Nautico's Lobster Newburg
I serve this version over Minnesota wild rice with sauteed mushrooms, instead of atop the traditional buttered toast points. The Newburg sauce has a delightfully boozy flavor.
I serve this version over Minnesota wild rice with sauteed mushrooms, instead of atop the traditional buttered toast points. The Newburg sauce has a delightfully boozy flavor.
- Carbohydrate 62.4035291589731 g
- Cholesterol 426.660375470988 mg
- Fat 74.3634090659808 g
- Fiber 7.3483082273102 g
- Protein 23.5767299096258 g
- Saturated Fat 44.4290884271804 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (523g)
- Sodium 399.40169592421 mg
- Sugar 55.0552209316629 g
- Trans Fat 5.28349230929693 g
- Calories 1005 calories
Step-by-step
- Put 1 cup of Minnesota wild rice in a large strainer, running it under cold water for about a minute. Then place the washed rice in a pot with 4 cups of water. Add the boullion cubes and bring to boil, stirring to disperse the dissolving cubes. Turn the burner down to one setting above Low, cover, and simmer for exactly 45 minutes (even a minute or two longer will result in soggy rice). Strain rice, then reserve in a covered serving dish.
- Remove the lobster meat from the shells and cut into bits of your size preference. In a saute pan just large enough to contain the lobster, poach the meat at medium heat in enough butter sufficient to cover it for 3 minutes. Remove and reserve all of the melted butter except for 1/4 cup, then add 3 tabl of brandy and 2 tabl of Marsala wine. Stir for 2 more minutes, then remove meat from the pan and set aside.
- Stir the cream (I use coffee cream, but half-and-half will reduce the calories) into the sauce pan and boil until reduced by about half. Reduce heat to Low and stir in the remaining 2 tabl of brandy and 1 tabl of Marsala along with the salt, cayenne pepper, and nutmeg (I grind freshly).
- Whisk in the egg yolks and cook until thick, then readd the lobster and heat through. Saute the mushrooms, using the reserved melted butter and any additional butter needed, then add them and the butter to the wild rice, stirring well.
- Serve the lobster and Newburg sauce atop the rice in individual ramekins.
Why is the cream not thickening yet? That panic usually hits right around the time the wine has boiled off and the pan looks entirely too watery. Sauces built on heavy dairy and alcohol demand strict temperature control. If the heat remains too high during the reduction stage, the milk solids scorch before the liquid volume drops by half. Patience during the forty-five-minute wild rice simmer protects the final texture, preventing the grains from splitting open into a starchy paste.
Controlling the Pan
Poaching the lobster tails requires a shallow pan where the butter can actually submerge the meat. Three minutes at medium heat is the exact threshold; leaving the crustacean in longer toughens the protein before the sauce is even built. Whisking the egg yolks into the reduced cream demands constant motion off direct high heat. Pouring them into a boiling pan turns the mixture into scrambled eggs instantly. Stir continuously until the liquid coats the back of a spoon thickly enough to hold a clean line drawn by a finger. Adjusting this recipe upward for a larger group multiplies the risk of breaking the emulsion, so doubling batches requires two separate pans rather than crowding one vessel.
- Simmer the wild rice for precisely forty-five minutes on one setting above low to avoid soggy grains.
- Keep the lobster in the butter bath for no more than three minutes.
- Reduce the cream by half before incorporating the egg yolks.
