put to one side . Add salt, pepper and lemon juice to taste. You can add a teaspoon of tomato puree if you want to enrich the colour. In another frying pan, over a medium heat place the rest of the butter and add the chopped lobster flesh, and saute for only 2 to 3 minutes or until heated through. Add the lobster meat and chopped parsley to the sauce and make sure it is thoroughly combined. Put in to individual oven-proof pots and grate just a little emmenthal on the top of each. Place under a very hot grill for a few minutes only (don’t want to over-cook that delicious lobster) and serve immediately. 
If you wanted to bulk this out for a main course you coudl add cooked mussels and scallops to the lobster meat which would be delicious. Also I’m toying with the idea of adding a puff pastry crust…as far as I’m concerned there is very little in this world that doesn’t work well in a pie….
The Bombay Boys 
