(Arrossejat de Fideus amb Llagosta)
This Catalan specialty could be described as a pasta cooked like a rice dish. Arrossejat is Catalan for "golden" and refers to the technique of sautéing noodles in oil until golden brown before simmering them in fish stock. The dish is usually prepared in a glazed earthenware casserole known as a cassola, but you can substitute an ovenproof skillet or saut0an with great results.
The base of our intensely flavored dish is a sofregit~©on slow-cooked with tomatoes and often garlic and herbs'% foundation for almost every sauce and stewed dish in the region's cooking.
Active time: 1 1/2 hr Start to finish: 2 hr
•Lobster and stock may be prepared 1 day ahead, cooled completely, then chilled, covered.
•Leftover stock, which is wonderful for lobster bisque or as a base for a sauce armoricaine, keeps, frozen, 3 months. •Aïfregit can be made 1 day ahead and chilled, covered.
Recipe information
Yield
Makes 6 servings
Ingredients
Preparation
Prepare lobsters:
Step 1
Fill an 8-quart pot three fourths full with salted water and bring to a boil. Plunge 2 lobsters headfirst into water and boil, covered, 3 minutes. Transfer with tongs to a colander to cool. Repeat with remaining 2 lobsters in same manner.
Step 2
When lobster is cool enough to handle, remove meat from shells, catching juices in a separate bowl. Add shells to bowl with juices. Cut meat into 1-inch pieces and chill lobster, covered.
Make stock:
Step 3
Stir together wine and saffron and let mixture steep 10 minutes. Bring wine mixture, 14 cups water, and lobster shells with juices to a boil in 8-quart pot. Boil until liquid is reduced to about 8 cups, about 1 hour. Line a sieve with cheesecloth and set over a bowl. Pour stock through sieve, then discard solids.
Make sofregit:
Step 4
While stock reduces, heat 2 tablespoons oil in a heavy skillet over low heat until hot, then cook onion with bay leaf until onion is very soft and browned, about 45 minutes. Add tomatoes and garlic and cook, stirring frequently, until sofregit is very thick, about 15 minutes. Discard bay leaf.
Cook pasta:
Step 5
Preheat oven to 400°F.
Step 6
Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a cassola or an ovenproof 12-inch heavy skillet over moderately low heat until hot but not smoking, then cook pasta in 4 batches, stirring, until golden brown. Transfer pasta to a bowl as browned and add an additional tablespoon oil for each batch.
Step 7
When all of pasta is browned, return to pan and stir in sofregit and 4 cups stock (if using a cassola, use 4Bõps stock; your need more liquid because of the dish's straight sides). Reserve remaining stock for another use. Bring pasta mixture to a simmer, then continue to simmer, covered, 4 minutes. Stir in reserved lobster and season with salt and pepper. Transfer pan, uncovered, to middle of oven and bake 10 minutes, or until liquid is absorbed and top of pasta is crisp. Stir in parsley.
