Surf-and-turf Valentine’s Day Dinner ロブスターとステーキ（サーフアンドターフ）

We rarely have a surf-and-turf dinner but since it was Valentine’s  day, we decided to have a steak and lobster dinner. The filet mignon came from Omaha steak and we got frozen lobster tail from Whole Food.  I cooked both in sous vide. I also made “Mac-and-cheese”. The temperatures I used in the past for lobster tail and steak were slightly different but this time I used 135F for both so that I could sous vide both in the same setting which worked.  The steaks were cooked for 4 hours and the lobster 45 minutes. I timed it so they both came out around 7pm.

I seasoned the lobster tails with salt and tarragon (I only had dried) and vacuum packed with several pats of cold butter. After it was cooked I removed the lobster from the vacuum pack, and drained the liquid inside and added a squeeze of lemon juice to make a lobster-butter dipping sauce. It was perfectly cooked.

I thawed the previously frozen steak and patted it dry. I then further dried it on sheets of paper towel, uncovered for a few hours in the refrigerator.  I seasoned it with salt and pepper before vacuum packing it for sous vide. After it was cooked I removed the steak from the vacuum bag, and quickly seared both sides in a frying pan with melted butter. I set the steak aside and added the juice accumulated in the vacuum bag to the pan and scraped off the brown bits left from searing the steak. I added 2-3 tbs of red wine and reduce the mixture in half. I finished the pan sauce with pats of butter and seasoned with salt and pepper. The steak was nice medium rare.

I have made and  posted several variations of “Mac and cheese”. This time I went with a classic with Béchamel sauce but I also added finely chopped fresh shiitake mushroom which added nice flavors. The cheeses I used as per my wife’s selection were fresh goat, sharp cheddar and smoke Gouda. The seasonings were salt and freshly grated black pepper and nutmeg. We really liked this version.

We had this with one of our favorites; Caymus Napa valley Cabernet  Sauvignon 2020. We really enjoyed this special dinner and wine.

Lobster omelet ロブスターのだし巻き

This year, we had lobsters from Maine for Thanksgiving. They arrived live in a Styrofoam box. We prepared the lobsters early in the day so that at Thanksgiving dinner, we would not have to struggle extracting the meat from the shell. We decided to steam the claws and bodies and then butter poach the tails in sous vide. I cut the head/body portion in half with a heavy chef's knife sending the lobsters off quickly. I then removed the claws. I steamed the claws (for 12 to 14 minutes) and the halved body sections (7 to 8 minutes) in a Dutch oven with a steamer basket. I also steamed the tails briefly (3-4 minutes) and then removed the tail meat. I discovered that it was almost impossible to remove the tail meat from the shell if I did not either quickly boil or steam them. I found that the meat would not come off from the shell cleanly and a lot of it otherwise got left behind. My wife and I then worked together to remove all the claw meat, even from the legs (my wife did this using a small wooden roller). I kept the body sections in the refrigerator until dinner (two had roe or corals). I stuffed the sections with crab meat in Bechamel sauce and baked/grilled them (a modification of what I posted before).  I also made lobster bisque from the shells of the lobsters as usual. 

We did not take any pictures at Thanksgiving dinner.  We had champagne (H. Blin Champagne Brut NV, which was just OK).  We served cucumber and the lobster meat (mostly claws)  dressed in a Japanese "Kimisu" 黄身酢. Then, we had the lobster bodies stuffed with the crab meat and Bechamel sauce.  Finally, we had the sous vide butter poached lobster tails with sautéed asparagus. This time I used a lower temperatures (55C) for the sous vide. The lobster came out better than when it was cooked at  60C.

Since we had a good amount of left over lobster claw meat, at my wife's suggestion, the next day, I made this crab stuffed Japanese omelet.

Instead of using the regular Japanese broth, I used my lobster bisque to season the eggs (I used three eggs and 3 tbs of lobster bisque). I also made an emulsified butter sauce of reduced lobster bisque, soy sauce, finished with pats of cold butter. We had this omelet for lunch the next day. Since we were still within the Thanksgiving holiday, we had a glass of chardonnay (Foley 2012).

Ingredients (for one omelet):
3 eggs
Lobster meat, Whatever amount you can roll in (#2)
Lobster bisque (#1).

Directions:
Like "U-maki" or other stuffed Japanese omelets, I used a rectangular Japanese omelet pan. I poured the egg mixture in thin layers and lined-up the lobster meat about half inch below the top (farther end). When the egg mixture was almost set, I started rolling the omelet. I repeated the process of pouring the egg mixture (to make sure it flowed under the omelet) and rolling until all the egg mixture was used (#3).  When you cut it you can see the lobster meat (#4).

