This is restaurant-style risotto which is packed full of lobster flavour. The shells are used to flavour the stock and it’s finished with a delicious reduction, the kitchen smells amazing! We associate risottos with Italy but this is proper French food, full of butter and brandy. Recipe from Rick Stein’s Secret France.
Wine Suggestion: This is a rich dish that needs a wine that is fresh and flavoursome as opposed to something equally rich. Our go to wine would be an oaked Chardonnay in this case, but it doesn’t work as well as you’d think. A toasty Champagne or good bottle fermented sparkling with good age on lees is a fine choice though, and tonight we had treat of the Champagne Valentin Leflaive cuvée CA/15/40. A new project by Olivier Leflaive from Burgundy made with 100% Chardonnay from Cramant and Avize, 45 months on lees and only 4g dosage. An exciting debut and a good match to boot.
Poached Lobster Risotto – serves 2 as a main or 4 as a starter
- 1 cooked lobster
- 30ml olive oil
- 1 shallot, finely chopped
- 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
- 200g risotto rice
- 150ml dry white wine
- 1 tbsp butter
- fresh tarragon sprigs, to serve
FOR THE LOBSTER STOCK AND REDUCTION
- lobster shell, chopped
- 1 onion, chopped
- 4 garlic cloves, roughly chopped (no need to peel)
- 50g butter
- 100ml dry white wine
- 500g tomatoes, roughly chopped
- a small handful of tarragon, roughtly chopped
- 1.5 litres fish stock
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp Cognac
- a squeeze of lemon juice
Remove the meat from the lobster and keep the shell for the stock. Slice the body into chunky slices and keep the meat from the claws as chunky as possible.
For the stock, put the lobster shell in a large pot with the onion, garlic and 20g of the butter. Cook for about 5 minutes over a medium heat, then add the wine, tomatoes, tarragon and stock and bring to the boil. Add salt and simmer for 40 minutes. Pass the stock through a fine sieve over another pot and throw away the solid ingredients. Put 200ml of the stock aside for the reduction and keep the rest warm over a low heat.
Heat the oil in a pan, add the shallot and garlic and cook until soft. Add the rice and stir until glistening with the shallots and oil, then add the wine and let it bubble until absorbed. Add the hot stock, a ladleful at a time, stirring until absorbed before adding another. Keep going like this until the rice is al dente, then season.
Meanwhile, put the reserved 200ml of stock into a saucepan with the Cognac and bring to the boil. Cook until reduced by three-quarters, then whisk in the rest of the butter (30g) to make a sauce that coats the back of a spoon. Add a squeeze of lemon juice.
Heat a tbsp of butter in a frying pan. When it’s foaming, add the lobster meat and warm it through. Serve the risotto topped with lobster and spoon the reduction around it. Finish with some tarragon sprigs.
(Original recipe from Rick Stein’s Secret France, BBC Books, 2019.)
Jono & Jules do food & wine 