Serves 2
Ingredients
For the blue lobster:
• 600g blue lobster
• Aidic court bouillon
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Pepper
For the veal-Chianti reduction:
• 1l demi-glace Chianti flambéed and reduced to 50ml
For the cauliflower:
• 100g cauliflower
• 20g butter
For the artichokes:
• 2 artichokes
• lemon juice
• 500g sparkling water
• 4 bunches Romanesco cauliflower
• 100g king oyster mushrooms
• Maldon salt and pepper
Method
To cook the lobster:
1 To cook the lobster, make an acidic court bouillon, filter it and boil it, then detach the lobster’s claws and tail and cook them separately; the tail takes 6 minutes to cook, the large claw 5 and the small claw 4.
2 Shock in salted ice water, then drain and remove the meat from the shells, marinate with oil and pepper, and refrigerate at +3°C.
For the dish:
1 For the Chianti reduction, start with the demi-glace, add the flambéed and reduced Chianti, then cook until the sauce is smooth and thick, then filter and blast chill at +3°C. For the cauliflower: wash and steam the cauliflowers for 4 minutes, then blend whilst still hot and add the butter.
2 For the artichokes: peel the leaves off the artichokes, cut them into 4 wedges, prepare the sparkling water and lemon juice, dip the artichokes into it, then put them in a vacuum bag and cook sous-vide at 90°C for 11 minutes.
3 Blast chill but do not freeze.
4 For the Romanesco cauliflower and king oyster mushrooms: cook the cauliflower at 104°C for 3 minutes then blast chill. Wash the mushrooms and sauté them in a pan, salting to taste.
5 Quickly stir-fry the lobster in a pan, then garnish the dish with the cauliflower cream and the vegetables, cut the lobster into medallions, sauce and serve with flakes of Maldon salt and pepper.
Recipe courtesy of Giovanni Luca Di Pirro, Executive Chef of Castello del Nero. To try this dish in person, visit the hotel’s Michelin-starred La Torre restaurant.