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:
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.
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
I am looking for a bisque called Lobster Neuberg. Hope you can help.
Mary Sue from Wiggins, MS
This delicious three cheese lobster and macaroni casserole is delicious and surprisingly inexpensive per serving. This is a page about making lobster mac and cheese.