The French Laundry Series: Lobster with Orzo

Dining at the French Laundry might be only a dream for most people (I know it is for me), but eating like you’re at the French Laundry can be for everyone. Believe me when I say, this recipe is a lot easier than you will think to make and it will impress the socks off of anyone you serve it to. If I have learned anything from attempting the French Laundry recipes it is that ‘fine dining’ should not be limited to going out. Sure, it is a nice treat; but doing it at home is a lot cheaper (and there is a lot of joy hidden in eating a three Michelin star worthy meal in your pajamas). Like Chef Guesteu said in Ratatouille “Anyone can cook”! Thomas Keller might disagree, but I honestly believe that anyone can make this recipe; and if lobster is out of your budget, you can replace it with shrimp.

Cook Time: 75 minutes

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Serving Size: 6-8 portions

Ingredients

Lobster

• 6 lobster tails

• 2-4 tablespoons butter

Orzo

• 1/2 cup orzo

• 1/2-1 cup water

• reserved lobster shells

• 1/2 cup canola oil

• 1 1/2 cups chopped tomato

• 1/2 cup chopped carrots

• 2 cups heavy cream

• 1 tablespoon dried tarragon

• 2 tablespoons mascarpone

• chives

Instructions

Lobster

1. In a large stock pot, boil water and add the lobster tails. Cook the tails for 5-8 minutes, until the shells are red.

2. Once cooked, remove the lobster tails from the water and let them cool.

3. Once cooled, de-shell the tails. You can do this by cutting the bottom of the tail with scissors and gently pull away the shell from the meat. Make sure to save the shells for the orzo sauce.

4. Set the cooked and peeled lobster tails aside.

Orzo

1. In a large saucepan, put the canola oil and lobster shells (it is okay if the shells were already cooked from the lobster). Sauté the shells for 5 minutes.

2. Dice the tomatoes and chop the carrots.

3. Add the tomatoes, carrots, and dried tarragon to the lobster shells and cover the pan. Continue to simmer for another 50-60 minutes.

4. Take a strainer and another sauce pan and strain the lobster and vegetables (the liquid will go into the other sauce pan). While straining, make sure to mix around the shells to get any extra liquid out of it.

5. Put the pan with the strained stock over medium heat and add the cream and mascarpone. Cook for about 10 minutes.

6. While the stock is cooking, boil the 1/2 cup of water and add the orzo. Cook for 9-10 minutes (or per the instructions on your box).

7. Add the orzo to the cream sauce and keep over low heat as you get ready to plate.

Plating

1. Right before you are ready to start plating, melt butter in a medium frying pan. There should be enough butter to generously coat the entire bottom of the pan.

2. Add the lobster tail meat to the butter and cook on medium heat until warmed.

3. Scoop about 1/2-2/3 cup of orzo into a shallow bowl.

4. Add the lobster tail to the top of the orzo. You can either add the whole tail, or roughly chop it into smaller pieces.

5. Garnish with chopped chives.

This recipe is heavily adapted from The French Laundry cookbook written by Chef Thomas Keller.