Spiced Grilled Langouste with Rosemary, Penne with Truffles

Joël Robuchon's take on a Spiced Spiny Lobster served with truffled pasta

by Raizza Encinas Marie

A two-part dish by none other than renowned French chef, Joël Robuchon, that features a spiced Langouste that wonderfully shines in flavor and sits atop a flavorful truffle pasta before finally drizzled with a special reduced sauce.

This recipe is lifted from the book "Grand Livre de Cuisine de Joël Robuchon" published by Alain Ducasse.

Spiced Grilled Langouste with Rosemary, Penne with Truffles

4 Spiny Lobsters or Langouste (approx 450-500g each)

224 g Penne Pasta (45g per plate, may be adjusted as preferred)

250 ml Wine Vinegar

250 ml Milk

6 Garlic cloves

2 tbsp Peanut oil

Madras Curry Powder or any Masala Powder of choice (as needed)

200 ml Extra Virgin Olive Oil

40 g Butter

150 ml Crème fraîche or any fresh cream

15 g Truffle, chopped

50 g Parmigiano Reggiano

Fine salt, as needed

Coarse salt, as needed

Ground pepper

1 Carrot, finely minced

0.5 Onion, finely minced

3 Shallots, thinly sliced

1 Celery rib, minced

0.5 Fennel, minced

1 Bouquet Garni (parsley stalks, bay leaves and thyme tied together)

2 Tomatoes, sliced and peeled

1 Tomato paste

1 Rosemary

0.5 Fennel Seeds

Mignonette pepper (as needed)

2 Shallots, finely chopped

In a large pot, boil some water. Add wine vinegar and coarse salt to the water and mix.

Once boiling, add your lobsters into your pot.

Allow them to cook in the boiling water for 2 minutes at low temperature. Once time us up, take them out and drain them.

Cut your lobsters half lengthwise. Clean them by discarding the sand sac from the head. Using the tip of the knife, carefully remove the gray intestinal vein that runs along the lobsters back and cut the tips of the tails evenly

In another pot, add milk, salt, garlic and peanut oil to the water and bring to a boil.

Add your penne pasta into the mixture and allow this to cook for 9 minutes. Remove from heat, let stand for 4 minutes, drain and cool.

In a separate pan, sweat your vegetables for the sauce (minced carrots, minced onions, chopped shallots, celery and minced fennel) in olive oil for a few minutes.

Sprinkle your lobsters with fine salt and curry powder. Preheat your pan with olive oil. Once ready, place the lobsters in it, flesh side down. Cook for 1 minute, turn them over and leave them for another 1 minute.

Once cooked, the lobsters outer layer should easily be detached. Remove the outer shell, detach the heads and cut the antennas of the lobsters and set aside.

Crush the lobster heads and shells and add to the the pan of vegetables. This will be used to make the sauce.

Add the bouquet garni, garlic, tomato paste, diced tomatoes, fennel seeds and pour enough water to cover the ingredients. Cook for 20 minutes, boiling gently. During this process, skim off any fat that rises to the surface.

Strain, reduce the sauce by half while skimming and adjust the seasoning. Add rosemary, mignonette pepper and chopped shallots to the sauce. Cook until reduced.

Let's go back to the pasta. Mix your cooked penne with some butter. Stir in the crème fraîche, then add half of the chopped truffle. Add salt and pepper as desired.

Sprinkle the penne with the rest of the chopped truffle and grate small shavings of Parmesan on top.

As your pasta is binding with the butter and crème, pop the lobsters into the oven at low heat for 3-4 minutes. Just enough time to get in warm again.

Once all heated, arrange your penne on a plate. Arrange your lobsters so they sit on top of the pasta. Cover the lobsters with the reduced sauce. Serve.