Town In a Lobster Stew (43 page)

Because she had to drive several hours north, Candy limited herself to one margarita, although Maggie allowed herself a second one. And they both had a bowl of clam chowder, which tasted delicious—perhaps not quite as good as Mr. Sedley’s lobster stew, but still very good.

The afternoon passed by all too quickly, and as the sun slid toward the western sky, they decided it was time to head back up north to Cape Willington.

They had parked the Jeep in a garage up on Fore Street, so they headed across Commercial Street and angled up Market. As they turned a corner onto Fore Street, headed toward the parking garage, they passed a newsstand, and something caught Candy’s eye. She took several steps along the sidewalk, stopped suddenly, and doubled back. “Hey, hold up a minute,” she called to Maggie.

Her friend slowed and turned around. “Why, what’s up?”

Candy didn’t answer. She stood staring at the headline of the Portland paper, displayed on the newsstand for all to see:
Wealthy financier distances himself from brother
, the headline read. And underneath that, in smaller type,
Porter Sykes unveils plans for Portland waterfront redesign
.

Candy picked up a copy of the paper, rummaged in her purse for change to pay for it, and read the first few lines of the story:

Candy read the paragraph again, her eyes hovering over two words:
Marblehead, Mass.

She felt a chill go through her. She’d heard something about Marblehead just a few days ago, hadn’t she? What was it?

Standing on the sidewalk along Fore Street, with crowds of people passing around her, she searched her memories and, after a moment, remembered. It was something Bob Bridges had told her last Monday afternoon as they stood in the maintenance shed at the English Point Lighthouse:

Marblehead. Old money.

And there was something else, wasn’t there? Something strange Roger had said, when he’d been standing in the maintenance shed with a gun pointed at them:

Our
attention.

Roger and Porter Sykes. Brothers.

Porter Sykes.

Why did that name seem so familiar to her?

And then it came to her in a flash:
Porter Sykes! PS!

Candy felt her legs go weak. They threatened to give way beneath her right there on the sidewalk.

“Honey, are you all right?” Maggie said, concern in her voice as she took Candy’s arm to steady her. “What’s wrong. You look like you’ve just seen a ghost.”

But again, Candy didn’t answer. Her mind was working too quickly.

Porter Sykes.

PS.

An image of the inscription written in the upper left corner of the blueprints, laid out on the table in Doc’s office, jumped into her mind.

The inscription on the blueprints had read,
Here are the plans. PS Make sure no one else sees this.

PS.
It didn’t mean
postscript
, as she had thought. They were initials!

He must have written that note to Charlotte, signed his initials, and then added the last line:
Make sure no one else sees this.

So Porter Sykes had given the plans to Charlotte!

But how had they known each other?

Candy had a cold feeling in the pit of her stomach as she read down the columns of newsprint. Toward the end of the article, she found what she was looking for:

She read the last few words as the blood pounded in her ears. In disbelief, she looked over at Maggie. “Oh no,” was all she could say.

“Honey, what’s wrong? What’s going on?” Maggie asked, a worried expression on her face.

Candy shook her head, feeling as if she were in shock. The hairs were standing out on her arms. A feeling of dread washed over her.

“I don’t know for sure,” she said uneasily, “but I don’t think we’ve heard the last from the Sykes brothers.”

In a large pot, sauté in butter the celery, onion, garlic, and spices. Once browned on medium to high heat, pour in the clam broth or stock and let reduce by half (boil down). Then add the cream to thicken, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Once thickened, add the generous amount of lobster meat and serve in a large bowl. This recipe should serve 6-8.

I also like to garnish the stew with a puff pastry in the shape of a lobster. You can purchase a lobster cookie cutter at a cooking store to create this pastry. Cut it out of dough, brush with egg white, sprinkle with paprika for color, and bake at 400° for 7-10 minutes.

This will fancify a Maine classic.

2 quarts (serves 4)

Bring 4 quarts of water to a boil in large pot. Drop in live lobster and cook for 7 minutes. Remove and place in ice water.

