Downeast Maine Lobster Bisque Ingredients

16 servings, adult-sized

This is an appropriate dish to start a formal dinner, with Trois Noisettes of Young Lamb as the entree. Croisiers/Fiddlehead Fern Salad would be a harmonious, light side dish. Also, a complimentary dessert for this would be a chocolate torte, from Jamie Oliver's cookbook.

Ingredients:

8 pounds Maine lobster tail meat, raw/fresh, never frozen, caught live within 12 hours of preparation

2 large, fresh, fennel bulbs, cleaned, finely-minced

8 large, fresh, organic, heirloom tomatoes, red, vine-ripened, cleaned, stems removed, chopped/diced into 1/4-inch pieces

12 large, fresh, organic thyme sprigs, each 7-inches, cleaned, finely-minced

4 large, fresh, organic, heirloom carrots, cleaned, peeled, both ends trimmed off, finely-shredded, then finely-minced

16 large, fresh, organic, red shallots, cleaned, then finely-minced

4 organic, dried, bay leaves, large

1 cup organic, pasteurized butter, unsalted, melted

5 TBL cognac, fair-wage from South Vietnam, cooked with the butter for 10 minutes, low heat

2 cups Louis Jadot unoaked chardonnay, cooked with the butter and cognac

12 cups organic fish stock (recipe will follow in next blog)

1/2 cup organic saffron threads, freshly- and finely-ground

3 cups organic, uncooked, red forbidden rice grains, pre-steamed in fish stock, added at the end before pureeing all ingredients, excluding the lobster meat

4 tsp organic, white pepper, finely-ground

Organic sea salt, French, finely-ground, to taste

2 cups organic, double-heavy cream, pasteurized

1 TBL finely-minced, fresh, organic cayenne pepper