Warm Lobster Taco

Dean Fearing
The Mansion on Turtle Creek
Dallas TX

The combination of colors and flavors is tantalizing, and the dish is so easy to do. In place of live lobsters, you could use lobster tails or even jumbo shrimp or lump crab meat. Note that the lobsters may be cooked and the relishes made up to a day in advance and kept refrigerated. While this recipe serves 6 as an appetizer, you could use it as an entree by making only four, larger tacos.

Serves 6

Lobster
Court bouillon or salted water
Four live 1-pound lobsters

Yellow Tomato Salsa
2 pints yellow cherry tomatoes (red may be substituted)
1 shallot, minced
1 garlic clove, minced
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
2 serrano chilies, seeded and minced
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
Salt to taste
1 tablespoon maple syrup (optional)

Jicama Salad
1 small jicama, peeled
1 small red bell pepper, seeded
1 small yellow bell pepper, seeded
1 carrot, peeled
1 small zucchini
6 tablespoons peanut oil
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
Salt and cayenne to taste

To finish the dish
3 tablespoons oil
6 flour tortillas
1 cup grated jalapeno jack cheese
1 cup shredded spinach leaves

12 small cilantro sprigs

Bring the court bouillon or salted water to a boil in a large stockpot. Add the lobsters, cover the pot, and bring the liquid back to a boil over high heat. When it returns to a boil, cook the lobsters for 7 minutes. Remove from the water and, when cool enough to handle, remove all the meat from the lobsters, cutting the tail sections into medallions and the claw meat into large dice. Set aside.

To make the salsa: Grind the yellow tomatoes in a meat grinder, or pulse in a food processor or blender, leaving a little texture. Mix all ingredients except the maple syrup into the tomatoes, then add the syrup if the mixture needs a little sweetening. Allow to sit in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours before serving to blend the flavors.

To make the jicama salad: Cut the jicama, peppers, and carrot into fine julienne. Peel the zucchini and cut the peel into fine julienne, reserving the flesh for another use. Mix the oil, lemon juice, salt, and cayenne and toss with the salad. Refrigerate until ready to use.

To finish the dish: Preheat the oven to 350 F. Place the tortillas, wrapped in aluminum foil, in the oven for 10 minutes, until hot. Heat the oil in a small skillet and briefly saute the lobster meat to heat it, about 3 minutes over medium heat.

Spoon lobster meat into the middle of a heated tortilla. Divide the cheese and spinach between the tortillas and wrap each into a tight cylinder.

To serve: Place a taco on each warmed plate. Spoon tomato salsa on either side of each taco. Arrange a small bundle of jicama salad on either side of each taco, positioning them diagonally opposite one another. Garnish with sprigs of cilantro.