Christmas Eats - ala Pacific Fresh Fish

Merry Christmas everyone. You knew I had to share some Christmas eats with you! Here in our home, hubs' side of the family is German. Very German. So Christmas Eve is their 'big event', which means I make a Christmas Eve dinner that's more acceptable to the German palate. We had prime rib and potatoes. However, it means that my dinner on Christmas DAY is all for me, since, well it IS all about me, after all. And that means fish. Yup. Fish.

We buy ALL of our seafood at Pacific Fresh Fish because not only is it fresh and delicious, they'll order in practically anything you like, if they can procure it! So we had some Raspberry Point oysters, some Malpeque and some Beau Soleil. I ordered an extra half dozen of the Malpeque and made some Oysters Rockefeller for a change of pace.

Bet you noticed the lobster before the oysters though, hunh? The lobster was incredible. I stumbled onto a new technique for making it too.

Start with a fresh live two pound lobster and humanely dispatch by putting a sharp knife through the head.

Here was our guy. Now lobster isn't cheap - especially here on the prairies so I aim to get the most from my little guy and use every bit. After dispatching her, I put her in the steamer with several inches of water and cooked for about 5 minutes to yield slightly cooked but still underdone meat. That's because I want to grill the tail and I don't want it overcooked when I'm ready to serve.

Here she is looking fine in red. Next step is to twist off the tail and the claws, split the shell and clean out the tamale and the gooey guts. Break up the shell and saute the pieces in butter with a mirepoix and then add the stock water you used in steaming since this will still have some lobster flavor.  I threw in some whole black peppercorns, some orange zest and a bay leaf and let it simmer for about an hour. When I was ready, I split the tail, cleaned out the vein and put it meat side down on a hot buttered grill pan, then spooned a bit of my stock on the pan and slapped a lid on to ensure it heated through. While the tail was hanging out on the pan, I dropped the claws into the stock to finish cooking them - and WOW! They had such a rich lobster flavor that I plan to do this every time I cook lobster now.

Then of course I turned that gorgeous stock into a lobster bisque by adding in the shells from the claws and tail, a spoonful of tomato paste and reducing it by simmering for another hour (I added a couple more cups of water during this process). Then strain the broth through a few layers of cheesecloth squeezing out all that luscious liquid.

Then add 3 Tablespoons of good cognac and ignite to burn off the alcohol. Finish by adding cream to make it a thick consistency and allow to come to just under a simmer. At this point you can sprinkle any leftover lobster atop the bisque (Hahahaha - as if there would be leftovers!) and pair with a fresh baked crispy baguette. I used this recipe.

Enjoy! We sure did! And if you're here in the Queen City, pay Pacific Fresh Fish a visit - you won't regret it!