Lobster Spaghetti with Champagne Cream Sauce

This is an incredibly luxurious dish and is time consuming to make. Definitely be picky about who you make this for. For the champagne you could substitute white wine but I like the champagne so it’s extra fancy and you can drink the rest of the bottle with dinner. The cooking of the lobster and making the cream sauce can be done earlier in the day and reheated at dinner time. 

Ingredients: 

2 lobster tails 

1/2 lb spaghetti (or long noodle of your choice like fettucine or linguini) 

1 large lemon

2 shallots, peeled and roughly chopped 

5 cloves garlic, peeled and left whole 

2 cups heavy cream 

1/4 cup champagne 

2 Tbsp chives, finely diced

1 tsp. tarragon, finely diced 

1 stick butter 

Olive oil 

Parmesan

Salt and pepper 

Directions: 

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Squeeze in half a lemon and put rind into water along with 1 roughly chopped shallot. Add lobster tails and boil until just cooked (3-5 minutes depending on the size). If you’re unsure, lean towards cooking them less since we’ll reheat the lobster meat in butter later. 

2. Remove the lobster tails and add to an ice bath to stop the cooking. Leave in ice bath for 2 mins max then place on a cutting board. Gently remove lobster meat doing your best to keep the tail intact. (This is mostly for presentation so if it comes out in chunks, don’t worry). Place meat to the side and cut the lobster shells into 1 inch pieces. DO NOT GET ANY SHELLS IN THE LOBSTER MEAT. 

3. In a sauté pan over medium low heat add 1 Tbsp butter and 1 Tbsp olive oil. Add in the remaining shallots and garlic. Add a pinch of salt and pepper and cook for 1 minute. Add the lobster shells and cook together for 3 minutes. Finally add the champagne and allow everything to reduce by half. 

4. Once lobster champagne mixture is reduced add in the cream. Add in another pinch of salt and pepper and allow everything to continue to cook together over medium low heat so the lobster infused into the cream sauce. After about 10 minutes strain the cream sauce into another sauté pan. Make sure all shells are removed! (I recommend using a fine mesh strainer lined with cheesecloth). 

5. When you’re ready to serve dinner bring a new large pot of salted water to a boil. Drop in the pasta of your choice and cook following the package directions. 

6. While pasta cooks, reheat cream sauce over low heat. In a small pan over medium heat melt about 1/2 stick of butter. Once melted add in the lobster meat and baste with butter. Remember this is to warm up the lobster since it is mostly cooked. If you cook the lobster too long during this step it can become rubbery and chewy. 

7. Once the pasta is cooked through drain and add directly to the cream sauce. Add a little parmesan cheese, chives, tarragon and lemon zest. Cook pasta and sauce together for about 2 minutes to combine the flavors. If any lobster meat came out in chunks instead of the full tail, add the lobster chunks to the pasta now. 

8. To plate put a nice spiral of pasta onto a plate. Top with a little more parmesan cheese and herbs if you'd like. Place the warmed lobster tail on top of the pasta and serve!