ROAST LOBSTERS WITH VANILLA SAUCE (HOMARDS ROTIS A LA SAUCE VANILLE)

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 525 degrees.
• Put one tablespoon of the butter in a saucepan and add the shallots. Cook briefly, stirring. Add the wine and the two 2-inch lengths of vanilla bean. Cook down, stirring, until the wine is almost evaporated. Add the fish broth and cook down over high heat, stirring, until reduced by half.
• Add the cream and cook the mixture about two minutes, to about one cup. Split the remaining piece of vanilla bean and add it.
• Strain the sauce through a fine sieve, pressing with the back of a wooden spoon or rubber spatula to extract most of the juices from the solids. Discard the solids.
• Return the sauce to a saucepan. Add salt and pepper and bring to the boil. Remove from the heat and swirl in two tablespoons of butter.
• Place the live lobsters close together in a casserole and place in the oven. Bake 15 minutes.
• Meanwhile, pick over the spinach to remove and discard any tough stems or blemished leaves. Pick over the watercress to remove the leaves. Discard the stems.
• Heat the remaining two tablespoons of butter in a skillet and add the spinach and watercress. Cook, stirring, until wilted.
• Split the hot lobsters lengthwise down the center. They will not be fully cooked at this point. Arrange the halves split side up on a baking dish and return to the oven for about one and one-half minutes.
• Crack the claws and arrange them in another baking dish. Bake about two minutes.
• Remove the meat from the lobster tails. Spoon the spinach into the center of a serving dish. Arrange the lobster tail meat over the spinach. Arrange the cracked claws around in a symmetrical pattern. Garnish, if desired, with one lobster carcass split in half. Spoon some of the sauce over the lobster tails and serve the rest on the side.