Lobster with Risotto and Lobster Bisque

I went to the market today to grab some water for the weekend guests and I just so happen to stumble upon a live lobster sale. That got my mind racing a million miles per hour. Should I or shouldn't I buy a lobster? Should I wait for my long delayed lobster battle? Well, if you see the picture posted above, you already know the answer. Now I was thinking, how can I fully utilize this lobster? I felt sorry for the little crustacean at first but there's no turning back now, it's already sitting on my cutting board (I also didn't want its sacrifice to go in vane). So off the tail goes and the rest of the body and claws went into a boiling pot of water to make some stock. I used the stock for the risotto and bisque (I consider this to be a trio of lobster dishes). The bisque also contains the meat from the knuckles and claws. I really wanted to use this lobster to its full potential. Hours later this is what the result was (I was also making some spicy beef noodle soup at the same time, for the weekend that's why it took a couple of hours).

Lobster stock ingredients:

10 cups of water
Lobster head
Lobster claws
1 tablespoon kosher salt

Directions:

Bring water to a boil and add all ingredients. Wait for at least 20-30 minutes before using the stock. Also always keep the stock hot.

Lobster bisque ingredients:

1 shallot minced
1 garlic clove minced
3 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 cup lobster stock
1 tablespoon flour
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon tomato paste
4 tablespoon heavy cream
Lobster claw and knuckle meat (chopped)

Directions:

Add butter, shallot, and garlic to a small stock pot on medium high heat. Add all other ingredients except for lobster meat and use an immersion blend to bring all the components together. Add lobster meat at the very end and keep on simmer until ready to serve.

Lobster stock risotto ingredients:

1/4 cup arborio rice
1 cup lobster stock (more or less until rice is cooked)
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
3 tablespoon heavy cream
1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese
4-6 button mushrooms thinly sliced

Directions:

Add rice and 1/4 of lobster stock to a skillet on medium high heat. Continue cooking and stirring until stock is reduce by 75% then add another 1/4 of the lobster stock. Continue this process until rice is almost cooked completely. Then add cream, cheese, and mushrooms. Continue cooking and stirring until risotto thickens.

Lobster tail ingredients:

Lobster tail
Pinch of garlic powder
Pinch of paprika
Pinch of kosher salt
1/2 tablespoon butter
1 sprig fresh parsley minced

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375°. Cut a slit down the middle of the tail with shears. Pull the meat out and let it sit on top of the shell. Clean meat and shell under cold running water. Pat dry and sprinkle garlic powder, paprika, salt, and parsley on to of the tail. Place butter on top of the dry ingredients. Put lobster tail on baking sheet and bake for 12-15 minutes.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.5.8

Cheese Steak Sandwich

I initially started calling this a "Philly" cheese steak, but being from Dallas (home of America's team - Dallas Cowboys!) I didn't want to put "Philly" as a prefix for any of my dishes. Someone was disappointed that I didn't post anything yesterday and threatened me if I didn't post anything today (I'm sure you can make this dish, it's right up your alley). After a long day at the driving range I really didn't want to cook but I didn't want to disappoint the future editor of my blog (I also didn't want to eat fast food). I had to think about what ingredients this person would be comfortable with and it took a lot of thought but I decided I wanted something heavy and filling (there goes my diet) as well especially after a great session at the range. I had some bread leftover from having curry the other day and I also found a ribeye steak in the freezer, so why not a cheese steak.

Ingredients:

1 pound ribeye sliced paper thin
6 medium shiitake mushrooms (for that extra umami flavor, you can use regular button mushrooms too)
2 garlic cloves (minced)
1 onion sliced thin
2 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoon canola oil
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 medium size (6-8 inches) french bread/roll

Directions:

Saute onions in olive oil and add a pinch of salt and pepper on medium high heat. Cook until onions are translucent and caramelized. Set aside.

In a separate pan add canola oil and turn heat to high. Add beef, mushrooms, garlic, salt, pepper, and Worcestershire sauce. Cook for about 3-5 minutes. Set aside.

Cheese sauce ingredients:

1 teaspoon flour
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/2 cup heavy cream (you can substitute whole milk)
1/4 cup grated pepper jack cheese
2 tablespoon Parmesan cheese
Pinch of salt
Pinch of pepper

Directions:

On low-medium heat, add butter and flour (mix well). Then add cream and continue stirring while adding a little bit of the pepper jack cheese, wait for the cheese to melt then continue adding more cheese. Continue this method with the Parmesan cheese. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Bringing it all together:

Toast your bread until it is crisp on the outside, then slice the bread in the middle (length wise) leaving the end attached. Add beef and mushroom mixture, add cheese sauce, add onions, then more cheese sauce. Serve with pickles or pepperoncinis.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.5.8

Chicken Curry

Tonight Bistro 331 had some last minute guests with last minute requests (Hey that rhymes..) One of my special guest loves quail eggs and one of my favorite things to do with quail eggs is to put them in curry. I also made a variation of the French cake, recently blogged, as well. Many prefer rice with curry but I love bread with mine. Thanks for doing the dishes ladies and thank you for signing on as followers and next time don't touch the remote control.

