Lobster Salad w/ Citrus & Shaved Fennel

Serves 4

Ingredients

For Lobster Salad

  • 3 lb lobster
  • zest of ¼ each orange, lemon, lime
  • juice of ½ each orange, lemon, lime
  • salt to taste
  • 2 sprigs tarragon, chopped
  • 1 tbsp mayonnaise

For Fennel Salad

  • ¼ - ½ head fennel, thinly sliced (use a mandoline if you have one but be careful!)
  • juice of ½ orange
  • 1 tbsp white wine vinegar (Chardonnay vinegar suggested)
  • 2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
  • salt to taste

Bread for Plating

  • 4 hot dog rolls (traditional)

How-to

Boil & Break Down Lobsters

  1. Bring a large pot of water to boil.  Drop lobster(s) into water and cook for 7 minutes (for two 1½ lb lobsters - add 3 minutes cooking time for each additional pound)
  2. Remove from water and plunge into ice water to cool
  3. Once cooled completely, remove meat from tails, claws and knuckles.  Cut into large chunks

Assemble Lobster Salad

  1. Toss lobster with zest and juice from lime, lemon and orange
  2. Season liberally with salt.  The salt will help draw out excess moisture. Let lobster salad sit in refrigerator for about 10 minutes
  3. Remove lobster from bowl and squeeze out any moisture (be careful not to destroy the lobster meat).  Place squeezed lobster into a clean bowl.  Add chopped tarragon and mayonnaise.  Mix gently and chill (if you can wait that long!)

Make Fennel Salad

  1. Remove core from fennel and shave the bulb as thinly as possible (a Japanese mandolin works very well for this)
  2. Toss fennel with juice of 1/2 orange, chardonnay vinegar, and olive oil. Season with salt to taste. Mix gently and let marinate for several minutes

Plate & Serve

  1. On bread of choice (hot dog roll is the standard) place a bed of shaved fennel
  2. Top with chilled lobster salad and serve

Alternatively, you can just serve over greens as a salad