Garnitures for Crustaceans

Many chefs and home cooks like to vary the classic crustacean preparations by adding vegetables or even fruits and presenting these with the finished crustaceans. When preparing dishes such as these, you should decide whether to incorporate the flavor of these components into the crustacean sauce or simply serve them as garnitures on the side. If, for example, you want to serve a lobster with fresh morels or other wild mushrooms, there are two routes to follow: The mushrooms can be sautéed in an appropriate oil or fat, sprinkled with herbs, and simply presented on the side of the plate along with the lobster. This is a perfectly acceptable method. On the other hand, morels have a delicate complexity that works well in sauces. If you want to exploit that flavor, the morels should be cooked so that their flavor can be incorporated into the sauce. To do this, take a few tablespoons of the crustacean cooking liquid (or other liquid such as cream, fish stock, or court-bouillon if another base is being used), and cook the morels in a covered saucepan with the liquid. When they are finished cooking, this liquid should be returned to the crustacean sauce base.