My "Ferocious" Lobster Bisque Recipe

Ingredients to serve 4 people

2 fresh lobster (about 1kg each not too big as the meat becomes tougher)

3 cubes of Fish Stock (Knorr brand)

3 litres of water (for stock)

1 tablespoon olive oil

20g of butter

2 carrots (chopped)

2 stalk of celery (chopped)

1 large onion (chopped)

4 tbs white wine

1 teaspoon Parsley flakes

200 ~ 300g of tomato paste

200g of thickening cream

1 tablespoon flour (for starch)

Preparing the lobsters:

1. I got the lobsters fresh from the seafood seller and got them to separate the lobster head and body (save me the hastle of chopping a flustered lobster). I got them to trim the feelers short too. Bring it home to refrigerate until you need to use it.

2. Before cooking wash the lobster under a running tap with a medium soup pot. At this point the lobster may still be moving but not as vigorously now (you may still see little twitches and movements but nothing spectacular). Pour away the water and leave it aside.

3. Flip the tail end of the lobster with the underside facing upwards, the top hard shell on a chopping board. Cut a slice on the soft shell, using a scissors, to expose the meat inside. The shell here should be softer than the top side. This is to allow the meat to be more uniformly cooked later. I was trying to use the top side as a decoration so I'm not creating any incision on the top shell. Otherwise, simply split the lobster tail in half with a knife.

Method :

1. Throw the 3 cubes of fish stock into the soup pot (I used a 12" soup pot) into 3 litres of water. Bring the mixture to a boil and then turn to low heat and continues to simmer.

2. While the fish stock is cooking, heat up a frying pan, add the olive oil and then the butter. Stir fry the carrots, onion and celery until they are soft and then add them into the pot of fish stock.

3. Add the 2 lobster heads into the soup pot (at this point I still see some feelers and leg movements even when the lobster heads were severed 2 hours ago). With a big soup ladle, place a lobster tail into the soup pot until the meat is half cooked (if the lobster tail is not split as mention above, the meat will not be cooked uniformly). Put the half cooked lobster tail aside in a plate. Repeat with the next lobster tail. Leave the stock to simmer.

My lobster heads in the pot of vegetable and fish stock

4. Remove the lobster meat from the tail carefully (so that the tail shell will not be damaged, else the lobster bisque don't look as "ferocious" anymore). Throw the shells back into te stock to simmer with the head. Cut the half cooked lobster meat into smaller bite chunks.

My Half Cooked Lobster Meat

5. When the stock is reduced to half, remove the vegetables, shells and lobster heads. I used a strainer and ladle for this purpose. Keep the lobster heads and lobster tail shells. Throw the rest away (not the soup stock OK?). At this point, taste the soup stock as a reference.

All strained out

6. Add 4 tablespoons of white wine and stir the soup.

7. Add 1 teaspoon of parsley flakes ( you can used fresh parsley if you like) into the soup.

8. Add the tomato paste in portions and stir. Taste the soup to see if you'll like more tomato taste over the lobster's flavor. You don't want so much that you end up drinking tomato soup. Leave the soup to simmer for 10 mins.

8. Add the thickening cream and stir till the soup is uniformly colored. At this point judge if you'll like the soup to be thicker. If you'll like to add the starch in gradually till it's your prefered thickness.

9. Split the lobster meat into four portions. With a ladle, dunk each portion, into the soup until its just cooked and then placed the meat into the soup plate.

Plating

Normal plating - Pour the soup into each soup plate and sprinkle some parsley flakes. Add some more wine if you'll like to. Add a dash of salt and pepper to taste.

My "Ferocious" Lobster Bisque plating - Placed the lobster head at on end of the plate and the lobster meat at the center and then followed by the lobster tail shell (see first photo at the top). Sprinkle some parsley flakes and then add a dash of salt and pepper to taste.

Close up of the chunks of meat between lobster head and tail