Lobster Thermidor over Broccoli Rabe
Submitted by: John Blesso
Meal: Dinner
Cuisines:
- French
Dish: Main
Prep Time: 40 minutes
Serves: 2
Ingredients:
1 lobster, 1-1/2 to 2 pounds
1/8 cup butter
1/8 cup flour
1 golfball-sized shallot minced
1/4 cup white wine
1 cup whole milk
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 tbsp finely chopped fresh tarragon
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 strips of bacon
salt and pepper
1 tsp hot sauce
1 bunch broccoli rabe
Instructions:
Boil lobster and place in cold water to cool.
Barely fry two slices of bacon and set aside before breaking into small pieces. Lick fingers. (Set pan aside for later sautéing broccoli rabe.)
In a saucepan, melt butter. Stir in the flour and cook for two minutes to make a roux. Add the shallots and cook for thirty seconds. Stir in the wine and milk. Bring the liquid up to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Cook for three minutes or until the sauce coats the back of a spoon. (This will be thicker than a normal Béchamel because it will be used as a filling.) Season the sauce with salt and pepper to taste. Remove the sauce from the stove and stir in the mustard, tarragon, lemon juice and hot sauce.
Remove the lobster from the water, break off the claws and the knuckles, and bisect the lobster with a cleaver. Remove the tail meat and rinse. Then rinse out the tomalley from the cavity. Add rinsed claw and knuckle meat to the tail meat, then break apart and fold into the Béchamel sauce with the bacon.
Spoon into the two lobster tail shells and body cavity. (Curl tail around to easily balance on baking sheet.) Sprinkle the cheese on top. Broil until top is golden brown.
While broiling, saute broccoli rabe in bacon grease. You might want to dump out some of the grease first. Or don’t… (Also, you can blanch the broccoli rabe first, if you don’t like the bitter quality, but I like it as is.) Plate broccoli rabe and place lobster half on top.
I first prepared this with Hannah Wolken, and am still perfecting. Let me know if you have any tips. Thanks!