Curry ingredients:

6 chicken thighs (chopped and quartered)
6-8 garlic gloves (minced)
1 large shallot or small onion (diced)
2 stalks lemongrass
1 - 1 1/2 inch piece galangal root (sliced 1/8 inch thick)
2 inch piece ginger (julienne cut)
2 chili peppers (halved)
8-10 kaffir lime leaves
1 can straw mushrooms
1 can quail eggs (I used 2 here for my friend, yeah you know who you are)
2 large russet potatoes (cubed)
1/2 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon turmeric powder
1 tablespoon red curry paste (or more if you want to spice it up)
1 can (400ml) coconut milk
3 tablespoon fish sauce

Directions:

In a stock pot over medium high heat add chicken, garlic, and shallots. No need for oil here, there's more than enough oil from the chicken thighs. Continue stirring until chicken has browned and cook all around the outside (don't worry the chicken will continue stewing and cook completely). Add each of the above ingredients one at a time while stirring curry, except the quail eggs and potatoes (make sure these are last). After adding all of the ingredients continue cooking for another 20-30 minutes on medium-low heat with the lid on (this will tenderize the chicken and give time for the potatoes to cook properly). Finally, serve over a bed of rice or sliced french bread (toasted of course).

As I mentioned earlier, we also had desert. You can check out that recipe from a previous blog. I ditch the blueberries and almonds this time and went with kiwi instead. Also, instead of making 1 large cake I made 4 smaller cylinder shaped cakes (this was actually easier to manage). To cut the cake into round pieces I used and old tomato paste can that I cleaned and cut both ends out of (sometimes you have to be resourceful). The finish product can be seen above.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.5.8

Shrimp Fettucine Alfredo

I don't know what was worst, me craving pasta or me just wanting to use the pasta machine. Either way, I had some ingredients left over from Friday night's dinner so that was the inspiration to this dinner. Most of the time I'll make this dish using chicken but shrimp's not a bad alternative and goes great with this cream sauce. This recipe will probably yield 2 small portions or 1 large portion.

Pasta ingredients:

1/2 cup semolina flour
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 tablespoon water
1/2 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil

Alfredo ingredients:

1/2 - 3/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup white wine (I like Pinot Grigio)
1 teaspoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
1/4 zest of a lemon
1 small shallot (thinly sliced)
2 garlic gloves (minced)
Pinch of kosher salt
Pinch of freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese
3 sprigs curly leaf parsley (finely chopped)
Several thin slices of fresh Parmesan cheese
10 medium shrimp (peeled)

Alfredo directions:

Add oil to sauce pan or skillet and bring to medium heat. Then add shallots and garlic, once shallot becomes translucent add wine and let it reduce down halfway. Add cream and grated Parmesan cheese and continue stirring the mixture. Add lemon zest and juice while stirring. Add salt and pepper to taste. Once pasta is finished cooking add shrimp to the sauce first and let that cook through halfway before adding pasta noodles to the sauce. Cook noodles in sauce for at least 2-3 minutes and finish off with parsley and freshly sliced Parmesan cheese.


Pasta directions:

Create a bowl in the middle of the flour and add beaten egg. Continue to slowly add flour to egg and mix until the egg has absorbed most of the flour. Continue kneading dough and add water and oil. Knead dough for another 3-5 minutes and create a ball. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and let it chill in the refrigerator for about an hour.

Once dough has rest for an hour lightly dust your counter space with some flour (all purpose is fine) and roll out dough to about 12 inches long and then flatten dough so that it can be easily rolled in the pasta machine. Start with the setting width of 1 and lightly dust with flour as you increase your number, I like to finish my dough at number 6.  Then simple place the flatten dough in the fettuccine cutter. If you're doing it by hand simply roll the dough out length wise but remember to dust the dough and your rolling pin so that it doesn't stick and end up tearing the dough. Fold the dough into layers and then cut the noodles with a knife. Remember to keep lightly dusting the noodles after each cut.

In a stock pot add water and bring to a boil. Once water comes to a rolling boil add pasta noodles and let it cook for 1-2 minutes. Place noodles in stainer and let all of the water strain out before adding noodles to the sauce.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.5.5.2