When one works from home (like I do), one can (and will get distracted) by many things: the knock on the door from the courier with another cookbook, responding to emails from readers of my blog, reading and commenting on a delicious, interesting or informative blog post or something (a rare instance) to make me stop and watch a TV program. The mention of lobster and macaroni and cheese will cause said stoppage in time.

One of the local morning shows here is called Cityline, it’s been on for years (with many hostesses) and although the show is geared towards women, there are some nuggets thrown in here and there that would even make the alpha-male stop to look at this show. What aspects of this girly show attract me? There’s Fashion Fridays where models enter the studio wearing the latest in clothing and being simply beautiful creatures on this earth. It’s always a pleasure to watch beautiful women.

The other reason I watch this show is for the food and entertaining segments. Once a week a trio of local chefs cook three different dishes together. Imagine that….three huge egos sharing a counter-top, gas burners and getting along! On other days, Cityline will also bring in outside talent to share a recipe with the audience. Toronto (and the surrounding area) is loaded with an array of restaurants and eateries that range from comfort to Continental and Italian to Indian.

This recipe for lobster macaroni and cheese comes from Randy Feltis, co-owner and chef at Oscars, located a couple of hours north of Toronto in Barrie. Ski season is coming up and the many resorts around the Barrie area will soon be filled with skiers, snowboarders and some posers who just like the apres-ski. Why not go check out Oscar’s and have dinner there?

After trying this lobster macaroni and cheese, you just might head up to Oscars. I’m a big fan of simple dishes that taste waaay more complex that the ingredients list reads. The sauce contains shallots (or red onions), garlic, old cheddar cheese, grated Parmesan, butter, heavy cream, wine and delicious fresh basil.

I’ve pretty much stuck to Randy’s recipe, only adding sweet paprika into the mix and harvesting the liquid that streams out of the cooked lobster when one pulls the meat out. The liquid equals big flavour and it belongs in the sauce. I like pulling apart my lobster (and harvesting the meat) my placing a cutting board inside a roasting pan. This allows me to save the liquid and allows for a quick clean-up.

Anyway you look at this dish, it’s a rich recipe both in ingredients and in calories, fat, etc. You live once and I think everyone should at least have a lobster macaroni & cheese in their lifetime, right? Go with the butter, go with the cream, open a nice Chardonnay to drink and use in the recipe, by a live lobster from your fish monger and go on a diet tomorrow. Today it’s lobster.

If you insist upon slimming this recipe down, you may use olive oil instead of butter, milk instead of cream. If using milk, add a couple of heaping tablespoons of flour into some oil in your pot, stir for a minute and slowly add warm milk while whisking. This will thicken your sauce (along with the grated cheeses) and like I’ve done, reduced the amount of cream in the recipe without sacrificing the creamy goodness.

Another tip is make your bread crumbs*. Resist the temptation to use the stuff from the supermarket that resembles sawdust more than crumbs. Sounds like a small thing but it’s the little things in cooking that will give you the edge. As for cooking the lobster, I tried Randy’s suggestion to steam the lobster and the results were excellent – succulent, tender lobster cooked to perfection. Eight minutes, baby!

Go out and buy a good white cheddar cheese (no orange stuff), Parmesan (Grano Padano  is also good) and some fresh basil. Your pasta of choice is up to you – just make sure it’s hollow so the sauce can get in there too! This is a simple dish but once you slip a forkful in your mouth, you’ll be in awe of the remarkable flavour. Choose good ingredients – they will always reward you with an outstanding result.

Lobster Macaroni & Cheese

adapted from Randy Feltis

(serves 4)

2- 1 1/2lb. live lobsters

2 1/2 cups of elbow macaroni

1 stick of unsalted butter

2 heaping Tbsp. of flour

1 small red onion, finely diced

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1 tsp. sweet paprika

1/3 cup white wine (chardonnay)

2 cups of whole milk (warm)

1 cup of whipping cream

1 cup grated white cheddar cheese

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

fresh ground pepper and sea salt to taste

1/2 cup chopped fresh basil

1/2 cup homemade breadcrumbs

1. I steamed my lobster. Place the lobster in the freezer for 2o minutes before steaming (or boiling). Place a large skillet (or double boiler) on your stove-top with water and bring to a boil. Place the lobster in the steamer, cover and steam for 8 minutes. Place in an ice-cold water bath to cool.
2. To clean the lobster, place a chopping board in a roasting pan and first tear off the tail. Cut open the bottom of the tail shell and pull out the meat. Slightly cut open the top part of the tail meat and remove the vein (intestine) and discard. Cut the tail into thick slices. Now twist off the claws and knuckles off the lobster and using the back of a knife, crack the claw on the larger part of the claw. Bend the cracked shell to reveal the meat and carefully pull the meat out. Crack the knuckles and pull the meat out (use a fork if need be). You can also harvest the meat from the legs…placea rolling pin over the legs and the meat will squeeze out. Reserve the lobster meat in a bowl, pour the liquid in the pan through a strainer and reserve.
3. Place a large pot of water on your stove-top and bring to a boil. Add a good amount of salt and add pasta and cool for 8 minutes. In the meantime, add your butter to a large pot over medium heat. Once the butter had melted, add the onions, garlic an paprika and stir. Saute for 5 minutes or until softened. Now add the flour and stir for a minute. Add the reserved lobster liquid (plus the roe if your lobster was a hen) and stir in, then add the white wine and stir in. Now add your milk in increments while stirring and turn the heat up to medium-high. Add the cream while stirring and continue to stir until the sauce has thickened enough to just coat a wooden spoon. Add your grated cheeses and stir in until melted. Adjust seasoning with fresh ground pepper (and salt if needed).
4. Once your pasta is cooked, strain and add into your sauce along with the lobster meat and chopped fresh basil. Gently toss with a slotted spoon or spatula and divide and plate. Sprinkle breadcrumbs over each serving and offer some more fresh ground pepper. Serve with a Biblia Hora Chardonnay.

*To make your own bread crumbs, take some day old bread and remove the crust and place in your food processor and pulse until you achieve your desired crumb. Toss with a bit of olive oil, some salt and pepper and place on a baking sheet. Place in a pre-heated 250F oven for 30-40 minutes then turn the oven off and allow the bread crumbs to cool. Store in a zip-lock or container.

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© 2007-2010 Peter Minakis