Seems ironic that on the night I launch my cooking blog, my husband and I pour ourselves some wine and order in sushi. But honestly, it was a busy and emotionally draining day for me, and ordering a sushi/sashimi platter with a spicy tuna handroll was exactly what was going to make me happy. Launching this blog was not easy. Pressing “publish” on It’s Delizious was simultaneously extremely exciting and extremely terrifying. Starting a blog opens you up to widespread judgement and criticism – two things I have never been good at handling. But I am accepting that I am going to learn as I go, and have fun while doing it! So I hit publish yesterday, and now I am pushing forward with my next Delizious recipe.
For our slightly postponed celebration, I knew there was one dish that would fit the occasion perfectly – Lobster Mac and Cheese. Confession: I love Mac and Cheese. And truthfully, who doesn’t. Any parent who says they don’t take bites of their kids Mac and Cheese during dinner is just lying. For the first 2-3 years of my son’s life, I would always make his Mac and Cheese from scratch — make the bechemel, grate the cheese, the whole shebang. It got to a point where my 3 year old was too much of a Mac and Cheese snob to eat boxed macaroni and cheese…he could actually tell the difference. Well with two kids and a much busier schedule now, I don’t get around to always making their mac and cheese from scratch and they have accepted that, but for an at-home couples date night, I pull out all the stops (and cheeses).
Spoiler alert: look away now if you get queasy when something is extra cheesy 🙂 Sorry, couldn’t help myself.
To me, the key to a great Mac and Cheese is the combination of the multiple types of cheese. In this recipe I use cheddar and Gruyere to create an amazing depth of flavor. I also have a secret ingredient you’ll see later.
Another key ingredient to this dish is the lobster…hence lobster Mac and Cheese. You can absolutely buy pre-cooked lobster tails at the store and they will work perfectly. However, it will cause you to lose out on one extra layer of flavor. When I start the dish, I bring a large pot of water to a boil and add in the lobster tails to boil for about 8 minutes. Once I remove them from the water and set them aside to cool, I then use the same water to boil the pasta. I add a healthy handful of salt and add the pasta right into the lobster water. That liquid now has all the delicious flavor that seeped out of the lobster meat and shell and will now infuse into your pasta as it cooks.
While the pasta is cooking, put together the delizious, ooey, gooey, cheese sauce. Start by heating up the milk in a small saucepan, but just until it is warm, not boiling. Meanwhile, in a large pot, melt the butter over medium heat. Once melted, whisk in the flour and cook for 2 minutes — this step is important so that you cook out the raw flour taste from the sauce. Now slowly whisk in the warm milk, constantly whisking so no lumps form. Once all the milk is added, continue to stir until the sauce begins to thicken.
An easy test to tell when the sauce is thick — take a wooden spoon, coat the back and run your finger through it. If the sauce stays separated then it is thick enough and ready for the next step.
Now the fun begins. Start adding in the cheese one handful at a time and whisk as you go. Once each handful has melted, you can add the next. Continue until you have added it all and the cheese sauce has formed. You can now add salt, pepper, and the secret ingredient — dijon mustard. Just a few teaspoons of dijon mustard adds an underlying sharpness that you won’t know is mustard as you eat it but would miss if it wasn’t there.
We are approaching the home stretch! Can you taste it?? Add in the pasta and the lobster and stir together. Pour the whole mixture into a baking dish. Sprinkle the top with the panko bread crumbs and drizzle with olive oil to help the top brown. I like to put this baking dish onto a baking sheet before I put it in the oven in case the cheese bubbles over at all. 30-45 minutes in the oven and voila!
Now I should note that in the recipe I say this serves 4 people. In my house it served the two of us with basically no leftovers, but my husband is a very good eater…always a member of the clean plate club and that is after two or three plates. So I stand by that for a more average eating couple this could be two meals, but if you have a husband who eats like mine (love you honey!) you might not want to plan on having anything left for the next night.
Lobster Mac and Cheese
Ingredients
- 1 lb cavatappi pasta
- 1.5 lb lobster tails about 2 large lobster tails
- 4 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1/3 cup flour
- 3 cups milk
- 2 cups cheddar cheese
- 1 cup gruyere cheese
- 2 tsp dijon mustard
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp pepper
- 1/4 cup panko bread crumbs
- 1 tbsp olive oil
Instructions
-
Heat oven to 375.
