When your cooking reputation hinges on the subtle, smoky flavours of a wood-burning grill and oven, what do you do for takeout? You add flame-kissed pita to your house-made feta with smoky red-pepper muhammara. And you carefully package wood-fired hanger steak with toasted flatbread with local ’nduja sausage, kale and anchovy. Meanwhile, with chef Leigh Roper on maternity leave, take note that this Montreal restaurant’s eventual, long-awaited return to in-house dining will herald the first tasting menu from chef Catherine Couvet Desrosiers. “I don’t want to change Foxy,” she says. “[I] just [want to] give another perspective.” Translation: Expect a more directly sourced, zero-waste, organic menu inspired by her two years with Christian Puglisi’s legendary farm-to-table Relæ Community in Copenhagen.
—Amie Watson
Warm lobster salad
Serves 4
Ingredients
4 slices stale bread, buzzed in a food processor
50 ml (¼ cup) slivered almonds
3 tbsp olive oil
2 lobsters, about 700 g (1½ lb) each
500 ml (1 pint) cherry tomatoes
½ stick (¼ cup) butter
2 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
90 ml (1/3 cup) crème fraîche
salt
pepper
juice and zest of 1 lemon
2 green onions, sliced on bias
1 bunch of tarragon, leaves picked
chili flakes
Method
Preheat the oven to 160°C (325°F). Combine breadcrumbs, almonds and olive oil in a mixing bowl, toss, and spread on a baking sheet. Transfer to middle rack of oven and bake, stirring occasionally, until golden — about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of generously salted water to a boil on high heat, add lobster, and cook for 7 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl of iced water. Once chilled, remove lobster to a cutting board and split lengthwise, ensuring that tail and carapace remain attached. Remove claws and knuckles. Remove all meat from lobster, cut into large dice, and set aside in the refrigerator. Reserve tomalley (and roe, if available) for another purpose, and discard remaining innards. Rinse and dry the empty shells and set aside.
To finish, preheat oven to 225°C (450°F). Combine tomatoes, butter, oil and garlic in a sauté pan and transfer to the oven until the tomatoes begin to burst — about 5 minutes. Add lobster, stir, and heat through — about 5 more minutes. Divide the crème fraîche between the 4 half — lobster shells. Transfer hot lobster mixture to a mixing bowl, season with salt and pepper and add lemon juice to taste. Add green onions and tarragon and toss. Divide mixture between the lobster shells and garnish with almond breadcrumbs, lemon zest and chili flakes.
Photo Credit: Mickaël Bandassak
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