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One of our favorite recipes for a special Christmas Eve or
New Year's dinner is lobster in a creamy tomato tarragon
sauce, which I adapted about twenty years ago from a recipe
Julia Child published for chicken breasts in a tarragon
white wine sauce. Because lobster has an affinity for the
anise - like flavor of herbs such as chervil and tarragon, I
thought it might work with fresh lobster meat, and we've
been making it ever since. This is a rich and somewhat
expensive meal which is why we save it for special
occasions. Use a good fish stock, which many fish stores
provide, or make a stock from lobster shells if you are
cooking your own lobster meat (see our archived recipe for
lobster and corn chowder for instructions; omit the corn
cobs). A mild chicken stock works also. Serve the lobster
with spinach, braised leeks or other green vegetable and
buttered rice or small pasta such as orzo. Occasionally we
increase the sauce ingredients by a half and serve the
lobster over linguine. This is the meal to splurge on a good
white Burgundy or brut champagne in keeping with the spirit
of the holidays.
For four servings:
- One pound lobster meat, slightly undercooked (if ordering
from a fish market request the lobsters be cooked 3 minutes
less than for done; do the same if cooking at home - the
meat finishes cooking as the dish is finished)
- 1 1/2 tablespoons finely chopped shallots
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 1 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon or 2 teaspoons dried
- 1 1/2 cups drained and chopped tomatoes. In summer choose the
most flavorful heirloom tomatoes. This time of year, canned
tomatoes, your own or purchased, are far superior to
tasteless supermarket "fresh" varieties. We use Muir Glen
- Organic whole tomatoes when ours are gone.
- 1/2 cup heavy cream - do not substitute light cream which will
curdle in the acid sauce
- 3/4 cup fish, lobster or chicken stock - do not use bottled
clam juice
- 1/2 cup dry white wine
- Salt and freshly ground pepper
Chop the lobster into 1 -2 inch pieces, leaving claws
intact. Heat a medium sauté pan over medium heat and melt
butter until it foams. Add shallots and cook, stirring until
softened - 2 or 3 minutes. Add tomatoes and tarragon,
increasing the heat to high so that the tomatoes boil,
losing some of their moisture. Add the stock, cream and wine
and continue boiling until the sauce has thickened and
reduced. Add salt and several grinds of pepper to taste. If
serving immediately, reduce heat until the sauce is just
simmering, stir in the lobster and cook for 1 - 2 minutes
until the meat is hot. It will continue to cook as you serve
it. Serve on warmed plates with your choice of vegetable and
starch. The sauce can be made ahead, in which case I suggest
the boiling and reduction be done just before adding the
meat and serving.
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