Lobster thermidor baked potatoes

Another run-out for Mark Hix's wonderfully decadent recipe for a lobster-stuffed baked potato from his book Hix on Baking. Such a great idea . . .

Mark writes: "This is a great way to stretch out a lobster and makes for a fantastic, luxurious baked potato. Extravagant you may think, but not really. The baked potato is making a bit of a comeback – I’m sure they'll soon be dished up in all the smart restaurants..."

Serves 4

4 baking potatoes

80g butter

salt and freshly ground black pepper

50ml white wine

1 large shallot, peeled and finely chopped

2 tsp English mustard

100ml fish stock (or a third of a good-quality stock cube dissolved in 100ML hot water)

300ml double cream

30g Parmesan, grated

80g mature Cheddar, grated

1 small egg yolk

1 x 500–600g cooked lobster

Preheat the oven to 200°C/gas mark 6. Wash the potatoes, transfer to the oven and bake them for about 1–1 1/2 hours, until soft. Leave them to cool a little, then cut off about a quarter of the top of each potato and scoop the flesh out into a bowl. Mash as chunky or as smooth as you wish, then mix with the butter and season to taste.

Return the potato skins to the oven for about 10 minutes to crisp up before setting aside with the flesh.

Meantime, simmer the white wine with the shallots until the liquid has almost evaporated. Add the mustard and fish stock and reduce again similarly. Add the cream, reserving a tablespoon, bring back to the boil and simmer until the sauce has reduced by half or more and is quite thick. Add the Parmesan and 60g of the grated cheddar and whisk until smooth.

Season and leave to cool. (You can add a little more mustard at this stage to taste if you want the sauce more tangy).

In a small bowl, whip the remaining tablespoon of double cream until it forms soft peaks. Fold into the cooled sauce with the egg yolk.

Turn up the oven to 230°/gas mark 8. Halve the body of the lobster lengthways and remove the meat from the shell. Cut the tail meat into four or five pieces. Crack the claws and leg joints and remove all of the meat. Remove the claws from each lobster, then crack and remove all of the meat including the smaller joints.

Mix half of the sauce with the mashed potato and spoon into the crisp potato shells, leaving about a centimetre from the top of each. Arrange the lobster on top of the potato, scatter over the remaining cheese and spoon over the rest of the sauce. Return to the oven or place under a hot grill until nicely browned. Serve with a few dressed salad leaves.

What to drink: I'd suggest a good white burgundy with this like a Meursault or a similarly rich style of chardonnay from elsewhere. Or a full-bodied champagne. You could drink an aged red Bordeaux too. An excuse to crack open a good bottle, anyway!

This recipe comes from Hix on Baking by Mark Hix, published by Quadrille Publishing RRP £20. Photography © Jason Lowe

Simon Hopkinson's Oysters Rockefeller

I've always been intrigued by Oysters Rockefeller, described by the great Simon Hopkinson as "the best hot oyster dish I know". Here's his recipe.

"Why oysters Rockefeller is quite so good lies in the perfectly chosen ingredients which marry so well with the unique taste of an oyster" Hopkinson writes. "The transformation from the natural, raw oyster (delicious in itself, of course) to the warmed oyster (never too hot) is critical. Buttery creamed spinach, tarragon, parsley, the essential pastis (Pernod, here) and softened shallot and celery. The aniseed flavours have always been key; pastis added to creamed spinach, for instance, absolutely makes that particular dish sing out loud."

SERVES 2

12 rock oysters, shucked

FOR THE ROCKEFELLER PURÉE:

250g young spinach leaves

10g parsley leaves

100g unsalted butter, softened

1 large stick of celery, peeled and chopped

1 small shallot, chopped

20ml Pernod

the leaves from 3–4 sprigs of tarragon

several shakes of Tabasco sauce

¼ tsp salt

a handful of fresh breadcrumbs

Fill a pan with water and bring to the boil. Plunge in the spinach and parsley, bring back to the boil then drain in a colander. Immediately refresh in iced water until cold. Squeeze as dry as possible between two hands until no more liquid seeps out. Set aside.

Melt 25g of the butter in a small frying pan, gently fry the celery and shallot until softened then add the Pernod, allowing it to bubble a little. Cool briefly, then scrape into the bowl of a small food processor. Add the cooked spinach and parsley, tarragon, Tabasco, salt and the remaining 75g of butter. Purée until very smooth and set aside.

Preheat the oven to 220°C/gas mark 7.

Tip off any excess juice from the opened oysters and, using a small palette knife, completely cover each oyster with a generous coating of the spinach purée. Strew a baking dish (or deep metal pan) with coarse salt, to allow the oysters to sit neatly. Distribute a fine showering of breadcrumbs over the oysters and bake in the oven on the top shelf. Cook for 8–10 minutes or until the breadcrumbs have become slightly toasted. Serve without delay.

What to drink: Not the easiest dish to match with wine. I asked Simon for his view and his suggested a white Rhone ("Fonsalette would be very special, if one can afford it." My own choice, I think, would be a brut nature style of champagne - i.e. one with no or a very low dosage or a premier cru Chablis though I'm sure a Sancerre, Pouilly Fumé or other minerally style of Sauvignon Blanc would be fine."

This recipe comes from Simon Hopkinson Cooks which is published by Ebury Press at £25. Photograph © Jason Lowe.

Strawberry tiramisu

This is a slight adaptation of a fantastic recipe from Italian cookery writer Valentina Harris which I first tasted on one of her cookery courses in Tuscany and included in my book Food, Wine and Friends.