-
Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add the lobster tails. Cook for 8 minutes until shells are bright red and meat is cooked through. Remove from the water and set aside to cool. Once cool, remove lobster from the shell and chop into bite sized pieces.
-
Add handful of salt to the pot of boiling water and add in the pasta. Cook until al dente according to box directions.
-
Meanwhile, heat the milk in a small saucepan until warm but not boiling.
-
In another large pot, melt the butter over medium heat. Once melted, whisk in the flour and cook for 2 minutes. Slowly add in the warm milk, constantly whisking so no lumps form. Continue to stir until the sauce begins to thicken.
-
Add in the cheese one handful at a time while stirring. Once all the cheese has melted, add in the dijon mustard, salt and pepper.
-
Add the cooked pasta and chopped lobster meat to the cheese sauce and stir to combine.
-
Pour the mixture into a baking dish and sprinkle the top with the breadcrumbs. Drizzle the olive oil over the breadcrumbs to help them brown.
-
Place the dish onto a sheet pan and place in the oven for 30-40 minutes.
-
Remove when the cheese is bubbling and the top is browning. Serve and enjoy!
Hiya! Quick question that’s completely off topic.
Do you know how to make your site mobile friendly?
My weblog looks weird when browsing from my iphone. I’m trying to find
a template or plugin that might be able to correct this problem.
If you have any suggestions, please share. Thanks!
Thank you, I have recently been searching for info about this subject for ages
and yours is the greatest I’ve found out
till now. But, what about the conclusion? Are you positive concerning the source?
You’ve made some decent points there. I looked on the webfor more info about the issue and found most individuals will goalong with your views on this website.
Heya i’m for the first time here. I came across this board and I to find It truly useful & it helped me out much.
I am hoping to present something again and help others such as you aided me.
You’re so interesting! I do not think I have read anything like this before.
So good to find somebody with some unique thoughts on this
topic. Seriously.. thanks for starting this up. This site is something that is required on the internet, someone with some originality!
Write more, thats all I have to say. Literally, it seems as though you relied on the video to makeyour point. You definitely know what youre talking about, why wasteyour intelligence on just posting videos to your weblog when you could be giving us something enlightening toread?
I savour, result in I discovered just what I was taking a look for.
You’ve ended my 4 day long hunt! God Bless you man. Have a great day.
Bye
Hi there, yeah this post is genuinely good and I have learned lot
of things from it about blogging. thanks.
I’m pretty pleased to uncover this web site. I need to to thank
you for ones time for this wonderful read!! I definitely really liked every bit of it and I have you saved as a favorite to look at new stuff on your
site.
Hi there, the whole thing is going well here and ofcourse every one is sharing facts, that’s truly excellent, keepup writing.
What’s Going down i’m new to this, I stumbled upon this I’ve found It
absolutely useful and it has helped me out loads. I hope to give a contribution & assist different customers like
its helped me. Good job.
Asking questions are actually fastidious thing if you are not
understanding anything fully, however this paragraph provides pleasant understanding yet.
Excellent way of explaining, and nice piece of writing to obtain data concerning my presentation subject matter, which i am going to deliver in academy.
I seriously love your website.. Great colors & theme. Did you create this website yourself?
Please reply back as I’m planning to create my own personal blog and would love to know where you got
this from or just what the theme is called. Cheers!
Hi there, I found your blog via Google at the same timeas searching for a similar topic, your website got here up,it appears to be like great. I’ve bookmarked it in my google bookmarks.Hello there, simply turned into aware of your weblog via Google,and found that it is truly informative. I am going to be careful for brussels.I’ll be grateful if you happen to proceed this in future.Numerous other folks will probably be benefited out of your writing.Cheers!
You can certainly see your enthusiasm in the work you
write. The sector hopes for more passionate writers like you who are not afraid to mention how
they believe. Always follow your heart.
Excellent blog you have here but I was curious about if you knew of any forums that cover the same topics
talked about in this article? I’d really love to be a part of online community where
I can get feed-back from other knowledgeable individuals that share the same interest.
If you have any suggestions, please let me know. Thanks a lot!
Hello it’s me, I am also visiting this web page daily, this website is in fact pleasant and the users are in fact sharing pleasantthoughts.
I could not resist commenting. Very well written!