Tails of langoustines recipes. langoustines

Today, many seafood lovers prefer to purchase not only the usual large and king prawns, but also langoustines, which practically do not differ from them in appearance. There is a little more meat in langoustines, and they taste very juicy, especially if they are cooked correctly. In this article, we will take a closer look at the process of cooking crustaceans, and, of course, we will get acquainted with the recommendations of culinary experts.

How to choose?

Before you cook seafood, you need to choose the right one. It is best to choose good langoustines in trusted places that sell top quality products.

It is strictly forbidden to purchase shrimp and langoustines with a black head. This is a sure sign that the crustaceans were most likely sick.
If the shell is too dry, then this may be the result of long storage (if we are talking about fresh options).
When choosing frozen langoustines, it is very important that they are not overly covered in frost and ice. The presence of ice may mean that the product has been repeatedly frozen.
To be sure of the quality of the product, you should check the date of manufacture, expiration date and other markings, including the address of the manufacturer. If there is no address, this may indicate that the product is illegal.

On the shelves of stores you can find large and medium langoustines. The former, as a rule, are no more than 25 cm, and the latter - 12-15 cm. Of course, it is best to purchase fresh crustaceans, but they are less common, since many carriers experience difficulties in transporting this kind of seafood.

Benefit and harm

In addition to the fact that langoustines are very tasty, they can bring great benefits to the body. It should be noted that these crustaceans are very low in calories, so they can be an excellent solution for dietary intake. The calorie content of langoustine is only 112 kcal per 100 grams.

The langoustines contain a lot of vitamins, amino acids and minerals, including vitamins from groups A, B, C and PP. As for minerals, here we are talking about a high content of phosphorus, sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron and some other substances that favorably affect the processes occurring in the body.

Langoustines, like other crustaceans, are of great benefit to the human endocrine system, and they also strengthen natural immunity.

However, even such a useful product has disadvantages. If you have a personal intolerance to crustaceans, in no case should you use these crustaceans. In addition, the head of the langoustine contains a lot of cholesterol, which can be dangerous for older people. Do not forget that crustaceans caught from water of not very good quality contain salts of heavy metals.

How to cook?

Unfortunately, there is no single cooking recipe for all types of crustaceans, it almost always takes a certain time, which depends on many factors. Since unpeeled and frozen langoustines are most often boiled with a head, let's consider how to do this most correctly.

The average cooking time for crustaceans is 15-20 minutes, it can be more or less depending on the size of the langoustine.

At home, cook crustaceans over medium heat, bringing to a boil, and then reducing the heat. Like shrimp, these products are prepared quite quickly, without causing unnecessary trouble. The main thing is to put them in the pan only after the water becomes hot. Peeled and raw shrimp, as well as langoustines, are cooked a little less, but if they are large in size, then the time can reach 12-15 minutes. The tails are boiled for about 10 minutes.

Sea delicacies are very healthy and have an exquisite taste. One of the most delicious is considered to be langoustines - the closest relatives of lobsters, crustaceans, which differ from them in more compact sizes. We will tell you in this article how to choose the right and deliciously cook langoustines.

How to choose?

An important condition for preparing a delicious dish is the presence of fresh and high-quality langoustines. Their delicacy taste will be delicate, delicate and will pleasantly surprise relatives and guests, but on one condition - the product must be fresh. Langoustines that have been improperly stored or transported, as well as marine life with an expired shelf life, are characterized by heterogeneous meat, exfoliating and falling apart when cooked. Ready-made dishes from it are bitter and have an unpleasant odor.

If you live in regions where lobsters are harvested, there will be no problems with buying fresh marine life. They are sold from large aquariums.

When choosing a live langoustine, remember that the crustacean must be quite active. If the individual almost does not move, then it is on the verge of death and it is not worth buying.

But most Russians do not have the opportunity to buy fresh, recently caught langoustines. Therefore, you will have to be content with frozen foods. They are of two types - frozen boiled and frozen raw.

