Lobster Fly

Try Our Memorial Day Holiday Barbecue Grilled Lobster Recipe

Al T. Lobsterman — Mon, 13 May 2013 15:06:41 +0000

The Memorial Day Holiday barbecue is often viewed as the traditional start of summer, that time of year when the beach, boats, friends and family all beckon to start the beginning of a great season. Why not try something special for Memorial Day 2013 by serving fresh Maine lobster cooked on the grill using our super-easy grilled lobster recipe.

Grilling whole lobster adds a lot of flavor. The grill brings out the sweet taste of the

Grilled whole Maine lobster

lobster meat but also adds a whole new dimension of flavor that you won’t get if you steam or boil the lobster. Grilled lobster also complements nicely any other seafood on the grill as well as meats and grilled vegetables. Grilling whole lobster is fast and easy and will be a crowd pleaser. So let’s get started.

First, you must start with fresh Maine lobster from your fish market or favorite lobster delivery service. Be sure to ask for hard-shell lobster as opposed to soft shell, or “new shell” lobster. Soft-shell lobster meat is often to stringy to hold together on the grill and won’t taste nearly as good. Hard-shell lobster is best.

Grilled Lobster Recipe

Grilling lobster adds a lot of flavor. Try this whole lobster recipe at your Memorial Day Holiday barbecue. Cook Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:

1 pound butter
1/2 cup fresh basil chopped and pressed firmly into cup
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
4 (1.25 pound) whole lobsters (hard shell)
3 tablespoons olive oil

Preparation:

Combine the butter, basil, and salt and pepper to taste in a food processor and blend until smooth. Pack the mixture into a medium ramekin, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Split the lobsters in half lengthwise. Bring the knife down through the tail, making sure to cut just through the meat and to leave the shell connected.

Lay the lobster open, leaving the two halves slightly attached. Break the claws and legs off and crack slightly with the knife handle. Place the claws and legs on the grill over medium low heat and cover with a pie pan. Cook the claws and legs for 4 to 5 minutes per side.

Next brush the lobster bodies with the oil and season with salt and pepper to taste. Place them flesh side down on the grill over medium heat. Grill 7 to 8 minutes. Remove the lobsters and slather with all the basil butter.

Why not also add Steamers to your Holiday Barbecue?

Fresh Steamers and Little Necks

Maine Steamer Clams with Butter

Tender Sword Fish Steaks

As we all travel this Memorial Day Weekend 2013 to be with friends and family and sit down to enjoy our meals, be sure to remember our veterans and those service members still serving so far away.

© Lobsters-Online 2013

Mothers Day Lobster Dinner Tradition Goes the Distance

Al T. Lobsterman — Fri, 03 May 2013 13:44:00 +0000

Every year Henry Johnson would take his mother out for a Mothers Day lobster dinner. But this year, Mom is retired and living 1300 miles away in Naples,Florida. Getting together on Mother’s Day was not going to be possible.

Johnson said he needed a way to keep the Mothers Day lobster-dinner tradition going.

So Johnson went online to see if he could find a seafood restaurant in Naples offering gift certificates. But knowing his mother, Lillian Johnson, was a lobster gourmet, he was not sure he could find a restaurant offering the jumbo lobster his mother preferred.

The web search for a lobster-dinner gift certificate delivered a surprising result, according to Johnson. His Google page yielded a Cape Cod, Massachusetts Lobster delivery service that offered to send fresh, live Maine Lobster overnight to Naples, Florida. And not just any lobster, but jumbo Maine Lobster. The delivery service – Lobsters-Online.Com – also offered freshly harvested steamer clams and oysters.

Johnson said he was “thrilled” with the idea of sending his seafood loving mother a box of live Maine lobster on Mother’s Day.

After a few minutes of shopping the web site, Johnson selected two four-pound lobsters, a bushel of steamers and the Lobster Trap Co. homemade style Lobster Bisque. The Lobsters-Online.Com service offered a satisfaction guarantee, which was important to Johnson.

“What could be a better surprise,” Johnson said. “Mom will be sitting at home, and the door bell will ring, and a box of live lobster will be delivered right to her door.”

Johnson said his mother is one of those Lobster aficionados who grew up in Maine, went to school in Boston and raised a family in Connecticut. His mother’s only complaint about Florida has been that it is difficult to obtain locally fresh New England Lobster and shellfish.

“Mom knows how to cook and eat a lobster like a professional,” Johnson said. “She knows how to make lobster butter with the lobster roe and how to twist the small legs and flippers to get the even the small meat out.”

Sending live lobster on Mother’s Day, Johnson said, will go a long way toward keeping their Mother’s Day lobster dinner tradition going.

Lobsters-Online.Com has been serving up Mother’s Day lobster gift boxes for more than a decade. Every lobster gift box includes only select-grade lobster fresh from the clean, crisp waters of New England. The lobsters are placed in boxes with special individual compartments to protect them in transit. The special box is placed inside a frozen-gel packed cooler and layered with wet seaweed. The package is then shipped FedEx overnight delivery to ensure the lobster arrives fresh, alive and healthy.

Lobster gift boxes may be ordered by2:30 p.m. ESTfor next day delivery. Delivery is available Tuesday through Saturday.

