Creamy pasta and sweet "burst in your mouth" tomatoes, all topped off with succulent lobster...the perfect way to break up all the zoom calls and treat yourself to a delicious dish that is also easy enough to make that you can enjoy it during the week!
Today we are doing a Linguine with Lobster and Cherry Tomatoes in Parmesan Cream Sauce. Both the lobster and cherry tomatoes will be done sous vide. This is my favorite type of sous vide meal, it looks real fancy, but it comes together so fast. The longest part is heating up the water and cooking the pasta.
Serving Sizes
All together the meal will serve 2 people. Feel free to double or halve the recipe, it will work fine for most reasonable quantities of lobster.
Lobster Tail Time and Temperature
Lobster cooked sous vide is tender and succulent. I prefer my lobster cooked at 131°F (55°C), but 140°F (60°C) will give you a more traditional texture and is my wife's favorite. For a much softer texture you can go lower as well. If it's your first time, I recommend 135°F or 140°F (57°C or 60°C).
Claws are usually cooked at a higher temperature, around 140°F to 150°F (60°C to 65°C).
Removing the Shell from the Lobster
Sous vide lobster is generally cooked best with the shell removed. To remove the lobster from the shell, I usually cut it off with kitchen shears. This method works very well, you can check it out on YouTube.
You can also boil the lobster for 1 to 2 minutes and chill it in an ice bath, which causes it to seize up and pull away from the shell some for easy removal.
Sealing Lobster
When sealing lobster you want to make sure you don't crush it too much. The water displacement method works great, or you can pull a light vacuum when sealing it. I often leave it unsealed as well.
More Lobster Recipes and Tips
For more lobster recipes and tips, you can check out my dedicated page How to Sous Vide Lobster Times and Temperatures.
Substitutions
This recipe works almost as-is with shrimp or salmon. Clean and peel the shrimp and use your preferred temperature: I like 135°F and my wife prefers 140°F (57°C and 60°C).
To use chicken (or any other protein), show up to the class with it ready to be pulled from the bath about 30 minutes into the lesson. It can either be fully cooked and chilled, with the reheating step coming during the class, or you can start the sous
vide process several hours before the class and then follow along.
If you don't like mushrooms, feel free to omit them. The shallots can be replaced by diced onions of most kinds, though the sweeter the better. The asparagus can be replaced by any green vegetable, I like green beans, snow peas, and chopped broccoli.
The linguine can be replaced with spaghetti or another thin pasta. Even a short, fat pasta like penne or farfalle works great, especially with chicken.
If you don't like cream, you can make a similar recipe with milk or even chicken or
vegetable stock, it'll be more "rich" than "creamy" but is still tasty>
If you like this recipe you can get more than 85 other inspiring recipes to get you on your way to sous vide success. It's all in my best selling book Modernist Cooking Made Easy: Sous Vide - Get Your Copy Today!
Ingredients
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes
- 2 small sprigs fresh rosemary
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 lobster tails, defrosted and shell removed
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 4 sprigs fresh thyme
- 2 portions of pasta, usually 4 oz to 8 oz total
- Light olive oil, canola oil, or another sautéing oil
- 1 bunch asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1" pieces
- 8 ounces mushrooms, sliced or chopped
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 medium shallot, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon flour
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 2 to 3 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- Freshly cracked black pepper
- 6 fresh basil leaves
- 1 lemon, quartered
- Parmesan cheese for garnish
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Cooking Instructions
Preheat a water bath to 135°F (57°C) or your preferred lobster temperature.
Bring a pot of salted water to a boil.
Put the cherry tomatoes, rosemary, and olive oil in a sous vide bag then add salt and pepper. Mix together well, trying to keep the thickness of the bag less than 1" (25mm) for even cooking. Lightly seal the bag if desired then place the tomatoes in the water bath and cook for 30 to 45 minutes, they will hold until the other dishes are done.
Here's a more in depth look at how to sous vide tomatoes.
Place all the ingredients in a sous vide bag then lightly seal.
Place in the water bath and cook until heated through, 30 to 40 minutes.
For more information on the cooking times you can read my detailed article which addresses why is there a range in sous vide cooking times.
Add the pasta to the boiling water and cook until al dente. Remove from the heat.
Heat a pot or pan over medium-high heat. Add some oil and the asparagus, then cook until it becomes tender. Remove the asparagus from the pan and set aside.
Add some more oil to the pan and add the mushrooms. Cook until they become tender then remove from the pan and set aside.
Turn the heat to medium, add the butter to the pan and melt it. Add the garlic and shallots then sauté for 1 to 2 minutes. Whisk in the flour then cook for 1 to 2 minutes while whisking lightly. Whisk in a few splashes of cream then slowly add the rest of the cream while whisking.
Add some freshly ground pepper until the sauce has a light bite to it.
Let the cream reduce over medium heat, if it's too thick at the end you can always use pasta water to thin it out while still adding flavor and body.
Once reduced, remove from the heat and stir in the Parmesan cheese.
Once everything is cooked, roughly chop the basil.
If desired, whisk the juices from the lobster bag into the cream sauce. If needed, add pasta water to thin out the sauce. Add the sautéed vegetables and the pasta to the sauce, tossing to coat.
Plate the pasta with the tomatoes and lobster on top. Sprinkle with the basil and Parmesan cheese, zest the lemon over the top then squeeze the juices out of it, and serve.
Ingredients:
