Can you kill him for me?

Without a shadow of a doubt, I am a creature of habit. I love routine, order, planning and organisation. A trip to the Fish Market is no exception. I usually plan to buy some oysters and prawns and, if I'm feeling really mad, I might even pick up some scallops. Today I went there, to meet my friend Manor for lunch, and thanks to this Blog I decided that it was time to challenge myself. I was going to purchase a lobster and try my hand at Lobster Mornay.

I didn't realise that at the fish market you can only get live or cooked lobster. This nearly put an end to my adventurous phase until I decided to ask the assistant if she could do the dirty deed for me. Unfortunately she didn't speak very good English so I had to repeat "Can you kill him for me?" 3 times. Each time getting louder - because we all know that speaking louder makes English much easier to understand. I looked the other way and chatted with Manor while the lobster said his last goodbyes.

I didn't even want to cut him open, so I recruited J to do that for me. I have never seen a man able to extract more meat from a crustacean than J. It is a talent I am truly envious of, especially as I pick away at tiny morsels of crab while he builds up a mountain of meat.

I got this recipe from [Doyle's Seafood Cookbook]. After all the death and mutilation it was very easy and made an impressive meal. I wasn't sure if the lobster would be enough for the two of us so I also made a rocket salad with roasted cherry tomatoes, pine nuts and deep fried breaded baby boccaccini.

Lobster Mornay

1 kg lobster
butter
2 green onions
1 bay leaf, crushed
½ cup white wine
grated cheese
breadcrumbs

White sauce
1½ tblsps butter
2 tblsps plain flour
1 cup fish stock
1 cup milk
freshly ground pepper
salt
dash of Tabasco

1. Place butter in a saucepan over a low heat and melt. Add flour and cook carefully for a few minutes, stirring, making sure no lumps form. Stir constantly to avoid burning or browning. Gradually stir in the fish stock and milk.
2. Boil gently for about 10 minutes until smooth and thick.
3. Cut lobster in half. Remove the flesh and cut up. Put the empty shells into a hot oven to get really hot.
4. Sauté the lobster meat in a little butter with chopped green onion an a crushed bay leaf, and then add the white wine. After the wine has evaporated, add the white sauce and reheat.
5. Have the grill nice and hot. Bring the lobster shells from the oven, pop your lobster mixture in, grate some cheese and breadcrumbs on top, and slide under the grill. Brown all over .
Of course, some habits are hard to break so I did have oysters and prawns for lunch with Manor. They now serve little containers of Tetsuya's Oyster Sauce to have there and then which was delicious with our dozen mixed oysters.