It's Hot Out - Let's Have Soup!

In between my freshman and sophomore years at college, one of my roommates invited some of us to go sailing in Casco Bay here in Maine.  Another roommate and I traveled up and we spent the next few days motoring around the bay in a sailboat under cloudy cold skies.  I should also say that both my roommate and I were intensely sea sick for that time as well.

Don’t get me wrong it was beautiful, but I was at that time unaccustomed to the fact that Maine can be 55° at midday during the summer.  It also was not very windy, which meant the “sailing” portion of our trip turned into using the diesel engine on the boat to slowly maneuver us around island (this engine was referred to as the ‘diesel donkey’).  Thus the seasickness I had was not of the “chumming for large sport fish” variety but a dull and constant nausea. 

Angry Lobster!

There were of course some wonderful experiences; stopping on an island and shell hunting, sleeping all together on the tiny galley table that pushed down to become a bed, and lastly stopping at a restaurant on the final day for some lobster bisque.  The lobster bisque was very tasty although I could only manage to swallow a few sips, again due to that lingering seasickness. 

Now, as I understand it lobster stew/bisque/chowder has basically 4 ingredients; broth, cream, butter, lobster.  And although this combination is very delicious, it is not the lightest meal to consume.  If the stew sits any longer than 30 seconds, the layer of butter separates to the top making a lovely orange shimmer along the surface of the bowl or pot. 

Since this summer has been decidedly un-Maine-like where it has actually been warm to hot even, the idea of consuming a large bowl of cream and butter didn’t sound that appetizing.  But, lobster prices are incredibly low right now, and Joe and I try to reserve tucking into whole steamed lobsters for when we have company, which lead me to thinking about lobster bisque.  So how should one go about making a lighter version of the traditional bisque? By adding vegetables of course! So the next time you feel like making soup during this incredibly hot summer, may I suggest a lovely Lobster Corn Chowder.

Lobster Corn Chowder
This recipe is really an amalgamation of recipes, but it is most closely related to the Williams Sonoma Lobster Corn Chowder

I had a bag of frozen lobster stock ready to go for this dish, but if you don’t I recommend using the one in the above recipe link.

2 1-1/4 pound lobsters
3 slices of bacon, diced
1 medium onion, diced
2 medium carrots, diced
1/4 c. white wine
4 cups lobster stock
1 lb. potatoes, diced (red skinned or fingerling)
3 ears fresh corn, shucked
2/3 c. heavy cream
3 scallions, sliced
10 cherry tomatoes, quartered (optional)
Fresh chives, chopped
Hot sauce, optional

In a large pot place 2 inches of water, heavily salted. Place the lobsters in, cover and steam for about 7 minutes, or until the lobsters are bright red.  Remove lobsters from pot and set aside to cool.

Next, cut the corn off of the cob, and reserve both the cobs and the kernels.

In a large stock pot over medium-high heat, sauté bacon to render the fat, add diced onion and continue to cook for another 5 minutes.  Add diced carrots and cook another 5 minutes.  Next add the white wine, and scrap off any brown bits on the bottom of the pan, simmer until the wine is mostly evaporated.  Add the lobster stock and corn cobs, bring to a boil.  Next add the potatoes, and the white part of the scallions, and cook for about 10 minutes.  Add the heavy cream, bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.  Toss in corn kernels.  Continue cooking for another 10 minutes. 

Pull lobster meat from lobsters – knuckle and claw meat can be left intact, but chop tail meat into bite sized pieces.  Add lobster meat to the chowder.

Just before serving add in the remaining scallion greens.  Ladle into bowls and add chives and tomato quarters.  A dash or three of hot sauce in each bowl is a great addition right before eating – it will enhance the creaminess!

Paella with Panache

Remember how I told you about the lobster stock last week?  Well, get ready cause we’re gonna use it here. 

But a side note, this is not animal friendly.  I murdered two lobsters and plan on showing you the gory details.  I even took video of the lobster still twitching and flailing a full five minutes after I split him in half and scooped out his brains with my fingers. 

