Author Notes
…ma si nat’ in Italy. Cherry tomatoes (pomodorini) meet up with Maine lobster, and get tangled up in tagliatelle. Sounds like a movie involving Sophia Loren and Clark Gable. Here the tomatoes and lobster are the stars, and the sauce is a third cousin of the French sauce l’americaine. Do your prep, murder your lobster and the rest is pretty easy. While I’m calling for tagliatelle here, another flat pasta such as fettucine or pappardelle will work also. And if you hand cut these yourself, I love you. For the death of the lobster, make it humane. It involves crucifixion on long handled wooden spoon here but you are going to plunge it in boiling water for 8 to 10 minutes. I describe the method in more detail in another recipe http://www.food52.com/recipes.... But do it your own way. Now, to work… - pierino —pierino
Test Kitchen Notes
This is a lovely sauce -- nice and easy, but with a few simple touches such as tomato paste and pepper flakes that really help develop it. There's a great balance of flavors and the lobster is wonderful swimming in the creamy, tomato-y sauce. Boiling the pasta in the lobster water is an inspired idea. Don't forget to begin boiling your water for the pasta when you start making the sauce. - biffbourgeois —Stephanie Bourgeois
Continue After Advertisement
Ingredients
-
1 1/2 pounds
Atlantic lobster
-
7 ounces cherry tomatoes
-
8 ounces flat pasta; tagliatelle, fettucine, or pappardelle
-
2 bay leaves
-
1 shallot, chopped
-
1 clove garlic, chopped
-
2 tablespoons
butter
-
1 shot
vodka
-
1 teaspoon
red pepper flakes (or more to taste)
-
Salt and cracked black pepper
-
½ cup heavy cream
-
1 tablespoon tomato paste
Directions
-
Prep the garlic and shallot. Rinse the cherry tomatoes and with your sharp knife cut each in half longitudinally.
-
Murder the lobster. Boil it to your own method with the bay leaves for about 8 minutes. SAVE THE WATER YOU BOILED IT IN. When Monsignore Aragosta is cool enough to handle extract the meat with your surgical instruments.
-
In a hot skillet melt the butter.
-
Add the shallot and garlic just long enough to color. Add the tomatoes and allow them to melt a little bit. Season with the pepper flakes as well as the salt and pepper.
-
Add the vodka to the pan from a glass not the bottle. You can set it on fire if you want to impress but it’s not necessary.
-
Add the cream and tomato paste and stir. The tomato paste is in there to provide a pinkish color to complement the lobster and the tomatoes. Reduce the sauce while the pasta cooks.
-
Add the lobster parts. You can slice these to your own taste for presentation*.
-
Meanwhile bring the lobster water back to a boil. Add the pasta and cook until al dente.
-
When the pasta is ready stir into the tomato and sauce mixture. Taste for seasoning as it may need more black pepper.
-
*Note to cook: I truss the lobster to a wooden spoon because it keeps the tail from curling, and whether you’ll be slicing it or keeping it intact it will give you more presentation options.
Standup commis flâneur, and food historian. Pierino's background is in Italian and Spanish cooking but of late he's focused on frozen desserts. He is now finishing his cookbook, MALAVIDA! Can it get worse? Yes, it can. Visit the Malavida Brass Knuckle cooking page at Facebook and your posts are welcome there.
See what other Food52ers are saying.