| Food 99/1: Lobster season is here! |
| Wednesday, 01 August 2012 13:58 |
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August 1st always bring out the excitement in spiny lobster lovers everywhere as the new season begins again. I, for one, have been working for a week now to figure out some combinations we will use for the menu at Flying Fish Modern Seafood. Sometimes working in a restaurant with a reputation for modern thoughtful food and presentations takes me away from the simplicity of a fantastic ingredient. You don’t need much for an ingredient like lobster to shine. So for the home cook, the best advice in preparation is keep it simple. Don’t try too much and find yourself wondering where did the lobster go? Here’s a few simple ways to make your lobster shine! Place the butter in a shallow casserole dish that will hold all six lobster tails. Place in oven to melt the butter. When the butter has melted, skim some of the solids off and discard. This will give you an almost completely clarified butter. Split the vanilla beans with a sharp paring knife and run the back of the blade down the bean to scrape out the tiny vanilla seeds. Place the seeds and the beans into the melted butter along with the sprigs of fresh tarragon and return to oven for about 10 to 15 minutes. Remove and place lobster tails in the butter, flat side down and return to oven and poach in butter for between 12 and 15 minutes. Turn tails over with shell side down and continue to poach for another 12 to 15 minutes or until the lobster meat appears translucent. Remove from oven and reserve tails on a plate to cool to room temperature. While the lobster is cooling prepare the citrus vinaigrette by combining the zests, juices, white wine vinegar and olive oil with a whisk. Whisk in 4 tablespoons of the vanilla-butter. Season to taste with salt and pepper if desired. Place the watercress, parsley and cucumber in a large bowl. Lightly dress salad with the vinaigrette or to taste. Remove lobster meat from shell. Reserve shell for use later. Carefully slice lobster meat and arrange across about one cup of the dressed salad per person. Garnish with additional vinaigrette if desired. Don't throw out the vanilla-butter that is left. Most of it will be left and it can be fortified with even more flavor and kept either refrigerated for two weeks or frozen for about one month. To fortify place the lobster shells, a few more sprigs of tarragon and about a 4" length of orange zest into the vanilla-butter. Return to the 250' oven and let simmer for about one hour. Remove from oven, cool and strain through cheesecloth. Discard solids. Place the butter in a clean container and refrigerate until solid again. The fortified butter can be refrigerated for up to two weeks or frozen for up to one month.  Spiny Lobster Ceviche(make sure you use the freshest lobster you can. Preferably caught by yourself or a friend that day) Ingredients 2 ½ lbs of Spiny Lobster tails, cut into 1/2 inch pieces. ½ cup of fresh squeezed lime juice ½ cup of fresh squeezed lemon juice ½ cup of fresh squeezed orange or sour orange juice ½ of fresh red onion, finely diced 1 cup of chopped fresh seeded plum tomatoes 1 serrano chili, seeded and finely diced 2 teaspoons of sea salt A dash of ground oregano A dash of tabasco or a light pinch of cayenne pepper Fresh cilantro 1 fresh soft avocado Toasted corn kernels In a casserole dish, either Pyrex or ceramic, place the lobster, diced onion, tomatoes, chili, salt, tabasco, and oregano. Cover with lime, lemon and orange juice and stir until all the ingredients are blended together. Let sit covered in the refrigerator for an hour, then stir again, making sure more of the lobster gets exposed to the acidic lime and lemon juices. Let sit for 2 to 3 more hours, giving time for the flavors to blend. Note: During the marinating process the lobster will change from pinkish and translucent, to whiter in color and opaque. Serve with chopped cilantro on top and slices of avocado with toasted corn kernels on the side.  Lobster SaladIngredients: 2 spiny lobster tails, 1 pound each steamed 10 minutes and cooled 2 ribs celery, sliced paper thin 1 medium red onion, sliced paper thin 1 pound almost overripe tomatoes, chopped into 1/4-inch dice 2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced 15 fresh basil leaves 20 mint leaves 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil Juice and zest of 1 lemon 2 cups arugula, washed and spun dry 2 tablespoons balsamic vinaigrette fresh fruit of choice - raspberries, tangerines, pineapples Remove meat from lobster and cut into 1/2-inch pieces. Place in a large mixing bowl. Add celery, onion, tomatoes, garlic, basil, mint, olive oil, lemon juice and toss. Season with salt and pepper and let stand 10 minutes. Add arugula, toss to coat and serve sprinkled with lemon zest. Once lobster salad has been placed on the serving plate, garnish with a light spray of balsamic vinaigrette and fresh fruit such as raspberries and tangerine slivers. Hopefully you will enjoy these easy to follow recipes for your opening week catch! Feel free to make some for me ;) Yours in good eating,
Chef Tim Tibbitts 99/1 Food Service Management in Freeport is owned and run by Tim & Rebecca Tibbitts. Flying Fish Modern Seafood restaurant is the newest adventure from 99/1 opened in February adjacent to Pelican Bay Hotel & The Grand Lucayan in Lucaya. With unmatched service & attention to detail, Flying Fish is a blend of traditional & modernist cuisine techniques not used anywhere else in the Bahamas. Ranked # 1 in the Bahamas and #2 in the Caribbean on Trip Advisor http://www.flyingfishbahamas.com or www.ninetynineone.com 242 373 4363 or 242 359 5053. Newer news items:
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