Turn Up The Heat Lobster Thermidor

An expensive treat, but well worth the cost. If you don’t fancy halving the lobster then ask your fishmonger to do the hard work for you

By The Good Housekeeping Cookery TeamPublished: 02 February 2012

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Yields:

Prep Time:

20 mins

Cook Time:

10 mins

Total Time:

30 mins

Ingredients

700 g
(1½lb) cooked  whole lobster
150 ml
(¼ pint) double cream
1 tsp.
English mustard
40 g
(1½oz) butter
Finely grated zest of ½ lemon
40 g
(1½oz) Parmesan cheese, grated
1 Tbsp.
chopped fresh chives, plus extra to garnish

Directions

1. Step 1
  Twist the claws off the lobster. Hit the heavy side of a claw sharply with the heel of a large knife, to embed the knife (keeping fingers well away). Now twist the knife until the claw cracks open. Pick the meat from the claw, taking care not to include the bone- like tendon, then roughly chop and put into a bowl. Repeat with remaining claw.
2. Step 2
  Next twist off the legs (they should be attached to a feathery gill, which you should discard). If you have time, crack the shell of the legs with a knife and ease out the meat with a toothpick - add the meat to the bowl. Now fully extend the lobster body in front of you (back facing up), lay on a board and push the tip of a large knife into the lobster just below the head. Now cut down the length of the back to halve the lobster. Ease out the white meat, roughly chop and add to the bowl. Wash the halved shells and set on a baking tray.
3. Step 3
  Preheat oven to 200°C (180°C fan) mark 6. Put the cream, mustard, butter and lemon zest into a medium pan. Heat gently, stirring, and simmer for 3-5min or until mixture is the consistency of Greek yogurt. Stir in lobster meat, Parmesan and most of the chives, then check the seasoning. Spoon the mixture back into the shells.
4. Step 4
  Cook for 5min or until lightly golden and bubbling. Garnish with remaining chives and serve with a green salad.

Per Serving:

Calories: 737
Total carbs: 2 g
Sugars: 2 g
Total fat: 65 g
Saturated fat: 40 g

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The Good Housekeeping Cookery Team

An experienced and highly skilled team of food writers, stylists and digital content producers, the Good Housekeeping Cookery Team is a close-knit squad of food obsessives. Cookery Editor Emma Franklin is our resident chilli obsessive and barbecue expert, who spends an inordinate amount of time on holidays poking round the local supermarkets seeking out new and exciting foods. Senior Cookery Writer Alice Shields is a former pastry chef and baking fanatic who loves making bread and would have peanut butter with everything if she could. Her favourite carb is pasta, and our vibrant green spaghetti is her weeknight go-to. Lover of all things savoury, Senior Cookery Writer Grace Evans can be found eating crispy corn and nocellara olives at every opportunity, and will take the cheeseboard over dessert any time (though she cannot resist a slice of tres leches cake). With a wealth of professional kitchen know-how, culinary training and years of experience between them, they are all dedicated to ensuring every Good Housekeeping recipe is the best it can be, so you can trust they’ll work (and if they don’t – we’ll have the answer for why*) every time (*90% of the time the answer is: “buy an separate oven thermometer”!).

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