Steamed Lobster with Truffle Beurre Fondue

from Caviar, Truffles, and Foie Gras by Katherine Alford

Ingredients:

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, diced
3/4 to 1 ounce fresh black winter truffle
1 1/2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon canned truffle juice (optional)
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
Four 1 1/4-pound lobsters

Lobster and black truffles are heavenly together, and many fine restaurants serve this wonderful combination. The lobster, however is rarely served in the shell, which is too sloppy a presentation for elegantly clad diners and too understated for the average chef. Generally, the lobster is partially cooked, and the meat is pulled from the shell and reheated at service time. When I brought these methods to my home kitchen, this manipulation was too labor-intensive, and I missed the pure taste of freshly steamed lobster.

When I serve lobsters with truffles, simplicity rules. I make a beurre fondue (butter warmed and whisked back into a creamy state), add truffles, and splash this sauce on the freshly steamed lobster meat for an ultimate taste of the sea and earth. Eating the lobster may be a little messy, but that kind of participation with food is one of the great things about cooking and eating together at home.

1. Put the butter in an airtight container with the truffle and refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight.

2. In a small saucepan, heat the water over medium heat. Whisk a couple of pieces of the butter into the water until it melts into a creamy liquid. Continue adding the butter, a little bit at a time, whisking until each addition is creamy. (The key is not to let the butter get either too hot or too cold. If it is too hot it will get oily and separate; if too cold it will be whipped softened butter, not a sauce.) Add the truffle juice; if using, and the salt. Slice the truffles as thin as you can with a truffle slicer, mandoline, or very sharp knife, and add to the sauce. Put the sauce in a double boiler over warm water to keep warm, as well as to soften the truffle and perfume the sauce.

3. Pour 2 inches of water into a pot that will accommodate all the lobsters, and set up a collapsible steamer. Bring the water to a boil over high heat. Add the lobsters to the pot, cover, and steam for 10 minutes.

4. Remove the lobsters from the pot and split each lengthwise with a heavy knife. To ease the removal of the claw meat, hold the tip of a claw and position it so that it is perpendicular to the work surface. Use a cleaver or the bolster end of a chef's knife to whack a 1/2-inch notch into the center part of the edge of the large part of the claw. Twist the knife to make a clean crack in the shell, making it easier to remove the meat in one satisfying piece. Repeat with the remaining claws.

5. Divide the lobster among 4 plates and spoon some of the truffle butter over the tail meat. (Make sure that you include pieces of truffle.) Divide the rest of the butter among 4 small bowls. Serve the lobster immediately, with the bowls of butter and with small forks or picks for recovering all the small nuggets of lobster in the shell.

Serves 4

This and many other wonderful recipes may be found in
Katherine Alford's Caviar, Truffles, and Foie Gras from Chronicle Books