Town in a Lobster Stew

Recipes

1 white onion, chopped

1 cup whole unsalted butter

2 stalks of celery, chopped

2 tablespoons Old Bay seasoning

1 tablespoon minced garlic

4 cups clam broth or really good lobster stock

2 pounds shucked lobster meat

1 teaspoon paprika

1 quart heavy cream

Salt and pepper to taste

In a large pot, sauté in butter the celery, onion, garlic, and spices. Once browned on medium to high heat, pour in the clam broth or stock and let reduce by half (boil down). Then add the cream to thicken, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Once thickened, add the generous amount of lobster meat and serve in a large bowl. This recipe should serve 6-8.

I also like to garnish the stew with a puff pastry in the shape of a lobster. You can purchase a lobster cookie cutter at a cooking store to create this pastry. Cut it out of dough, brush with egg white, sprinkle with paprika for color, and bake at 400° for 7-10 minutes.

This will fancify a Maine classic.

2 quarts (serves 4)

1 lobster, about 1 ¼ pound, in hard shell

2 yellow onions

1 carrot

1 celery stalk

1 bay leaf

2 black peppercorn

4 ounces butter

4 ounces flour

Bring 4 quarts of water to a boil in large pot. Drop in live lobster and cook for 7 minutes. Remove and place in ice water.

Reserve cooking water.

Remove lobster meat and chop into pieces. Roast bones, return to cooking water, and add onions, carrot, celery, bay leaf, and peppercorn. Simmer for 2 hours. Strain.

In a separate large pan, melt butter and stir in flour; cook over low heat for about 3-5 minutes. Whisk in 2.5 quarts lobster stock. Bring to a simmer; continue simmering for about 20 minutes.

Serve with chopped lobster, some chopped chives, and some crusty bread. Enjoy!

4 whole lobsters, steamed and cooled Heavy cream (about a quart)

4 tomatoes, roughly chopped

4 cloves of garlic, crushed

4 shallots, diced

1 bunch of fresh tarragon, chopped

1 cup of Cognac

Remove all meat from the lobsters and reserve for later.

Break the shells into pieces. Use sturdy kitchen shears if necessary.

Heat canola oil in a large sauté pan over high heat.

Add the lobster shells and cook for about 5 minutes, until blistering but not burned.

Deglaze the pan with 1 cup of Cognac.

Flambé the Cognac and reduce to about 2 tablespoons.

Add the tomatoes, garlic, shallots, and tarragon.

Season with salt and white pepper.

Add cold water to the sauté pan till almost full (about 10 cups).

Bring to a boil.

Reduce the water until there is about 1 cup left in the saucepan. While reducing, squeeze the shells and other ingredients with a wooden spoon.

Reduce the heat to low.

Add the quart of heavy cream.

Bring to a low simmer. Simmer until the cream is reduced by 50 percent. Remove from heat.

Strain the liquid with a chinois, pushing the ingredients with the back of a wooden spoon, and reserve. Discard the shells and other ingredients.

Add the liquid to a saucepan on low heat.

Add the reserved lobster meat and heat through.

Serve immediately.

Serves four, although the servings are small; this is a super rich and very, very flavorful stew.

6 slices of Applewood Smoked Bacon, diced

1.5 sticks of unsalted butter

2 cups of leeks halved lengthwise and thinly sliced

crosswise, white part only

2 cups celery root, diced into small pieces

2 cups carrots, small diced

1 cup Spanish onion, small diced

6 each garlic cloves, minced

2 each bay leaves

¾ cup all-purpose flour

2 cups dry white wine

2 quarts lobster stock or clam broth

1 quart half-and-half, or more depending on consistency

4 each 1¼ lobsters, steamed for 2 minutes, meat sliced

2 tablespoons fresh thyme

3 tablespoons chopped parsley leaves

Lobster bodies and shells reserved for stock

6-8 portions, 4½ -5 ounce each fillet of cod

1 pound golden fingerlings or new potatoes

In a heavy saucepan at medium heat, cook the bacon until all the fat has been rendered and the bacon starts to foam (save half of this fat for the potatoes), then add the butter, garlic, leek, onion, celery root, carrots, bay leaves and cook for about 5 minutes or until the onions are translucent. Add the flour and mix well. Then add the wine and mix well. Cook for about a minute. Then add the lobster stock and lower the heat. Simmer gently for about 15 minutes or until the flour has thickened a little. Using a wooden spoon, stir constantly to prevent the vegetables from getting stuck at the bottom of the pot. Then add the half-and-half, salt, pepper, and fresh chopped thyme and parsley. Keep warm. Right before serving reheat the soup and add the pieces of lobster, seasoned with salt. Let the lobster finish cooking just for a couple of minutes.

Place the potatoes in a pot and cover with cold water and salt. Simmer slowly until the potatoes are done when pierced with a sharp knife. Strain and reserve. (This step can be done before the soup.) Before serving, cut potatoes in half, season with salt and pepper, and brown in a skillet using the reserved bacon fat and some olive oil or butter. Put in at 350°F for 5 minutes for a crispy skin.

Pat dry the fillet of fish. Season with salt and pepper.

Heat a cast-iron skillet and add some canola oil and butter (about 1 teaspoon of each per fillet). Brown the fish for about 4 minutes (depending on the thickness of the fish). Put in a 350°F oven for another 3 minutes (only turn the fish when ready to plate).

Place about 5 ounces of the chowder in each preheated shallow bowl, place some golden potatoes around, place fish in the middle of the plate, and garnish with crispy smoked bacon and fresh chives.

Lobster bodies and shells, wash and dry all shells (up to 6)

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 small onion, chopped

1 small leek, washed and sliced

1 carrot

1 bay leaf

3 each garlic cloves

3 tarragon sprigs

1 tablespoon fennel seeds

1 tablespoon tomato paste

1-2 each ripe tomato or 1 cup tomato juice

1 cup dry white wine

1 cup sherry wine

Cold water, about ¾ gallon

Heat a stockpot or heavy saucepan; add the oil and the shells and brown them on all sides for about 6-7 minutes.

Add onion, leek, garlic, bay leaf, fennel seeds, carrot, and tarragon, and cook for about 5-6 minutes, constantly stirring to prevent burning. Add tomato paste and tomatoes, mix well, add wines and let evaporate the alcohol, then cover with cold water, about 1 inch above the shells, and gently simmer for 2 hours, skimming all impurities and foam that are floating. After 2 hours strain with a fine colander and put back at medium heat and reduce to half. You should have about 2 quarts of lobster stock.

Serves 6 to 8.