Dish of the day
Franco Gatto’s Lobster linguine
INGREDIENTS (serves 4)
■ 300g linguine
■ 2 lobster 500/600g each
■ 1 onion
■ 1 carrot
■ 2 sticks of celery
■ ½ glass of white wine
■ 250ml 1tbsp tomato paste
■ 1 chopped garlic clove
■ 1 sweet red chilli
■ chopped parsley
■ Extra virgin olive oil
■ Salt
■ Pepper
Method
• Cook the whole lobster for two minutes in a large saucepan of boiling water, remove it from the water, and break the claws from the body. Return the claws to the water and cook for a further two minutes. Plunge the body and claws into ice cold water after cooking. When the lobster is cold remove all the flesh and put the shell to one side for the bisque.
• Gently fry the onion, carrot and celery for 10 minutes in a pot, add in the lobster shell and toast for another 10 mins. Add the white wine and, once it is evaporated, add the tomato paste and cover with one litre of ice cold water. Leave to simmer for 45 mins. Pass the stock through a sieve and discard the shell and vegetables. Reduce the stock down until you are left with a thick lobster bisque.
• Pan fry the garlic and chilli over a high heat in a saucepan and add in the chopped lobster meat, seasoning with salt and pepper. When the lobster starts to fry, add half of the bisque.
• Cook the linguine in a large pot of salted boiling water until very al dente (two minutes under the cooking time shown on the packet). Remove the chopped lobster from the sauce and place the linguine into the pan using tongs. Allow the pasta to finish cooking whilst absorbing the bisque. If the sauce is too thick and the pasta too al dente, then add in some of the remaining bisque. When the pasta is ready, return the lobster to the pan, add chopped parsley, a little olive oil, and serve.