Lobster stew

Ingredients

4 lobsters weighing half a kilo, 2 large ripe summer tomatoes or 4 bunch tomatoes, 1 green pepper, 6 cloves of garlic, the dried peel of a Mallorcan orange, 3 balls of chamomile, an ounce of dark chocolate, toasted almonds, 1 Maria cookie, oil and salt.

Preparation

The first thing we will do is to rinse the lobsters and separate the heads from the bodies. We cut the heads in half and the bodies by their rings.

We will do this on a wood board and we will save the juices that they have released which we will add to the picada.

We put a clay pot on the fire with a good splash of olive oil and, when it is very hot, we sauté the cut lobsters. Once they have taken colour we take them out of the pot and set them aside.

In the same oil, over low heat, we make a stir-fry with the green pepper and garlic, finely chopped, and then, as soon as they take colour, we add the grated tomato without skin or seeds.

We stir it, add salt and let the stir-fry confit for a quarter of an hour over low heat, stirring occasionally.

We add the lobsters to the stir-fry, give it a good stir so that they are well coated and then add a plate and a half of water for each diner plus two for the boil. We leave it on the heat and when it starts to boil we add the dried orange peel and the chamomile balls and let it boil over high heat.

Meanwhile, in a mortar we will make a picada with the Maria biscuit, the chocolate, the toasted almonds, the garlic and parsley, the lobster juice and a teaspoon of the lobster broth.

We add it to the pot and stir it. After five minutes, add the glass of absinthe and remove the orange peel. Let it boil for a couple of minutes and then turn off the heat. Let it rest for about ten minutes in the covered pot and then serve.

Note

It is better if the pot rests for a couple of hours off the heat and then heats it up again. It will be much tastier.