Freezing is not considered the best option for preserving langoustines. Culinary experts say that when meat is frozen, it loses the lion's share of tenderness and sophistication, and along with this, some nutrients and vitamins are lost.

But the inhabitants of the central regions of Russia have no choice.

When choosing langoustines, pay attention to the following points.

Shell. In fresh langoustine, it is rich pink, without spots, moderately shiny. Even if the product is frozen, the shell should not be coated or stained.
Smell. Take the langoustine in your hands and smell it. This crustacean, when fresh, has a subtle, salty smell of the sea inherent in seafood. He is pleasant. Stale spiny lobster has a pronounced smell of "mud". Between the fold of the tail and the lower border of the shell there is a zone in which the smell of fish and the sea should not be. But only in fresh langoustine. An expired or poor-quality product will exude a not very pleasant “aroma” over the entire area.
Eyes quality and fresh langoustines are black and shiny. They are never coated and give off a blue color.
Pose. The langoustines, frozen in an extended position, died before they were put on the counter. You can't buy or eat them. In a fresh crustacean, the tail is always tucked inward.
Size. In Russia, you can buy two types of product - large and medium langoustines. Large ones reach 25 centimeters in length. Medium - 12 centimeters. Take any. Do not assume that size affects the taste of meat. Both large and medium-sized individuals have equally tender meat.
Package. The packaging of frozen langoustines should not be damaged, wrinkled, deformed, or opened. The expiration date must not be expired.
Quality. Ask the seller to show the quality certificate for the product. If langoustines were caught in ecologically clean areas of the sea, not poisoned by oil products and radioactive substances, such a certificate must be. This is your safety. You shouldn't neglect it.

Seafood preparation

Before cooking langoustines, carcasses should be properly processed. If live crustaceans are bought, they are washed and thrown into boiling salted water for literally 5-7 minutes. This time will be quite enough for the shell to be easily removed from the crustaceans. Only the tail part is used for food, as with shrimp, and therefore the extracted meat can be baked, stewed, fried, grilled, whatever your heart desires.

Frozen langoustine requires more careful preparation. To begin with, the product should be removed from the freezer and left in the refrigerator for several hours. Sharp extreme defrosting in the microwave or warm water, and even at normal room temperature, can destroy the delicate texture of the meat. Therefore, it is customary to defrost langoustines smoothly, gradually. After 4-5 hours, crustaceans are transferred from the refrigerator to the kitchen table, where they are thawed already at room temperature for another 2-3 hours.

Be sure to wash the product before cooking. This must be done under running water.

Further preparation will depend on how you plan to cook the delicacy: if you cook, then feel free to throw it into boiling salted water for 10-12 minutes; if frying or grilling - throw in boiling water for 3-4 minutes. After that, the langoustines need to be cleaned.

Proper cleaning involves removing the head (be sure to hold the tail with one hand), opening and removing the shell, removing the legs and intestines. Cleaning this crustacean is no more difficult than cleaning shrimp. Cut meat without a head and shell can be used for further culinary research.

The pre-cooking step can be avoided if you bought langoustines that have been frozen already cooked. Such a product is thawed according to the rules of gradual and gentle defrosting described above, and then immediately cleaned and prepared according to the selected recipe.

To remove the shell or not is a moot point. Some chefs recommend cooking langoustines in shell, believing that this way they retain more juices and flavor, others strongly advise removing the shell. Both methods are perfectly acceptable. But in any case, you need to remove the head, because it contains a large amount of cholesterol.

A specially prepared marinade will help to give the langoustines a special taste and aroma, it is beneficial to emphasize the delicate texture of the meat, which can also be used to process crustaceans before cooking, in which, in fact, you can cook them.

How to marinate?

If a decision is made to pickle langoustines before cooking, you will have to prepare especially for this process. With a sharp knife, the head and claws are removed. The shell is opened with a knife along the length to a shallow depth. Then, with your fingers, you should carefully remove the esophagus of the marine life with its contents. It is imperative to clean the crustacean: firstly, you don’t need the esophagus with the waste products of the marine life, it will add bitterness, and, secondly, the opened shell ensures that the product is well marinated.

