Lobster recipe: Lobster with garlic butter

Lobster with garlic butter recipe

(Roast lobster with garlic butter, classic bearnaise sauce and chips cooked in duck fat, generously sprinkled with sea salt.)

Serves 4 as a main course
250ml dry white wine
4 slices of lemon
1 bay leaf
1 sprig of thyme
1 tbsp white peppercorns
3 tbsp sea salt
4 lobsters, each 450-500g



For the garlic butter
6 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 medium shallot, finely chopped
6 tbsp chopped parsley
Salt and freshly ground pepper

1 tbsp Pernod
250g butter, room temperature
1 Pour 4 litres of water into a large pan, add the wine, lemon, herbs, salt and peppercorns and bring to the boil. Kill the lobsters by piercing the head with a large pointed knife, then place them in the pan. Boil 8-10 minutes then leave to cool in the water for 10 minutes. Remove the lobsters and place on a rack for at least an hour to cool completely.
2 Next, make the garlic butter by mixing all of the other ingredients into the soft butter, then set to one side.
3 Remove the claws from the lobsters and crack open to collect the flesh. Split each lobster in half lengthways, remove the grit sac and intestinal tract. Gently pull out the flesh without detaching the head. Smear a little garlic butter into the shell, then place the flesh back, putting the claw meat in the head cavity. Smear more garlic butter on top. Bake in a hot oven, 210C/425F/gas mark 7, for 8-10 minutes. Put on a serving dish and spoon over more simmering garlic butter. Serve immediately with bearnaise.
Chips cooked in duck fat
You can cut the chips to any size you like, but I think they are best cut fat.
Serves 4
4-6 good-quality chipping potatoes, peeled and cut to chips
Duck or goose fat, for deep frying
Coarse sea salt
1 Rinse the chips in cold water for an hour, then drain and dry in cloth.
2 Heat the fat in a deep fat fryer to 120C/250F, or heat in a deep, heavy-based saucepan, then fry the chips until cooked, but with no colour. Carefully lift out of the fat then leave to cool completely.
3 Reheat the fat to 180C/350F, then cook the chips again until golden. Drain on kitchen paper then sprinkle with the sea salt. Serve immediately.