R E C I P E S

Crayfish or Lobster Coulis for Quenelles

By James MacGuire

The classic French crayfish sauce, sauce Nantua, a frequent companion to quenelles, is a béchamel finished with crayfish butter and cream. It can be improved by substituting a white-wine sauce for the béchamel, but the flavors remain timid, and the traditional crayfish butter — cooked crayfish shells puréed with butter and simmered for a long time, then strained through cheesecloth — gives a greasy, overcooked quality. (Over time, we’ve come to prefer fresher tastes.) Lobster, more readily available in many places, is an excellent alternative.

The coulis recipe below combines the best of both methods and still keeps things simple. (A coulis, besides indicating this thin crustacean sauce with cream, can refer to a relatively thin sauce of puréed vegetables, especially tomatoes, or raw or briefly cooked fruit.) Cooking the shells in hot oil until they are bright orange is key, imparting a delicious flavor of grilled crayfish or lobster. The taste is rounded out by simmering crayfish or lobster bodies in white wine, shallots, and plenty of fresh tarragon, then reducing to thicken. The pieces of lobster meat can be reheated in the sauce to make a fine, if rich, lobster stew, and the sauce, with smaller amounts of lobster, can accompany meaty fish, such as halibut, or Fish Mousselines or a warm Fish Pâté. The crayfish version is more suited to freshwater fish, or pike or pickerel quenelles.

about 4 dozen crayfish, cooked, or 2 lobsters, each weighing 1¼ to 1½ pounds (500 to 750 gr), cooked

¼ cup (60 ml) mild, fresh-tasting olive oil or another good, light cooking oil

1 quart (1 liter) heavy cream

¼ cup (50 gr) unsalted butter

2 large shallots, chopped, to make at least ½ cup (80 gr)

1¼ cups (300 ml) dry white wine

short branches of fresh tarragon

salt

white pepper

Cognac

Tabasco sauce

½ lemon

The crayfish or lobsters must be freshly cooked and not overcooked to toughness or dryness. Extract the crayfish tails or lobster meat and reserve.

Choose only the more tender sections of shell, such as the part surrounding the lobster’s body, to avoid damage to your blender, which is typically more rugged than a food processor. Break these shells into 1-inch (2- or 3-cm) pieces. Use only about 1¾ cups (100 gr) of well-broken-up shell — too much will overpower the sauce. Reserve the remaining shells and empty claws. In two wide pots, heat the oil just to smoking. Divide the broken-up more tender shells between the pots and stir for about 2 minutes, until they turn from red to bright orange. Let cool to room temperature. Pour off any excess oil, divide the cream between the pots, and simmer over low heat for approximately 15 minutes. Let cool to room temperature.

Meanwhile, in a third pot, melt the butter and sweat the shallots until tender. Break the reserved shells — crayfish body sections (with the tail meat removed) or lobster shells with their empty claws and non-meat insides (but no tomalley or coral) — into small pieces, add to the pot and sweat for 1 or 2 minutes. Add the wine, tarragon, and just enough water to cover. Simmer gently for about 15 minutes.

Pass the wine-and-shallot mixture through a fine-mesh strainer. Return the liquid to the pot, and reduce over medium-high heat to about a quarter of its original volume.

Pour the cooled shell-and-cream mixture into a blender. Grind for about 2 minutes, until the color is pale pink and the shells have been reduced to the texture of coarse sand, in thick cream. Line a fine-mesh strainer with fine cheesecloth to catch the shell grit, and pass the mixture through it into the reduced-wine mixture. Simmer over medium heat until the sauce just coats the back of a spoon. If it becomes too thick, thin with water. Season with salt, grindings of white pepper, some drops of Cognac, two or three shakes of Tabasco, and a good squeeze of lemon juice. Makes about 1 quart (1 liter), enough to serve 6 people as sauce for quenelles, along with a crayfish or lobster garnish, or, with lobster added to make lobster stew (see introduction above), enough for a first course for 4.