We knew lobster and eggs go well. Since I flavored the eggs with lobster bisque and made a sauce with reduced lobster bisque and butter, everything tied together with a wonderful lobster flavor. This was a good use of leftover lobster and much better than having leftover turkey. It was also a good way to enjoy the afternoon rather than try to go out a fight "black Friday" traffic.

Lobster Bisque with carb meat カニ肉入りロブスタービスク

When I went to our regular grocery store, they had a special on previously frozen (and just starting to thaw) lobster tails at the fish counter. I got two and made sous vide butter poached lobster tails. As usual, I made lobster bisque from the shell. Compared to whole lobsters, the amount of shells and resulting bisque was just enough for 2 small servings. I served this with a mound of lump crab meat as a part of weekend lunch which was proceeded by avocado tofu.

Since I had tobiko roe, I used it as a garnish and also small cubes of cucumber (American mini-cucumber).

We had this with my baguette. As my wife says, she likes the lobster bisque almost more than eating lobster itself because it is the distilled essence of lobster without the work of cracking the shell. The addition of crab meat and tobiko roe made this bisque a little bit special.

Lobster bisque as amuse bouche ロブスタービスク

As usual, after another recent "splurge" dinner of lobster I made lobster bisque the next day. I decided to serve the lobster bisque garnished with left over claw meat as an amuse-bouche. Since the bisque was so rich I wanted to serve a small amount so I used some tall narrow containers we got sometime ago in San Francisco (I am not sure they were originally intended to be used for because they are an odd size and shape. They are too large and tall to be used for sake cups, too narrow for a tea cup and too small for a tumbler). Nonetheless we liked the color and bought them but never really found a use for them.

The piece of claw meat was a good size but mostly sank into the bisque.

Since this version of lobster bisque was very rich (I used good amount of butter and cream). This was the perfect amount for us as a starter. We finally found a practical use for these otherwise lovely dishes. 

Chawan-mushi flavored with lobster bisque ロブスター味の茶碗蒸し

Whenever we have lobster, I make lobster bisque from the shells and carcasses. This time I used the lobster bisque to flavor chawan-mushi 茶碗蒸し and added crab meat to make a sort of hybrid dish. I garnished it with julienne of radish and snow peas.

I put crab meat in the bottom and also on the top (I placed the top garnish including crab meat after the egg had set).

Ingredients: (6 small containers as seen below)

3 large eggs (about 150ml)

450ml Lobster bisque (or three times volume of the eggs)

Crab meat (more the better)

Snow peas and small red radish for garnish.

I beat the eggs, added the lobster bisque and mixed well. I placed crab meat in the bottom of each container and poured the egg mixture through a fine strainer into the containers. I placed the containers in a wok and steamed for 15 minutes. I checked and turned down the heat so the steam was steady but not so strong the egg mixture would developed bubbles. Once the custard set, I placed the garnishes on top including additional crab meat and steamed for another 5-10 minutes (see below).

This was good. I thought the lobster flavor would overwhelm the delicateness of the dish but it did not. It did not look any different from my usual chawan-mushi but on tasting it, the lobster bisque flavor came to the front in a nice subtle way. The sweet crab meet was also nice.  This variation of chwan-mushi will make our regular (or "teibann" 定番) dish.

Monk fish medallions with lobster crab sauce アンコウのかにロブスターソース

I saw Monk fish fillets at our regular grocery store. It looked good and the price was very reasonable so I got two small filets for the evening. I could have made my usual baked monk fish filet but since we had lobster bisque (before adding cream to finish) from our previous lobster feast, I decided to make crab/lobster sauce with medallion of Monk fish.  So, I got a small container of lump crab meat as well. This dish was not based on any recipe and I just winged it but it turned out to be extremely good. Given the sweetness and lobster-like texture of the monk fish combined with the lobster flavor from the bisque it was not hard to imagine we were eating medallions of lobster tail rather than medallions of monk fish.


 I garnished with chopped chives and micro-grated zest of lemon.



Adding the sauce filled with lump crab meat and lobster flavored creamy sauce, it really taste like real lobster tails.

Ingredients (for two servings):
Monk fish: Two small filets, membrane removed, seasoned with salt and pepper. I sprinkled paprika to imitate the look of lobster tail more than for the flavor.
Lobster broth: This was a base for Lobster bisque. (Briefly reiterate; chopped onion, celery, sautéed in butter, add tomato paste, lobster shells, water and simmer for 1 hour. Remove the solids, reduce remaining liquid by half).
Cream, Butter

I first cooked the Monk fish, in a non-stick frying pan, I melted the butter and cooked the filets turning a few times and put them in a 350F oven for 4-5 minutes. I removed the filets to a plate, covered them with aluminum foil and let them rest for 5 minutes. Meanwhile I prepared the sauce. In the same pan, I added the lobster broth to deglaze, added cream and butter to emulsify to make it to a saucy consistency. I added the crab meat to warm up. I tasted it and it was salty enough. I added few grinds of white pepper.

