Southern Comfort (25 page)

To make the sauce, heat the olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add the onion, celery, leek, garlic, and bay leaf and cook until soft, about 3 minutes. Add the wine and water and bring to a simmer. Cook the sauce until reduced to about ½ cup, then strain it into a small pot.

Place the pot over medium heat and whisk in the butter, 1 tablespoon at a time, until all of the butter is incorporated. Be careful not to add too much butter at once or the sauce will separate.

Remove the sauce from the heat and whisk in the horseradish and the 1½ teaspoons salt. Let the horseradish steep for 10 minutes, then strain the sauce once again through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl, pressing out all of the juices from the horseradish with a spoon. Discard the horseradish and reserve the sauce.

To cook the fish, be sure your grill (or grill pan) is clean and nicely oiled. Preheat the grill (or grill pan) until nice and hot. Season the fish on each side with salt and pepper. Place the fish on the grill (not on the hottest spot). Grill on one side for 2 minutes, then turn them over and grill them on the other side for 2 more minutes. To check that the fish is cooked medium, insert a meat fork into the center of the fish and then place the tip of the fork right under your lip. If the tip feels just warm, not hot, the fish is perfectly cooked. If it is cold, cook it for a few moments longer.

Serve the fish with the horseradish sauce spooned over it.

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

To make the glaze, combine the vermouth, champagne vinegar, brown sugar, ¼ teaspoon of the salt, ¼ teaspoon of the pepper, and mustard in a small mixing bowl. Whisk the ingredients together until they are well incorporated. Slowly drizzle in 2 tablespoons of the olive oil while continuing to whisk to emulsify into the sauce. Fold in the dill. Reserve.

To prepare the salmon, season the fish on both sides with the remaining ¼ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Heat a large, ovenproof sauté pan over medium-high heat until almost smoking. Decrease the heat to medium and add the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil to the pan. Place the salmon in the pan and sear the salmon until a nice golden brown forms on the edges, about 1 minute. Turn the fillets to the other side and remove the pan from the heat. Brush each fillet with 1 tablespoon of the glaze.

Bake in the oven until the fish is just warm inside and the glaze is set, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer the fish to plates and serve with additional glaze alongside.

Fill a large saucepan with 4 quarts of water and bring to a boil over high heat.

With your hands, break away the claws and tails from the live lobster’s head. Discard the head or save in the freezer for sauce or stock on another day. Cook the claws in the boiling water for 6 minutes, then transfer to a bowl and let cool. Reserve ¼ cup of the cooking liquid and discard the rest.

To cut up the lobsters and remove the meat, once the lobster claws are cool enough to handle, separate the claws from the knuckles. Place the claws on a cutting board and using the back heel of a chef’s knife, whack the claw once firmly, slightly cracking the shell. Wiggle the small pincher until it dislodges from the claw and remove it with the inside cartilidge attached and discard. Break away the cracked shell pieces and pull out the cooked claw meat. Repeat with the remaining claws. Clean the lobster knuckles by inserting kitchen shears between the meat and the shell, carefully cutting away the shells and using your fingers to open the shell and remove the meat. Reserve all the lobster meat on the side and discard the shells.

On a cutting board, uncurl the tails one at a time with the hard shell side facing up. With a heavy-duty chef’s knife, halve the tails lengthwise by placing the tip of your knife at the top and cutting through the middle. Remove the vein that runs through the tail meat and discard. (
See photos
at end of recipe.)

To cook the meat, heat a large sauté pan over high heat until smoking, then add the oil. Season the lobster tail meat with ¼ teaspoon of the Creole spice. Carefully place the lobster tails, cut side down, in the hot pan and decrease the heat to low. Cook the lobster tails for 2 minutes, then turn them and cook for 1 minute more. Add the chopped garlic and rosemary, cooking for 1 minute to soften the garlic. Remove the tails and add the reserved lobster cooking liquid, remaining 1¾ teaspoons Creole spice, Worcestershire, and lemon juice. Add the butter, a little at a time, whisking until a sauce is formed.

Return all of the lobster to the sauce, warming it for about 1 minute.

Divide the meat between two plates, spoon over the sauce, and serve.