Emotionally speaking, killing the lobsters will likely be the most difficult part of the recipe. But, as with all hard things that are necessary, do it quickly. That said, this is the first step: Working with one lobster at a time, hold the lobster down on a cutting board with a kitchen towel and then confidently place the tip of your chef’s knife on top of the lobster’s head and swiftly bring the knife down the length of the lobster. I know it sounds like an almost barbaric practice, but to me, and I know many chefs agree, this quick death is the most humane way to kill a lobster. It is much kinder than the slower, labored demise-by-boiling-water. Note that a lobster’s nerve endings will sometimes continue to function even after the knife has done its work.
Place the dispatched lobsters into a large baking dish or other vessel that holds them comfortably, pour over enough boiling water to cover them, and let them sit in this very hot bath for exactly 4 minutes. Remove the lobsters from the water and set them aside until they’re cool enough to handle. This “blanching” process will not cook the lobster meat all the way through, but it will help to separate it from its shells, making it easier to extract. Note that leaving the lobster partially uncooked at this point compensates for the time it will be in the oven underneath its cap of puff pastry.
Once the lobsters are cool enough to handle, remove all the meat from the shells. Scissors are useful here to cut through the tail, and a swift hit on each of the claws with a mallet or the back of a knife will help to crack the shells, allowing you to pull out the meat. The same goes for the sweet knuckles. Roughly chop the meat into bite-size pieces and set it aside. Reserve all of the shells, being sure to discard the stomach if it’s intact.
Meanwhile, to make the stock, heat the olive oil in a large saucepan set over medium-high heat. Add the chopped celery, carrot, leek, onion, fennel, thyme, bay leaves, and parsley stems and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables have begun to soften and brown a bit, about 10 minutes.
Add a large pinch of salt, the reserved lobster shells, and the tomato concentrate (or tomato paste), and cook until the mixture starts to pick up a nice brown, almost rust color from the tomato, 3 to 4 minutes.
Add the white wine, cook for just a minute to burn some of the alcohol off, then pour in enough cold water to nearly cover the mixture. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer, skimming off and discarding any foam that accumulates, until the stock has reduced by one-third, about 25 minutes.
Season the stock to taste with salt and then strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a clean pot, bowl, or pitcher and set it aside.
To make the sauce, heat the olive oil in a large skillet set over medium-high heat. Add the celery, carrot, onion, shallot, tomatoes, garlic, and fennel and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are just beginning to soften, about 5 minutes.
Stir in a large pinch of salt, the cayenne, and the tomato concentrate (or tomato paste) and cook for just a minute or so, or until the tomato just barely begins to take on some color.
Add the cognac and the white wine and cook over high heat until the liquid has nearly evaporated, 2 to 3 minutes.
Add 2 cups of the reserved lobster stock and the cream, reduce the heat to medium-low, and simmer for just 5 minutes, or until all of the flavors are wonderfully combined. Season the sauce to taste with salt and white pepper.
Stir in the reserved lobster meat and the tarragon and cook for a final minute.
If you choose to skip the “en croûte” portion of the recipe, cook the lobster a little longer until it’s just cooked through, about 5 minutes altogether, and then serve it immediately with plenty of toast.
To prepare the lobster en croûte, preheat the oven to 425°F.
Leave the lobster mixture in the pan, place it in a large ovenproof baking dish, or divide it among four individual ovenproof soup tureens. Whichever vessel or vessels you use, brush the outer edge with water (just use your fingertips, unless of course you’re keeping the lobster in the hot skillet, in which case use a pastry brush). Drape the puff pastry over the vessel (or cut it into 4 rounds if you’re using individual tureens) and press it against the outer edge so it forms a seal. Using a paring knife, poke a small hole in the center of the pastry. If you’re using a skillet, place it directly in the oven; if you’re using one or more ramekins, place it/them on a sheet pan and place the sheet pan in the oven. Bake until the puff pastry is beautifully browned, about 15 minutes. Serve hot.
Persillade is a paste of garlic, parsley, and olive oil and is a wonderful mixture to have on hand to stir into scrambled eggs, spread onto fish, or toss with roasted potatoes. Mixed with bread crumbs, persillade becomes an indispensable topping for these mussels. If you mix the bread crumbs with plenty of grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, you’ve got my go-to mixture for stuffing vegetables before roasting them. Try making petits légumes farcis, stuffed vegetables, by filling hollowed-out tomatoes, onions, zucchini, or mushrooms.
[SERVES 4]
4 garlic cloves, peeled and roughly chopped
1 cup packed fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves, washed and dried
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
½ teaspoon coarse salt
3 cups ½-inch cubes of day-old bread, crusts removed
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for serving
½ small fennel bulb, trimmed and finely diced
2 shallots, peeled and finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves, roughly chopped
Leaves from 2 sprigs fresh flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
Pinch red chili flakes
Coarse salt
4 dozen mussels, debearded and scrubbed
1 cup white wine
3 tablespoons pastis
Rouille (here), for serving
To make the bread crumb mixture, combine the garlic and the parsley leaves in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until everything is nicely minced. Add the olive oil and the salt and let the machine run until a paste forms, about 1 minute. Add the bread to the machine and pulse until the cubes turn to crumbs and the entire mixture is saturated with a vibrant green color and has the texture of wet sand, about ten 10-second pulses. Set the mixture aside.