Butter-Poached Lobster Is Just As Delicious As You Imagine It Would Be

It's all Whole Foods' fault. I made the ridiculous mistake of going grocery shopping while hungry, and they were giving out samples of lobster tail. I ate the bite, and I was sold. I can't control myself around lobster. I love the stuff. It must be my New Hampshire upbringing; all those lobster rolls I ate in my youth. Plus it was $3 off the usual price per tail! Which made each tail only expensive, instead of absurdly expensive. 

Orecchiette with Butter-Poached Lobster Tails and Cherry Tomatoes.

You know what happened next. I bought the lobster tails. And then I wondered why my grocery bill was so expensive.

Wait, no I didn't. I knew.

Having got the lobster tails home, I now had to figure out what to do with these expensive little nuggets of potential deliciousness. Because there is nothing worse than ruining expensive ingredients through cooking errors. 

I did some internet research. I saw recipes that suggested broiling, grilling, even steaming. I also saw advocates for poaching lobster tails in butter, and I was intrigued. 

At first, however, I was unconvinced. I was not about to use an entire pound of butter to cover the lobster tails. That was just a nonstarter. But then I saw that others used just a stick of butter, and turned the tails periodically as they cooked. That I could do. 

I was intimidated anew when I read various people insisting that the lobster must not be poached in simple melted butter, but in beurre monte, which is French for fancy emulsified melted butter. I read this description of how to make it, and while I absolutely love that author (who has surely written the most entertaining piece that will ever be written about butter-poached lobster), the description of the effort involved was daunting. 

After a long day at the office, the last thing I want is daunting. 

But I gave it a try, and you know what? That bastard was wrong. It wasn't hard; it was really easy. So now I know that I can make lovely emulsified butter sauce whenever I want. 

This is a satisfying feeling. 

I was still concerned, though, about all that butter. There was no way I was wasting an entire stick of butter that I had first turned into beurre monte and then poached lobster tails in. Also, we needed dinner, not just lobster tails in butter. 

So I came up with this:

Orecchiette with Butter-Poached Lobster Tails and Cherry Tomatoes 

(sounds fancy, doesn't it?)

1/3 lb orecchiette

1 T water

1 stick unsalted butter, cold

2 lobster tails, defrosted, removed from the shell, and at room temperature

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 pint cherry tomatoes, halved (larger ones quartered)

1/4 cup basil, chiffonaded

1. Cook orecchiette according to package directions. 

2. Bring 1T water to a boil in a small saucepan. Add 1T butter, and whisk to melt over low heat. Add the rest of the butter, 1T at a time, whisking, so that the milk solids don't separate out, but instead it all emulsifies into a lovely, yellow opaque sauce. This is it. You've made a fancy butter sauce with a French name. 

3. Add the lobster tails to the melted butter, and cook, turning every minute or two, for 5-10 minutes, until they reach 140 degrees. Remove the lobster.

4. Add minced garlic to the butter and let cook for 1 minute, then add chopped tomatoes. Cook 1-2 minutes, until tomatoes are heated through. 

5. Arrange orecchiette on a two plates. Pour tomato/butter sauce over the pasta. Top with lobster tails and chiffonade of basil. Devour immediately, maybe with a nice glass of white wine. 

I am telling you, go out and buy some lobster tails (preferably on sale) and make this at once.