Lobster Bisque

Serves 6 generous portions I have never been satisfied with the bisques I've had at resturants, always finding the cream:lobster ratio off. It's been a quest to find the best lobster bisque, that is until my brother cooked this for 10 friends on his birthday 2 years ago. It was not overly creamy and was bursting with lobster essence. I cooked it for friends last year and recieved some positive feedback. I would however use single instead of double cream next time. It is quite fair bit of work so do allocate about 2 hours to get this done, but trust me, it's worth every bead of sweat. I'm not trying to blow my own horn here, but the thing is, when you make lobster bisque yourself, you are in control over the amount of lobster you want to put it. You can go a bit mad like me and add 900g worth, the more you add the more lobster essence you are going to get. And we aren't going to stinge on ingredients when we whip up our own dishes, are we? :) 1. Melt half the butter in a large pan, add vegetables and cook over low heat until soft 2. Add the lobster and stir until the shell on each piece turns red 3. Pour over the brandy and set it alight, when the flames die down, add wine and boil, reduce it to half. Pour in fish stock and simmer 2-3 minutes, then remove the lobster 4. Stir in the tomato puree and rice, add the bouquet garni and cook until rice is tender 5. Meanwhile, remove the lobster meat from the shell and return shells to the pan. Dice the lobster meat and set it aside 6. When the rice is cooked, discard the larger pieces of shell. Tip the mixture into a blender or food processor and process to a puree. Press the puree through a fine sieve placed over a clean pan. Stir the mixture then heat until almost boiling. 7. Season and then lower the heat. Stir in the cream slowly. 8. Dice the remaining butter and whisk it into the bisque, one piece at a time. 9. Add the diced lobster and serve immediately after garnishing with cream and adding some brandy (Optional, I opted not too add the additional booze).