Serve lobster as an appetizer....perhaps sauteed and plopped into a little puff paste shell with some newberg sauce.....rich but not as rich as thermadore.
My lobster bisque comes from the 1950's version of the Fanny ?farmer cookbook...
10th edition? I believe it's on line.

Here is a link that might be useful: scroll down

I'm making lobster cakes for a first course. (Served with a lemon aioli sauce that Linda recommended to me.) Not sure if that would be too much "just lobster" for Clive but I tried it out and it was good.

Here's the recipe I use for Lobster Bisque, Sharon. I've no idea it's origin any longer but I can vouch that it's delicious. It's a lot of fussing because of the stock but there's no real way to get around that & still have full-flavored bisque. I've also posted a link to Ina's Lobster & Corn Chowder. I know it's not what you asked for but it also is very, very good...if not now, maybe another time.

LOBSTER BISQUE

2 lobsters
5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 leeks, halved lengthwise
2 onions, halved
2 stalks celery , in big chunks
2 carrots, in big chunks
6 sprigs fresh thyme
4 strips orange zest
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1/2 cup cognac
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
4 cups heavy cream
1 teaspoon whole peppercorns
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Finely grated orange zest, for garnish
Finely chopped chives, for garnish

Dispatch the lobsters by plunging a sharp knife directly behind its head.

Cut the lobster in half lengthwise; make sure to collect the juices that will run out. Remove the claws and tail pieces and set aside. Remove the head sac and liver and discard them; cut the body into pieces. Alternately, you can have your fishmonger do this.

Heat 3 tablespoons olive oil in a large pot over medium heat and melt 3 tablespoons butter in it.

Add the chopped lobster bodies and heads and their juices, the leeks, 1 onion, celery, carrots, 1/2 the thyme, 1/2 the orange zest and the tomato paste. Cook until the shells are red and the vegetables are soft, about 10 to 15 minutes.

Remove the pot from the heat and carefully pour in 1/4 cup cognac. Ignite the cognac with a long kitchen match and let the alcohol burn off.

Return to the heat, sprinkle in the flour, stir, and cook for another 2 minutes.

Add water to cover and stir up all the browned bits on the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon.

Add the cream and bring to a boil.

Immediately decrease the heat and gently simmer until the soup is reduced and thickened, about 30 to 45 minutes.

Strain this into a clean pot and season with salt and pepper if needed; keep warm.

Meanwhile, heat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil and 2 tablespoons butter in an ovenproof skillet over medium heat.

Add remaining onion, thyme, bay leaf, and orange zest along with the peppercorns and let this mixture cook for about 5 minutes.

Add the lobster claws and tails; toss to coat with the fat and flavors.

Remove the pan from the heat and carefully pour in the remaining 1/4 cup cognac. Ignite the cognac with a long kitchen match and let the alcohol burn off.

Put the pan into the oven and roast until the lobster pieces are cooked through, about 15 minutes.

Remove the lobster pieces and set aside. When they are cool enough to handle, remove the lobster meat from the claws and tails. Chop the meat roughly and add it to the strained bisque.

To serve, ladle the bisque into warmed soup bowls.

/tricia

Here is a link that might be useful: Ina's Lobster & Corn Chowder

I think Bisque would be lovely, or you could make this one from one of my favorite restaurants in Ogunquit. Arrow's doesn;t have it on the menu anymore, but when they first opened it was my absolute favorite appetizer there!

Alexa

Lobster Strudel

1/2 cup onion, chopped
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup dry vermouth
4 each egg yolks, beaten
1/4 cup parsley, snipped
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
4 ounces cream cheese, cubed
12 ounces lobster meat
8 each phyllo dough sheets
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup bread crumbs

Cook onions in butter until golden. Add vermouth. Boil until reduced to 1/3 cup.

Whisk a tablespoon or two of butter mixture into beaten eggs. Slowly add egg yolks to butter and onion mixture. Add parsley, salt, and pepper. Add cream cheese and cook, stirring until cheese is melted. Fold in lobster.

