Butter poached Isle of Wight lobster with garden beetroot and Russian salad
This lobster recipe by Matthew Tomkinson has a wonderful fusion of summery ingredients. The poached lobster features a beautiful Russian salad of beetroot, carrots, green beans, turnips and asparagus that pairs well with the buttery crustacean.
Ingredients
Poached lobster
- 2 lobsters , each weighing 500g
- 4 tbsp of white wine vinegar
- 250g of salted butter
Russian salad
- 50g of carrots , cooked and diced
- 50g of turnip , cooked and diced
- 50g of green beans , cooked and diced
- 50g of asparagus , cooked and diced
- 1/2 lemon , juiced
- sea salt
- salt
- 1 cooked beetroot , sliced thinly into rounds
Homemade mayonnaise
- 2 eggs
- 1 egg yolk
- 5 tbsp of white wine vinegar
- 1 tsp English mustard
- 1000ml of vegetable oil
- salt
- 1 lemon , juiced
Equipment
- Thermometer
Method
1
Cook the beetroot for 1-2 hours, depending on size, until tender, in boiling salted water. Place a few circles of the beetroot onto your serving plate and top with a small portion of the Russian salad mixture
2
Start by preparing the lobsters. Put the lobsters in a freezer. This will render them insensate. Boil some water and add a dash of white wine vinegar. Once the lobster is insensate, place it on its back with its claws tied and hold it firmly by the top of its head
- 2 lobsters
- 4 tbsp of white wine vinegar
3
Place the tip of a very sharp chef's knife on the head just beneath its mouth, lining the blade up with the lobster’s midline with the blade side pointed toward its tail. The first cut should be directed forwards toward the head, and the second backwards down the midline towards the tail
4
Pierce the lobster’s head downward, then place the knife tip just to the body side of the junction of its tail and thorax and cut through the midline. The procedure must not take more than 10 seconds. For diagrams and more detailed information, visit the RSPCA’s website
5
Once the lobsters are dead, pull each head away from the tail and pull the claws off. Cook the tails in simmering water for 3 minutes and the claws for 5. Put both into iced water for 5 minutes. Drain
6
Remove all the flesh from the cooked body and tail. Crack the claws and extract all the flesh. Roughly cut the claw meat into chunks, and keep the tails as whole as possible. Chill the flesh until needed
7
Melt the butter in a small saucepan and bring up to 60°C using a thermometer, then drop the lobster tails in and gently poach for 6 minutes
- 250g of salted butter
9
Cook the vegetables whole in boiling salted water, refresh and then dice into 1cm pieces. The turnips and carrots will take 4 minutes, the asparagus and beans 2 minutes. Bind the cooked vegetables and lobster claw meat with the mayonnaise and season with a little lemon juice and salt
Discover more:
Go to Comments
Butter poached Isle of Wight lobster with garden beetroot and Russian salad