Marinade can be prepared by anyone, to which the soul lies more. Most often, lemon or wine marinades, as well as garlic, are used to prepare langoustines.

Garlic marinade. Finely chop a few cloves of garlic with a sharp knife (the amount depends on how much the eaters like garlic and the garlic flavor in the finished dish). Put the garlic in a bowl, add a little olive oil, salt and pepper. In this mixture, you need to withstand the crustaceans for 30-40 minutes (an hour can be). Then they can be taken out and fried or grilled.
Lemon marinade. You will need a third of a medium-sized lemon, a few peas of allspice, one bay leaf, salt and cloves. All of the above is put in a small saucepan with 2-3 glasses of water and put on the stove. As soon as the fragrant liquid boils, crustaceans are placed in it and boiled for about a quarter of an hour. You can remove the marinade from the heat and cool, and then put peeled or unpeeled marine life into it and leave to marinate for 1-2 hours.
Wine marinade. For this marinade you will need a glass of dry white wine, cloves, salt, allspice. Mix everything with enameled dishes and put langoustines with opened shells in the marinade. For 1.5-2 hours spent in such a marinade, crustaceans will acquire a wonderful aroma.

When might you need a marinade? The situations may be different. Some people like to cook langoustines in the marinade, others use the marinade only at the preparatory stage. But before frying or baking, as well as before grilling, it is still advisable to marinate marine life, even if a “minimum set” is chosen for this - pepper and salt.

cooking recipes

There are many ways to cook and serve langoustines deliciously and beautifully. For most recipes, it doesn't matter if you purchased fresh or frozen crustacean. Most of the recipes are “quick”, because langoustines do not require long-term heat treatment. Langoustines can be cooked on the grill, you can cook on fire, fry in a pan, on coals and on a grill. Very good at home langoustines baked in the oven. Both shrimps and langoustines are good in batter. Some even adapted to cook a delicacy in a slow cooker. Let's take a step-by-step look at some of the most interesting ways to cook these crustaceans.

You can get acquainted with the secrets of preparing and cooking delicious langoustines in garlic sauce in the next video.

Grilled

Grilled langoustines will be an excellent weekend dish, they can be cooked in a friendly atmosphere, together with the guests who have come "with a glass of tea" and an entertaining conversation. This will not require much effort, especially if the hostess has prepared crustaceans for grilling in advance.

Preparation will consist in preparing a marinade, without which the grilled marine life will not be as tender and tasty as both the hosts and guests would like. Choose from any of the marinades listed above, or make your favorite Italian marinade for grilled seafood - olive oil, pepper, cloves, a grated piece of ginger root.
Put the unpeeled langoustines in the shell into the marinade, having previously opened the shells with a knife to remove the esophagus. Heads can be left.
After the marine life has spent an hour and a half in the marinade, carefully arrange them on a grill pan or wire rack along with lemon halves and garlic cloves.
Cook for 3-4 minutes on each side. If the langoustines are large, then the cooking time should be increased by about 2 minutes for each side.

Serve hot, with sauce (any to your taste).

in a frying pan

Sautéed langoustines are a great way to make this gourmet delicacy at home. It's done quickly and looks amazing. Fried langoustines are served with any side dish, but the combination of rice and vegetables seems to be the most beneficial.

To fry langoustines correctly, you will need:

fresh or frozen langoustines,
half a lemon or lime
two cloves of garlic
olive oil (a third of a glass),
any spices you like.

The cooking time is about 10 minutes.

Step-by-step instruction.

Thawed or fresh langoustines need to be cleaned: remove the legs, head, and it is better to leave the shell.
For half an hour, you need to put the carcasses in olive oil with the rest of the ingredients added.
Then you can start frying.

Try doing this in a large cast iron skillet, Teflon coatings are not exactly what you need for cooking seafood.

