How to prepare rice with lobster

How to make rice with lobster . Do you want to be like a champion this Christmas? What flips all your guests? Well pay attention to my recipe today  “Rice with lobster” .

I do not know if this will be the best recipe in the world but I assure you that it is one of the most famous dishes within my gastronomic repertoire.

If there is seafood known and appreciated in our gastronomy, and for which I have an immense weakness, it is  the lobster . This formidable sea crab is the king of seafood not only for its enormous size but also for its flavor.

These crustaceans, first cousins ​​of the American lobster and Norway lobster, have exquisite meat, highly appreciated both for its texture and its unmistakable flavor. Buy the lobster in its season or you also have the option to buy it frozen.

Sometimes I use frozen to give rice more flavor and I have used it to enrich the fumet or broth that makes this recipe top.

Today’s objective is that you dare to cook this rice, do not think it is a complicated recipe, it is super simple. The key to  success is in the chosen rice , in the flavor of the broth and  of course in its main ingredient, the lobster .

The rice is mellow, tasty, with a taste of the sea and seafood like few others. As it is a soupy rice , this time, the result is juicy and tasty. The rice with which we have prepared this rice is the SOS special broth rice that always gives us such good results.

It is more than rice, as a friend would say …

Before cooking the recipe

1. Once we remove the lobster from its natural environment it begins to die slowly. So to keep it as long as possible alive it is necessary to cover it with a damp cloth, which we will change every 12 hours.
2. A lobster that we have bought alive can survive in the fridge for 3 to 4 days at a temperature of 5 degrees.
3. If you are going to use live lobster, it is best to buy it the day before so that the bug suffers as little as possible. When buying it, make sure that the lobster is still alive and looking vital.
4. That it does not present cuts or damages, that it has all its legs and its integral clamps, that the shell is hard and consistent.
5. If the lobster we are going to prepare is alive, be careful as it will defend itself. Your clamps can be dangerous, although normally they come with elastic bands so that they cannot be opened, do not remove them until the end of the cut.

How to cut lobster

1. Place the lobster on a non-slip board, always “belly up” with the tail against the cutting surface.
2. The surface where we are going to cut it must allow us to take advantage of the juices that will be spilled during the cut. Well, this liquid is very tasty and will allow us to give a more intense flavor to our dish.
3. Once we have the lobster fixed, we introduce the knife behind the end of the head and cut. Separating the trunk from the tail, in two parts of similar size.
4. Then we turn the lobster around and cut the head into two symmetrical parts. Then cut the trunk into medium pieces, taking advantage of the carapace rings.
5. We can also cut it into slices, starting with a clean cut on the head and then cut each ring on the trunk into slices. We reserve in a large bowl.

Preparation of the rice base with lobster

1. We choose a large casserole, if it is better clay or, as in this case, a paella. The quality point of the rice will be in the fumet or broth with which we are going to enrich the recipe.
2. In this case I prepared it in an express pot. I also added monkfish bones, shrimp heads and a lot of vegetables that my mother had in the fridge, and it was impressive.
3. If you do not have time, you can use some ready-made broth (better that it is of quality) that they sell in supermarkets.
4. Peel the garlic cloves and chop as best as possible. Chop the onions and red peppers very fine so that they melt in the cooking. We reserve everything.
5. We add the extra virgin olive oil to the paella. When the oil is hot, fry the vegetables about 10 minutes over medium heat, always stirring carefully.
6. We toss the heads of the two lobsters (we add the tails later) and sauté with the vegetables. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
7. Grate the tomato or remove the skin and chop very finely.
8. When the previous vegetable is already poached we add it together with a dessert type teaspoon of sweet paprika. Very little, just to give a little aroma.
9. We remove everything slowly until it reduces. It has to look like a sauce that is not very liquid but does not cling to the paella.

Rice preparation and final presentation

1. We add the rice and stir everything gently so that it is well impregnated with the stew and absorbs the flavor. We leave for 2 more minutes on medium heat.
2. Once the rice has absorbed all the flavor of the stew we add  the fish fumet  (if possible hot) to the paella or casserole.
3. For a semi-broth rice the exact measurements are 3 and a half parts of broth for each part or measure of rice.
4. We raise the temperature to the maximum until it begins to boil. Then we lower it in half and add the saffron threads, which is done little by little. For this type of rice it takes about 18-20 minutes.
5. In the last 5 minutes of cooking add the remaining pieces of lobster.
6. If necessary, we rectify the amount of liquid with water (if possible, heat to avoid cutting the cooking). We are testing the point of salt and rice. If you need a pinch of salt, it’s time to add it.
7. Do not be scared if when lobsters cook it acquires a characteristic red color, it happens in almost all crustaceans. It is a good sign and the point that tells us that the plate is almost done.
8. We remove from the fire and let it rest only 2-3 minutes, we do not want it to pass us point.
9. In addition, there must be some broth. If we leave it for a long time in rest, the rice will continue to swell and absorb broth. To the plate directly and do not get burned.

I assure you that someday if you do, you will repeat the recipe, because it is simply yummy. And above all, serve it with a good fresh Galician white wine.

Here you have a step by step in photos where I show how to prepare this recipe for rice with lobster . Do not miss any detail so that it comes out perfect.

Tips for a rice with lobster pudding

• The  lobsters you see in the photo, resting on a honey-colored bed of rice, have been quite cheap thanks to the proximity purchase, direct from the Galician coast.
• Before the Christmas holidays you can find  fresh Galician lobster at less than 40 euros per kg, but at Christmas it can reach more than 60 euros / kg. You can always choose to buy the Canadian lobster with a price between 20 and 35 euros, depending on the time of year.
• Or buy it frozen  in almost any supermarket or large area for 10 euros per kg.
• The broth or fumet is as important as the rice itself or the lobster itself, be careful, prepare a good fumet because it is the one that will imbue the dish with flavor. In several recipes I explain the step by step to achieve  an almost perfect fumet .
• We can make rice more or less stocky. I personally like it with some broth but there are people who prefer it as a paella, I have seen rice dishes with lobster dry and broth. Therefore, you can do it in a normal paella or, if you like more with broth, in a clay pot.
• If we see that the rice is a little hard but the casserole is running out of enough liquid, we will gradually add more water until it is ready.
• For a semi-broth rice the exact measurements are 3 and a half parts of broth for each part or measure of rice. For a stocky rice the measures are 5 parts of broth for each measure of rice.
• If you make it broth, there are several types, the normal one is as I say, but keep in mind that as soon as the rice is there you have to serve it, otherwise it will pass. The rice continues to cook as soon as we put it on the table.