Reserve cooking water.

Remove lobster meat and chop into pieces. Roast bones, return to cooking water, and add onions, carrot, celery, bay leaf, and peppercorn. Simmer for 2 hours. Strain.

In a separate large pan, melt butter and stir in flour; cook over low heat for about 3-5 minutes. Whisk in 2.5 quarts lobster stock. Bring to a simmer; continue simmering for about 20 minutes.

Serve with chopped lobster, some chopped chives, and some crusty bread. Enjoy!

Remove all meat from the lobsters and reserve for later.

Break the shells into pieces. Use sturdy kitchen shears if necessary.

Heat canola oil in a large sauté pan over high heat.

Add the lobster shells and cook for about 5 minutes, until blistering but not burned.

Deglaze the pan with 1 cup of Cognac.

Flambé the Cognac and reduce to about 2 tablespoons.

Add the tomatoes, garlic, shallots, and tarragon.

Season with salt and white pepper.

Add cold water to the sauté pan till almost full (about 10 cups).

Bring to a boil.

Reduce the water until there is about 1 cup left in the saucepan. While reducing, squeeze the shells and other ingredients with a wooden spoon.

Reduce the heat to low.

Add the quart of heavy cream.

Bring to a low simmer. Simmer until the cream is reduced by 50 percent. Remove from heat.

Strain the liquid with a chinois, pushing the ingredients with the back of a wooden spoon, and reserve. Discard the shells and other ingredients.

Add the liquid to a saucepan on low heat.

Add the reserved lobster meat and heat through.

Serve immediately.

Serves four, although the servings are small; this is a super rich and very, very flavorful stew.

In a heavy saucepan at medium heat, cook the bacon until all the fat has been rendered and the bacon starts to foam (save half of this fat for the potatoes), then add the butter, garlic, leek, onion, celery root, carrots, bay leaves and cook for about 5 minutes or until the onions are translucent. Add the flour and mix well. Then add the wine and mix well. Cook for about a minute. Then add the lobster stock and lower the heat. Simmer gently for about 15 minutes or until the flour has thickened a little. Using a wooden spoon, stir constantly to prevent the vegetables from getting stuck at the bottom of the pot. Then add the half-and-half, salt, pepper, and fresh chopped thyme and parsley. Keep warm. Right before serving reheat the soup and add the pieces of lobster, seasoned with salt. Let the lobster finish cooking just for a couple of minutes.

Place the potatoes in a pot and cover with cold water and salt. Simmer slowly until the potatoes are done when pierced with a sharp knife. Strain and reserve. (This step can be done before the soup.) Before serving, cut potatoes in half, season with salt and pepper, and brown in a skillet using the reserved bacon fat and some olive oil or butter. Put in at 350°F for 5 minutes for a crispy skin.

Pat dry the fillet of fish. Season with salt and pepper.

Heat a cast-iron skillet and add some canola oil and butter (about 1 teaspoon of each per fillet). Brown the fish for about 4 minutes (depending on the thickness of the fish). Put in a 350°F oven for another 3 minutes (only turn the fish when ready to plate).

Place about 5 ounces of the chowder in each preheated shallow bowl, place some golden potatoes around, place fish in the middle of the plate, and garnish with crispy smoked bacon and fresh chives.

Heat a stockpot or heavy saucepan; add the oil and the shells and brown them on all sides for about 6-7 minutes.

Add onion, leek, garlic, bay leaf, fennel seeds, carrot, and tarragon, and cook for about 5-6 minutes, constantly stirring to prevent burning. Add tomato paste and tomatoes, mix well, add wines and let evaporate the alcohol, then cover with cold water, about 1 inch above the shells, and gently simmer for 2 hours, skimming all impurities and foam that are floating. After 2 hours strain with a fine colander and put back at medium heat and reduce to half. You should have about 2 quarts of lobster stock.

 

Serves 6 to 8

Turn the page for a preview of B. B. Haywood’s next Candy Holliday Murder Mystery . . .

Coming soon from Berkley Prime Crime!