At any rate, this recipe is wonderful.  And because there are only a few weeks left that we can successfully grill outside without freezing, I recommend trying this now.  I’ll let all these pictures tell the story and entice you to try this.

Aanother aside, if you tell your boyfriend’s parents that they’ll have lobster paella when they visit, but they are unable to bring their paella pan, you may just get one for your birthday.  Just sayin.

Grilled Lobster Paella

From Bon Appetít July 2011

1/3 c. olive oil

¾ lb. fresh chorizo, cut into chunks
1 large leek, diced
1 Tbs. smoked paprika
2 cups short grain rice (like calasparra, bomba, or abrorrio)
¼ tsp. saffron
5-6 cups lobster stock (closer to 5, but use your discretion here)
2 live lobsters, split in half  and claws cracked (do this just before cooking them)
1 ½ cups peas (thawed if frozen)
Salt to taste
¼ c parsley, chopped
2 lemons, cut in segments for each person

Prepare the grill, and if necessary start other charcoal to add in.  Place a 16” paella pan on the grill, add oil, chorizo and leeks.  Cook, stirring until chorizo is browned and the leeks are softened about 3 or 4 minutes.  Add smoked paprika and rice, coating everything in oil, about 2 minutes. 

Add saffron and 5 cups of lobster stock (you can add the 6^th if the rice seems two hard). Stir just at first to evenly distribute everything, then leave it alone.  To ensure even cooking, rotate the pan around thee grill so that each part gets time closer to the heat.  After about 10 minutes, add the lobsters shell side down. 

At this point you can add more coals, but if the heat is fine, close the lid and cook another 10 minutes. Once the lobsters are just red and the meat is opaque, scatter the peas over everything and cook another 5 to 10 minutes so that the rice is cooked and looks dry.  Remove pan from grill, cover and let rest for 5 minutes.  Sprinkle with parsley and serve with lemon segments.  Serves 4 with leftovers.

Stocking Up

Who said it could be September already? I mean seriously, I have not had enough time getting sun burnt or sweating at night or getting bitten by mosquitos. All of the things I normally gripe about have been very infrequent this summer, or at least it seems that way to me now.

I told Joe this morning that I was not ready for spiced apple desserts or soups or roasts or any other fall type food. I want my tomatoes and eggplants and green beans darnit! I’m holding on to summer recipes and summer foods for as long as I can. I’ll be out grilling in the first snowfall I imagine.

Normally, I kind of like the release of summer into early fall. You can smell it. Maybe that’s why, it’s been raining for the past few days and I haven’t smelled autumn yet. I keep asking myself (well my tummy really) ‘do we want apple cider? How does butternut squash sound to you?’ and in response I get nothing, no gurgle of appreciation or rumble of desire. Nothing. This means I will continue to disregard the calendar and outside temperatures and keep cooking summer favorites.

You may be wondering, what does she have for me today. The answer is nothing. I’m sorry. I’ve been so busy with guests and hurricanes and work that I have not got something to share with you. I have been cooking up a storm, but they have all been trusty favorites, or brand new recipes I don’t feel comfortable sharing just yet. Well, that’s not entirely true. I made some lobster stock that I plan on using this weekend. I’ll share that with you. Since this is basically how I make chicken stock, I know it well enough to share.

Remember how I told you last week that we tend to eat lobsters when we have guests? My parents came this past weekend, and to make eating lobsters not as terrifying to my mother, Joe and I dispatched and dismembered them prior to dinner. But I had lots of lobster shells available for making stock – which is perfect because I will need lobster stock for next week’s recipe. I don’t want to give it away, but I will give you the lobster stock. It was really very simple and smells wonderful while cooking.


Quick Lobster Stock
I did not add any salt to this as we cooked the lobsters in VERY salted water, but taste and adjust as needed.

4 empty lobster shells – meat removed (we saved all the little bits as well as the heads, this turned into quite a bit of shell)
1 medium onion, cut into a large dice
3 medium carrots, peeled and cut into large chunks
3 stalks celery, cut into large chunks
3 sprigs of thyme
3-4 large prigs of parsley (stem and leaves)
1 bay leaf
12 peppercorns
Water to cover

Combine lobster shells vegetables and spices in a large pot over medium heat. Begin cooking to soften the vegetables, then add water to just barely cover everything. Bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally.

