Curtis Stone surprised Karen Herrera, a flight attendant and mother of three from Seattle, with a Mother’s Day meal. With the help of her kids, he prepared a surf and turf that’s slightly better than Karen’s in-flight options.
Recipe: Roasted lobster with salted caramel chicken, crisp pancetta and shellfish foam (on this page)
For the shellfish foam:
Place the water, onions, carrots and leek into a large pot over high heat and bring to the boil. Add the clams and mussels and cook for eight minutes.
Strain the stock through a fine mesh strainer into a clean pot and return to the stove on medium-high heat. Reduce the stock by 3/4ths — it should have a glossy texture and a concentrated flavor.
In a separate large pot over medium-high heat, add the olive oil and sweat the shallots for three to four minutes, stirring often until the shallots turn translucent. Add the white wine to deglaze the pan and reduce until almost dry. Add the cream to the pot along with the reduced shellfish stock and gently simmer over medium to medium-low heat until the sauce has reduced slightly and is velvety in texture and very lightly coats the back of a spoon.
While the sauce is warm, pulse with a handheld immersion blender to create foam.
For the roasted lobster with salted caramel chicken:
Preheat the oven to 450F and bring a large pot of salted water to the boil. Place the pancetta onto a baking sheet and cook in the oven for four to five minutes or until golden brown and crisp, watching closely making sure not to burn the pancetta. Once golden brown and crispy, remove pancetta from the oven and reserve at room temp.
Heat a large saute pan over medium-high heat and add the butter. Season the chicken with salt and pepper and once the butter browns, add the chicken and saute for one minute, stirring often, then add the sugar and stir well to combine. Allow the chicken to cook for four to five additional minutes or until the chicken is cooked through and the butter and sugar have formed a light caramel in the pan, then remove from the heat and keep hot.
While the chicken is cooking place the lobster and cherry tomatoes onto separate small baking sheets and drizzle lightly with olive oil. Season each lightly with salt and pepper and roast in the oven for four to five minutes or until the lobster is just cooked through and the tomatoes have blistered skins. Remove from the oven.
Cook the asparagus in the boiling water for two minutes or until tender, remove from the water and season to taste with salt and pepper. Return the pancetta to the oven for 30 seconds to rewarm for plating.
Using a sharp knife slice each hot lobster tail into three pieces and divide evenly between four serving plates. Divide the asparagus, tomatoes and chicken evenly between the plates and drizzle a little of the caramel from the chicken pan over and around the lobster and chicken.
Froth the warm shellfish foam with a handheld immersion blender and spoon over the lobster, chicken and vegetables. Garnish the plates with the warm crispy pancetta and serve immediately.
Four servings
© 2012 MSNBC Interactive
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