Broiled Lobster Tails With Oil Lemon Sauce

With winter finally giving way to warmer weather – that means we can enjoy the outdoors more and that means cooking and entertaining outside as well. Ladies and gentlemen, start your grills – it’s time to cook some lobster tails.

Many grocery stores and fish mongers sell these frozen tails and they are very easy to work him. You simply defrost them overnight in your fridge and grill or broil them in your oven or on your grill.

I love the presentation of these tails, with the meat popped out of the shells, plump and juicy and just begging you with cries of “EAT ME, EAT ME”. All you need is kitchen scissors and you can prepare as I have shown here.

I could use melted butter (the obvious) but quality extra-virgin olive oil, mixed with herbs, lemon juice, a bit of Dijon, garlic and seasoning can be just as flavourful as butter. Us Greeks, we call this base sauce “Ladolemono” (oil lemon sauce) and it complements fish, seafood (and grilled meat) very well. Play around with the herbs, depending on what your protein is and what is fresh and in season in your part of the world.

Broiled Lobster Tails With Oil Lemon Sauce

(serves 4)

4 lobster tails

extra-virgin olive oil

sea salt and fresh ground pepper

1 tsp. sweet paprika

Oil Lemon Sauce

1 clove of garlic, minced

1 tsp. Dijon mustard

juice of 1/2 lemon

1 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley

1 Tbsp. chopped fresh fennel fronds or tarragon

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

1. Pre-heat your grill (or broiler) to high. For the gas or charcoal grill, have one side with all the heat so you’re cooking with indirect heat.
2. Take your kitchen scissors and cut the top of the shell (lenghthwise) to the tail. Slightly pull apart the shells and push up the tail meat from underneath to expose the meat from within the shell.
3. Place the lobster tails on a baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil, season with salt, pepper and paprika and let stand for 10 minutes.
4. Place in your pre-heated grill (on the side with no heat) and close lid or oven and broil for 5-10 minutes or until lobster meat is opaque (shells should turn red).
5. Carefully remove from the heat and transfer to a platter or plates. Add all the sauce ingredients into a jar, seal and shake. Taste, adjust seasoning and spoon over your lobster tails. Serve with a Gerovassiliou Malagouzia.