Lobster & Corn Chowder

As I mentioned earlier, I used my leftover lobster meat for chowder (my favorite food to make with lobster heads and smaller claws).

From lobster chowder

But since this time I had 3 leftover whole lobsters (that is, after I made my lobster roll for lunch the next day), I had a total of almost 2 lbs meat, and the chowder I came up with was enough for supper, and even for breakfast (I myself brought a bowl to work that night).
I got the idea and tweaked some from the recipe at epicurious. The tweaking depended on what I had on hand, as usual.

Ingredients:
2 lbs leftover lobster meat (previously boiled)
8 slices of smoked pork fat back, pan fried until crispy (I used this in place of bacon)
2 medium potatoes, diced
2 medium carrots, diced (smaller than potatoes)
1 large onion, chopped
1 cup celery stalks, sliced into 1/8 inches
4 cups frozen and thawed sweet corn kernels (I had mine from my garden; feel free to use canned)
6 cups lobster broth (prepared day before))
1-1/2 cups heavy cream
6 tbsp sour cream
2 tbsp butter

Procedure:


Prepare lobster meat. Set aside in the fridge.

Purée 2 cups corn with 1 1/2 cups broth in processor until almost smooth.

Pan fry on medium heat the thin fat back slices (or bacon) until crisp. Place on paper towel to drain excess oil, crumble and set aside. Leave about 3 tbsp of oil drippings in the pan.

Cook partially the diced potatoes and corn. Doing this helps them retain their shape and prevents making them too starchy/pasty. Set aside.

Pour off and discard all but 3 tablespoons drippings from pot. Add onions to pot; sauté until light golden, about 5 minutes. Add potatoes, carrots, and celery; sauté until vegetables soften slightly, about 2 minutes. Add broth; simmer 10 minutes. Stir in corn puré, corn kernels and heavy cream; simmer 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Remove soup from heat; stir in sour cream.

Melt butter in medium nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add lobster meat and sauté just until heated through, about 2 minutes. Ladle soup into bowls. Garnish each serving with lobster pieces, crispy fat back (or bacon bits) and serve.

Lobster Rolls

Last Sunday night we ate the lobsters with my favorite tender rolls, pandelimon. While traditionally, lobster rolls use the typical hotdog buns, I used leftovers of both lobsters and pandelimon to make myself some "lobster rolls" for lunch the next day. Pictured here are two of them (I already ate the first one).

How to:

Slice horizontally and place your rolls in oven toaster at 350 F for about 3-5 minutes. Meanwhile, cut the lobster meat into bite-size pieces, sprinkle with some (real) lemon juice (probably 1/2 tsp), add a dash of salt and pepper (I used Kosher salt and freshly milled pepper). One whole lobster can make 4 of these (or two using hotdog rolls). I was only able to eat 3 as I was stuffed! I saved the remaining lobster filling for later when my sons came home. The first one to see it got to eat it, who happened to be my older son. He loved it! He said, "Now I know how lobster rolls are made!" I did not really know the exact recipe for that, and I just went ahead with my insticts, but it made me try to search for recipes, and what I saw were the same ingredients. I should learn to trust my instincts...

Lobster Dinner

I have posted sometime in the past that our family traditionally has lobster dinner at Boothbay Harbor during summer. Well, we usually do that once a year, since the trip is quite a long one. However, last week, one of my neighbors asked me if I wanted to order some, as her oldest son was going to catch some lobsters. He would set the traps Wednesday and haul them Sunday. He would be back around noontime. At $5 apiece, one lobster weighed around 1.5 lbs. That was super cheap!!! We were scheduled to go leaf peeping (quite late) that day, but I ordered some for me (15 pieces) and asked my friend Ana and my SIL. We ordered a total of 37, and got them as soon as we were back home. I invited my MIL and FIL to have supper with us that night.

From lobster dinner

My in-laws were delighted, of course! Except for my hubby (who never liked lobsters) and daughter (allergic to most seafoods), we were all heartily stuffed that night with this rare (and often expensive) treat. My husband and daughter ate Italian sandwiches. We had melted butter (for FIL and MIL), mayonnaise (MIL), and a mixture of lemon, butter, salt and pepper (for my sons and I). My sons ate these with rice. The rest of us ate pandelimon rolls as starch source. I prepared the leftovers as lobster roll and lobster and corn chowder (upcoming posts).

Things I learned while we were waiting for the lobsters to cook:
1. Never cook a dead lobster. It could make you wicked sick and may even be fatal. Cook only those that are still alive. Chuck the dead ones.
2. Do not eat the greenish part of the lobster. That is the liver and is loaded with mercury.
3. Better to cook them all at once than freeze to cook later.
4. Have water boil first before putting in the lobsters. Once water re-boils, time cooking for 20 minutes.

Lobster Soup

It's lobster time again!

I brought home some leftover "bodies" of lobsters (which I would think were heads instead of bodies, but that's how they referred to it, or did I hear them right?).

We recently had my hubby's fave aunt/uncle and their daughter/son and families, who came over for the funeral of their oldest relative, Great Grandma Gower who died at age 100 despite her love for sweets and deep fried goodies, plus her daredevil driving.

Since Maine is qutie popular for its lobsters, the visitors naturally wanted a dinner with lobsters.

I took home four "bodies" and patiently gathered shreds of meat, along with their eggs (which Filipinos really love! My sons did not, though). Then, I boiled the shells with garlic, bay leaf, peppercorn and salt for about 2 hours to have stock. I strained this.

Next, i boiled the lobster shreds (about 2 cups along with the eggs) in the stock, made a water-cornstarch mixture for thickening, then beat an egg to be added a la egg drop soup. I adjusted the taste with salt and pepper.

My sons loved this! Younger son, who is more fussy than older son, said,"Ma, these eggs taste good in soup!"

I ate mine with saltine crackers.

Hubby never liked lobsters, though. He would always settle for the scallops instead.