Last week I celebrated my birthday. Which happens to take place on 9/11, so for the last 10 years it has been a day of people telling me what a sad day it is to have my birthday. Of course, seeing the images again and again on tv, especially the many eye-witness reports, makes me silent and wonder how the people in those planes and buildings must have worried about what kind of nightmare they ended up in. It makes you realize every normal life day should be a day for celebration. And so we did.
Since my fellow party people had not yet tried my limoncello brewage, I decided that a limoncello sorbet was indispensable in my menu for the evening. Lemon became my inspiration for the entire menu and so every course ended up with a touch of sourness. I had planned for a lobster salad as starter, but as I had slightly underestimated the body size of my frozen lobster, ‘starter’ was at the last minute degraded to ‘appetizer’ and the salad became a burger. The entire table seemed to love it though, so again I guess this proves that sometimes little kitchen accidents end up being the best inspiration.
Lobster burgers (4 persons): 1 deep-frozen lobster of approx. 350g (of course you can use fresh lobster, if you, unlike me so far, have the guts to cook it alive), 8 slices of white toast bread, watercress, 1 avocado, 1 lemon, slices of cucumber, olive oil, tartare sauce and freshly milled pepper for finishing.
Thaw the frozen lobster. The best way to do this is in the fridge (takes about 12 hours) or at room temperature (4-5 hours). Whatever you do, do not boil it because this will make the lobster meat leathery. Remove lobster meat from claws, body and legs (if these contain any meat). Marinate the lobster meat with olive oil, some of the freshly milled pepper and juice of lemon and leave in the fridge for a few hours. The head, body shell and emptied claws are perfect for making lobster butter. Just melt some cooking butter with the remainings of the lobster and some carrots, leek, 3 spoons of concentrated tomato and garlic. Leave to simmer for 1 hour, sift and leave in the fridge for stiffening.
Cut circles from the white bread and toast crunchy. If you made lobster butter, smudge some on the inside of the toasts. Create a burger with a layer of toast, watercress, avocado slices and again toast. Add slices of cucumber, the rest of the freshly milled pepper and some tartare sauce for finishing.
kyarOOrain 