Serves 6
400g (14 oz) ripe strawberries
5 hard amaretti biscuits
2 large eggs, separated
40g (1 1/2 oz) caster sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
4 tbsp white rum
250g (9 oz) mascarpone cheese at room temperature
3 tbsp whipping cream
100 ml (3 1/2 fl oz) pressed apple juice
1/2 a 200g pack of savoiardi (sponge finger biscuits)

You will need a medium to large, deep glass bowl

Hull the strawberries. Weigh out 100g and chop them finely. Slice the remaining strawberries and set aside.

Put the amaretti biscuits in a plastic bag, seal then bash them with a rolling pin until they are the consistency of coarse breadcrumbs.

Beat the egg yolks in a bowl with electric hand held beater or a whisk until pale yellow and fluffy, gradually adding the caster sugar as you go. Add the vanilla extract and a tablespoon of the white rum.

Tip the mascarpone cheese into a large bowl, beat with a wooden spoon to soften then gradually add the eggs and sugar and beat until smooth.

In another bowl beat the egg whites until they just hold a soft peak.

Fold the chopped strawberries into the mascarpone cheese mixture, then carefully fold in the egg whites.

Whip the whipping cream to a similar consistency then fold that in too together with a third of the crushed amaretti biscuits.

Mix the remaining rum with the apple juice. Dip some of the biscuits in the apple-rum mixture and lay across the base of your bowl.

Reserving some strawberries for decoration, arrange a layer of sliced strawberries over the biscuits then cover with a layer of mascarpone cream. Repeat with one or two more layers of soaked biscuits, strawberries and mascarpone cream, finishing with the mascarpone cream.

Cover the bowl tightly with clingfilm and chill in the fridge for at least 5 hours. About an hour before you serve up sprinkle the remaining amaretti biscuits over the top of the trifle then decorate with the remaining strawberries. Return the tiramisu to the fridge until you’re ready to serve it.

Note: this recipe includes uncooked egg

What to drink: A well chilled glass of Moscato d'Asti would be perfect.

Twice-baked goats' cheese soufflés

A classic starter from the ‘70’s but one that our customers seem to enjoy every bit as much today. This version originally came from a book called Take Twelve Cooks and was one of Pru Leith’s recipes. However Stephen Bull attributes it to Peter Kromberg of Le Soufflé at the Intercontinental who was also featured in the book . . .

Anyway the beauty of them is that they can be made a couple of days ahead or frozen (see below) which makes them ideal for dinner parties. (This also explains the slightly larger than usual quantity. It is a recipe that’s tricky to scale down so you might as well make a few extra while you’re at it, borrowing some extra ramekins or dariole moulds from a friend or neighbour if you don’t have enough!)

Serves 8-10

Ingredients
6 medium eggs
55g (2oz) strong Cheddar
55g (2oz) Gruyère
110g (4oz) goats' cheese (from a goats’ cheese log)
425ml (3/4 pint) whole milk
a slice of onion
a bayleaf
85g (3oz) butter
85g (3oz) plain flour
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
Salt, pepper, cayenne pepper and nutmeg

You will also need 8-10 individual ramekins, dariole moulds or ovenproof coffee cups, lightly buttered.

Method
I prefer to do the preparation and weighing of the ingredients first, then the job can be done as a continuous process without having to stop and start all the time. Separate the eggs - the whites into a bowl for beating later and the yolks for adding to the soufflé mix. Grate your Cheddar and Gruyère and cut the goats cheese into cubes. Pre-heat the oven to 190°C/375°F/Gas 5.

Next heat the milk up with a slice of onion and a bay leaf. In another pan melt the butter and add the flour to make a roux (thick flour and butter paste) then gradually beat in the hot milk, returning the pan to the heat after each addition until the mixture is thick.

When all the milk has been added let the mixture cook over a low heat for a few minutes then beat in the Cheddar and Gruyère. Now take the pan off the heat and season with the mustard, cayenne pepper, salt, pepper and a pinch of nutmeg. The mixture needs to be quite highly seasoned because you are going to add a large amount of egg white.

Beat in the egg yolks one at a time, then mix in the goats cheese. Beat the egg whites until stiff then fold them lightly but thoroughly into the soufflé base using a large metal spoon.

Fill the buttered ramekin dishes or moulds with the mixture to just below the rim of each dish then stand them in a roasting tin lined with a tea towel. Pour hot water into the tray just under half-way up and cook in the pre-heated oven for 20-25 minutes or until well-risen and set.

Allow the soufflés to cool a little before turning them out. (They will sink slightly but don’t worry!) You can keep them wrapped with cling film for a couple of days in the fridge and even freeze them. (You will need to defrost and unwrap them before heating them.)

To serve reheat them in a hot oven at 200°C/400°F/Gas 6 for up to 15 mins until well risen.

If I’m serving them with a salad I put them on baking parchment on a baking sheet otherwise I put each one into an individual serving dish with a little double cream poured over and a sprinkling of grated Cheddar or Gruyère cheese.

* For the salad I use some roasted beetroot, walnuts, mixed leaves and a spoonful or two of salad dressing.

What to drink: Although the recipe title refers to goats' cheese it's also got Cheddar and Gruyère in it so I'd be inclined to serve a Chablis or other unoaked or lightly oaked Chardonnay rather than a Sauvignon Blanc. A blanc de blancs Champagne or sparkling Chardonnay would also be delicious. FB