Guest recipe: Baked lobster

Feeling fancy? Try your hand at Lucio Galletto’s recipe for baked lobster. It’s surprisingly easy.

This dish, Homard à la Provençal, is sometimes served in restaurants outside Provence as lobster à l’Armoricaine or even lobster à l’Americaine but it has nothing to do with Armorica (the old name for Brittany, on the Atlantic coast) or the US (except that Americans like to eat it). Until the late 19th century it was called lobster Provençale because of its tomato-based sauce – known, mysteriously, as sauce vierge (virgin sauce). If you find lobster too expensive, substitute prawns or any other large shellfish, and cut the baking time in half.

BAKED LOBSTER

4 large tomatoes, peeled, seeded and diced

6 basil leaves, finely sliced

80ml (1/3 cup) olive oil

4 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 large lemon, juiced and finely sliced

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

4 lobsters, cut in half

125g butter, in small pieces

125ml (½ cup) white wine

1 sprig each of thyme, rosemary and oregano, leaves picked and chopped

For the sauce vierge, place diced tomatoes in a bowl with the basil, olive oil, half the chopped garlic and all the lemon juice. Sprinkle on a little salt and pepper. Mix all the ingredients thoroughly and set aside. Preheat the oven to 200°C. Place the eight lobster halves in a flameproof baking dish, cut side up. Spread lobster with butter, remaining garlic and the virgin sauce, then intersperse them with pieces of lemon. Place in the oven and bake for 12 minutes.

Remove the baking dish from the oven and place it over medium heat on the stovetop. Remove the lemons. Splash in the wine, shake the pan, and let the alcohol evaporate for 3 minutes. Toss in the fresh herbs and shake the pan again. Serve two lobster halves to each guest, pouring the sauce from the pan over them. White rice goes well with this dish. Serves 4

Restaurateur Lucio Galletto runs the acclaimed Lucio’s in Paddington, Sydney. Recipes from Coastline by Lucia Galletto and David Dale (Murdoch Books, $59.99). Photography: Bree Hutchins