Kennedy Lobster Stew

Lobster stew was a favourite of JFK's.

The passing of Senator Ted Kennedy of the United States has inspired me to share with you one of the Kennedy recipes. While this recipe is actually named in honour of JFK, rather than the Senator, the Senator must have enjoyed it many times himself.

1/4 cup onion, finely chopped
4 Tbsp butter
1 to 1-1/3 pounds lobster meat, cooked
1/4 cup Sherry wine - Amontillado was the Kennedy's chef's choice
1/4 cup lobster stock, optional, but desirable
1 1/4 cups light cream or half-and-half
1/4 tsp paprika
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 tsp fresh chives, minced

Cut the lobster meat into bite sized pieces.

Saute the onion in the butter until tender, about 3 minutes. Add the lobster meat. Stir so that it is coated in butter. Add the sherry, and allow it to come to a boil. If you have stock, pour it into the pot with the sherry. Continue boiling until the liquid is reduced by half. Stir in the cream and paprika. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Allow to simmer.

Serve while hot.

Sprinkle chives on top of the soup to garnish in the bowls.

Serves 4.

This recipe is from the cookbook "In the Kennedy Kitchen", by Neil Connolly, who was the chef for the Kennedys at Hyannis Port. It contains no less than 5 recipes for lobster, not to mention recipes for scallops, clams, mussels, shrimp, salmon and other fish! Oh yeah, it does have non-seafood too - salads, beef and chicken, etc. Plus some cool info about the whole Kennedy family and loads of pictures.