Lobster Ravioli with Vanilla, Brandy, Butter and Cream Sauce

So my mate Alwyn phones me up,  says he has some “Kreef sterte” (thats lobster tails for you international folks) in the freezer and asks if I think I could make something out of it.  I am very fond of Kreef so I said “yes for sure!” before I had any idea of what I am actually going to do with the blooming things.  Time to get the brain into overdrive!

I haven’t made fresh pasta in a while, and been meaning to try my hand at Ravioli,  so that was that, Lobster Ravioli with… erm… *blank*

I have eaten lobster PLENTY of times, but I usually eat them straight after we catch them, steamed and thats that,  no side dishes,  extra flavors or any such nonsense, just juicy fresh lobster that tastes of the sea (we even boil them in sea water!)

Anyway, that was then, this is now.  I had to come up with a plan to make a proper dish out of Lobster!.

I consulted my usual source, The Interweb!  I stumbled upon  this video on Youtube and when I heard them say the word Vanilla I knew I had to taste that combination! I am a huge fan of the stuff.

So without further ado, I give you West Coast Rock Lobster Ravioli with Vanilla Brandy Butter Cream Sauce (yea it sure is a mouthful)

Here is what you will need:

Fresh Pasta Sheets (Click here to see how to make your own)

For the Filling

• about 2 to 3 cups chopped up lobster (sorry I forgot weigh them!)
• 1 tub plain cream cheese
• half a medium onion, finely chopped
• half a handful of chopped flat leaf parsley
• 100 grams of butter
• dash of white wine
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• salt and black pepper

For the Sauce

• about 25ml of brandy
• 250 ml cream
• quarter of a medium onion, very finely chopped
• salt and black pepper
• seeds of two vanilla pods
• 200 grams of butter

Garnish

• Parmesan
• Tomato peel
• Parsley

When making the Ravioli

• some extra flour to dust the work surface with
• 2 eggs, whisked together
• a pastry brush, or your fingers

So let’s get to it!

To start off with, lets get the filling sorted as it needs to cool a bit.

First off steam your lobster tails for 15 minutes by putting them in a colander over a pot of boiling water and place a lid on top.  Let that go for about 15 minutes.  Let them cool a bit and take off all the shells. (sorry no pic of this)

Then chop it up as fine as you can.

Finely dice and onion

The garlic

and the parsley.

In a hot pan, fry up the onions and garlic in some olive oil.  When the onions start getting translucent (see through), deglaze the pan (remove the stickiness off the bottom of the pan) by pouring in a dash of white wine and stirring.  Then pop in the the butter and when melted, pop in the chopped up lobster and the parsley and mix it all up well. Add salt and pepper to taste!

Get that out of the pan into a mixing bowl and place it somewhere cool so it can chill out a bit.

Now time for a drink, get yourself a nice glass of white wine and relax.  Home cooking doesn’t need to happen in a rush!  Before you go though, get a pot of salted (it should taste like the sea) water boiling to cook the pasta in!

Hokay so enough resting you lazy bugger, get back to it! Hopefully by now the lobster has cooled a bit.  Chuck in the cream cheese and mix well.

If you have a piping bag (I like using disposable ones as I HATE cleaning) chuck this mix in there and cut a suitably wide opening.

Right, now if you followed my guide on how to make fresh pasta, or you have mastered the art on your own by now, you should have some beautiful sheets of silky pasta.

Cut the sheets onto manageable lengths, spoon or pipe the mixture into little blobs on one side of the sheet, leaving enough space between them.

Whisk the two eggs together and with a pastry brush, brush the open side of the pasta, and in between your little blobs of goodness.

Next fold over the pasta sheet and with your fingers, work out any air bubbles you can find.

Cut out your little pouches of heaven and set to one side, lets finish the sauce first as these beauties will cook very fast, 4-5 minutes max!

In a nice thick bottomed pan (or whatever you got really) fry up the very finely chopped onion in some olive oil.

When the onions go translucent, add the big knob of butter and the vanilla seeds (check out how to work with vanilla pods here).

Now its time for the pyrotechnics, keep a large wet dishcloth / apron / wedding dress handy to throw over the pan if things get out of hand.

To be safe, pour the brandy into a tot glass and THEN into the pan, I know I personally have a very heavy hand when it comes to brandy, so think ahead!

Also, if you are not working on a gas hob, you want a source of flame it ignite the fire show.  I used my kitchen torch, but you can use a lighter (preferably one of those long nose jobbies) to light it up.

As a side note, if you have any single females around, call them over.  This is a real easy way to make you look like twice the chef you really are!

Ok, so your butter and onion pan is nice and hot, turn the heat down to low as you take the pan off the stove, tilt it away from you or any guests slightly (people look real silly without eyebrows), chuck in the brandy and ignite!

If you haven’t done this before, you might get a fright, it makes quite a big flame for a second or two, but keep your cool, it will die down in seconds.

If you think the flames are out of control, put the pan down and chuck the dishcloth or something similar over the flames to take away the oxygen supply of the fire.

Next, looking all cool as if you do this sorta thing every day, add the cream, mix well and put it back on the stove to simmer.  Taste it, you may want to season it with some salt.

Now time to cook the little pouches of awesomeness!.  Gently drop your ravioli’s into the pot of salted water. Like I said, they cook very quickly, 4-5 minutes should do it.

When cooked, gently lift them out of the pot with a slotted spoon, shaking off the excess water and pop em on a plate.

Cover with the sauce, some more parsley, freshly grated parmesan and some finely chopped pieces of tomato peel for color.

There you have it! I really enjoyed cooking and eating this, the vanilla and brandy really puts an interesting twist to the lobster.  One thing I might change next time is making the filling with less cream cheese and onions, it overpowers the lobster slightly, but it still tastes great though!.

Let me know how it goes if any of you attempt it!