© Lobsters-Online.Com 2013

Mother’s Day Maine Lobster Benedict Brunch Recipe

Al T. Lobsterman — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 13:21:25 +0000

This year Mother’s Day is May 12. So this year begin Mom’s special day with a Mother’s Day lobster brunch of homemade fresh Maine Lobster Benedict, a beautiful dish that is sure to make your Mother’s Day celebration very special indeed. As we like to say, flowers are great, but a Mother’s Day gift of lobster just tastes better.

Maine Lobster Benedict (Courtesy Lobster From Maine)

The Maine Lobster Benedict recipe begins with fresh Maine lobster. You will need five one-pound lobsters to garner 1 pound of cooked lobster meat. You steam the lobster as usual and use a large chef’s knife to open the claws and tail to remove the meat. Of, if you prefer, you can buy one pound of freshly cooked Maine lobster meat. Just make sure the lobster is fresh.

The Maine Lobster Benedict recipe will provide four servings for a great Mother’s Day Brunch. The recipe includes preparing homemade Hollandaise Sauce:

Hollandaise Sauce Ingredients:

2 egg yolks
½ cup (1/4 pound) unsalted butter
1 tablespoon fresh squeezed lemon juice
Dash of cayenne pepper
Sea salt

Other Ingredients

4 English muffins
12 asparagus spears, steamed
1 pound cooked Maine lobster
1 tablespoon butter
8 eggs, poached

Prepare the Hollandaise Sauce:

Melt the butter in a double-boiler on top of the stove.
In a small bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, lemon juice, and cayenne pepper.
Whisk the egg mixture into the melted butter, stirring constantly over heat until the sauce starts to thicken.
Season to taste with sea salt.
Remove the double boiler from the heat and keep the sauce warm over the hot water.

Prepare Maine Lobster Benedict:

Split and toast the English muffins and place 2 halves on a plate.
Cut the steamed asparagus spears in half, and place 3 halve-pieces on each English part of the English muffin.
Briefly sauté the pre-cooked lobster in 1 tablespoon of butter until it is heated, and add a portion of the heated lobster to each English muffin.
Poach the eggs and top each muffin half with a poached egg.
Add a dollop of the Hollandaise Sauce on top.

Note on the Hollandaise Sauce from Chef Tom Gutow: If the butter fat and egg yolks separate and the sauce appear to curdle, add a few tablespoons of hot water from the boiler and whisk like crazy to emulsify it. This will make the sauce smooth again.

Springtime: Opening Season for the Waterfront Lobster Roll

Al T. Lobsterman — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 14:12:00 +0000

Finally, April is here. The time of year when many of our favorite waterfront clam and lobster shacks begin to open again for the season … and the famous New England lobster roll recipe is again on the menu. There is nothing that says sunshine and sea as the taste of a specially prepared, fresh lobster roll on a toasted New England bun.

Cape Cod, Ipswich, Massachusetts and the Maine seacoast are world famous for the lobster roll made with freshly caught lobster. The lobster meat, cooked to sweet perfection, is served overflowing a top loading bun. Add a side of chips, a cold beer and a sunny table, and you’re there. The recipe may vary a bit from town to town but it always begins with freshly caught lobster.

A lobster roll from the Clam Box, Ipswich, MA

This longing for the opening of lobster-shack season was made all the more interesting when recently it was learned that Chuck Hughes, owner of the Garde-Manger Restaurant in Montreal, was named Food TV Iron Chef of America, in part because of his preparation of a good old Maine lobster roll. That’s right. The judges went crazy for his lobster roll!

For those of you who share our passion for the lobster roll but can’t go to Maine or Cape Cod, we decided to share Chef Hughes winning lobster roll recipe. We have only few hints to add.

The lobster must be fresh and healthy, so only order from a reputable lobster online dealer. Ask for a couple of females so that you can collect the lobster roe to make lobster butter. Boil the lobster in a large pot of salted water and take care not to over cook. Overcooking will make the meat tough. When opening the cooked lobster, cut the meat into large chunks. And finally, make sure to pick a quality, top-loading bun.

Remember, it’s all about the lobster!

Here is Chef Hughes recipe, adapted from his cookbook Garde-Manger:

Lobster Roll
Serves 4

For an added Iron Chef twist, feel free to add a smidgen of chopped dill.

4 lobsters, weighing about 1 1/2 pounds (675 grams) each

2 tablespoons (30 mL) best-quality mayonnaise

2 scallions, cleaned and finely chopped

Salt and freshly ground pepper

4 hotdog buns

Lobster butter (recipe follows)

In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook the lobsters for 6 minutes, and then plunge them into a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking process.

Shell the lobsters and cut the flesh into large pieces. Combine the lobster with the mayonnaise and green onions. Season the mix to taste with salt and pepper. Cover and chill until ready to serve.

When serving: Butter the buns with the lobster butter, and toast them in a fry pan until golden. Divide the lobster mix among the four buns and serve immediately.

Lobster Butter
Makes 1 pound (450 grams)

Lobster butter keeps refrigerated for one month, or can be frozen for up to three.

1 pound (450 grams) unsalted butter, softened

Roe from one female lobster

In a large fry pan, melt the butter and whisk in the (roe) eggs. The butter will be red. Pour into a container and keep refrigerated until ready to use.

LobsterOnline.Com 2013