Breaded chicken breast, half a lobster and a delicate rich hollandaise sauce with a pinch of cayenne – delicious! And really quite easy.
For two people you will need 2 skinless chicken breasts (or chicken supremes with the wingtip bone), 1 lobster (fresh, frozen, cooked or uncooked, the choice is yours), breadcrumbs, flour, egg, milk, 2 egg yolks, wine vinegar, melted butter, pinch cayenne pepper & salt.
If you are using a fresh live lobster bring to the boil a pan of water large enough to hold the lobster. I normally kill the lobster with a sharp knife through the back of its head before plunging into the boiling water. Lobsters do not have vocal chords and even a dead, frozen, uncooked lobster will release air from its shell when cooked, and yes, it does sound like it’s squealing!
If you are using a frozen lobster, defrost and cook it, if necessary, according to the instructions on the packaging.
To prepare the chicken breasts firstly slice them horizontally, but not all the way through, and open them up like a butterfly. If you have the wing bone in the chicken slice toward the bone so that when you open it up the bone is central and will stand up. Lightly coat with flour then dip in a mix of egg and milk and finally coat with breadcrumbs. Shallow fry on each side for approx 1 minute before placing them in an oven preheated to 180C.
Now the lobster. In reality we are only interested in the tail meat and the two large pincers, so you can separate the tail from the body and remove the large pincers. Turn the tail upside down and with a sharp knife carefully slice the tail in half lengthways. Leave the meat in the shell for presentation on the chicken. Gently crack the pincers (a quick tap with the back of a knife should do) and pull away the shell, then ease out the meat trying to keep it one piece.
Ok hollandaise – easy method. Boil a pan of water. Melt about 125g of butter, put two egg yolks into a non-metallic bowl, a splash (teaspoon) white wine vinegar (I often use a tarragon wine vinegar) and a splash of cold water. Whisk the yolks, vinegar and water and add a pinch of cayenne. Now place the bowl over your pan of simmering water and slowly add the melted butter while continually whisking. The hollandaise will start to thicken. Do not over thicken or allow the sauce to get too warm – it will split. A splash of very cold water can help in a lot of situations!
If you want to warm the lobster slightly before serving either place it in the oven for a minute or place it shell side down in a griddle pan.
Serve the chicken, lobster & hollandaise with some pommes dauphinois, green beans, green salad or rosti potato – whatever takes your fancy.