I cut the monk fish fillets into about 1 inch thick medallions and placed in the middle of the plate (see below).



I  poured the sauce with crab meat around the monk fish medallions and garnished with chives and lemon zest (first two images).

This was a really good dish. We really enjoyed lobsters we had almost week ago again.

Valentine’s day dinner バレンタインデーディナー

For Valentine's day, we did not go out for dinner but instead, baked live lobsters stuffed with crab meat in Bechamel sauce. The live lobsters were from Lobsters New England as before.

We started with sparkling wine from Domain Chandon Vintage brute (2007). This is rather assertive California sparkling wine with crisp acidity with apple and melon notes.  I even garnished the sparkling wine with strawberries.

I prepared the lobsters exactly the same way as I did before. I quickly dispatched them by cutting the head segments in half.  Since the lobsters were rather small (1 1/4 lb), instead of halving the tail, I removed the tail as one piece and removed the shell from the underside and loosen the meat. I removed the claws and cleaned the head segments leaving the tomalley. I adjusted the baking time a bit from the last time (at 400F, I started with the claws and baked them for 8 minutes before addling the tails and halved head segments and baked them for 5 minutes. I them stuffed the head segments and coated the tail meat with a mixture of crab meat in Bechamel sauce. I then covered the lobster with a mixture of panko bread crumbs, olive oil, chopped fresh tarragon, and grated parmesan cheese.* I baked for an additional 10 minutes.

* Since I shortened the baking time after I put on the panko mixture, I pre-browned the bread crumbs in a frying pan before addling to the lobsters.

While we were waiting for the lobsters to cook, I served the remaining big eye tuna we got with the live lobsters. As I described, this tuna was not perfectly fresh and I did a "Yubiki" treatment and made "zuke" and "poke" the day before. This time, I just served the tuna as straightforward sashimi. I served it with daikon namasu on the bed of baby arugula and also made a small side dish of fresh okra




Although I knew my wife does not like okra, this okra was one of the best and most unblemished okra I have seen in our regular grocery store for some time. So I couldn’t help it. It bought it. After I scrubbed the surface with salt, I washed it and parboiled it for 30 seconds and then plunged it into ice water. I removed the stem end and chopped it finely. I mixed it with dry bonito flakes (kezuri bushi 削り節 or katuso bushi 鰹節) and seasoned it with soy sauce. I garnished it with thin rounds of okra.



I thought the addition of dried bonito flakes helped to cut the sliminess of the okra but my wife did not particularly think that was the case and suggested the addition of strong vinegar. Oh well, I tried.

For comparison, the below is the same tuna but after marinating in soy sauce/sake/mirin mixture in the style of "zuke" which we had the night before.

Once, the Yubiki process was added, the tuna was quite good in zuke or sashimi.

After the sashimi, we enjoyed the crab meat stuffed lobsters. Of course, I made lobster bisque next day (I even bought two previously frozen lobster tails and steamed them for the bisque).

Lobster bisque ロブスタービスク

Every time we have lobster, I make lobster bisque from the carcasses and shells. According to my wife, lobster bisque is actually better than the lobster itself (which is mighty fine in its own right) because of the concentrated lobster taste. It is also much easier to eat.



I do not follow a particular recipe but I am sure all lobster bisque recipes must be similar. I use only a small amount of flour to thicken the soup as I do not want a very thick starchy bisque. Some may like to use all heavy cream to make the bisque thicken but, for me, that is a bit too much.

Ingredients
Lobster Carcasses: from 2 lobsters, cut into manageable size.
Vegetables: onion (2, finely diced), celery (3 stalks finely sliced),  carrots (3, cut into small chunks).
Tomato paste: about 2 tbs
White wine: 1 cup
Water to just cover the vegetables and lobster carcasses.
Thyme: 1/4 tsp, dried
Bay leaves: 2-3
Olive oil and butter.
Cream
Flour: 2-3 tabs (to thicken the bisque)

In a deep stock pot, I added butter and olive oil (1 tbs each). When hot, I added the onion and celery and sautéed until soft (3-4 minutes) and seasoned it with salt and pepper. I moved the vegetables aside and added the tomato paste to the bottom of the pan and moved it around to caramelize it as indicated when the color turned dark. This took about 1-2 minutes. Then I added the white wine (left over from dinner the previous night) and simmered for few minutes. I then added the carrots and the lobster carcasses. Using a wooden spatula, I pushed down on the carcasses and then poured in the water (we always use filtered water from our reverse osmosis system) to just cover. I added the thyme and bay leaves. I put the lid on and let it simmer for one hour or more. I occasionally mixed/pressed down on the carcasses using a wooden spatula during the cooking to make sure everything was submerged.

Using a large fine meshed sieve, I strained and removed all solids. This yielded about 4 cups of broth. I let it cool down to the room temperature, covered, and placed in the refrigerator (of course, you can do the reduction part without a pause).