Thaw phyllo dough according to package directions. Place 1 sheet phyllo on work surface; brush with butter and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon bread crumbs. Layer a second sheet, butter, and crumbs and repeat two more times, to end with a stack of 4 sheets.

Mound half of the lobster mixture lengthwise on phyllo 1 inch from the edge. Roll phyllo into 2 inch thick roll and place on a cookie sheet. Repeat process to make a second roll.

Brush roll tops with melted butter. With a serrated knife, make partial slices in roll before baking or freezing. Bake at 35O° for 15 minutes, then at 450° for 5 to 10 minutes. Let rest 10 minutes. To serve, cut in slices.
Serves 4

Sharon, we always have lobster in some form on New Year's Eve.

When I make Lobster Bisque Julia Child's recipe is the one I use. Been using this recipe for over 30 years. Unlike Julia, I can't kill the lobster by cutting it in half. So I par boil for three minutes and then proceed with the recipe.

Ann

Home Cookin Chapter: Recipes From Thibeault's Table

Lobster Bisque
==============
Julia Child "Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

"Considering the price of Lobsters that the pureed nature of a bisque, we think it is a waste to use whole lobster here. We therefore suggest only chests and the legs of the bisque, and the tails and claws, and tomalley for a splendid main dish such as the homard a l' Americaine described in volume I on page 223. In fact, you could well combine the two, starting them out together, since both follow much the same pattern. Serve the main dish one night and the bisque a day or two later. That is up to you, however, and we shall content ourselves with the chests and legs from 3 or 4 lobsters for the following recipe. As in most dishes of this type you can expand or contract the ingredients to a certain extent without upsetting the balance of tastes, and you need not be disturbed if you have a little more or a little less of anything that is called for.
. For about 2 quarts, serving 6 to 8

Step 1 Preliminary

1-cup mirepoix (equal parts finely diced onions, carrots, and celery)
1 1/2 Tablespoons butter
A heavy 3-quart stainless or enameled saucepan with cover
1 1/2 cups chopped fresh tomato pulp (3 to 4 medium tomatoes, peeled,
seeded and juiced)
The chest parts with the shells and the legs from 3 or 4 fresh raw 1
1/4 to 1 1/2 pound lobsters

Cook the mirepoix slowly in the butter, in the saucepan for 6 to 8
minutes, or until vegetables are tender but not browned. Meanwhile,
prepare the tomatoes. Cut lobster chests in half lengthwise.

(My Notes: For lobsters: Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add the
lobsters head first and cook for 3 minutes. Remove and run under cold
water. Separate the tail and the claws from the body and split the
chest open. Discard the stomach sack and the black vein. Same the
tomalley, (Greenish Soft matter lying in chest cavity and the orange
red roe. (Found in females).

Step 2 Sauteing the lobster

2 or more Tablespoons olive oil or cooking oil.
A heavy 10 to 12 inch no stick or enameled casserole
Cooking tongs.

Film the bottom of the casserole with 1/16 inch of oil; set over
moderately high heat until oil is very hot but not smoking. Add the
lobster chests cut side down and the legs. Do not crowd pan: saute in
2 batches if all will not fit easily in one layer. Toss and turn
frequently until shells are a deep red (4 to 5 minutes in all). The
colour will tint the soup.

Step 3 Simmering the lobster and removing the meat.

Salt and pepper
1/3 cup Cognac
Either 1 1/2 cups of dry white wine; or 1 cup dry white vermouth
2 tablespoons fresh tarragon or 1 tablespoon dried tarragon
1 bay leaf
The mirepoix and the tomatoes from Preliminary step.
1 clove mashed garlic
large pinch of cayenne pepper
Cover for the casserole

When the lobster is sauteed, lower the heat slightly, salt and pepper
the lobster, and pour in the Cognac. Ignite by shaking pan vigorously
or tilting it into the heat source or use a lighted match. When flames
have died down, pour on the wine, mix in the tarragon, and add the bay
leaf and other ingredients. Cover casserole, and simmer slowly for 20
minutes.