Toss a few garlic cloves into the hot oil in a frying pan. Put the carcasses, and fry over medium heat for 2-3 minutes on each side. Ideally, a nice crispy crust should appear during this time.
Throw a few thin slices of lime or lemon into the pan, add 50 ml of water.
As soon as the water boils, the pan is turned off, but do not rush to remove the crustaceans from it - let it brew a little so that the meat inside is completely cooked and also saturated with aromas.

After five minutes, you can put the delicacy on a large dish and serve with a portioned side dish.

It is very tasty to serve seaweed with fried langoustines.

In the oven

Langoustines in the oven can be cooked with or without sauce. It all depends on what dish and for what occasion you want to get the output.

To make langoustines baked with cheese sauce, need to:

Lightly boil raw carcasses, free them from the shell.
Fold the crustacean meat into a container, pour a small amount of cream, salt and add finely chopped greens. Top with grated hard cheese.
Bake the dish for about 20-25 minutes.

Look very elegant marinated langoustines on skewers.

To do this, put the marinated marine life on wooden skewers, generously grease with olive oil or odorless sunflower oil.
Line a baking sheet with foil and arrange the skewers so that the crustaceans are roasted by weight.
The temperature in the oven is 220 degrees.
After 10 minutes of normal roasting, switch to grill mode and hold the langoustines for about 10 more minutes.

The dish should be served hot, with sauces and a vegetable side dish.

If the ready-made baked or boiled langoustines have already cooled down, leave them for making salads and cold appetizers.

Before telling how to cook langoustines, it is worth noting that these under-lobsters are frozen relatives of bow-legged shrimp. In the evolutionary path, langoustines have passed the stage of shrimp, but have not yet become full-fledged lobsters. Although the most common and official name for langoustine is Norwegian lobster. In different countries, langoustines have a different name. Lobster, lobster tail and even "royal lobster", which is basically wrong. Germans and Austrians, French and Arabs, whoever wants to call it that. Lengthy discussions about such banality and boredom as the official names for langoustines can not be safely called mauvais ton. In addition, this is fraught with the loss of the audience, and therefore, let's get to the point. Let's get to what's more important.

And more importantly, how to cook langoustines. There are a lot of good recipes with langoustines, but due to the insufficient prevalence of these king prawns, you can’t get a recipe out of your head on the go on how to cook langoustines. But it turns out that among the many recipes for langoustine, probably one of the most common is fried langoustines with garlic. Accordingly, we will stop on this recipe today. In addition, langoustines fried with garlic are incredibly juicy and delicate in taste. And this dish looks, pardon the stupid expression, like a king.

No, no one argues, and if desired, langoustines can be prepared both as a light snack and as a main course. I do not pretend to be original, and the category of the reader of this site should definitely not be lower than "18+". Therefore, let's face it, we are tired of all these Munich and Bavarian grilled sausages with beer. Even with . And something doesn’t pull today to bake, albeit incredibly delicious, but these ones with Parmesan cheese. Even a variety of go to the garden. And all because today in our cozy company a box of fresh-frozen langoustines was drawn.

Let's get off the beaten track a little. Let's try to refrain from tedious banality. After all, how we used to treat all kinds of shrimp and their relatives. Of course, boil in a spicy broth, and then sprinkle with lemon juice already in a plate. Well, really, I'm tired! And therefore, we will not boil fresh-frozen langoustines. It will be much more pleasant, tastier and, in the end, more non-trivial to stuff langoustine carcasses. After all, pesto sauce contains all the “living wages” of the ingredients needed to make langoustines tender, tasty and charming. Garlic, and we fry langoustines with garlic. Cheese, for piquancy and emphasizing the delicate taste of shrimp. Well, you can’t spoil the langoustine recipe. Look at the photo of langoustines!

Today I have prepared for the reader one terrible secret. Let me tell you something that few people know about. And even if he knows, then, unfortunately, he "scores" and ignores this information. Go to the freezer, where a box of langoustines is comfortably located. Take the package in hand. Open the lid! Look at fresh-frozen langoustines. You can right in their langoustine muzzle. Did you glare? Aha! Close quickly, put in place and quickly here.

