Rock Lobster with Asparagus & Cucumbers, Linguine & a Fresh Tomato & Fines Herbes Sauce

Name: Rock Lobster with Asparagus & Cucumbers, Linguine & a Fresh Tomato & Fines Herbes Sauce
Yield: Serves 4
Cuisine: French
Ingredients: 2 bunches thick asparagus; 2 x 750 g live rock lobsters, females if possible; 4 firm ripe tomatoes, peeled and deseeded, then cut in half across their width; 1 small cucumber; 1 small clove garlic, peeled; 120 ml extra virgin olive oil; 2 tablespoons snipped French tarragon leaves; 150 g linguine; 4 tablespoons snipped chervil leaves or 2 tablespoons finely chopped curly-leaf parsley; salt and freshly ground white pepper; 2 tablespoons finely chopped chives; juice of ½ lime

Preparation info

Serves
4

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

French

By Damien Pignolet

Published 2005

About

Rather than boil these delicate crustaceans, I prefer to steep them in boiling water in a stockpot with a tight-fitting lid; the residual heat gently cooks the flesh so that it becomes firm rather than tough, with a sweet, fresh flavour. Female lobsters are generally preferred for their sweeter flesh and their roe.

Ingredients

2 x 750 g live rock lobsters, females if possible
2 bunches thick asparagus
1

Europe
Oceania
France
Australia
Fish course
Pescatarian
Mediterranean

Method

Begin by dispatching the rock lobsters. The most humane way to do this is to hold them by the head and, keeping a firm grip, place in a large plastic bucket with a heavy weight on top of them, such as a cast-iron pan or a clean house brick. Pour over sufficient cold water so that they are submerged and leave them to go to sleep. After 10 minutes, remove the weight and li