Velouté de Homard à la Persane

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy 6 to 8-quart stockpot
• •Small lidded saucepan for the pilaff
• •Sturdy fine-mesh sieve
• •Kitchen shears
• •Whisk
• •Immersion blender for rescue, if needed

Instructions

1. 1

   Organize the lobster

   Have the fishmonger dispatch the lobsters and cut each into tail, claw, knuckle, and body sections, discarding the stomach sac and feathery gills. Keep every clean shell and any juices. This is not a job to leave half-finished: raw lobster must remain cold and should be cooked as soon as you return home.

   If only cooked lobster is available, remove and chill the meat before beginning. Sauté its empty shells for four minutes rather than cooking the sections in the butter, then continue with the aromatics.
2. 2

   Redden the shells

   Melt 3 tablespoons of the butter in a heavy stockpot over medium-high heat. Add the lobster sections and cook, turning them, until the shells glow red and the tail meat is just opaque, about 6 minutes. Transfer the tails and claws to a tray. Add the onion, carrot, leek, bodies, and small legs to the pot, then cook for 8 minutes, stirring and pressing the shells against the pot until the vegetables soften and a rust-coloured fond forms underneath.

3. 3

   Build the shell essence

   When the tails and claws are cool enough to handle, remove their meat in large pieces, cut it into neat dice, cover, and refrigerate. Snip the empty shells into several pieces with kitchen shears and return them to the pot. Stir in the tomato paste and curry powder for 2 minutes, just until fragrant. Take the pot off the flame before adding the Cognac, then return it to the heat and scrape up the fond. Add the wine and reduce it by two-thirds. Pour in 7 cups of the fish stock, add the bouquet garni, and hold the liquid at a quiet simmer for 35 minutes. Longer is not better here; overcooked lobster shells can turn the stock chalky and bitter.

4. 4

   Strain and measure

   Remove the bouquet garni, then pass the shell broth through a fine-mesh sieve into a clean bowl, pressing firmly with the back of a ladle. Do not put the shells into a home blender; sharp fragments are hard on both machine and cook. Measure 6½ cups of broth. If you have more, reduce it gently; if you have less, add enough of the reserved fish stock to reach that measure. The broth should taste distinctly of lobster before cream ever touches it.

5. 5

   Cook the saffron pilaff

   Melt 1 teaspoon of butter in the smallest saucepan you own. Add the rice and stir for 1 minute so every grain is lightly coated. Crumble in the saffron, add 2 tablespoons of fish stock and a pinch of salt, then cover tightly and cook over the lowest heat for 12 minutes. Rest it off the heat for 5 minutes and fluff it with a fork. You need exactly 2 tablespoons of cooked riz pilaf, or pilaff rice, for the garnish. If the grain is still firm, add a teaspoon of stock, cover, and cook for another 2 minutes. Ça se rattrape.

6. 6

   Make the blond roux

   Rinse and dry the stockpot. Melt 4 tablespoons of butter over medium-low heat, add the flour, and stir continuously for about 4 minutes, until the roux turns pale straw and smells faintly of toasted biscuit without browning deeply. Whisk in the measured lobster broth a little at a time, making the first additions slowly so the roux stays smooth. Bring the velouté to a bare simmer and cook for 20 minutes, skimming the surface when needed. If lumps appear, don't surrender the pot: blend the soup briefly with an immersion blender and pass it through the sieve. Ça se rattrape.

7. 7

   Temper the liaison

   Whisk the egg yolks with 1¼ cups of the cream in a large bowl. Remove the velouté from the heat and slowly whisk about 2 cups of the hot soup into the liaison, then pour everything back into the pot. Set it over the lowest heat and stir constantly for 3 to 5 minutes, until it lightly coats the back of a spoon. Never let it boil. If the soup begins to look grainy, pull it off the heat at once, whisk in the reserved ¼ cup cold cream, blend briefly, and strain. Caught early, it will return to silk.

8. 8

   Finish the Persane garnish

   Remove the velouté from the heat and whisk in the remaining tablespoon of butter. Season with fine salt and white pepper, remembering that lobster and fish stock may already carry salt. Put the diced lobster, the tablespoon of pimento dice, and 2 tablespoons of saffron pilaff into a small saucepan with one ladleful of velouté. Warm them over the gentlest heat for 1 minute, without boiling, then divide the garnish among warm soup plates and ladle over the velouté. The lobster should remain tender, the pimento red, and the saffron grains distinct. À table!

Chef Tips

• •Ask the fishmonger to dispatch and section the lobsters just before you collect them. The home equivalent for a brigade's shellfish station is not bravado with a live animal; it is a cleanly prepared lobster kept properly cold.
• •The source permits an equal quantity of crayfish, shrimp, or crab in place of lobster. Buy them shell-on, keep the same total weight, use the shells for the essence, and reserve the meat for the final garnish. C'est la même grammaire.
• •Use sweet preserved red pimento, drained and cut into tiny dice. Fresh bell pepper remains too firm and assertive here, while a large quantity of roasted pepper would colour the whole soup and bury the saffron.
• •Serve with a dry white Burgundy or a mineral Chardonnay without heavy oak. The wine needs enough body for the cream, but it shouldn't compete with the shellfish or curry.

Advance Preparation

• •The lobster shell broth can be prepared one day ahead, cooled quickly, covered, and refrigerated. Keep the diced lobster separately chilled.
• •The velouté can be completed through the roux and simmering stage several hours ahead. Reheat it gently, then add the liaison, butter, lobster, pimento, and pilaff shortly before serving.
• •Cook the saffron pilaff earlier the same day and chill it once cool. Bring it back to room temperature before warming it with the lobster garnish.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 250g)