A delicate soup for a very special occasion.

Ingredients

• 1-2 freshly cooked, de-shelled lobster – approximately 400g (pre-cooked weight).
• 1 small packet of ready-to-use puff pastry.
• 500ml thick fish stock.
• 250ml clear beef or chicken stock.
• 250ml bottle of brut champagne or sparkling wine.
• 1 carton of cream.
• 1 carton of crème fraiche.
• 40g butter.
• 1 egg.
• ½ chilli, finely chopped.
• 1 spring onion, chopped into fine rings.
• Some celery, sliced.
• 1-2 shallots, sliced.
• Some lemongrass crushed with a knife blade.

Preparation

The soup:

1. Fry the shallots, chilli, lemon grass and prepared vegetables lightly in some butter for 1-2 mins, until glassy.
2. Add the fish stock and meat stock and allow to cook slowly for 10 minutes.
3. Add the cream and crème fraiche and then filter with a fine kitchen sieve.
4. Now add the champagne and a few blocks of cold butter to taste.

The lobster:

1. Cut the freshly cooked, de-shelled lobster tail, pincers and legs into large chunky pieces and place into the soup bowls and fill with soup.
2. Add some pepper to taste.

Preparing the soup bowls and puff pastry:

1. Paint the rims of the soup bowls with some whisked egg white, applying only a very thin later.
2. Roll the pastry very thinly and place over the soup bowls, pressing down firmly on the rims in order to ‘seal’ the soup bowls with the pastry.
3. Paint the pastry with whisked egg yolk and some water. Pierce the pasty a few times with a sharp knife or needle so that the steam can be released and doesn’t moisten the pastry too severely.
4. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 180°C for 8-10 minutes until the pastry is golden brown and serve immediately.