use real butter

Recipe: grilled lobster

Remember the surf we had for Thanksgiving dinner yesterday?

it stirs the memories and some salivation

Tonight we continued the debauchery with a little bit o’ turf. I wanted to serve it with potatoes and sweet potatoes. I think it was a very good idea to postpone the beef until tonight otherwise I may have wound up in food coma or worse.

nice and standard tenderloin

The other motive for postponing turf until tonight was so I could enjoy the appropriate wine with the dish. I don’t like compromising a wine between foods as disparate as lobster and beef. I’m not a wine expert, I just really enjoy good wine with good food. What we decided to open was a gift from our dear friend, Fumito. He gave it to us about five years ago – a bottle of 1997 Château Angélus Saint-Emilion Grand Cru Classé. When we moved from Southern California to Colorado, we drove in the 108F temperatures of the Utah summer wondering if our most beloved bottles of wine would make the trip packed in the backseat under a stack of dog towels.

special to us

It made it. It was fantastic. Given some time to breathe, it opened up nicely taking the edge off the oak. Earthy, dark fruit, and big. After dinner we had a little more along with some lovely Belgian dark chocolate. They seemed to compete in my mouth and then the flavors of the chocolate were drawn out, the taste of hazelnut, the taste of vanilla… Very nice.

So to revisit our friend, the lobster. Steaming the lobster would have been fine, but because we were steaming crab, I wanted a little variety. My dad gave me an excellent recipe over the phone and it was simple enough that I didn’t need to write anything down. I purchased two of the smallest lobster tails I could find and in total they weighed 1.25 lbs which I felt was still on the large side. It is generally acknowledged in my family that large lobsters are not as sweet and not as tender as their smaller counterparts. When my parents order lobster in a Chinese restaurant, it is customary for the server to present my parents with the live lobster in a bucket for approval. My dad will often send it back if he feels it is too large… then he’ll turn to me and say, “Do you know why Daddy sent that lobster back? It’s too big. It tastes like yechhhh. You want to order a small lobster, no more than a pound and half at most – pound is preferable. Are you listening to me, kid?” Oh the wisdom that falls to the feet of disinterested youth.

split the lobster, slap on the ingredients, and grill

My dad didn’t mention to use scissors to cut the shell open down the backs. I used a cleaver and well… I’ll use scissors next time. After cutting the shell, I cut the flesh down the middle to about halfway. Removing the digestive tract was a new experience (I’d never done this before and it’s waaay bigger than the one in those cute little shrimp). Dad said to sprinkle salt, pepper, olive oil, garlic, and parsley over the tails and then rub the seasonings evenly over the lobster flesh. I set the tails on aluminum foil and poured some good white wine over the lobster a small pat of butter on top of each tail. I wrapped the foil around the tails into a large loose pouch, sealed shut, and grilled on high for 6-8 minutes (8 minutes for larger tails). Great meal.

very little effort for the bang

Grilled Lobster
[print recipe]
from my dad

2 lobster tails about 1/2 lb. each
2 cloves garlic, sliced
1 tbsp parsley, chopped
salt
pepper
2 tbsps olive oil
2 tbsps white wine
1/2 tbsp butter, in two pieces

Use scissors to cut the shells of the lobster tails down the back. With a knife, cut the lobster meat about halfway down, but not all the way through. Sprinkle salt, pepper, garlic, parsley, and olive oil over the tails. Rub the seasonings into the meat. Set the tails on a large sheet of aluminum foil. Pour wine over the tails and set a pat of butter on top of each tail in the trench of the meat. Wrap the foil around the tails into a tent-like pouch, sealing the openings shut. Grill on high heat for 6-8 minutes depending on the size. Serve immediately.

November 23rd, 2007: 9:24 pm
filed under dinner, family, grill, holidays, meat, recipes, savory, seafood, wine