Lobster & Gospel Green Cheddar Bisque

Name: Lobster & Gospel Green Cheddar Bisque
Yield: Serves 4
Ingredients: 2 garlic cloves, crushed; Salt & freshly ground black pepper; 1 carrot, roughly chopped; 1 cooked lobster, weighing about 750 g (1 lb 10 oz); 75 g (3 oz, ¾ cup) plain flour; 1 litre (1¾ pints, 4 cups) Chicken Stock; 1 celery stick, roughly chopped; 150 ml (¼ pint, ⅔ cup) double cream; 75 g (3 oz, ¾ cup) Gospel Green Cheddar, grated; Cayenne pepper; 1 tablespoon fresh tarragon leaves, plus a few sprigs to garnish; 2 tablespoons tomato purée; 150 ml (¼ pint, ⅔ cup) dry white wine; 4 (5) tablespoons cognac; 75 g (3 oz, 6 tablespoons) unsalted butter; ½ onion, roughly chopped

Preparation info

Serves
4

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

A Passion for Cheese

By Paul Gayler

Published 1997

About

Gospel Green is a superb unpasteurized farmhouse Cheddar made in Surrey. It’s worth seeking out, although you can of course substitute any other farmhouse Cheddar in this recipe. The bisque is also very good made with crab or langoustines instead of lobster.

Ingredients

1 cooked lobster, weighing about 750 g (1 lb 10 oz)

Soup

Method

Split the lobster in half down the back: the easiest way to do this is to put a large knife through the centre of the body section and cut down through the head, then take out the knife, turn the lobster round and cut down the centre of the body through the tail. Remove and discard the head sac and the intestinal vein, then remove the cooked lobster flesh from the head and tail. Crack the claws