There’s nothing wrong with lobster and garlic butter. But there is everything right about lobster with vanilla infused beurre blanc. The fragrant vanilla is a natural pairing for lobster and the sexy smooth French butter sauce is perfect for dipping and slipping your lobster. It’s a marriage of flavour harmony. 

Lobster with Vanilla Beurre Blanc

2 live lobsters (one per person)

 Beurre blanc

1cup (250 ml) Gerwürztraminer or light white wine

1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, diced and frozen

2 Tbsp Heavy cream

1 fresh vanilla pod, do not use vanilla extract

Recipe:

Bring a very large pot of water up to a roaring boil.

Add plenty of salt, enough so that it tastes like the ocean. If your water isn’t salty like the ocean the lobster will taste boring.

Cooking a lobster is very much like entering into a relationship. There can be initial hesitation because of the humane aspects. There are some who suggest a frontal lobotomy using a large kitchen knife before going into the pot and others who suggest simply plunging head first into the hot water to get it all over with. These are also good ways to cook a lobster.

Cook a one pound lobster for 10 minutes. For each additional pound add 3 minutes to the cooking time.

My preferred method is to grab the lobster by the tail and dive head first into the water followed immediately by a tight fitting lid in case there’s any reflexive kick back.

Right away you should make your beurre blanc.

Get a medium frying pan over high heat and pour in the wine. Split the vanilla pod in half and scrape out the seeds put the seeds and the pot into the wine and reduce the wine by half. The boozey smell should have evaporated also.

Here’s where it becomes tricky. You will need to add the diced butter a piece at a time, while swirling the pan constantly to ensure the sauce stays perfectly smooth.

Add the butter 2 or three pieces at a time while swirling constantly. The motion will ensure a proper emulsion is formed and maintained. To help stabilize the emulsion you can add 2 Tbsp fo heavy cream to help it stay smooth.

When you put the last bits of butter in remove the pan from the heat and continue swirling until it is finished. Pour into 2 dipping bowls and get it to the table.

Followed quickly by the steaming hot lobsters on a big platter.

Listen, if the sauce ‘breaks’, it’s okay, it will still taste totally delicious but it just won’t be smooth. So don’t throw it out. Enjoy it like melted butter. Hey, you took a chance with a very finnicky French sauce.

To eat your lobster you will need heavy kitchen sheers or sturdy scissors, a little hammer and some forks. Oh and napkins, lots of napkins and place mats, preferably plastic. It’s not déclasser if it’s a necessity.

Snip and prod your way around the tail, claws and legs to find the meat. Leave the stuff in the head for the brave people who know what they are doing.

Happy Valentine’s day.

On their own, the super foods are fighting a losing battle against refined crappy crap. But when they join forces their powers combined make an unstoppable health benefit for fighting the evil toxins in our intoxicated bodies. Combine the colourful forces of these classic and trendy superfoods to make a bright, light salad that is full of goodness and great taste. It’s loaded up to make a complete and balanced meal.

Mega morphing salad 

Black

1 bunch of black kale, leaves finely shredded 

Red

1 cup water

1/2 cup red quinoa ( you can also use red or regular)

pinch of salt

Pink

1 pink grapefruit

300g Cunningham smoked trout

Yellow 

Juice of 1 lemon

¼ cup Highwood Crossing organic canola oil

½ cup Tbsp olive oil

1 Tbsp honey

1 Tbsp yellow mustard

1 Tbsp fresh grated ginger

salt to taste

Green

3 cups (approximately) of mixed greens 

To make the vinaigrette. Put all the ingredients into a large glass jar with a lid. Close the lid up tight and give everything a really good shake. Set vinaigrette aside to get happy for a little while.

To cook the Quinoa. Bring water to a boil. Stir in the quinoa and reduce heat to low. Cover and cook for 15 minutes. Remove lid and cook until the water evaporates. Pour the cooked quinoa out of the pot onto a large plate or baking dish and spread it out while fluffing it with a fork. Let the quinoa dry out a bit and cool to room temperature while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

Cut off the top and bottom of the grapefruit. Place a flat side down and use a knife to cut away the peel. Once all the pink skin and white pith are cut away, you can start to remove the pieces of grapefruit supreme by cutting wedges out as close to the thin connected membrane as you can manage. The technique is called ‘supreme’. For detailed instructions on how to ‘citrus supreme’ check out swervecalgary.com and search “Citrus Supreme” for a how-to video.

To shred the black kale, remove the tough stem by cutting down each side. Save the stems for a stir-fry. Collect all the leaves into a neat and tidy pile and hyper-thinly slice until you’ve got a springy pile ready to get dressed.

Get dressed. Dress each item individually to ensure everything is distributed evenly.

Start with the mixed greens and kale together. Dressing sparingly and to your personal taste with the vinaigrette and use your clean hands to toss the leaves. Divide into two bowls.

Now toss the grapefruit supremes in vinaigrette until nicely coated. Arrange the grapefruits into and around the nest of greens.

Now dress the quinoa with vinaigrette. Be sure it doesn’t end up getting too sloppy. Scatter the quinoa on and around the mixed greens. Carefully arrange pieces of smoked trout on the salad.

Any left over vinaigrette can be saved for future salads.

Serve forth and prosper.