Lobster With White Chocolate Vanilla Bourbon Sauce Recipes

LOBSTER IN VANILLA SAUCE

Steps:

• Simmer the first 9 ingredients in the fish stock or water for 1 hour. Add the vanilla bean and white wine and bring to a boil. Add the seaweed and lobsters and boil 8 to 10 minutes. Reserve until service.
• Briefly sauté shallots in butter. Add white wine and vanilla bean. Reduce until almost dry. Add cream and fish glacé. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer about 5 minutes. At the last minute, add the scallops and simmer until barely done, about 1 1/2 minutes per side. Correct seasoning. Remove pan from heat and reserve, keeping warm.
• Sauté the leek in the butter until tender but still green in color. Add the whipping cream. Season with salt and pepper and reduce at a low boil until the liquid almost evaporates and a thick sauce forms. Reserve, keeping warm.
• Shell the lobster tails and claws. Slice the tails into medallions. On each serving plate place 1 spoonful of leeks and half of a lobster. Spoon scallops on top of the leeks. Spoon vanilla sauce over all. Garnish with lobster heads, tails and legs.

LOBSTERS IN BOURBON-FLAVORED WHITE BUTTER SAUCE

Steps:

• Place each lobster on a flat surface and plunge a sharp, heavy knife into the midsection where the tail joins the body. Cut off the tails of the lobsters, cutting crosswise at the point where the tail is attached to the main body of the lobsters. Set aside.
• Cut the main body of each lobster in half lengthwise. Cut or break off the claws at the point where they are joined to the bodies. Reserve in a small bowl any liquid that flows from the lobsters as they are prepared. Scoop out the tomalley and so on from the main bodies and add this to the lobster liquid. Set aside. Set the solid pieces of lobster aside.
• Heat a large, heavy-duty skillet over high heat until it is almost smoking. Add the oil and the moment that it is hot, add the solid lobster pieces. Do not add the tomalley and liquid. Cook, stirring the pieces around, about two minutes, then sprinkle with salt and pepper. Add one tablespoon of the bourbon and remove from the heat. Stir all over the bottom. Turn the heat to high and add the water. Bring to the boil and cook over high heat for about three minutes.
• Using a pair of tongs, remove the tail and claws. When these pieces are cool enough to handle, crack the shells and remove the meat, which will not be fully cooked at this point. Let the main body portions continue to cook in the skillet.
• As you remove the tail and claw meat, return the empty shells to the skillet. If any liquid has accumulated around the lobster pieces, add this to the skillet. Continue cooking over high heat, stirring the shells around, about 10 minutes.
• Line another skillet with a fine sieve, preferably of the sort known in French kitchens as a chinois. Pour the mixture into the sieve and press the solids to extract as much liquid as possible from the shells. Discard the shells. There should be about two and one-third cups of liquid. Add the shallots to this liquid and bring to the boil. Cook over high heat about five minutes. Hold a sieve over the mixture and pour in the reserved lobster liquid and tomalley mixture. Put the drained tomalley into a small bowl. Set aside. Simmer the liquid in the skillet until it is reduced to about one and one-half cups.
• Add two tablespoons of softened butter and the remaining one tablespoon of bourbon. Beat briskly with a fork to blend thoroughly.
• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
• Add the remaining half pound of butter to the one and one-half cups of simmering liquid, stirring rapidly, until the sauce is slightly thickened. Add the tomalley mixture, stirring. Cook about two minutes and put the sauce through a fine sieve.
• Pour this sauce into a saucepan and heat gently.
• Arrange the lobster pieces neatly in one layer in a baking dish. Spoon a thin layer of the sauce over the lobster pieces and place the dish in the oven. Bake briefly, about five minutes, just enough to heat through. Serve the lobster with a garnish of a green herb, such as chervil. Serve the remaining sauce on the side.

MILLE-FEUILLE WITH VANILLA PASTRY CREAM AND BOURBON SAUCE

Steps:

• For the pastry cream: In a medium saucepan, combine the milk, granulated sugar, salt and vanilla seeds and pod. Bring to a simmer over medium-low heat, then remove from the heat.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together the cornstarch and egg yolks. Temper the eggs by adding about 1/4 cup of the warm milk mixture and whisking to combine. Add the egg mixture to the pan and whisk to thoroughly combine.
• Heat the pan over medium-low heat until it begins to thicken. Cook, stirring constantly with a spatula, until the mixture is the consistency of pancake batter, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and discard the vanilla bean pod. Whisk in the butter until combined. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve. Transfer to a shallow dish and press a sheet of plastic wrap directly onto the surface. Place in the refrigerator to cool completely, at least 1 hour and up to overnight.
• For the bourbon sauce: In a small saucepan, add the bourbon, granulated sugar and vanilla beans and pod. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to maintain a simmer. Reduce the liquid by about half until thickened to a syrupy consistency, about 15 minutes. Remove and discard the vanilla bean pod; cool the syrup to room temperature.
• For the mille-feuille: Roll out the puff pastry on a floured surface so that it is a roughly 11-by-16-inch rectangle. Using a sharp knife or pizza cutter, trim off any uneven edges so that it is a perfect 10-by-15-inch rectangle. Slice the pastry into 12 approximately 2 1/2-by-5-inch rectangles. Place them on a lined baking sheet. Place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to chill.
• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Brush the tops of the puff pastry rectangles with the butter and sprinkle with the granulated sugar. Cover with a sheet of parchment paper and another baking sheet on top so the puff pastry is sandwiched in between. Bake until golden, about 20 minutes. Remove the top baking sheet and parchment and let cool to room temperature.
• To assemble: Spoon a small dollop of the pastry cream onto each plate to act as a "glue" for the first layer of puff pastry. Place one layer of puff pastry onto the cream dollop, then top with a layer of cream. Nestle about 6 raspberries in the pastry cream in rows and top them with a dollop more of pastry cream. Repeat the layers once more and top with a final layer of pastry. Dust the pastry and plate liberally with confectioners' sugar and drizzle the plate around the pastry with the bourbon sauce.

ROAST LOBSTER WITH VANILLA SAUCE

Steps:

• Place a roasting pan large enough to hold the lobsters in the oven and preheat to 450 degrees. With the tip of a sharp knife pierce lobsters between the eyes to sever the spinal cord. Crack claws using the blunt edge of a cleaver or a hammer. Place lobsters in the hot roasting pan, drizzle with oil and roast until red, about 15 minutes. Remove from oven, and set aside.
• Melt 2 teaspoons of butter in a small saucepan, add the shallots and saute over low heat until soft and translucent, about 3 minutes. Add wine and vinegar, raise heat and cook at a moderate boil until the liquid is reduced to 1 tablespoon, about 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat, and whisk in 6 tablespoons of butter, about 1 tablespoon at a time until all is incorporated. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean into the sauce, stir to combine and strain into a clean saucepan. Season with 1/4 teaspoon salt and pepper, and set aside.
• When the lobsters are cool enough to handle, remove the meat from the claws. Detach the tails, and discard the heads. With a pair of scissors, cut the shell on the underside of each tail in half lengthwise, remove the meat and cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices. Loosely cover the meat with aluminum foil, and keep warm.
• Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a large pot, and add spinach and watercress. Stir until greens have melted down, and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until greens are tender, about 5 minutes. Season with 1/4 teaspoon salt and pepper.
• To serve, reheat the sauce over low heat until warm, whisking constantly. Place a bed of greens on each plate, arrange the lobster meat on top and spoon the sauce over the lobster. Serve immediately.