It must have been the scotch talking when Megan and I decided to tackle Lobster Thermidor as our first Top 10 event. I'm certain it's the most daunting item on the list. In the world of "go big or go home", we went big. And I gotta say, I'm pretty impressed. I first read the recipe last Monday, figuring I should probably know what we had gotten ourselves into & possibly start mentally preparing. Oh. My. Mental preparation definitely in order. I immediately notified Megan that this could take us most of Sunday. Not because of lengthy cooking times or overly complicated steps, but because I was certain we would a) be disgusted at certain points, b) need to pause for gagging, pep talks, more champagne, (in actuality, all of the above) and c) have to take breaks for laughter and photos. Take, for instance, my favorite step in the process:
Split the lobsters in half lengthwise, keeping the shell halves intact. Discard the sand sacks in the heads - (what is a sand sack?!) - and the intestinal tubes. (Right.) Rub lobster coral and green matter (gagging) through a fine sieve into the mixing bowl, and blend it into the mustard, egg yolks, cream and pepper. (Whoa. Coral and green matter. I did not sign up for this. Who eats anything that has something kindly referred to as "MATTER" blended into it?!?)
Easy as pie. Even though it was her idea, Megan had her doubts about our ability to conquer Lobster Thermidor from the beginning. I was confident ... until I read this step. But I had faith, I knew we'd find the strength to pull it out. In hindsight, we are total rockstars. There was no gagging, but plenty of fun and laughter. Not to mention some hilarious pictures. Thanks to Christy and Jamie for joining us for the adventure! J - the pictures wouldn't be the same without your talent for the candid; they truly capture the moments. C - you are either very brave or had no idea what you were agreeing to when you accepted the invite to join us for dinner!
A few other random anecdotes from the evening:
When we arrived at the fish market to buy the live lobster, there was 1 left. Good news! Except for one little thing, he was almost 8 pounds and most definitely bigger in size than Olive (my little black pug). See for yourself. I got to hold him and then kindly left him to wait for a better home. Dropping him into a pot of boiling water is not a fight I would have won. I'm afraid I would have lost an arm, a couple of fingers at the least!
After choosing our 3 small (approx 1.5 lbs each) already steamed lobsters, battling the crowds at Whole Foods & then having to make a trip to another grocery store for whipping cream (not talking about Cool Whip, folks) and cognac, arrived back home just after 4 pm to no electricity. Awesome. Hundreds of dollars worth of perishable food items & no electricity. Not to worry, we kicked into survival mode and made the best of it. I climbed on top of the counter for the wine bucket, took the ice out of the freezer -- had to anyway so I didn't have a pool of water in my freezer! -- and set the champagne to chill. If everything else went to waste, at least we would enjoy the champagne!
While I was dealing with all of the matter, Megan and Christy got the job of getting the lobster meat out of the tails and claws. I wasn't paying much attention, but I know they were using pliers at one point because I had to go dig them out of the closet. Obviously they took their jobs seriously! By the way, Megan, reviews on the lobster juice facial?!
All in all, major success. The food was amazing and the memories will bring laughter for years to come. Can't say I want to see coral or green matter again anytime soon (still makes me cringe to think of it), but when you blend it with enough butter and cream, Y-U-M! Enjoy the pictures! (slideshow included below)
Oh, one last thing -- this claim that French women don't get fat. Complete crap. There was a definite roundness to my stomach when I woke up this morning that was not there yesterday. That's what approx 16 Tbs of butter and a cup of heavy cream will do to you.
Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.
