Dolce

Ingredients

For 2 litres of bouillabaisse:

(To serve as a soup, add fish stock)

2 onions

1 head of celery, leaves removed

3 garlic cloves

2 litres fish stock

1 can peeled tomatoes

1 sprig of thyme

2 bay leaves

Pinch of saffron

2 tsp. Ricard pastis

Lobster and vegetables (to serve 4):

2 - 450-500 gm. lobsters

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

100 gm. cauliflower

100 gm. broccoli

100 gm. baby carrots

100 gm. sugar snap peas

10 gm. ginger

10 gm. lemon grass

100 gm. salted butter

Preparation

Bouillabaisse:

Chop the onion, celery and garlic.

Sauté the onions until they are translucent. Add the garlic, celery, thyme and bay leaves.

Simmer until well blended. Add the tomatoes and fish stock.

Bring the mixture to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 30 minutes.

Add the saffron and Ricard and stir well.

Put the mixture through a sieve and keep warm.

Correct the seasoning before serving.

Seasoned vegetable blend:

Dice the vegetables.

Peel and chop the ginger.

Remove the outer leaves of the lemon grass and finely chop the remainder.

Bring water to boil in a pot and blanch the vegetables one by one. After blanching, put them into ice water immediately.

Drain the vegetables well, then toss them with the ginger and lemon grass.

Lobster “a la Plancha”:

Remove the bands from the claws and boil the lobsters in vegetable stock for 8 minutes. Remove and allow to cool.

Melt the butter while the lobsters are cooling.

Add finely chopped garlic to the melted butter and simmer 5 minutes.

Remove the lobster heads and split the tails lengthwise.

Remove the meat from the claws.

Brush the lobster tails and claws with the garlic butter.

To serve

Warm the vegetables in the olive oil.

Heat 4 ladles of bouillabaisse, making sure it is thick enough to coat the back of the spoon. If it is too thin, reduce the bouillabaisse until it coats the back of a spoon.

Place the lobster tails with the claws on top of them in the oven for 3 minutes at 180º C or in a steamer for 2 minutes.

Arrange the vegetables in a deep warmed platter.

Place the lobster on top of the vegetables and ladle some of the bouillabaisse around the vegetables.

Garnish with chervil, shi shu lettuce or flat leaf parsley.

Sprinkle a spoonful of extra virgin olive oil over the lobster and vegetables.

The remaining bouillabaisse can be kept in the refrigerator or served as a soup. 

Chef: Cedric Poncelet