Before proceeding you may wish to start the rice in the next step, so
that it will be done by the time you are through here. Remove the
pieces of lobster from their cooking sauce and extract the meat from
the shells. You will have about 1 cup' place in a bowl. Puree the
cooking sauce through food mill or sieve into the other bowl, and
scrape into a jar of blender; reserve for step 5. Chop shells into 1/2
inch pieces and reserve in bowl for step 6.

Step 4 Simmering the rice

3 cups fish stock or canned clam juice
2 cups beef stock
The saucepan from Step 1 in which the mirepoix was cooked
1/4 cup plain raw white rice

Bring the fish stock or clam juice and beef stock or bouillon to a boil
in the saucepan; sprinkle in the rice. Stir up once and simmer for 20
minutes. Set aside.

Step 5 Pureeing rice and lobster meat

Drain rice through sieve, reserving its cooking liquid in the bowl.
Scrape rice and the half portion of lobster meat into the blender.
Puree adding a little of the rice cooking liquid if mixture is too
thick for easy blending in the machine. Scrape the puree out of the
blender and into the rice-cooking saucepan.

Step 6 Shellfish butter for final enrichment - lobster butter

6 Tablespoons butter
The bowl of chopped lobster shells

Heat butter to bubbling in casserole, stir in the chest and leg shells
and saute for 2 to 3 minutes tossing and turning to heat thoroughly.
Immediately scrape into blender and puree, flicking switch on and off
and scraping shells down into blades as necessary. Scrape puree into
sieve and mash vigorously with spoon to extract as much butter as
possible. Scrape all butter off bottom of sieve with rubber spatula
and pack into bowl. Set aside for Steps 7 and 8.

To extract all remaining flavour from blender jar, shells, and sieve,
pour rice-cooking liquid into the casserole in which you just saute
the shells. Heat to the simmer and pour liquid into blender to rinse
it then pour liquid back into casserole, and swish sieve about in the
hot rice cooking liquid to dislodge all debris. Simmer 3 to 4 minutes;
strain liquid through the sieve and into the saucepan with pureed rice
and lobster.

Step 7 The Lobster Garnish

2 Tablespoons lobster butter
Salt and pepper
2 tablespoons Cognac or dry white vermouth

Heat the butter to bubbling in the frying pan; stir in the remaining
lobster meat and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Saute over moderate
heat for 2 minutes, tossing and turning. Pour on the cognac or
vermouth, and cook for moment until liquid has evaporated. Scrape the
lobster into the saucepan containing the rest of the soup mixture from
Step 6, and you are finally almost ready to serve.

(The recipe may be completed to this point; let cool uncovered, then
cover and refrigerate or freeze.)

Step 8 Final Flavouring and serving

If needed more fish stock, clam juice or bouillon
Salt and pepper
Cayenne and tarragon
1/2 to 1 cup heavy cream
The lobster butter from step 6
2 to 3 tablespoons minced fresh chervil, tarragon or parsley
Croutons, homemade Melba toast, or fresh French bread.

Shortly before serving, bring the bisque to the simmer. It should be
quite thick, but if it needs thinning, stir in a little stock or
bouillon. Carefully correct seasoning. Just before serving, stir in
the cream, then remove from heat and stir in the lobster butter by
tablespoonful. Pour the bisque into a hot tureen or soup cups, and
decorate with the fresh herbs. Pass the bread or croutons separately.

Ordinarily, I would not undertake anything so fiddly as either Tricia's or Ann's versions lobster bisque. But, in the case of lobster bisque, I would. It's worth the trouble to bring out the exquisite essence of lobster. And, the process is not quite so laborious as appears when written out in detail. It's easier to do than to describe.

Lobster/corn chowder is very good also, as is lobster ravioli. But, to make either of these well, involves procedures similar to making bisque.

Jim

What about lobster ravioli?