Simple baked lobster

Name: Simple baked lobster
Yield: Serves 2 as a starter or 1 as a main course
Ingredients: 550-600 g fresh, live lobster; 1 medium banana (long) shallot, very finely chopped; 1 tablespoon plain flour; 150 ml fresh or ready-made fish stock; ground black pepper; 40 g unsalted butter; 3 tablespoons brandy; 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard; 1 teaspoon tomato purée; 75 ml double cream; watercress, to serve; 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh tarragon; a squeeze of fresh lemon juice; 25 g Gruyère or Parmesan cheese, finely grated; flaked sea salt

Preparation info

Serves
2
as a starter

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

What to Eat Next

By Valentine Warner

Published 2014

About

This may seem complicated but is not, and is a luxurious treat of treats. Great served with watercress and a good bottle of chilled Chablis.

Ingredients

550-600 g fresh, live lobster
1 medium banana (long) shallot, very finely chopped

Starter
Fish course
Pescatarian

Method

Bring a pan of well-salted water up to the boil and carefully drop in the lobster. Bring back to the boil and cook for 6 minutes. The lobster is only partly cooked at this point, as it will be cooked more under the grill. Remove from the water with tongs, put on a board and allow to start cooling.
In the meantime, sauté the shallot gently in the butter for 8 mi