Our Christmas Lobster Tails With Pernod Cream Sauce Recipe Is The Perfect Special Occasion Meal

If ever there was a time for indulgence, it would be the holiday season. With the end of the year approaching and families gathering to celebrate, it's the perfect time to pull out your favorite special recipes — the ones you can't justify making without a crowd to enjoy them with. For some, this means tender beef roasts, savory racks of lamb, and glazed baked hams, while for others, fresh seafood is the main attraction. This can mean buttery scallops, legs of crab, or an entire feast of fishes – but perhaps the most luxurious of them all is tender steamed lobster tail.

Lobster tail only needs a sprinkling of lemon juice and a little butter to become effortlessly tender, buttery, and rich. Its delicate flavor and buttery texture also lend well to unique flavor pairings like anise, fennel, and cream, which add complex layers of flavor that brighten the indulgent meat. Designed a little bit like lobster thermidor, this fennel-steamed lobster tail filled with Pernod cream sauce is the perfect way to elevate the shellfish with unexpected flavors that fit perfectly into the festive winter season. Developed by Michelle McGlinn, this creamy lobster dish is the perfect way to celebrate the holidays and only takes minutes to prepare.

The first ingredient you'll need is lobster tail. Look for medium-sized lobster tails, which will be around 5 to 6 ounces each — if you can't weigh them, look for tails that are about 6 inches long and a few inches wide. To buy several lobster tails at once, try Costco, where lobster tails are sold affordably in packs of 5 or 6. You can also make this recipe with any size of lobster tail, adjusting the steaming time accordingly. For steaming, you'll need water, fennel, garlic, thyme, salt, and bay leaves, and for the cream sauce, you'll need another bulb of fennel, butter, shallot, heavy cream, pepper, and Pernod, an anise-flavored liqueur.

In a large stockpot, add the water, 1 quartered fennel bulb, 2 cloves of garlic, thyme, bay leaves, and 1 teaspoon salt.

Stir and bring to a simmer.

Add a steamer basket containing the lobster tails and cover.

Steam for 5 to 7 minutes, until the lobster is bright red and has an internal temperature of 135 F.

Remove the lobster from the pot and carefully cut along the top shell to reveal the meat.

In the meantime, make the sauce by melting the butter in a skillet over medium heat.

Add the remaining fennel bulb pieces, the shallot, and the 2 remaining cloves of garlic, minced. Cook until soft, about 4-5 minutes.

Add the Pernod and cook until it's reduced and the alcohol scent is cooked off, about 3-4 minutes.

Add the heavy cream, remaining ⅛ teaspoon salt, and remaining ⅛ teaspoon pepper.

Bring to a simmer and thicken slightly, about 3 minutes.

To serve, arrange the lobster on a platter and pour the cream sauce over the top.

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Pernod is an anise-flavored liqueur that, when cooked, mellows into a flavor similar to roasted fennel. The light, herbal flavor is a good base for creams, herbs, and pepper, and adds a touch of complementary flavor to seafood dishes like lobster. While you can achieve a similar flavor with the fennel bulb alone (and further accent the dish with the fronds when serving), there is no perfect substitute for the unique flavor of Pernod. You can, however, substitute it with white wine for an equally delicious sauce.

To do this, grab a dry bottle of white wine, such as Sauvignon Blanc or an unoaked Chardonnay. Substitute the same amount — ½ cup — and allow the wine to reduce until the alcohol smell is cooked off and the liquid is reduced by half. Wine adds a complex acidity to the sauce, but if you don't have wine on hand, either, you can use ½ cup of seafood or vegetable broth and a squeeze of lemon juice for a similar effect.

There are endless ways to serve lobster tail inside or outside of the shell. For special occasions, serving the lobster in the tail makes a striking presentation, and with a good pair of kitchen shears and some skill, you can butterfly the meat on top of the shell for an even more stunning display. To do this, cut the shell prior to steaming and pull the uncooked meat up and over the incision to rest on top of the shell. Then, steam as directed, checking for doneness a minute or two earlier than you would for in-shell steaming.

You can also remove the meat from the shell entirely after steaming for an entirely different presentation. For example, if you'd like to serve the cream sauce as a lobster-studded pasta dish, remove the meat from the shell and chop it into ½-inch pieces. Stir the cooked meat into the sauce, then toss with a pasta like bucatini or linguini. This way, the lobster is coated in glossy cream sauce and can be eaten without having to use your hands.

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