Next day, I melted butter (about 3 tbs) in a stock pot. When melted, I added the flour (3 tbs) and mixed until no raw flour was visible but not colored (about 5 minutes). I added about a cup of cold broth and whisked quickly. When the flour/butter mixture was completely incorporated, I added the rest of the broth to the pot. At this point, the broth was very slightly thickened. I let it simmer without the lid on for about one hour to reduce it to half (about 2 cups). At the end of the reduction, I tasted it. Because of the saltiness from the lobster carcasses and the reduction, no salt was needed. The broth was nicely seasoned and all the essence of lobster was there. Again, I let it cool down to room temperature and place the reduced broth into a sealable container and placed it in the refrigerator.

To serve, I poured the amount for two servings into a sauce pan and gently heated it up. When warm, I added cream (about 4 tbs, the amount is up to you) and gently stirred. I do not like very thick starchy bisque but I also do not like too much heavy cream in my bisque.  I poured it into soup bowls with the cooked lobster meat in the center. I did not add any other garnish. I even omitted the slug of sherry usually included in this kid of bisque by my wife's request. She said she did not want to risk having the sherry overpower the lobster flavor.

As my wife said, this is a very essence of the lobster. It is velvety smooth with all the flavor of lobster. The lobster meat got warmed up which was very sweet.

Crab meat stuffed baked lobster 蟹肉入りロブスターのオーブン焼き

In preparation for an upcoming celebration I asked my wife if she would like to go out to a fancy restaurant. She said she preferred either a lobster or dry aged good beef cooked at home.  So I ordered two live lobsters that were each slightly over 2 lbs. They arrived the next day loose in a Styrofoam box. They were quite lively, moving around and according to my wife, focused on getting out of the box. Since I was not at home at the time, my wife was at a bit of loss as to what to do with them. She taped the box shut to prevent a “great escape” and put the box in the refrigerator. After some thought I decided to "bake" the lobsters stuffed with crab meat and topped with bread crumbs.


In the past we have tried boiling lobsters but that tends to get messy. First you need a pot that is big enough, secondly the process is somewhat gruesome, and thirdly the lobsters end up cooked but waterlogged.  We have also asked to have them steamed at the store where we bought them. Steaming is better than boiling at home, but we get the impression some of the lobsters have been residing in the tanks for quite some time because they have algae growing on their shells which is not very appealing. (The mail-order lobsters were not cloaked in any algae).  I decided to dispatch these fellows in the quickest most humane way possible. I had read somewhere that putting them in the freezer for a short period would anesthetize them but we did not have enough space in the freezer so I covered them in ice cubes. Maybe it would have been more effective to put them in the freezer because even with the ice cube bath this guy was feisty enough to challenge the heavy and sharp chef's knife in front of him.  I used the tip of the knife to pierce the junction between the head and abdominal segments cutting through the entire head section in one fell-swoop. This is the least pleasant aspect of a lobster dinner but I like to think this was much quicker than death by hot boiling water.  


I then cut the tail into half by extending the cut I made in the head section. I cleaned the head section leaving only the edible portions; the "coral" (it looks green when raw  but will turn orange or coral color when cooked) and liver or "tamalley". I then removed the intestine along the upper portion of the tail meat. I put the lobsters on a cookie sheet lined with aluminum foil (see below).



I removed the rubber bands around the claws and baked them at 410F for 10 minutes. I then stuff the head cavity with crab meat (Jumbo lump) in Bechamel sauce* and also spread the crab over the tail meat (below).

* This is my usual bechamel sauce. I sautéed finely chopped onion (one medium) in butter (2 tbs) until semi-transparent and soft. I added flour (3 tbs) and kept sautéing until no "raw" flour remained and the onion pieces were all coated with the butter/flour mixture. I added 1 cup of cold milk at once and kept stirring until thickened. I seasoned with salt and white pepper. I did not use any other seasoning to preserve the delicate flavor of the crab and lobster meat. I then mixed in jombo lump crab meat (about 8oz).



I then, spread bread crumbs (Panko) mixed with chopped parsley, olive oil and grated parmesan cheese (below) and place it back to the oven.



After 15 more minutes, the lobsters were done and bread crumbs got nicely brown and crispy (below).



For libation, we started with Cuvee Mumm Napa DVX 2001 which we had kept for over 10 years in our refrigerator for a special occasion like this. It was very nice with fine small bubbles and very slight toasted bread aroma with green apple and citrus. Although we usually do not drink white wine, we made an exception and opened Robert Young Chardonnay Red Winery Road 2007. This is one of the rare "old" California style oaked chardonnay with nice buttery oaky flavors.



The lobsters were sweet and great. Getting to the claw meat was as always a bit of work but at the end it was well worth it.