“Summer is a good time to buy lobster, so if you can, give this a go. If you don’t fancy making pasta, serve simply, split in half with garlic butter, mornay sauce, or even Thermidor. You can buy cooked lobsters from a good fishmonger and pick the meat out yourself or even serve one whole—get messy and dunk chunks into fresh mayonnaise with a pinch of salt and a squeeze of good lemon.”

Serves 1
Prep time: 1 hour; cooking time: 25 minutes

INGREDIENTS
50g white fish, like hake or haddock
100g cooked lobster meat, diced, leaving about 25g for garnish
2 eggs, one whole, one whisked
1 tablespoon crème fraîche
Half a teaspoon grated ginger
1 teaspoon finely-chopped chives and dill, leaving some for the final garnish
100g 00 pasta flour
Good salt and pepper
A trickle of good olive oil
A squeeze of lemon juice
1 handful baby spinach, washed
A knob of butter

METHOD

Make the pasta dough in a food processor by adding the flour and a whole egg. Whizz for 30 seconds then place the mix on a clean work surface and knead for 30 seconds. Form into a brick shape, wrap in cling film and place in the fridge for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a food processor, whizz the white fish and 75g of lobster along with the ginger, a pinch of salt and half the whisked egg for 30 seconds. Add the crème fraîche and whizz for a further 30 seconds, ensuring the mix is well combined. Scoop out into a clean bowl and add the chopped herbs. Keep in the fridge.

If you have a pasta machine, brilliant. Roll out the dough using the last setting, and as wide as the machine is, we are making 3 tortellini in total. If no machine, then use a rolling pin, but it’s hard work and will use a bit more flour. Roll to about 12 inches long.

Place the rolled dough onto parchment paper and top with 3 equally sized dollops of the lobster filling mixture on one half of the rectangle of dough. Turn over the flap of pasta, and using the edges of your pinkie, enclose each dollop of mixture in pasta ensuring there are no air bubbles. Mould into half moon shapes and cut off the excess dough, but leaving a fairly a large excess around the sealed edges. Squeeze these edges to ensure the dough isn’t too thick, then bring one pointed edge to meet the other and pinch to make each tortellini. Blanch in simmering, salted water for 4 to 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, wilt the spinach in the butter over a moderate heat. Season in the pan, then drain on a cloth.

To serve, place the spinach on a warm plate. Top with the tortellini, scattering some extra lobster meat over the top. Decorate with extra dill, then a squeeze of lemon juice and a trickle of good olive oil. Serve at once.