We are spending the Dutch winter in the Australian summer, and this is the first time I am not cooking at home for Christmas. I have very limited cooking equipment in the camper, and when I did the shopping for ingredients I did not know what the camp kitchen at the caravan park was going to be like. And so I had to think of something that I could make in the camper if needed. With one small frying pan, one small pot, and one even smaller pot. And a small gas stove that was not powerful at all. To have something very nice for Christmas anyway, I picked a very nice wine (a 2012 Robinson Vineyard Chardonnay by Moorooduc Estate, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia) and picked a very nice ingredient: Australian rock lobster. I got it already boiled, because live rock lobsters were not available. But also because the rock lobster would not fit in any of the pots and pans, and because I would not have been able to keep it alive until Christmas anyway. This was the first time I prepared rock lobster, and I noticed that compared to lobsters from Europe or North America, it was more meaty, even though it doesn’t have claws. There is even quite a bit of meat inside the ‘antennae’ on its head. To get the most out of the lobster, I used the shells to make a bisque and serve it over pasta. So although this was made with a significantly less equipped kitchen than a ‘normal’ Christmas dinner, it was still quite a bit of work. Even though I could use the stove in the camp kitchen. But it was worth it, it was delicious!

Ingredients

For 2 to 3 servings

• 1 boiled rock lobster of about 900 grams (2 lbs)
• chopped aromatics for the stock, I used fennel because that is what I had, but carrot, onion, and celery would be more traditional
• 200-300 grams tagliatelle (depending on how many servings)
• 4 ripe plum tomatoes
• 60 ml (1/4 cup) dry white wine
• 60 ml (1/4 cup) heavy cream
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 Tbsp minced fresh flat leaf parsley, stalks reserved for the stok
• some freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 4 Tbsp butter

Instructions

Take the meat out of the rock lobster, and reserve the shells.

Locate the gills and discard them, because they give off a bitter flavor.

There is not just meat in the tail, but also in the legs, and the main body, and even the antenna. It is pretty easy to get the meat out of the legs, as you can break them easily with your hands (unlike the lobsters I am used to dealing with).

Chop the lobster meat and reserve in the refrigerator.

Cut in the cross in the bottom of the plum tomatoes.

Bring a pot of water to a boil, then add the tomatoes and boil them until the skin breaks, 30 to 60 seconds.

Lift them out of the water as soon as the skin breaks…

…and plunge them in cold water. Reserve the boiling water. (When camp cooking you don’t want to have to wait for the water to boil twice!)

The skin should now come off easily. Remove the skin and seeds from the tomatoes and add to the pot with water…

…together with the lobster shells, chopped fennel, and chopped parsley stalks.

Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer, and simmer for half an hour. Not longer, to prevent a bitter flavor.

In the meantime, chop the skinned and seeded tomatoes (this is now called concassé), and reserve.

After half an hour of simmering, strain the stock through a sieve. I had to improvise with the 1 pan and 2 pots I had, because the stock had been made in the larger pot and did not all fit in the smaller pot. I had actually bought the sieve, because it did not come with the cooking equipment in the camper (and I had brought a ceramic chef knife from home — ceramic because it doesn’t need sharpening and is light for the luggage; I actually bought that in 2013 during our first camper trip in Australia).

Bring the stock to a boil, and simmer it until it has been reduced to about 125 ml (1/2 cup).

There is a lot of flavor in this reduced lobster stock. Up to this point, the dish can be prepared in advance.

Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a frying pan over high heat.

When the foam retreats, add the chopped lobster meat, and stir for a minute over high heat.

Add 60 ml of white wine, and stir over high heat until half of the wine has evaporated, then transfer the contents of the pan to a dish and reserve.

In the same pan, without cleaning it, melt the remaining two tablespoons of butter, and add the chopped tomatoes as soon as the foam retreats. Season with a bit of freshly ground black pepper (or a bit of cayenne pepper, which I did not have in the camper). Do not season with salt, as the reduced lobster stock is salty enough by itself.

Cook the tomatoes over high heat, stirring, until they have fallen apart.

When the tomatoes and reduced lobster stock are almost ready, bring a pot of water to a boil, and add salt and the tagliatelle. Boil the tagliatelle for 1 minute less than the time indicated on the package.

When the tomatoes are no longer water, add 60 ml of cream.

Simmer the tomatoes with the cream, stirring.

Chop the parsley.

Drain the pasta and return it to the pot. Add the reduced lobster stock.

Stir for a minute over high heat (this is why you had to cook the pasta for 1 minutes less than indicated on the package), then turn the heat to low.

Add the tomatoes and cream…

…and stir to incorporate.

Add the chopped lobster and parsley…

…and stir to incorporate.

Serve at once with just a few drops of freshly squeezed lemon juice.

Wine pairing

This is great with a very good oaked Chardonnay that is complex with a good balance between acidity and creaminess.