Lobster and Miso Soup

Recipe by Eric Keener

This meal was plated 2 separate ways using the same ingredients and slightly different garnishes. This was course 1 of a fine dining experience that we created to highlight the group effort of foraging and hunting the ingredients. It harkens to just how wonderful our dive community is even during the social distancing restrictions. Click here to read more about what made this meal so special!

Ingredients:

Soup

Kombu Kelp (6” x 6” or more)

Sea Lettuce, sliced in strips

1/4 C Dried Bonito Flakes

2 C Fish Stock (recipe)

4 Tbsp White / Yellow Miso Paste

2 C Water

Dehydrated Shiso leaves, crushed to almost powder

Garnish

Lavash Bread

Edible flowers

Nasturtium Leaf

Borage Leaf + Flower

Beefsteak Leaf (Shiso)

Squid Ink Lace Tuile (Recipe Here)

Ikura (Salmon Roe)

Method

Add the Kombu kelp to the 2 C water and let it rehydrate overnight – the more kelp you use, the more flavor you’ll have. On the day of cooking, in a large pot, add the water, kombu and fish stock. Turn heat on medium low and don’t let it get to boiling too fast. You don’t want it to boil at any point from start to finish, so just slowly heat up and keep a watchful eye on it. When you’re about 5 minutes away from the boiling point, briefly poach the lobster in the liquid then set aside (if you want your broth to be clearer and less hazy, poach the lobster separately). Once the broth is close to boiling, toss in the bonito flakes for 1 minute then reduce the heat to the lowest setting and allow to steep for 10 minutes. Using a fine mesh sieve, strain all the ingredients out leaving behind the broth. You can toss the strained ingredients in a food processor and then dehydrate them to make a delicious furikake seasoning for use in other dishes.

Once strained, add the sea lettuce strips, miso paste and any other ingredients you’d like (mushrooms, green onions, roots, flowers, seafood, you name it - the world is your oyster!). We kept it simple for this one and just added the lobster, but before adding, we gently rolled the lobster in the crushed shisho leaves for additional flavor and texture.

Garnish

Using a sharp knife and a stencil, cut out an interesting shape from the bread, lightly coat it in oil and broil it until just golden brown – careful because it goes from light to charcoal in about 20 seconds if you’re not paying attention. Top it with the tuile, flower pedals, nasturtium/beefsteak/borage leaves and hide a little salmon roe surprise under the leaf for a pleasant pop of umami.

We plated it 2 ways, one in a sealed abalone shell, and one in a spherical glass.