Aragosta alla Catalana, confusing name for a Sardinian style lobster

Despite the name, it is not a dish from Catalan cuisine (a region located in the northeast of Spain), but a Sardinian recipe, in Italy. Sardinia was under the rule of the Crown of Aragon and some trace has been left, for example in the town of L'Alguer where the Catalan language is still preserved - albeit in a very residual and almost anecdotal way - as a relic from the settlers of Barcelona who arrived on the island in the fourteenth century.

The Catalan Lobster is an original and simple way to prepare this seafood.

INGREDIENTS (4 diners)

• Lobsters according to number of guests *
• 1 purple onion
• 2 ripe tomatoes
• extra virgin olive oil
• Juice of 1 lemon
• Salt

*about 200 grams (7 oz) per guest is a good portion, calculate in this way the lobsters needed per number of guests. For example, if there are 3 guests counting you, you need at least 600 grams (1.3 lbs) of usable lobster meat. What is often done is to buy 1 lobster for every two guests so that half is served as a "plate", as shown in the photograph.

We cook the lobster with its shell calculating 10 minutes for every 2.2 pounds of lobster. That is, a 6.6-pound lobster would take half an hour to cook.

Let it cool at room temperature.

Cut the lobster lengthwise and remove the meat, chopping it into regular-sized pieces that we take to a bowl. Finely chop the onion and the two ripe tomatoes (peeled and seeded), adding them to the same bowl where the lobster meat is.

We season with virgin olive oil, salt and the juice of a lemon and it is ready to serve, either warm or directly cold. It can be served in a bowl or use the same clean lobster shell.

Easy, isnt't?