I spent a mellow, happy New Year’s Eve at my friend Steven’s house with Steven and two other friends including our friend Oliver. Oliver had just sold his house in Maine so we thought he might be sentimental for some lobster. Or anyway, that was our excuse for buying the lobster. When we got it home, we couldn’t figure out what to do with it. Steven is fanatical about eating healthy and I’m fanatical about finding healthy ways to eat that don’t involve compromises. I do not believe that chicken stock is a viable substitute for cream in mashed potatoes, or that nonfat yogurt has any business where sour cream would usually be found. Every suggestion I made for dressing the lobster—warm butter, homemade mayo, creme fraiche—he nixed until we finally agreed on this: a refreshing, wintery lobster salad with thinly sliced fennel, fresh dill, olive oil, lemon juice, and sea salt.
1 pound cooked lobster
1/2 fennel bulb, halved, cored, and thinly sliced into half-moons
A handful of dill leaves
1/4 cup good olive oil
Juice of 1 lemon
Sea salt
Combine the lobster, fennel, and dill in a bowl. Squeeze the lemon juice over the salad, drizzle with the olive oil, sprinkle with sea salt, and toss. Taste before serving. It probably needs more salt.
We served it just like this and ate it with our fingers and everyone was happy, but you could also put it on a bed of tender greens like mache or pea shoots.
Serves four or six as a starter.
Lobster salad. You can see the caviar in the background. What can I say? It was New Year's Eve.
