Waste Not, Want Not, Lobster Cooks

Each July 3rd our grocery store sells Atlantic lobster for us locals to celebrate with on July 4th. The lobsters fly off the ice, are bagged up, still wriggling. We take them home, ready to create meals. This year we bought three and with them we made lobster rolls, breakfast burritos and lobster bisque. Our goal is trying not to waste any of it.

From fleshy tails, monstrous claws, and red roe, every morsel found its place in our trio of lobster meals. We even kept the shells, simmering them gently for a half hour. This to create a stock to use in the lobster bisque the next day. Even the tiniest fragments of shell were swept into the stock pot. Come join us for this curious and tasty journey with lobster.

NOTE: The lobster roll filling served as the delicious basis for all three dishes shown below. Three, one-pound lobsters yielded one pound of cooked lobster.

Try some of FFA’s other, delicious summer recipes!

Breakfast Burritos

Serves: 2; Preparation time: 10 minutes

The next morning, we whipped up quick and delicious twist on our favorite shrimp breakfast burrito. The recipe is based on the one from Don Gilberto’s Restaurant, in Montrose, Colo. The sweet, delicate flavor of lobster is sautéed with onion, cheddar cheese and eggs and rolled into a burrito. This simple dish, made for the morning after the lobster roll day, uses the leftover lobster as its ingredients. This makes enough for two small burritos.

Ingredients for Breakfast Burritos

• 1/3 cup cooked lobster meat leftover from making lobster rolls the day before
• 1 tablespoon ghee or clarified butter
• 1/4 onion, finely diced
• 1/2 cup shredded cheese (cheddar or Monterey Jack)
• 4 large eggs
• Pinch salt
• Pepper to taste
• 2  large flour tortillas
• A sprig of fresh cilantro and tomato or green salsa for serving

Instructions

1. Heat ghee or clarified butter in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and sauté until beginning to brown, about 5 minutes. Stir in lobster, mix and heat until just warmed through. Remove from heat and keep warm.
2. Warm tortillas in a microwave wrapped in moistened paper towel until pliable, about 15 seconds on high.
3. Break the eggs into a basin and mix with salt and pepper.
4. Wipe out hot skillet and add a bit more ghee if necessary. Quickly cook the eggs, lifting the sides to run the liquid eggs at the edge. Once firm, flip to finish cooking then place the shredded cheese and lobster mixture along the center line of the eggs. Cover and reduce heat to low and cook until cheese is melted.
5. To assemble each burrito: place warmed tortilla on the plates and place eggs inside burritos, rolling up, and tucking in the sides as you go, setting them seam-side down on the plate. Top with salsa and a sprig of cilantro. Serve immediately.

Stock and Bisque

And the next afternoon we made the lobster stock for lobster bisque, a luxurious, velvety soup that transforms lobster shells and a bit of meat into an elegant dish. The secret lies in building layers of flavor in the lobster stock. If you’re not ready to make the bisque the same day, you can freeze the stock for 6 months and use when you’re ready.

Ingredients for Lobster Stock

• Lobster shells from 3 lobsters
• 3 tablespoons ghee or clarified butter
• Roughly chop: ½ large onion, 1 large carrot and 1 stalk of celery
• 3 small cloves garlic, minced
• 2 bay leaves
• 4 sprigs fresh thyme leaves
• 5 whole peppercorns

Instructions for Lobster Stock

1. In a large pot, melt butter over medium heat. Add onion, carrot, celery, and garlic; cook until softened, about 6-8 minutes. Add the lobster shells and simmer for a half an hour. At this point, you can cool the stock and freeze it until you are ready to make your lobster bisque. 

Lobster Bisque – Worth the Work

Serves: 6; Preparation time: 35 minutes

This lobster bisque recipe is well worth the work and the wait. Thee smooth, delicious soup is good enough to serve to company. This recipe serves six.

Ingredients for Lobster Bisque

• 2 tablespoons ghee or clarified butter
• Roughly chop a ½ onion, ½ a carrot and ½ a stalk of celery
• 1 small garlic clove, minced
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• ½ cup white wine
• 1/3 cup plain white rice
• 6 cups lobster stock
• 1 teaspoon tarragon
• Splash of cognac (optional)
• 1 tsp. Better Than Boullion Chicken Broth
• ½ cup half and half or cream
• Handful of lobster (whatever you have left!)
• Salt and white pepper to taste

Instructions for Lobster Bisque

1. In a medium-sized soup pot, melt butter over medium heat. Add onion, carrot, celery, and cook until softened, about 6-8 minutes. 
2. Add the garlic, cook and stir for 1 minute. Add tomato paste, stir for 2 minutes. Deglaze the pan with the white wine.
3. Add the rice, and stir until coated. Pour in the stock, tarragon and half the lobster. Let cook uncovered for 20 minutes, or until rice is tender.  

Blend carefully, filling your blender only 2/3 full maximum and fitting the top snugly on before blending until smooth. Return blended soup to soup pot and add the cream, blend in bouillon and a splash of cognac. Serve hot, garnished with chunks of lightly warmed lobster.