Can you tell me what color they are? Red? Really red? Not dark green? No?! Well, everyone! As the mathematician at school kept repeating: “Ch.T.D. "That's what we had to prove!" Before the langoustines were frozen, the manufacturer simply boiled them. And this means that there is no need to cook langoustines again. After all, we know that after prolonged heating, it is not necessary to wait for juicy tenderness from the meat of shrimp, squid and others like them. And therefore there is no need to tell how to cook langoustines. And instead, today we will answer another important question: - How to cook langoustines. And something suggests itself in the title, like: Langoustines Recipe with photo.

Langoustines are essentially the same shrimp, only larger and meatier. We sometimes call langoustines "royal prawns", however, the title of "royal" is also carried by ordinary large shrimp, so you can easily confuse. Only shrimps can be boiled, and it is better to fry langoustines in a frying pan with olive oil, garlic and spices - you get "langustinos a la plancha" (Langustinos a la plancha).
In Spain, langoustines cost 8-10 euros per kilogram, at about the same price I once met them on a regular market in Moscow, however, unlike chilled Spanish ones, Moscow ones were frozen in such an amount of ice that half of the amount paid for kilogram of langoustines, was paid simply for water (((
And, of course, chilled fresh langoustines are several times tastier than frozen ones, therefore, I offer a recipe for those who have access to the freshest seafood.

Langoustines are fried in olive oil, therefore, we warm up a wide frying pan on the stove and pour about one tablespoon of oil into it.

Cut the garlic into thin slices, and lightly fry it until golden brown.

We spread the langoustines in a pan and fry them over high heat, stirring, for five minutes.

Salt langoustines and add spices for fish dishes. These spices may include rosemary, basil, thyme, and parsley.

Simmer the langoustines, stirring, over medium heat for another five minutes and remove from the stove.

Langoustines are good both as an independent dish and as an ingredient in salads, soups, snacks. They are very easy and quick to deal with, but as with all seafood, there are a few rules to follow so that the tender meat does not turn into something tough and tasteless. We offer proven recipes for cooking langoustines.

Langoustines are the closest relatives of spiny lobsters, having smaller sizes (15-25 cm), and outwardly more similar to lobsters. This is a real sea delicacy, and valuable - tender, with a delicate taste, low-calorie - the meat is only in the tail.

This type of crustacean is served whole boiled; on the basis of their meat, you can cook soup, salad, paella, risotto or fry it in batter. In many restaurants, langoustines are served boiled on green salad leaves with olives or black olives and lemon slices.

Grilled langoustines

Grilled langoustines are amazingly delicious. We offer a cooking recipe that will reveal the delicate aroma and taste of the meat of these crustaceans in full.

Ingredients:

1-1.5 kg of langoustines;
half a lime or small lemon;
0.5 tsp black ground pepper;
50 ml of olive oil (you can replace 50 g of softened butter);
0.5 tsp salt;
basil to taste;
10 mint leaves.

Cooking:

If the langoustines were frozen, thaw them at room temperature.
After complete defrosting, clean the carcasses: remove the head, shell, leaving a little on the lower part of the tail.
Cut the tail exactly in the middle along the entire length. Inside you will see a thin black vein - this is the intestine, which must be removed.
Rub the prepared meat with basil and mint.
Add salt, pepper, lemon or lime juice to the oil and mix well. Coat the langoustines with this mixture or marinate them in it for 30 minutes, no more. Tender meat, consisting of protein, will quickly absorb the marinade.
Now put it on the grill and fry on both sides.
The meat of these crustaceans cooks very quickly. It is enough to fry for 1-2 minutes on each side. Ready langoustines should curl into a semicircle and become dull, opaque.
Serve them immediately, garnishing the dish with lemon slices and a fresh salad.

Fried langoustines

The dish turns out very tasty and fragrant, and you can cook it literally in a hurry.

Ingredients:

12 pcs. langoustines;
2-4 cloves of garlic (or more if you like spicy dishes);
1 chili pepper (if you do not like spicy, you can not add it);
olive or other vegetable oil;
1 st. l. lemon juice;
parsley;
salt to taste.

