Velouté de Homard à l’Indienne

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy 6-quart cocotte or Dutch oven
• •3-quart heavy saucepan
• •Poultry shears
• •Sturdy potato masher
• •Fine-mesh sieve
• •Countertop blender
• •Whisk and ladle

Instructions

1. 1

   Prepare the lobster

   Ask the fishmonger to dispatch the lobsters immediately before you cook, or dispatch well-chilled lobsters firmly with a heavy chef’s knife. Separate the tails and claws, split the bodies, remove the head sacs and feathery gills, and cut each tail through the shell into three sections. Crack the claws without crushing them and pat every piece dry. Wet lobster spits in the fat and refuses to brown.

   Keep the tail shells on during cooking. They protect the meat, strengthen the liquor, and make it easier to remove the tail before it overcooks.
2. 2

   Saisir the lobster

   Saisir, sear briskly, is the first foundation. Heat 2 tablespoons of the butter with the oil in a heavy cocotte until the butter foams, then add the lobster in one uncrowded layer. Turn the pieces until the shells become brilliant red and lightly browned. Remove the tail sections after 4 to 5 minutes, when the meat is barely opaque, and give the claws another 2 to 3 minutes. Once cool enough to handle, extract all the meat. Cut the tail into generous ½-inch dice and keep it covered in the cold; reserve the claw and knuckle meat separately for the body of the velouté. Return every empty shell to the cocotte.

3. 3

   Build the Américaine

   Add 1 tablespoon of butter, the onion, carrot, shallots, and ½ teaspoon of the salt to the cocotte. Cook over medium heat for 8 minutes, stirring and scraping the shell fond from the pot, until the vegetables soften without taking dark colour. Add the garlic, tomato paste, and 2 teaspoons of curry powder. Cook for 2 minutes, until the paste darkens slightly and the curry smells warm rather than dusty. If the spice catches and smells bitter, stop and lift the shells out. Wipe the pot and rebuild the vegetables with fresh butter and curry. Ça se rattrape, but burnt spice cannot be diluted into obedience.

4. 4

   Reduce and simmer

   Pull the cocotte off the heat and add the Cognac. Keep the lid beside you, return the pot to moderate heat, and ignite the Cognac with a long match only if you are comfortable doing so. Otherwise, boil it briskly until the sharp alcohol smell disappears; the flame is brigade spectacle, while the reduction is the part the dish needs. Add the wine and reduce it by half. Stir in the tomatoes, 5 cups of the stock, and the bouquet garni. Bring the shells back to a bare tremble and simmer uncovered for 25 minutes, pressing them occasionally with a sturdy potato masher. A hard boil makes the extraction coarse and can turn the shells bitter.

5. 5

   Extract the lobster

   Discard the bouquet garni and strain the lobster liquor through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl, pressing firmly on the shells and vegetables without grinding grit through the mesh. Blend the reserved claw and knuckle meat with 1 cup of the strained liquor until completely smooth, keeping the blender lid vented and covered with a towel. Pass this purée through the cleaned sieve and stir it into the remaining liquor. This is the honest home replacement for pounding meat and shells in a mortar and forcing them through a tamis.

6. 6

   Cook the roux

   Melt 4 tablespoons of butter in a clean saucepan. Stir in the flour and cook the roux blond, a pale butter-and-flour base, for 3 to 4 minutes without letting it brown. Whisk in the strained lobster liquor a ladleful at a time, making each addition smooth before the next. Hold the velouté at the gentlest simmer for 20 minutes, skimming the surface as needed, until it lightly naps the back of a spoon. If it becomes too thick, add some of the reserved stock; if it remains thin, simmer it a little longer now, before the liaison goes in.

7. 7

   Make rice apart

   While the velouté simmers, make the Riz à l’Indienne, rice boiled until dry and separate. Rinse the rice, then scatter it into the 4 cups of boiling water seasoned with 1 teaspoon of the salt. Boil uncovered until tender but still distinct, about 12 minutes. Drain thoroughly, return it to a warm dry saucepan for 2 minutes, and fold in 1 tablespoon of butter. Measure exactly 4 tablespoons of cooked rice into a small warmed serving dish and cover it. It goes to the table separately, as the source directs.

8. 8

   Add the liaison

   Reserve ¼ cup of the cold cream. Whisk the yolks with the remaining cream, then whisk in 2 cups of the hot velouté by slow degrees. Take the soup off its simmer and stir the tempered liaison, the egg-yolk-and-cream enrichment, back into it. Return the pan to very low heat and stir until the soup regains a delicate coating consistency, never letting it boil. If fine grains appear, remove it from the heat at once, whisk in the reserved cold cream, blend briefly, and pass it through the clean sieve. Ça se rattrape.

9. 9

   Balance and mount

   Season the velouté with the lemon juice, white pepper, cayenne, and enough of the remaining salt to make the lobster taste full. The curry should arrive second. If it is too quiet, melt 1 teaspoon of the remaining butter in a small pan, bloom the reserved ½ teaspoon curry for 20 seconds, and whisk it into the soup by teaspoons until the balance is right. Whisk in all remaining cold butter off the heat, then add enough reserved stock to bring the finished volume to about 2 quarts. Do not boil it again.

10. 10

    Garnish and serve

    Put the diced tail meat into a small saucepan with a ladleful of velouté and warm it over the lowest heat for 1 to 2 minutes. Do not simmer it, or the abundant garnish becomes rubbery after all your care. Divide the lobster dice among warmed bowls and ladle the velouté over it. Send the covered dish of Riz à l’Indienne alongside with a small spoon, allowing each guest to add a little without thickening the entire soup. À table!

Chef Tips

• •The shells are the stockpot here. If live lobster is unavailable, use four raw shell-on lobster tails and a true lobster stock; the soup will have less claw sweetness, but the method remains sound.
• •Choose a mild, turmeric-led French curry powder and smell it before using it. Stale curry brings colour without perfume, while a very hot blend bullies the lobster. Begin modestly and bloom any final addition in butter.
• •Never put lobster shells into a household blender. They can damage the jug and leave sharp grit in the soup. The blender handles the picked claw meat only; poultry shears, a masher, and the sieve handle the shells.
• •Serve the rice apart. Besides preserving the source’s presentation, this keeps its starch from sitting in the soup and stealing the velouté’s silk.
• •Pour a dry Champagne or a mineral white Burgundy. The wine needs enough freshness to meet the cream and enough restraint to leave the curry and lobster alone.

Advance Preparation

• •The strained Américaine liquor can be prepared one day ahead. Chill it promptly, keep the diced tail meat covered separately, and make the roux and liaison on the day you serve.
• •The velouté can be completed through the roux several hours ahead, cooled, and reheated gently. Add the cream-and-yolk liaison, butter, and tail garnish only at service.
• •Riz à l’Indienne can be cooked earlier the same day. Cool it promptly, then warm it with its butter in a covered saucepan before sending it separately to the table.
• •Leftover finished velouté keeps for up to two days in the cold. Reheat over very low heat while stirring and never let it boil.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 240g)