Fresh herb tagliatelle with lobster

At $8 for a large lobster at HEB, this gourmet dish worked out pretty cheap. And it's simple and easy to prepare as well. Though it does help to have a pasta maker -- if you don't have one, roll the dough really thin and use a pizza slicer instead.
























Ingredients (serves 2)

• 3 eggs
  
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour + extra for dusting
• 1 bunch fresh parsely
• 1 bunch fresh basil
• 4 cloves garlic
• 2 dried chilis
• olive oil
• salt to taste
• 1 large lobster (add another lobster for 4)
• 2 bay leaves
• 4 pepper corns
• freshly grated parmesan (or romano) cheese
  

1. Prepare the pasta

1. Rinse the herbs, peel and crush the garlic and put in a blender










2. Add a dash of olive oil and blend into a paste.











3. Put 2 2/2 cups of flour into a food processor. Add the lightly beaten eggs and the herb paste.




















4. Mix in the food processor until a "crumbly" dough is formed. Take out from the food processor and shape into a ball. It will be slightly sticky. If it is too sticky, add a little flour and knead.











5. Cover with cling-film and leave for 20 minutes.











6. Assemble your pasta maker and lightly dust with flour.










7. Tear-off a piece of dough and roughly flatten. Dust a little if it is sticky.










8. Feed the dough into your pasta maker at it's highest setting. Continue to feed through adjusting the rollers until it gets to the desired thickness (or thinness :)) . For tagliatelle, I find it better to use the second-thinnest setting.













9. Once the dough is flat, change to the tagliatelle setting and pass through. Lightly dust and curl into a circle.










10. Repeat until the dough is used up. This recipe is enough for 4 adults, if only 2 adults, then make the tagliatelle and freeze it for another day.











2. Cook the lobster

1. Bring two large pans of water to the boil. One for the pasta, the other for the lobster.

2. In the lobster pan, add some whole peppercorns, salt
and a couple of bay leaves.











3. Rinse the lobster under running water then gently put it in the pan, claws first. Leave to boil for about 10-12 minutes.











4. Remove the lobster and pierce the head, drain excess water.










5. Remove the claws and meat from the body. Coarsely chop the meat and place on the cooked pasta.


3. Cook the pasta
1. Add salt and a dash of olive oil to the other boiling pan of water.


2. Add the pasta, stir. It will only take 3-4 minutes to cook (al dente).










3. Drain the pasta and start heating a large frying pan.

4. Add a dash of olive oil, couple of dried chilis and crushed garlic to the pan. Fry for a minute.










5. Add the drained pasta to the pan and gently fry in the chili and garlic oil for a couple of minutes.










6. Serve pasta on plates, with lobster meat and claw on the side. Garnish with freshly grated Parmesan (or Romano) cheese and parsley sprigs. Serve with chilled Italian Pinot Grigio. If you want veggies, add a side salad or steamed asparagus.