lobster cutlet with parmesan risotto

Ingredients:

For the lobster:

• 3 lobster tails (6–8 oz each), thawed if frozen
• ½ cup AP flour
• 2 eggs, beaten with a splash of water
• 1½ cups panko breadcrumbs
• ½ cup finely grated parmesan (goes in the panko)
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• ½ tsp smoked paprika
• Salt + cracked black pepper
• 1 stick (½ cup) unsalted butter, for frying — yes, a whole stick
• 2 Tbsp neutral oil (raises the smoke point so the butter doesn't burn)

For the shell stock:

• All the lobster shells you just removed
• 1 shallot, halved
• 2 cloves garlic, smashed
• 1 bay leaf
• A few peppercorns
• 4 cups water
• Splash of white wine

For the risotto:

• 1½ cups arborio or carnaroli rice
• 1 large shallot, fine dice
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 Tbsp butter
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• ½ cup dry white wine
• 5–6 cups of your lobster shell stock, kept at a bare simmer
• ¾ cup finely grated parmesan
• 2 Tbsp cold butter, to finish
• Juice of ½ lemon
• Salt + white pepper

To finish:

• A big handful of chives, minced fine
• The claws, if your lobster came with them — steamed 6 minutes, cracked, kept whole for the plate
• Flaky salt
• Lemon wedges

Butcher the tails:

1. Kitchen scissors down the centre of the back of the shell, all the way to the fan. Then do the underside too. The shell comes off in two pieces if you work your thumbs under it — go slow, the meat tears easily.
2. Keep every scrap of shell. That's your stock, and it's the difference between this tasting homemade and tasting expensive.
3. Lay each tail flat and butterfly it — slice lengthwise about three quarters of the way through and open it out like a book. Press it gently flat with your palm. You want a cutlet, not a log. Pat bone dry with paper towel; wet lobster will not hold breading.

Shell stock (start this first, it runs itself):

1. Shells into a dry pot over medium-high. Let them toast 3–4 minutes until they smell nutty and turn a deeper red. Don't skip this — raw shells make flat stock.
2. Splash of white wine, scrape the bottom. Then the shallot, garlic, bay, peppercorns and 4 cups water.
3. Simmer uncovered 35–40 minutes. Strain, discard the shells, keep it hot on the back burner. You'll have about 5 cups of pale orange stock that smells like the sea.

Set up the breading station:

1. Three plates. Flour in the first, seasoned with salt and pepper. Beaten egg in the second. In the third, the panko mixed with the parmesan, garlic powder, smoked paprika and a good amount of black pepper.
2. Flour → shake off the excess → egg → let it drip → panko. Press the crumbs on firmly, both sides, and don't be gentle. Lobster is smooth and the crust wants to slide off; pressure is what makes it stick.
3. Lay them on parchment and put them in the fridge, uncovered, for at least 15 minutes while you start the risotto. Chilling sets the coating and it's the single biggest thing between a crust that holds and a crust that falls into the pan.

Risotto:

1. Butter and olive oil in a wide pan over medium. Shallot with a pinch of salt, 4 minutes until soft and translucent. Garlic for 30 seconds more.
2. Rice in, and stir it around for 2 minutes until the grains turn slightly translucent at the edges with a white dot in the centre. This is toasting the starch and it matters.
3. White wine, and stir until it's almost completely gone.
4. Now the stock, one ladle at a time, stirring often and waiting until each addition is nearly absorbed before the next. About 18–20 minutes. Taste a grain from minute 16 — you want tender with the faintest resistance left in the middle.
5. Off the heat: parmesan, the 2 Tbsp of cold butter, the lemon juice. Beat it hard with a wooden spoon for 30 seconds — that's what makes it creamy, not the cream, because there isn't any. Season, cover, leave it alone.

Fry the lobster — this is the part that goes fast:

1. Wide skillet over medium. Oil first, then the whole stick of butter. Let it foam and then quieten down — when the foam subsides and it smells nutty, you're there.
2. Cutlets in, crust side down. 3 minutes, no touching, no moving them. Then flip.
3. 2–3 minutes on the second side, and this is where you spoon the hot butter over the top of them, over and over. The butter is doing half the cooking.
4. They're done when the crust is deep gold and the meat has turned from translucent to opaque white. Lobster goes from perfect to rubber in about ninety seconds, so err early — they carry on cooking off the heat.
5. Onto a rack or paper towel for a minute. Flaky salt immediately, while they're still hot.

Plate it:

1. A generous spoonful of risotto, spread into a loose pool rather than a neat mound. It should spread slowly on its own — if it sits up like a scoop it's too thick, so loosen it with a splash of hot stock.
2. Cutlet on top, slightly off-centre.
3. Claw standing up behind it if you've got one. It's garnish, and it's also the thing that tells everyone at the table what they're eating.
4. A heavy shower of chives over the whole plate — more than feels right. Lemon on the side.

Notes from the kitchen:

• Frozen tails are completely fine here. Thaw them overnight in the fridge, never in water. Breading and frying is forgiving in a way poaching isn't.
• Don't crowd the pan. Two at a time if your skillet is small. Crowded lobster steams, and steamed breading goes soft.
• The pan butter afterward is the best thing in the house. Brown, nutty, full of toasted panko. Pour it over the risotto or mop it with bread — do not pour it down the sink.
• Make the stock a day ahead if you want this to be a weeknight thing. It keeps three days in the fridge and the risotto comes together in twenty minutes once it's made.