Lobster Crepe on a bed of a ginger-carrot purée.

I've been freaking busy with my mid-term exams, it was a total nightmare. Anyway, this beautiful crepe is the result of my failure at trying to make Thomas Keller's Lobster Crepe with a ginger-carrots emulsion with a pea-shoots salad.

Since, I took the recipe, I can't really talk in detail about the recipe for copyright issues.

Where I failed in the recipe is at making the lobster demi-glace reduction and the carrot-ginger emulsion. The reduction was burnt while I was chopping carrots for the purée. I've simmered the lobster stock for like 1h30 and burning it made me feel like I've wasted the poor lobsters that I cruelly killed. The other fail was the emulsion, I just don't have a freaking juicer. So I've made a purée instead.

Basically the recipe is quite simple and taste better than dried lobster crepe that you pay for like 24-30$ in a restaurant.

So the equation is simple which sum up as = lobster filling+ crepe+ purée.

Only 3 elements!!

Yield for

1) Lobster filling

Note that the demi-glacé reduction was supposed to be mix in the filling, I didn't do it and it still taste very good! Will it taste it better? Maybe, but check your cost-benefit :p

Anyway, for the lobster, I followed Thomas Keller's method which is very smart and called: Steeping. Basically, the technic allow you to perfectly cook the lobster so the meat stays very tender instead being very tough. The way to cook lobster is simple, throw the lobster in a big casserole, fill it with water just enough to cover the lobsters. Then pour that water in an other casserole and boil it with a shot of vinegar in it. Then after reaching the boiling point, pour the water on the poor living creature and cover it. Wait like 2-3 min and then the tail is perfectly cook, so just rip off the tail and the pinces. Put the pinces back in the water for like another 5 min and don't forget to cover the lid. discard the body or do whatever you want with it.

Note: I really thought that they were going to die quickly, but not really, I had to watch them die in a painful death. Imagine someone is pouring boiling water on you :S

You'll notice how sweet, juicy and tender the meat is. Since not every part need the same time of cooking, throwing a whole lobster in boiling water or steaming pot will end-up having an overcook lobster. Thomas Keller also said that the biggest advantage of that method of cooking is that it's easier to put flavor in the meat, it's like manipulating raw fish.

So to remove the meat from the shell, for the tail, rip off the end of the tail by twisting it. Then you just need to push the tail through with your thumb. It's important to do it when the meat is still warm, it's easier. You can run a knife in the middle of the tail to remove the vein or the green thing :p

Anyway, just chop the meat and put it a mixing bowl. then add up like a heap of a big table spoon of mascarpone cheese, chopped chives, salt and pepper . I've added a little little amount of lemon juice to brighten the flavor. Add the salt at the end by the way, before serving, because the if you put the salt too soon before serving, it can draw out the water from the lobster and give you a soggy filling.

2) Crêpes

Basic crêpe recipe, 1 cup of milk + 1 cup of flour + pinch of salt+ 2-3 eggs.

I assume that everyone knows how to make crêpes.

To make it savory, you can add some chopped chives in the batter.

3) Purée

I took like 3-4 carrots and an inch of ginger that I sliced up. Just boil them in a small amount of water, when the carrots is tender, remove the ginger and purée it. Add up water to the desire consistency. Add salt and pepper + a little cube of butter. I like to have mine very smooth and I passed it through a sieve to make it smoother.

Presentation.

Put a heap of a tablespoon of the purée on the middle of the dish and with a circular movement make a circle.

Take a crepe and put a big heap of a table spoon of the filling in the middle of the crêpe, you want to be able to fold the crêpe, so go with the eye. With the tip of your finger, fold the border, little by little and put the crêpe on the purée. then you can brush it with melted butter to make a glossy look and u can put a little salad on the crêpe. ( very simple, like a baby spinach salade with a simple dressing like olive oil+ vingegar)

Bon Appétit.