I just got an Anova sous vide immersion circulator. Sous vide means "under vacuum" in French. To cook sous vide, seal the food with a vacuum sealer, and then immerse it in a temperature-controlled water bath. It allows you to precisely control temperature and time to get a perfect outcome each time! For a steak or other foods that require browning, you can quickly sear it after you've finished cooking in the water bath.
I've been interested in learning how to cook food sous vide because many fancy restaurants use the method. If you've ever had an impossibly tender steak with the inside perfectly pink from top to bottom, there's a chance it's been cooked sous vide.
I decided to try to cook a lobster tail as my first try with my Anova. Since seafood gets tough and rubbery if you overcook it, cooking sous vide becomes a cheat-code.
This recipe is for lobster tail Beurre Monte. The traditional recipe calls for poaching the lobster tails in a pot of butter. Since I'm using a vacuum sealer, I can use a lot less butter because the lobster tails will still have full contact to the butter inside the bag. Serve the lobster tails straight out of the bag over a bed of fresh pasta.
Process:
Defrost the lobster tails if frozen.
Start up your sous vide circulator at 54C to get your water up to temperature.
The first step is to remove the tail meat from the shells. This is apparently much easier if you quickly blanch the tails in salted boiling water for 45 seconds. So, do that.
Cut shell down the middle with kitchen shears and carefully separate the meat from the shell. This will take a few minutes and is the hardest part of the recipe.
Place the tail meat in a vacuum sealed bag. Make sure that the bag has enough area around the tail(s) so you get a proper seal. Add in 5 pads of butter and 1 sprig of thyme per tail and vacuum seal it.
Submerge the sealed tails into the water bath and cook at 54C for 30 minutes.
If they float, make sure to put a plate on top of them so they are totally under the water.
While this is going, you can cook your pasta dish. Get your water boiling. Slice the squash, and dice the onions and garlic. Heat up a pan over medium heat and add butter and olive oil to the pan. Saute squash, yellow onion, and garlic for about 5 minutes.
Cook the pasta when you're ready to serve the lobster. Toss the pasta with some grated parmesan cheese and the veggies.
Remove the lobster bags from the water.
Slice open the bag and slice the tails. Serve over the pasta. If some lobster-flavored butter from the bag happens to make it on the noodles, keep it a secret.
Ingredients:
1 lobster tail per serving
5 pads of salted butter per tail
1 sprig of thyme per tail
1/2 lb of angel hair pasta (serves 4)
1 green squash
1 yellow squash
1 white or yellow onion
2 cloves garlic
1/2 cup grated parmesan reggiano
freshly-cracked black peppercorns
Song: Stromae - Quand C'est
I've been interested in learning how to cook food sous vide because many fancy restaurants use the method. If you've ever had an impossibly tender steak with the inside perfectly pink from top to bottom, there's a chance it's been cooked sous vide.
I decided to try to cook a lobster tail as my first try with my Anova. Since seafood gets tough and rubbery if you overcook it, cooking sous vide becomes a cheat-code.
This recipe is for lobster tail Beurre Monte. The traditional recipe calls for poaching the lobster tails in a pot of butter. Since I'm using a vacuum sealer, I can use a lot less butter because the lobster tails will still have full contact to the butter inside the bag. Serve the lobster tails straight out of the bag over a bed of fresh pasta.
Process:
Defrost the lobster tails if frozen.
Start up your sous vide circulator at 54C to get your water up to temperature.
The first step is to remove the tail meat from the shells. This is apparently much easier if you quickly blanch the tails in salted boiling water for 45 seconds. So, do that.
Cut shell down the middle with kitchen shears and carefully separate the meat from the shell. This will take a few minutes and is the hardest part of the recipe.
Place the tail meat in a vacuum sealed bag. Make sure that the bag has enough area around the tail(s) so you get a proper seal. Add in 5 pads of butter and 1 sprig of thyme per tail and vacuum seal it.
Submerge the sealed tails into the water bath and cook at 54C for 30 minutes.
If they float, make sure to put a plate on top of them so they are totally under the water.
While this is going, you can cook your pasta dish. Get your water boiling. Slice the squash, and dice the onions and garlic. Heat up a pan over medium heat and add butter and olive oil to the pan. Saute squash, yellow onion, and garlic for about 5 minutes.
Cook the pasta when you're ready to serve the lobster. Toss the pasta with some grated parmesan cheese and the veggies.
Remove the lobster bags from the water.
Slice open the bag and slice the tails. Serve over the pasta. If some lobster-flavored butter from the bag happens to make it on the noodles, keep it a secret.
Ingredients:
1 lobster tail per serving
5 pads of salted butter per tail
1 sprig of thyme per tail
1/2 lb of angel hair pasta (serves 4)
1 green squash
1 yellow squash
1 white or yellow onion
2 cloves garlic
1/2 cup grated parmesan reggiano
freshly-cracked black peppercorns
Song: Stromae - Quand C'est
I am using Foodsaver V3880 for sous vide. It is so amazing that it can help me to save money. Thanks for your helpful notes!
ReplyDeleteWonderful idea! I have to try this with my new vacuum sealer.
ReplyDelete