The Hirshon Minorcan Lobster Stew – Caldereta De Langosta

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Caldereta De Langosta Image Used Under Creative Commons License From spainontheroadagain.com

Citizens, few palatal joys in this life define the luxurious as much as lobster – and this recipe has the royal seal of approval to prove it! 😀

Minorca is one of the Balearic Islands located in the Mediterranean Sea belonging to Spain.

Its name derives from its size, contrasting it with nearby Majorca. The two official languages are Catalan and Spanish. Natives to the island speak the variety of Catalan called Menorquí, and they typically speak Spanish fluently as a second language; many immigrants are monolingual in Spanish.

As a culinary historical note, one interesting origin story of mayonnaise is that it was brought back to France from Mahon, Minorca, after Louis-François-Armand du Plessis de Richelieu’s victory over the British at the city’s port in 1756.

Lobster stew is a renowned Minorcan dish. The lobster is added to a sofrito of onions, tomatoes, garlic and parsley and boiled, and is eaten with thin slices of bread. It is one of the most famous dishes in Minorca and even the King of Spain goes there sometimes only to savor this stew.

This dish can only be eaten in spring and summer, since the local lobsters are protected and can only been captured between March and August.

King Juan Carlos of Spain goes on holidays to the beach every year. There, he finds his favorite dish: “Caldereta de langosta”, a kind of lobster stew.

Buy your lobsters live, and ask the fishmonger to kill and chop them for you. Have him separate the head, legs, and meaty claws from the tail and cut the tail lengthwise in half or crosswise into four pieces.

He can discard the black intestinal vein or not, and the tomalley or liver (the green mass inside the head is considered a delicacy but may contain toxins).

The roe, or coral – if the lobsters are female and they should be for this dish – is both edible and tasty and can go in the sauce. Ask the fishmonger to crack the legs a little. Or do it all yourself at home with a heavy knife.

One secret to making a proper lobster stew, according to the Minorcans: cook the stew outdoors over a fire of manzanilla (chamomile) branches. Regardless of how you make it, this is one recipe you will return to again and again, Citizens! 😀

Battle on – The Generalissimo

The Hirshon Minorcan Lobster Stew – Caldereta De Langosta

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Ingredients

• Two 1 ½-pound female Minorcan lobsters (or Caribbean or Maine lobsters)
• ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 large Spanish onion, cut into ¼-inch dice
• 2 plum tomatoes, coarsely chopped
• 2 large green cubanelle peppers (preferred) or use green bell peppers, cut into slices
• 4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced 
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper 
• 1 Bay leaf
• 1 liter shellfish stock (preferred) or use the water reserved from the lobsters
• Topping
• Reserved roe from the lobsters, if they have any
• 3 garlic cloves, cut into thin slices
• 1 large bunch of parsley, leaves removed and chopped finely
• 10 almonds, toasted
• 4 saffron threads
• ½ lemon, juiced
• ¼ cup brandy

Instructions

1. Boil the lobsters in salted water for 10 minutes. Remove the lobsters and reserve the water if not using shellfish stock.
2. Separate the heads and cut the tails into slices. Cut the heads in half, lengthwise and clean the lobsters, getting rid of the intestines. If they have roe, carefully remove and reserve for topping.
3. In a mortar and pestle, crush the cooked lobster roe, garlic, parsley, almonds and saffron.
4. When mixed, add the lemon juice and brandy. This is reserved until the end.
5. Heat the oil in a casserole dish (preferably earthenware). Sauté the onions, peppers, garlic and a little parsley. Simmer for 10 minutes.
6. Add the tomatoes and cook for 15 minutes, until the sauce thickens.
7. Pass the sauce through a sieve and place back in the dish.
8. Add the chopped lobster, bay leaf and the shellfish stock, or the water reserved from the lobsters.
9. Cook for 10 minutes over a low heat.
10. Add the topping mixture and simmer for another 5 minutes. Serve immediately with thin, toasted slices of a good country bread or abaguette to dunk in the sauce.

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