Cooking:

Clean the crustacean carcasses and remove the intestines, rinse and pat dry.
Prepare the sauce: minced garlic, finely chopped peppers and parsley, salt, add lemon juice and oil. Mix all ingredients thoroughly.
Roll the langoustines in the resulting mass and leave them in it for 30 minutes so that the meat marinates well.
Heat the pan, do not add oil.
Lay the carcasses on a hot surface and fry for 1 minute on each side.
Be careful not to overcook them, otherwise the meat will become tough and tasteless.
Serve hot. The taste of seafood can be supplemented with a light salad of avocado, tomato, peeled, cut into small cubes and seasoned with lemon juice.

Langoustine meat salad

The taste of this very simple and quickly prepared dish is very spectacular, able to surprise even gourmets.

Ingredients:

30 g parsnips;
50 g curly lettuce leaves (can be replaced with ordinary lettuce leaves);
100 g peeled tomatoes;
100 g of sweet pepper (if possible, use vegetables of different colors - then the salad will turn out to be very bright and colorful);
100 g of langoustine meat.

Marinade Ingredients:

50 g of vegetable oil;
50 g orange juice;
rosemary;
salt, pepper to taste.

Salad Dressing Ingredients:

50 g of vegetable oil;
50 g balsamic vinegar (can be replaced with wine in the same amount);
30 g of ordinary mustard.

Cooking:

Make a marinade: add oil, salt, pepper and rosemary to the juice, beat the mass thoroughly with a fork until smooth. Dip the pre-shelled carcasses into the mixture. In order for the meat to marinate well, 5 minutes is enough.
Parsnips, peppers and tomatoes cut into small bars or strips. Tear large lettuce leaves with your hands into medium-sized pieces and mix with the rest of the vegetables.
Add oil, mustard, vinegar to the vegetable mass and mix everything very thoroughly.
Put the vegetable mass mixed with mustard sauce on a plate, and pickled crustacean meat on top. For greater effect, you can decorate the finished dish with langoustine shells.

langoustine soup

Crustacean meat makes a light, but very nutritious and satisfying first course.

Ingredients:

0.5 pcs. fennel;
1 medium carrot;
1 onion;
2 tbsp. l. vegetable oil;
2 cloves of garlic;
10 pieces. langoustines;
2 liters of water;
turmeric for "colorfulness";
2 tomatoes;
200 g of white wine (can be replaced with wine vinegar in the amount of 70 ml);
bunch of parsley;
If desired, you can add thyme, bay leaf.

Cooking:

Chop fennel with carrots and onions into medium-thick strips.
Fry them all together over high heat for 5 minutes until golden brown.
A minute before the end of frying, add the garlic passed through the press to the vegetables.
Coarsely chop the cleaned and washed langoustine meat and add to the vegetables. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer all the ingredients for another 2 minutes.
Bring water to a boil in a saucepan, add turmeric and boil for 5 minutes over medium heat.
Add diced tomatoes to the water, peeling them first.
After a couple of minutes, add finely chopped parsley, thyme, bay leaf and white wine or vinegar to the tomatoes. Boil for another 10 minutes.
Now add the fried vegetables and meat, salt and pepper, boil for just 1 minute and turn off the heat.
Then it remains to grind all the ingredients with a blender into a homogeneous mass and serve to the table, decorating with parsley.

Boiled langoustines

Boiled crustaceans are good to serve whole, without any fuss.

Ingredients:

langoustines;
lettuce leaves;
lemon juice;
olives;
garlic, thyme, salt, pepper to taste.

Cooking:

Defrost frozen carcasses at room temperature, wash and dry.
Bring ordinary water to a boil in a saucepan, throwing thyme, garlic, salt and pepper into it.
As soon as the water boils, lower the langoustines into it and note the time. They should be in boiling water for no longer than 30 seconds.
Put the finished carcasses on lettuce leaves, sprinkle with lemon juice, decorate with olives and lemon slices.