February has its fame to be the month of love thanks to St. Valentine’s Day. Let’s take this opportunity to design a special dinner.

When creating recipes, you don’t have to plan everything before going to the market. Once you’re there, let the ingredients inspire you. They will show you the way.

It happened to me: The moment I entered the veggie section a bunch of purple carrots and pink Swiss chards caught my eyes. When I continued through the fish section, the lobster tails were there waiting to enter my shopping cart. I came back home with these three main ingredients and built a recipe around them.

I call this recipe “Lobster tails with veggie feast”: broiled lobster tails are served with buttered purple Carrots with Pistachio, and with ricotta stuffed Swiss chards.

Lobster Tails with Veggie Feast

Ingredients

For broiled lobster tails:

• 2 lobster tails
• 1 tablespoon melted butter

For buttered purple carrots with pistachio:

• 2 purple carrots
• 50 gr salted butter
• 20 gr ground pistachio
• Salt, if needed

For ricotta stuffed Swiss chards:

• 10 leaves of Swiss chard
• ¼ cup of Arborio rice + 1/3 cup of water
• 1 tablespoon of pine nuts
• 2 small shallots
• 1 tablespoon of butter
• 1/3 cup of ricotta
• 1 tablespoon of butter
• Salt & pepper

Directions

For broiled lobster tails:

1. Preheat the oven to 425°F (220°F) 
2. Prepare the lobster tail as “butterfly”. Cut the top of the shell lengthwise with a kitchen scissors and take out the meat inside carefully to place on top of the shell.
3. Brush the lobster meat with melted butter.
4. Place them in the oven and broil for around 10 minutes. (The timing will change depending on the size of the lobster, better to keep an eye on them to catch the perfect cooking time)

For buttered purple carrots with pistachio:

1. Wash the carrots and scrub them with a clean sponge. (I prefer not to peel them for not losing the nice color around, but if you’d like you can peel them instead of scrubbing)
2. Melt the butter on a pan with a lid, enough big to fit the whole carrots in.
3. Once the butter is melted, place the carrots in and start basting the butter. Baste for a couple of minutes and put the lid on for a couple of minutes more. Continue this process until the carrots are soft enough.
4. While they are still warm, cover the carrots with ground pistachio. They are ready to serve.

 For ricotta stuffed Swiss chards:

1. Separate the stems of the chards all the way from top until bottom of the leaves. We will use the leaves as a base, while the stems we will use for the stuffing. You will have half leaves and their stems.
2. For preparation of the stuffing, boil the rice and water according to the instructions on the label (mine was cooked in 15 minutes). Cut the stems and shallots in small cubes and sauté them on the pan with the butter. Add the pine nuts and keep on sautéing until the shallots are translucent and the pine nuts are toasted. Once done, mix these with rice and ricotta. The stuffing is ready.
3. In a large pot, bring water to boil. Blanch the leaf halves one by one, around 3-5 seconds. Take them out on a plate to drain.
4. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°F). While waiting, start filling the leaves with stuffing. Put two leaf halves on the surface and place a spoon of stuffing on the top. Fold the leave over mixture, both from top and from the sides, in a way that no stuffing is visible. Roll until it’s all closed. Repeat the same procedure for all the leaves and stuffing.
5. Place all the rolled chards on a baking dish, drizzle some olive oil on top and cover it with an aluminum foil.
6. Once all the preparations are ready, serve them on a plate of your choice.

Wine Pairing: Picpoul de Pinet

Picpoul is a grape variety coming from warm Mediterranean regions, such as south of France, and is characterized with its high acidity and adds freshness to the blends. In this case, this wine was a single varietal.

Lobster tails and veggie feast is a plate with many different flavors and textures. The salinity of the lobster came together nicely with the sweetness of carrots and chard. The carrots and ricotta filling of the chard is soft while the pistachio and pine nuts bring crunchiness. As it’s a very rich plate, I preferred a simple fruit forward white wine for the pairing. it was not difficult to find a correct pairing for it. Picpoul de Pinet from Languedoc-Roussillon, France was my choice this time. Its aromas of melon, citrus and jasmine flowers stand out, while on the palate it’s crisp and fresh.

This was the story of how the main ingredients of lobster, carrots and Swiss chards came together with fermented Picpoul. The story started with the joy of creating a special dish, pairing it with a wine selected among many others and finished happily by sharing them with a good company.

Cheers,

Nesli

All images © 2021 by Wines of Nesli. All rights reserved.

Categories: Wine & Food, WinesTags: dinner and wine ideas, lobster meal, nova scotia lobster, wine pairing for lobster