Recipe of the Week: Oven-baked Lobster with Dalkey Mustard Cream Sauce

Serves 2

2 lobsters, about 750g (1½lb) each
250g (1¼ cups) mashed potato
50g (4 tbsp) butter
Juice of ½ lemon

For The Mustard Cream Sauce
40g (3 tbsp) butter, cubed
1 tsp dalkey mustard (or use wholegrain mustard)
4 tbsp white wine
100ml (½ cup) double (heavy) cream
1 tbsp chopped chives
Salt and black pepper

Preheat the oven to 240ºC/475ºF/gas mark 9.

Cook the lobsters in boiling salted water for 2–3 minutes, then plunge into cold water to stop the cooking process. Place on a chopping board and cut in half lengthways along the back. remove and discard the head meat and pink coral. Pipe or spoon some mashed potato into the head cavity. Crack the lobster claws with a heavy knife or cleaver, then lay the lobsters shell-side down in a roasting dish.

Melt half the butter in a small saucepan over a moderate heat and add the lemon juice. Pour over the lobster tail and potato. Place in the oven and bake for 12 minutes

Meanwhile, make the sauce. Melt half the butter in a small frying pan, add the mustard and stir to combine. Pour in the white wine, bring to the boil and then allow the sauce to reduce by half. Pour in the cream, stir to combine and cook until the sauce further reduces and coats the back of a spoon. remove from the heat, add the chives and season with salt and pepper to taste. add the remaining butter and swirl through the sauce until it gets a lovely glossy finish. if the sauce splits, add a little more cream to rescue it.

Remove the lobster from the oven, drizzle the cream over the top of the meat and serve immediately.

Extracted from Kevin Dundon’s Modern Irish Food. Available here