ROAST LOBSTER TAILS WITH TAHITIAN VANILLA SAUCE

Using vanilla in delicious savory dishes has been a culinary trick up the sleeves of the French since the late 1800s when they started growing the luscious vanilla orchid in tropical locales. Though it’s difficult to say who first drizzled vanilla cream over roasted lobster, it was likely someone on the Comoros Islands, an archipelago between Mozambique and Madagascar. There, langouste à la vanille is the national dish. While the Comoros version uses local rock lobster for the dish, ours comes out beautifully using fresh, or high quality frozen (thawed) lobster tails. In keeping with the tropical origins, this dish is the perfect showcase for a plump and floral Tahitian vanilla bean. To make the dish, we used Craig Claiborne’s 50-year-old classic recipe as our guide, modifying it only slightly to feature roast lobster tails (rather than whole lobsters) and to include lobster stock, rather than fish stock. Like Claiborne, we serve the lobster and sauce over a bed of quick sautéed baby spinach and cress. So good!

Serves 3-4

INGREDIENTS

5 Tbsp unsalted butter
• 2 shallots, peeled and finely chopped, divided: One used for the sauce, the other for the spinach
• ¼ cup dry white wine
• 1 Tahitian vanilla bean (I used Nielsen-Massey) cut into three pieces (2, 2-inch lengths; 1, 1-inch length)
• ½ cup lobster stock, OR substitute good quality fish stock
• 1 cup heavy cream
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 6 lobster tails, fresh, or good quality frozen—thawed
• 1 pound baby spinach, any long stems discarded
• 1 bunch watercress, stems discarded

INSTRUCTIONS

FOR THE VANILLA CREAM SAUCE: Place 1 Tbsp of the butter in a sauté pan over medium-low heat to melt butter. Add one of the finely chopped shallots. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring. Add the wine and the two, 2-inch lengths of vanilla bean. Continue stirring, cooking down until the wine has mostly evaporated. Add the lobster stock and increase heat to medium high. Continue cooking stirring occasionally until reduced by half. Add the cream to the pan, stir and cook for two more minutes. Split the remaining piece of vanilla bean in half and add that to the pan. Remove sauce from heat. Strain the sauce through a fine sieve, pressing with a wooden spoon to extract most of the juices and vanilla specks. Discard solids. Return sauce to saucepan over medium high heat. Season to taste with salt and pepper and heat to boiling. Immediately remove from heat and stir in 2 Tbsp of butter. Set aside.

FOR THE ROAST LOBSTER AND SPINACH/WATERCRESS: Preheat oven to 450F. Place lobster tails in roasting pan and roast in oven for 15 minutes. While tails roast, remove any stems from the watercress and spinach. Rinse and pat dry. Heat remaining 2 Tbsp butter in a skillet over medium low heat; add remaining finely chopped shallot and cook until soft. Stir in spinach and watercress and cook, stirring for about two minutes—just until well softened, bright green and hot throughout. Salt and pepper lightly. Set aside.

TO SERVE: Using sharp kitchen shears, snip off, remove and discard most of the shell of each tail, but leave the bottom-most fanned portion of the tail intact, as shown in picture. Arrange a serving of the sautéed spinach and cress on each plate. Top with one to two tails. Drizzle each serving with Tahitian vanilla sauce. Serve immediately.