Older Than Springtime
The weather was lovely over the weekend and again today. I’ve taken advantage of that to start pruning the wisteria. Nightmare job. Terribly frightening to be that high up a ladder. The little WC under the stairs is done, except for the plumbing which isn’t quite working yet. It looks exactly as we’d hoped.
In other news we’re having a leek and lobster risotto this evening. A recipe a friend who’s a food writer wants me to test. I’ve done the first part already which involved cooking the lobster, then reducing that water, which then becomes the base for a vegetable stock. Straightforward stock, but with the addition of fennel. It’s come out very nicely.
Then… remove the meat from the lobster (1 for 2 people). Strain the stock. Mix it with dry white wine (2/3 stock, 1/3 wine). Then slice a leek very finely. You can do all that then leave it ready for later. Finally saute the leeks lightly, add rice to pan and begin making the risotto using the stock/wine. In the last 3 minutes add the lobster meat- and that’s it. I’ll give my verdict tomorrow, but I have high hopes. For an interesting vegetarian alternative use palm hearts instead of lobster. The other day I had a classic prawn cocktail with palm hearts instead of prawns and it worked beautifully.
And here’s South Pacific, for no particular reason other than I feel like it.
My Mazamet 
What time’s dinner?
LikeLiked by 1 person
8pm, every day, give or take 5 minutes 😀
LikeLike
Cherchez l’homard😍
LikeLiked by 1 person
LOL
LikeLike
Do you enjoy cooking? I do, but the cleaning up not so much. Do you cook most of the meals at your place? Hugs
LikeLiked by 1 person
Cooking became part of my life accidentally. We prefer staying home to going out and Mike doesn’t cook, so I just had to learn. And yes, I cook every day, lunch and dinner, and always from scratch. He does the cleaning up, though 🙂
LikeLiked by 2 people
I always cook, & husband washes up. I get to choose what we eat too. Your risotto sounds delicious, I’ll try it next time I get a lobster. Did you take a photo before you ate it?
LikeLiked by 1 person
It was good, but I thought the leek taste slightly overpowered the lobster. I’ll definitely make it again, but either with less leek or more lobster 🙂
LikeLike
First, the ladder. You had someone stabilizing the ladder when you were on it, didn’t you? If you felt unsteady it was because you were unsteady. Be safe, have someone hold the latter while you are on it, and don’t use the top twp steps.
And, really, lobster stock being transformed into vegetable stock. No can do! If you add vegetables to lobster stock, you will have made lobster soup. Vegetable stock is made from vegetables alone, no added crustaceans.
And, oh gods, am I jealous. Lobster risotto! You just had to write it up to rub it in, didn’t you. I am drooling all over my keyboard … see the mess you’ve made!
;o)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Think of it as lobster infused vegetable stock! Having tried it now, I’m leaning towards thinking a fish stock would’ve made for a more interesting result.
LikeLike
Wonderful song from a great show–one I’d love to do now that I’m old enough to play the lead.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s one of my favourites 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
Song is now firmly stuck in my brain, going round on a loop!
LikeLiked by 1 person
A wisteria! I would love to see a picture when it is in bloom
LikeLike
Six! Here they are in the 50’s:
LikeLiked by 2 people
Stunning!!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
ah, South Pacific. I was in that musical in high school. I was “random native girl” with about a quart of tanning liquid on my deathly white skin. I was part of the chorus singing the french lyrics to Bali Hai, and the teachers (both twits) running the show didn’t ask the French teacher how to pronounce the words and I was too shy to speak up. Oh what a mangled mess. Still love the musical though.
LikeLiked by 1 person
All my high school musical stories are top secret 😀
LikeLike
Awwww….
LikeLiked by 1 person
I remember maybe 15 years ago the other female in our foursome and I somehow belting out Bali Hai on a hike through some woods. Later that evening we all went to see American Beauty and didn’t they just open (I think) with Bali Hai!? We had to restrain ourselves from singing along.
LikeLiked by 1 person
My earliest memories involve my father on a ladder peeping through the wisteria that surrounded my bedroom window and singing off key to me as he pruned. Your downstairs cloakroom is a triumph and I am certain the risotto will be too. As for the song …. I sigh. Thank you.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I had no idea you liked the old musicals! South Pacific is one of my favourites along with The King and I. lol I have a thing for men with hairless chests. 😀
Moving along…looks like a scrumptious recipe but I’m baffled by the palm hearts. What are they exactly?
LikeLiked by 1 person
You’ve never had palm hearts???????? You have to run out to a big shop to get some NOW. Don’t get the cheapest brand. If you get the higher end jars at around 3.50€ you’re assured firm but soft and neither mushy nor stringy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heart_of_palm
LikeLike
And if you decide to try it, here’s a great recipe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_27nNUF54FE
LikeLike
Oops, I’d sent you the wrong link, corrected it now…
LikeLike
Couple things.
If you felt tippy on the ladder it is because you are using an aluminum ladder. If you invest just ONCE in a fiberglass ladder you will be happy the rest of the days of your life. We call aluminum ladders widow makers. Fiberglass ladders are much much more stable, you feel, and are safe on them.
I agree with the fish stock vs the vegetable stock. However it is classic to saute leeks and make risotto, the leeks giving a very mild onion flavor. One thing you might want to try is to use a French Olive Oil, Bouteillan olive oil to sautee the leeks. Bouteillan is a native varietal of olives from the Var and typically has a good citrus flavor to the olive oil, naturally. Bouteillan olive oil is the olive oil you want to grab if cooking any seafood because of that natural citrus flavor to the olive oil.
In the US we typically call it Hearts of Palm, not Palm Hearts. We always keep a jar of hearts of palm cooling in our refrigerator never knowing when we will feel like having a nice salad for a meal. I like hearts of palm in a salad along with a hard boiled egg.
As long as your brought up lobster here is a recipe that is always a hit.
Take a big delicious tomato, like a beef heart tomato, slice it fairly thin in rounds, but not razor thin. Basically you are going to build a tomato mozzarella salad, but add in lobster and you will build it as a tower. It is VERY impressive looking when done and so damned easy.
Bottom layer, a round of tomato, olive oil, Bouteillan olive oil works well here, pinch of salt & Pepper,
Second from bottom layer – pretty thin slices of buffalo mozzarella cheese, just a tiny drizzle of olive oil.
Third from Bottom layer, thin sliced fresh cooked & chilled lobster, just brush with Bouteillan Olive Oil.
Fourth from bottom layer, start again with the sliced rounds of tomato. Drizzle Bouteillan olive oil on top when tower is done.
You build this tower so that you have 3 layers of thin sliced lobster.
Now the sauce. Reduce Balsamic vinegar with sugar added. Reduce it until it is kind of thick, about the consistency of ketchup. That is it, drizzle the balsamic vinegar reduction on the plate.
These are beautiful, easy to make but you have to take care when serving so that when you carry it to the table your tower doesn’t fall over. You can make these in the morning, put them out of the sunlight in a kind of cool place and serve hours later. And they are very filling, no need to serve anything else but dessert. Trust me ppl are gonna be taking pics of this. If lobster is not handy use shrimp, but remember you want that thin sliced. So like a medium sized shrimp you want to slice that lengthwise in thirds. Bon appetite!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’d never heard of fibreglass ladders. Will look it up asap. Ours are all aluminium.
And the recipe sounds amazing. It’s exactly the sort of thing I like (light and straightforward!)
LikeLike