Lobster and artichoke linguini
( Linguine astice e carciofi )

Lobster and artichoke pasta recipe

Preparation and cooking

• - Prepare lobster.
  Thaw your lobster following package instructions.
  Remove all meat from its shell.
  Remember to work over a bowl to catch all water that will spill out.
  Remove tail, claws and smaller legs by twisting off its body.
  Put lobster body on a cutting board, hard shell down, and cut lenghtways its head.
  Lift all tail meat out of shell, slice and set aside in the bowl.
  Remember to remove its intestinal vein that runs along the back.
  Crack its claws using a nutcracker. Sometimes you can use scissors if its shell is not too hard. Remove large pieces of shell and pull out all claw meat in one piece, if possible. Slice and set aside in the bowl.
  Continue with its knuckles that are attached to claws.
  Crack its smaller legs and remove as much of the tiny nuggets of meat as possible. Put them aside in the bowl.
  Put apart lobster tail shell to decorate your serving dish.
• - Prepare lobster stock.
  Cover all shell pieces (except lobster tail) with abundant salt water and bring to a boil.
  Reduce heat and let it simmer, about 15 minutes.
  Strain all stock. Put apart 3 ladles of it and dilute all remaining stock with cold water to cook pasta.
• - Prepare pasta sauce.
  Saute chopped shallot in olive oil in a non-stick frying pan, pour in lobster stock, bring to a boil and add all frozen artichokes.
  Then add aromatic herbs, season to taste with salt and eventually pepper and cook until tender.
  Turn off the stove, add all lobster pieces and stir.
• - Prepare pasta.
  Cook pasta in lobster stock until al dente stage.
  Drain it and transfer into the pan with artichoke and lobster sauce.
  Stir and saute on high heat to flavour all the ingredients, less than aminute.
• - Fry fresh artichokes.
  While you are cooking pasta, you have to fry fresh artichokes.
  You will need young, whole, round (if possible), thornless artichokes.
  Clean them in this way: break off their stems, discard their tough outer leaves and cut their tips off the others with a small sharp knife.
  Bring to a boil abundant frying oil to half-cover your artichokes in a wide, high-sided skillet.
  Beat every artichoke with a meat-pounder.
  Place all artichokes upright in the boiling oil.
  Cook over medium heat, about 10 minutes.
  Then turn your artichokes upside down and increase heat.
  Cook, a further 10 minutes, until golden and crisp at the tips (look at the photo).
  While cooking, artichokes will open as a flower.
  Remove artichokes with a skimming ladle, taking care not to break them and place on kitchen paper to remove the excess of fat.

Just before serving

• - Transfer pasta with artichoke and lobster sauce on a serving dish.
  Place lobster tail and fried artichokes on the top as you can see in the photo.
  Your dish is ready!

Note

Tips

• - Obviously, you have the best result with fresh lobster and artichokes but you can save a lot of time with this recipe of mine!
• - You can substitute dried aromatic herbs with fresh ones in summer.
• - If you want you can saute a garlic clove together with shallot. I prefer not to use it as it covers all other flavors.
• - Remember to place a little plate on the left of the plate in which you'll serve pasta. Every guest will use it to cut easily his whole artichoke.

Menu planning

• - Lobster and artichoke pasta is a recipe for a very special dinner party menu, first of all Holiday Season and New Year's Eve.
• - When I plan my menu with this kind of fish pasta, I serve aperitivo accompanied by a lot of appetizers, then antipasto (at least a couple of assorted fish and vegetable platters). Pasta is my main dish. Finally there is the dessert (without custard and whipped cream).

Healthy eating

• - There are no nutrition facts as this dish includes fried artichokes and it is very difficult to calculate calories and total fats with fried food. But it is a special dish to be made rarely. Do not worry!

Loretta

What's the right wine for " Lobster and artichoke linguini "?

Wine isn't suggested with artichokes. The best would be a good-quality beer.