Catalan style lobster recipe

The Catalan lobster is a traditional Sardinian recipe and in particular from Alghero on the west coast of Sardinia. Sardinia, being close to Catalonia, took over many of Catalonian dishes. Sardinian cuisine is famous for its incredibly marvelous seafood dishes, which is hardly surprising, since there’s sea all around. So you can have lobsters cooked in this way in Sardinia – oh, in the whole of italy. Dish called – Aragosta alla Catalana. This is the most popular method of preparation. Easy to prepare and you’ll love how it looks. The Catalan red lobster can be served either as an appetizer that as a main dish. Could be an idea for the menu of the next Christmas Eve dinner.

You will need:

2 live lobsters (600 grams each) 2-3 Tropea red onions 200 grams cherry tomatoes 2-3 carrots 1 small endive 1 celery 1 fennel 1 spring onion 1 red pepper and 1 yellow 1 bunch of radishes

For the vinaigrette:

extra virgin olive oil white vinegar 1 lemon 1 spoon of mustard salt pepper

INSTRUCTIONS:

Cut the red onion into thin slices and dip it in a bowl with hot water, adding a tablespoon of vinegar. Let them soak for at least 30 minutes. Fill with water a large pot (large enough to hold the lobster in its entirety), and when the water is at a rolling boil, drop in the lobsters. Cover with a lid and cook for 10-12 minutes on high heat until they turn red. Once cooked, remove the lobster from the water, let it drain and place on a cutting board. When the lobsters are cool enough to handle turn the lobster and, with the help of a poultry shears, make an incision on the abdomen, so as to cut the carcass for its entire length. Cut lobster tails completely in half lengthwise, exposing lobster meat.

In a small bowl mix extra virgin olive oil, vinegar, lemon, mustard, salt and pepper. This vinaigrette will serve the sauce to flavour the dish at the end of the preparation.

Start chopping celery, cherry tomatoes in half, thinly sliced spring onion (white part only) and carrots, peppers into strips deprived of the white ribs and seeds removed, chop endives, radishes carved (fennel) and place everything on a platter. Arrange on the platter also red onion cut into rings previously placed in the water and vinegar: finally position at the centre of the platter the lobster. Top the dish with the vinaigrette previously prepared and let it sit for about half an hour before to serve.