• 10–20 oz of lobster meat, shell and tail, chopped up coarsely
• Sourdough crouton spears (instructions and directions below)
• 5 Tbsp salted butter
• 1 large sweet onion (like a Vidalia), diced up
• 4 celery stalks, all diced up
• 2 large carrots chopped up
• 2 sprigs of thyme, just the leaves (or ½ tsp of the dried stuff)
• 1 ½ cloves of garlic, minced
• 2 sprigs of fresh tarragon, leaves only (or 1 ½ tsp dried if ya need to)
• 3 Tbsp tomato paste
  1 tsp smoked paprika
• ¼ C all-purpose flour
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 C heavy cream, close to room temperature
• 6 C lobster shell stock or any seafood stock (can easily be storebought, ingredients and directions below if you want to make it yourself)
• 1 C dry white wine (we use Pinot Grigio)
• ⅓ C cream sherry (regular sherry can work too if you can’t find cream)
• 2 shakes (¼ tsp) of a pepper hot sauce
• Healthy shake of sherry vinegar
• 1 Tbsp cornstarch, 1 Tbsp water (for a slurry if you want it thicker)
• Sea salt and black pepper to taste
• Fresh green onions for garnish

Ingredients for Sourdough Crouton Spears

• 1 circular loaf of sourdough bread (or square), cut in half, then sliced into 2” thick rounds, then cut into 1-inch-wide spears
• ½ C olive oil
• 1 Tbsp chives
• 1 Tbsp Italian seasoning
• ½ Tbsp minced garlic
• 1 shake of cayenne pepper
• 1 shake of lemon juice
• Salt and pepper to taste

Ingredients for Seafood Stock

• 3 peppercorns
• 4 smashed garlic cloves
• 4 sprigs of thyme
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 large onion cut in half
• One green bell pepper
• 1 large carrot chopped in half lengthwise
• 3 stalks of celery chopped in half lengthwise
• As many seafood shells as you can fit in there—crab, lobster, shrimp, crawfish, anything with shells (a few is fine if that’s all you’ve got; we save and freeze them)
• 6 C of water (we always try to use reserved water from a previously boiled lobster)