Coconut Milk Soup With Lobster can be on your table in 25 minutes
If there's a way to savor a lobster roll, I have yet to discover it. Two or three bites and it's gone. In looking for a simple, better way to linger a little longer over the succulent meat, I found this soup in a cookbook with some miles on it - "The New American Chef: Cooking With the Best of Flavors and Techniques From Around the World," by Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page (Wiley, 2003).
The recipe collection is commendable for its preface chapters on 10 countries' cuisines, explanations of key pantry ingredients, tips on menu planning, wine pairings and, mostly, recipes that are not overly complicated or precious.
The soup has several things going for it, not the least of which is a reminder that even small amounts of well-chosen spices can yield big, aromatic flavor. Here, a combination unfamiliar to me - toasted ground cloves, toasted poppy seeds, cinnamon, turmeric - marries with ginger root, lemon grass, cilantro and shallot. After a few minutes of heat, they are ready to season a cost-conscious amount of fresh lobster tail meat, then infuse a mixture of coconut milk and half-and-half. Not just any coconut milk will do; Aroy-D from Thailand has the consistency and all-natural goodness that make this dish sing.
True, the soup is decadent, as lobster-laden dishes typically are, but you don't need a huge helping. It works warm or chilled. I could see adding a scoop of basmati rice or blanched and sliced sugar snap peas or leftover grilled corn to stretch the number of servings and prolong the time it takes to reach the bottom of the bowl.