Lobster Thermidor

Plan Z Phase: iThis is a Z3 (ZReboot) recipe. Lobster Thermidor is a classic dish. It’s decadent because of the cost of the lobster but it also has one of the dreamiest sauces you can possibly imagine. I have made this for special occasions and shared it with friends. I like mine to have a bit of a crust; hence the brownish tinge in the picture. You can follow my lead or keep yours lighter and creamier on top. You can also serve this as a fancy appetizer. It will serve 8 -10 as an appetizer.

Servings: Serves 4

Ingredients:

• Cooked meat from 3 lobster tails. This should measure out to about 1 to 1-1/2 cups per person. In some stores you can buy frozen lobster tail meat so you don’t have to deal with the shells. Make sure the lobster is cooked before you begin assembly. I’m going to give you quick instructions for how to cook the lobster tails in case you have to buy them raw.
• 1 stick of butter
• ½ pound of sliced mushrooms. Regular button mushrooms are just fine in this dish.
• 1 Tbl of flour
• 1 Tbl of Worcestershire sauce
• 1 Tbl of minced, fresh parsley
• 1/3 cup of brandy
• 2 cups of heavy cream
• 3 egg yolks
• salt and pepper to taste (sea salt)
• a whisper of cayenne (or to taste)
• ½ cup of grated Parmesan cheese

Instructions:

To cook lobster tails: Thaw your lobster tails if they are frozen. Fill a large soup pan with water; just enough to cover the lobster tails. Bring the water to a boil. Put in the lobster tails. Cook them on a low boil for 10-12 minutes or until they are bright white. You need to make sure the tails got cooked all the way through and I cannot tell you exactly how long to cook them because I don’t know how big they will be. Mine were about 8” long. When they are cooked, remove them from the water and set them aside to cool. When cool, a trick you can do to remove the meat is to poke a fork in them about 1” from the tail section (hold the tail fins) and pull toward the wider end. If the lobster is cooked, the meat will pull out in one nice piece. Letting them cool on the counter does two things. It keeps you from burning yourself but also if the lobsters were not quite cooked they will likely finish cooking while they cool. Chop the meat into bite-sized chunks. This process can be done even the day before and stored in the refrigerator until ready to cook. That makes this an easy to prepare meal on the day you want to cook it.

Assembly

In a large sauté pan add the butter and melt it. Add the mushrooms and cook them. Add the flour and stir it in. Then add the Worcestershire, parsley, brandy and the cream. Heat until hot. Don’t boil it or it can separate the sauce. Cook it just until small bubbles form along the edge of the pan. Right after that it would start to boil.

In a small bowl add your egg yolks and stir them up with a fork. Get them broken up and mixed. Then take a spoon and add about 3 Tbl of the hot liquid into the egg yolks and blend. Then add the egg mixture to the hot sauce. If you don’t go through this process and decide to put the eggs directly into the hot sauce they will instantly scramble.  Big yuk.

Add the cooked lobster meat and heat this mixture well, but again, DO NOT boil it or the sauce will separate. It will still taste good but it will not be pretty. You just want to get the lobster hot.

Taste your sauce and add the whisper of cayenne if you are like me and want a teeny bit of zip to give it a bit more life.

When this process is complete, transfer the whole mess into a 9″ x 9″ pan and sprinkle on your Parmesan. Heat on BROIL just until the top of the mixture turns a light golden color. Take out and serve immediately. I serve this in low soup bowls. Very French. Some folks serve it in the tails. I just serve it in the bowls because I am serving 4 people with just 3 tails.

You can have a salad or veggie on the side. Or both.

Enjoy!

Cheers,