Lobster Paul Bert

Ingredients

• 8 x 1 lb lobsters
• 2 bunches parsley
• sliced onions, to taste
• salt, to taste
• pepper, to taste
• vinegar, to taste
• 4 oz of butter
• 1 small finely chopped up shallot
• about 2 lbs shrimps
• about 1 lbs fresh, peeled walnuts
• béchamel sauce
• egg yolks
• cream
• fresh butter
• lemon juice

Directions

1. Take the lobsters and plunge them into boiling water into which has been added a bunch of parsley, sliced onions, salt, pepper and vinegar; let them boil steadily twenty minutes, then remove; detach the bodies from the tails; take the meat out whole from the latter in breaking the inside of the shell only; then wash and dry the shells.
2. Cut up the tail meat into transversal slices; put four ounces of butter into a sautoire, arrange the lobster escalops on top, and sauté them, adding a small finely chopped up shallot, shrimps, and walnuts.
3. Drain off the butter and replace it by a reduced béchamel sauce thickened with egg yolks, cream and fresh butter, with lemon juice and chopped parsley, being careful to have the sauce quite thick.
4. Fill the lobster shells with this preparation, dress them crown-shaped on a bed of parsley, and arrange a bunch of parsley leaves on top.