Lobster risotto with lobster bisque

Lobster risotto is one of my most favorite dishes. I regularly prepare lobster risotto and this time I wanted something else. I wanted the lobster risotto in a lobster bisque. So I decided to combine two recipes I normally use and make it one. The combination was great in my opinion. The risotto was cooked al dente and the bisque was creamy. As the ingredients are almost the same for the bisque and the risotto this worked very well.

Ingredients (for 2 persons)

fresh Lobster
Risotto (about 200 grams)
Shallots
Fennel
Carrots
Garlic
Butter
Leeks
Celery
Lemon
Cooking Cream
Tomato paste
White wine

Preparation

Place the lobster for 15 minutes in the refrigerator so it becomes slow. I boil the lobster alive, but you can also kill it with a knife before boiling.

Use a big pan to make a court. Chop the carrots, celery, leeks, shallot into pieces. Fill a large pan with water, insert 1/3 of the chopped ingredients, a little bit of lemon juice and bring it to boil. I always let the water boil for several minutes so it’s does not cool off when inserting the lobster. The lobster has to be killed immediately when it reaches the boiling water.

Take the lobster out of the refrigerator and insert it immediately in the boiling court, with its head down. Close the pan and boil the lobster for 5-7 minutes, depending on the size. Make sure you have enough water to cover the entire lobster! Therefor you need a large pan.

After 5-7 minutes remove the lobster out of the court. Do not throw the court away, keep this. Cut the lobster in half, remove the plastics off the claws, remove the claws and the head and take the lobster meat out of the shells and claws. Use a lobster fork for the smaller parts.

In the head is the tomalley (the digestive gland of a lobster, which turns green when cooked. It is sometimes considered a delicacy). Take out the tomalley and put this in a bowl. We need it later for the risotto.

Cut the lobster meat in pieces (not too small), later we need to stir this through the risotto when preparing the risotto. Put the cut lobster meat in a bowl and place this bowl covered with foil in the refrigerator.

Cut the fennel in large pieces and the garlic bulb in half.

Take all empty shells including the head and put it in a baking pan. Bake the shells on medium heat. After a couple of minutes add the rest of the shallots, celery and carrots together with the fennel and garlic to the shells and fry them for 2 minutes. Then add the court to the shells and add a little lemon juice. When everything boils again reduce the heat and let it simmer for about 2 hours .

After two hours, take out the shells and vegetables. Use a small sieve for this. Keep only the stock. Divide the stock in two parts, 2/3 for the bisque and 1/3 for the risotto.

Bisque

Boil the 2/3 of the stock, insert some cooking cream and let the bisque reduce till the thickness you want to have. A bisque is thicker then soup and thinner then cream. Taste the bisque and season it if necessary.

Be aware that reduction can go fast.

Risotto

Heat the stock (1/3 part) till it boils. Lower the heat, but let the stock boil softly. Mash the tomalley.

Heat a pan and insert a bit of ghee, butter or oil (not too much). Insert the risotto and bake the risotto for 1-2 minutes. Stir a bit in the mean time. Do not burn the rice.

After 1-2 minutes add white wine (about 150 ml) and reduce the heat. Stir the risotto and wine. Wait till the wine is absorbed by the risotto. Add a soup spoon of stock to the risotto and stir. Add tomato paste to the risotto rice and stir again till all paste is equally divided over the pan / rice. When the stock is absorbed by the rice add again a soup spoon of stock and stir. Insert the lobster, the mashed tomalley and add a soup spoon of stock till the stock is absorbed again. Repeat the insertion of the stock several times till the risotto is al dente. This can take up to 20 minutes. Do not over rush it.