Skim off any foam that accumulates on the surface and discard. Simmer for about one hour, until the stock is fragrant and yellowish/green in color.

Place cheese cloth into a colander and the colander into a large bowl (or other pot). Strain the stock through the cloth and colander. Discard the shells and veggies. Stir the strained stock to cool it quickly. Once it has stopped steaming, pour into re-sealable bags or plastic containers and freeze until ready to use. Make about 12 cups.

A Proper Lobster Bake

It has taken me a long time to write about cooking lobsters. I’ve been waiting for the perfect moment.

There have been quite a few; cooking lobsters at home while a friend visiting from China was with us, borrowing a lobster pot in Rockport Mass from a waitress’ dad, who told us ‘His name is Jim, you’ll know him when you see him’, Driving lobsters down to Philadelphia or driving lobsters to upstate New York, well, you get the picture. We cook a lot of lobsters for guests, as that is what everyone expects from people who reside in Maine. And Joe and I are happy to oblige.

But this time, this time was different. And it was blog-worthy.

The recipe itself is not difficult – get lobsters, steam them, serve with butter and lemon and other things, cover yourself with lobster juice, enjoy. But what really separates this from the other lobster feasts is the combo of when, where, and how that set it apart.

 The best way to steam lobsters is in ocean water.  I’ve tried plain water, seasoned water and wine; but the best lobsters were always cooked in boiling seawater.  This does ruin the inside of a pot, so be warned.  Sometimes you can find little pouches of “Sea Salt” for adding to tap water if you are in a store buying lobsters.  But if you happen to be near the ocean, by all means use some of that instead.   

So let me tell you a bit about the pictures that you see here.  A friend of mine from NJ came up to visit and we went camping in Acadia National Park.  He requested that we have a proper lobster bake.  I considered using driftwood, seaweed, stones and tarps to do this but wasn’t sure all those pieces would come together in protected wildlife areas.  So we opted for literally the next best thing.  A lobster bake over a campfire.   

 Yup, cliffs were scaled to retrieve aforementioned ocean water, a fire built and stoked and tended to boil that water.  Local potatoes, corn and butter were accompaniments and steamer clams and lobsters the main show.  A word of the wise for you though, boiling a large pot of water over an open fire takes a long time, so plan accordingly.  Thankfully we had brought good bread, cheese, tomatoes and plenty of wine to hold us over for dinner.   

 That is not to say the dinner didn’t have its share of challenges.  Besides sending my friend over a cliff in search of water to potentially his death, or the fact that washing a butter covered pot with cold water in another pot that is equally coated in food particles at your campsite could potentially lead to some interestingly flavored coffee the next morning, the meal was very good.  Oh yeah and cleaning the steamers prior to cooking was not something we were able to do, so they were a bit crunchy.  But other than that I would do this again in a moment, and if you are fortunate to have lobsters, ocean water and an open flame you should give it a try as well.   

Getting Things Started

So, I set up this blog a few weeks ago, and hadn’t been able to take the plunge until now. I’ve been cooking, don’t get me wrong. But each time I think to myself ‘Oh this is a good recipe, maybe I should try this one’ it turns out all wrong, or I run out of time, or the pictures don’t come out. Which reminds me, let me apologize for the pictures that will be on this blog. I am not very adept at using my camera and I still need to purchase a tripod. So if the pictures are slightly blurry, please know that I tried.


Anyways, my idea for this is to share with you recipes that I try, adapt and eat which seem worthy. And believe me there are a lot out there that are not worth sharing. I am pretty hard on myself when it comes to cooking, especially if I want other people to try it. And Joe (you’ll hear more about him as this progresses) is always very complimentary about the food I make. As long as it isn’t peppers stuffed with vegetables.

