Instructions
A Seafood Charlie Recipe
Prep Time: 40 Mins
Cook Time: 3 Mins
Servings: 4
Ingredients
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
3 Tbs finely chopped shallots
1 1/2 Tbs chopped fresh tarragon
2 tsp honey
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
8 (4-ounce) cold water lobster tails
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
2 bags (5 to 6 ounces each) baby spinach
2 grapefruits, peeled and segmented
1 avocado, peeled, pitted and diced
1 mango, peeled, pitted and diced
Directions
1. In small bowl, whisk ¼ cup lemon juice, shallots, tarragon, honey and salt; whisking constantly, drizzle in oil until emulsified.
2. Heat large covered saucepot of salted water to boiling over high heat; add tails and return to boiling. Reduce heat to medium and cook 2 minutes; remove and let cool.
3. Prepare outdoor grill for direct grilling over medium heat. With scissors, cut tail shells lengthwise down center; with fingers, spread shells apart slightly. Flip tails over onto backs; insert 1 metal skewer lengthwise into each tail through the center of the meat. In small bowl, whisk butter and remaining ¼ cup lemon juice.
4. Place tails, cut side down, on hot grill rack; cook, covered, 2 minutes; turn tails. Evenly pour butter mixture onto meat; cook, covered, 1 minute or until meat turns opaque throughout.
5. Remove meat from shells; chop half the meat. Divide spinach over 4 plates; evenly divide meat, grapefruit, avocado and mango over spinach. Drizzle salads with dressing.
Enjoy!
Lobster Bisque
BOIL lobster tails — shells and meat — in salted water for only 5 minutes. This way, we pre-cook the meat and get as much lobster flavours as we can.
COOL SLIGHTLY AND REMOVE meat out of the shells using either of the two methods below:
- Place lobster tail on your counter with the back facing up. Using sharp kitchen shears, cut down through the centre of the back to the end of the tail. With your thumbs and fingers, open the shell to loosen it from the meat, opening the meat away from the shell side walls. Pull the meat up from the bottom of the shell to seperate the shell from the meat underneath it.
- Alternatively, use both hands to press down on tail to crack shell. Hold tail, shell facing down, and pull back on both sides of shell to crack open and remove meat.
- CHOP into bite-sized pieces and refrigerate while boiling the empty shells for a further 15 minutes. Keep that stock to add into the bisque later.
Once you have your quick stock, start making the base for the soup with a beautiful mirepoix — onion, carrot, and celery.
Sauté with fresh herbs in a blend of oil and butter to sweat and release their flavours before adding garlic, cayenne pepper (for an optional bit of heat) and the rest of your ingredients.
How do you thicken lobster bisque?
Tomato paste and hint of flour help to thicken your soup. Cook the flour for a couple of minutes first before adding liquids.
What alcohol is in lobster bisque?
The pot gets deglazed with a dry white wine. Use a good quality Pinot Grigio, Sauv Blanc or Chardonnay, one that you would drink! If you can’t drink it, you shouldn’t cook with it.
You can replace the wine with sherry if you prefer! Sherry is a fortified wine that adds a delicious, savoury kick to your soup, similar to our Creamy Chicken Marsala.
Let reduce to half, then stir in your pre-made lobster stock and let simmer until liquid has thickened. It only takes about 30 minutes to get those delicious flavours to marry into each other.
Blend
Puree right in the pot with an immersion blender OR pour into a blender. If using a blender, you may need to blend in batches of two or three to prevent pressure from building up inside the jug from the heat. Make sure you take the centre piece out of the lid to let the steam escape.
You want your bisque to be nice and smooth. Then, pour it back into your pot, stir in the heavy cream and chunks of lobster. Garnish with fresh tarragon, chives or sliced green onions.
Lobster meat
To add even more flavour, melt butter a skillet over medium heat and sauté garlic until fragrant. Add in chopped lobster meat, season with salt, pepper and cayenne to taste. Lightly sauté until lobster meat is just warmed through, then add into your bisque!
Lobster bisque options
You can change up our lobster bisque recipe based on what you already have on hand:
- BROTH: Use a low-sodium lobster broth or seafood broth/stock.
- LOBSTER MEAT: Frozen or canned lobster meat can be used BUT fresh is best. I cannot guarantee the flavour in your bisque will turn out the same.
- CLAMS OR SHRIMP: Both options are a great substitution for this recipe.
Serve with crusty bread for an epic meal!