Lobster soup
Ingredients for 4 people
2 lobsters weighing 1 kg each • 300 g ripe tomatoes • 3 onions • 1/2 green pepper • 2 cloves of garlic • 6 tbsp olive oil • 2 tbsp sugar • 2 parsley sprigs • 100g bread • 1.5 litre mineral water
Preparation
1. Peel and chop the onions, garlic and tomatoes separately; wash the green pepper and chop as well. Heat the oil in a clay pot, and then fry the pepper and onion in it until they start getting transparent then add the tomato and sugar. Leave to simmer slowly for 15 minutes, remove from heat, leave to cool then beat in blender.
2. Cut the lobsters when alive, use a chopping wood and first separate the head from the tail. Set aside the lobster with its juices in a bowl.
3. Remove the black intestine that goes along the tail. The easiest way is to hold with a piece of kitchen paper or cloth and pull slowly to avoid breaking.
4. Remove eggs if there are any, cut the tail in slices, separate legs from trunk. Remove coral coloured intestines with a spoon and chop the head in two parts lengthwise taking care to keep the piece intact and with its juices.
5. Heat the clay pot, add the fried vegetables and the pieces of lobster with its previously filtered juice, and cover with water; add the parsley, salt and leave to cook at high heat until it starts to boil, reduce the heat and leave for 30 minutes.
6. Beat the eggs, intestines and garlic in a mortar; add the rest of the juice or some mineral water if the juice is finished. Pour everything in the soup; cook for 5 more minutes and leave to settle before serving.
7. When serving, place bread at the bottom of the dish, cover with the broth, served very hot and add pieces of lobster on top.
In Minorca you can find two types of lobster, the rock one, smaller and bright red, very tasty because of the food rich in essential elements they consume; and the deep water ones, which are bigger, lighter in colour and less tasty due to the meagre food they find in the depths where they live. In both cases the favourites are the females and the best season is summer when the lobsters are full of the eggs that will give more taste to the dish.
Original recipe from the book Minorca. Cooking and gastronomy. Triangle Postals. Photography: Oriol Aleu
See all Menorcan recipes.
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Traditional Menorcan cuisine is characterized by its peasant roots and its Mediterranean essence. Furthermore, it has assimilated very successfully the legacy of all the different cultures that have left their mark on the island over the centuries. Menorcan cuisine thrives on local products, derived from both land and sea: fruit and vegetables from its market gardens; capers, wild asparagus and snails gleaned wild from its woods and fields; locally hunted partridge, wood pigeon and woodcock; and skate, lobster and rockfish caught in the Mediterranean -
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