So in lieu of that, I came across a recipe from an issue of Gourmet last year - Baked Penne with Farmhouse Cheddar and Leeks. And I must tell you that I am sucker for macaroni and cheese. All kinds. Powdery fake cheese like substance, rich and creamy homemade stuff, dry and old sitting at the bottom of a restaurant pan, anything. It’s almost shameful how I lust for mac and cheese. So when I came across this - I figured, farmhouse cheddar cheese? yes. leeks? yes. penne? yes. This recipe also calls for “hot pepper sauce”. Which may seem a little strange at first -but trust me (yes you hardly know me, but I won’t steer you wrong). I once had a scallop chowder at a restaurant on Catalina Island and the waiter recommended that I add a few dashes of hot sauce to round out the flavor. Now this was by no means a fabulous restaurant, so I didn’t expect much, but when I did… wow! So the addition of hot sauce won’t be too much here, just enough to…wow!

The real reason I finally tried this recipe was because lobsters were on sale this week at the grocery store and I had a coupon. Now, I am not rubbing anything in here, but I live in Maine. So when the opportunity comes along to buy a lobster with a dollar off coupon - it’s hard to pass up. The only problem was, my coupon was only for ONE lobster. And it would be cruel to steam one lobster for one person while the other gets sprayed with errant lobster juice. So I decided to add my discount lobster to the pasta dish. If all those chefs can do it - then why can’t we? And what better way to kick this thing off then with some fancy schmancy mac n’ cheese.

Baked Penne with Farmhouse Cheddar, Leeks and Lobster!
(Or Fancy Schmancy Mac n’ Cheese)
as adapted from Gourmet March 2009

This recipe calls for 5 cups of leeks. Well, leeks weren’t on sale this week, so I used about 3 cups, and the recipe still tasted great, but 5 cups would have made it more complex - so I recommend 5 if you can get them. Try to get good extra sharp cheddar, but any extra sharp will do. As for the hot sauce, if you have a favorite brand, use it. If not try Sriracha, since it’s all the rage now.

1/4 cup butter
5 cups chopped leeks (white and pale green parts only; about 5 large)
1/4 cup all purpose flour
3 1/2 cups whole milk, warmed to room temperature
1 pound extra-sharp cheddar cheese, coarsely grated (about 4 cups packed)
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 pound penne pasta
1 (1-1 ½ pound) lobster (or more if you have more coupons)

First put about 1” of water into the bottom of a large pot, and place on medium-high heat. You can add flavorings to this water if you want, but since it’s for a lobster that will be coated in cheese, I say don’t bother. Once the water is boiling, place the lobster in the pot and cover. Steam the lobster for about 6-7 minutes, or until it turns bright red. It doesn’t need to be completely cooked through, but the shell should still be red.

Once the lobster is done, remove it from the pot and let rest until cool enough to handle. Don’t worry about keeping the lobster chunks pretty, they will be cut up anyway. I like to pull off the claws first, and then attack the tail. But do it any way it’s easiest for you. Once the lobster has been picked, set the meat aside.

Lightly butter 15x10x2-inch baking dish. Melt 1/4 cup butter in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add leeks; stir to coat. Cover saucepan and cook until leeks are tender, stirring occasionally, about 12 minutes (do not brown). Uncover saucepan; add flour. Stir 2 minutes. Add the milk; bring to simmer, stirring often. If the milk starts to boil, remove it from the heat, and turn down your burner - you don’t want it to be too hot or your sauce will break. Add cheese, mustard, and pepper sauce. Stir until cheese melts. Remove from heat. Season cheese sauce to taste with salt.

Whisk eggs in medium bowl. Slowly whisk in 1 cup cheese sauce, to warm the eggs to sauce temperature. Stir egg mixture into cheese sauce in saucepan.

Meanwhile, cook pasta in large pot of boiling salted water until just tender but still firm to bite, stirring occasionally. Drain. Return to pot.

Stir cheese sauce and lobster into pasta in pot. Transfer to prepared baking dish.

Preheat oven to 400°F. Bake pasta until cheese sauce is bubbling around edges and some ends of pasta are golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes.

Let stand 15 minutes. Serve hot.

I find that leftovers of this are best served cold from the refrigerator. Most cheese/egg sauces don’t enjoy being in the microwave. But re-warming it in the oven should be ok.