Mother's Day Decadence

It's been several years that my parents have been telling us not to buy them presents.  Birthdays, Christmas, Mother and Father's Day.  Their logic is they have everything they want & need and if they don't have it, they go and get it.  Makes sense, but of course, my sister and Neil and I don't feel completely right about it.  So, we try to figure out either a gift of something they haven't gotten for themselves (like the Keurig we surprised Dad with at Christmas) or we find something creative we can do.  This year, as I was contemplating Mother's Day, my mom offered up something that she'd like as a gift.  JACKPOT!  Not just a hint or a suggestion, but a direct request!  

The Moms and the reason we exist

This is what she said: "I want you to cook Lobster Thermidor for me."

You want me to do what??

 Did you hear that?  That thing that sounded like a loud Hosanna?  This was perfect. She wants me to cook for her, which I love to do. She wants lobster, which, well hey...if you know me, you know that this is my nectar of the gods. Everybody wins!

I pulled out my trusty Lobster at Home by Jasper White and studied up on the recipe.  Just reading it makes me hungry for this decadence on a plate. Seriously, if anyone tries to tell me that chunks of lobster, a wine/shallot reduction, and a rich Mornay sauce doesn't sound good, I have no choice but to declare them mentally incompetent.

We had lobster tails available rather than the whole lobsters. I briefly submerged them in boiling water to "parboil" them.  

Look at these beautiful little monsters!

After they cooled a bit, I cut them into 1" chunks and refrigerated while I worked on the rest.  

I could stick my face in this plate with reckless abandon

Next, I started the Bercy reduction. This consists of white wine, lobster broth (which I had in my freezer from my last lobster binge), chopped shallots and fresh ground pepper.  Next, I moved on to the Mornay.  You start by making a blonde roux, add milk and simmer. Once it begins to thicken up, you add gruyere and parmesan.  Meanwhile whisk together some cream and an egg yolk.  Temper it with some of the cheese sauce, then add it in to the rest of the sauce.  Complete it with the Bercy reduction, some Dijon, lemon juice, salt & pepper.

Now, in the classic preparation, you'd spoon all this sinful deliciousness back into the lobster shells.  However, since I only had the tails, it was evident that I had way more Thermidor than I had shells.  So, I opted for ramekins.  Topped off with more of the cheese mixture and popped them in the oven. 

Is this beautiful or what?

 

All this looks great but gimme the lobster

Whew!  I did it!

As you've surely gathered by now, we all gained 10 pounds at the dinner table but it was so worth it.  So rich, so luscious, so over-the-top.  My mom was thanking me for cooking it and I was thanking her for wanting it to be cooked! It's been years since I've eaten this dish and certainly the first time I've made it myself. I already have ideas of how I might change it just a tad and to use the Mornay as a base for my own version of a luxurious lobster mac-n-cheese. The recipe is easy to prepare, but long to write.  If you're interested in getting it, just write a comment below and I'll get it to you.