OMG There’s a Lobster Loose!

Growing up, we used to be able to choose the dinner the family would have on our birthday. With six kids in our family, we ate a lot of lobster! The standard dish was boiled lobster with drawn butter – something we continue to enjoy today with our children. Our daughter and I continue the birthday (and sometimes more often!) lobster tradition, but after a while you can yearn for something more than just plain boiled lobster.

The problem is, lobsters come home alive. And if they don’t get loose (see Woody Allen’s Annie Hall for details), one way or another you have to ‘dispatch’ the lobster before cooking or eating [‘dispatch’ is a euphemism used in cookbooks for kill]. It’s easiest to toss the live lobster in a pot of boiling water, but if you want to bake the lobster, you’ll have to take matters into your own hands; and I can only urge you to learn the correct way to ‘dispatch’ a lobster – for everybody’s sake.

If you can handle it, baking a lobster with butter, or stuffed with, say a crabmeat stuffing, is well worth the extra work.

Either way – for goodness sake, save the shells. You can make an outstanding bisque with them, doubling the fun for all the money you spent on the lobster. Even if you don’t have any lobster meat left, just add a few shrimp into the recipe and you’re all set.


Lobster Baked with Capers, Leeks, Lemons and Limes
2 chick (1½ -2 lb) lobsters
2 leeks, (mostly white –some green stalk), cleaned, drained and diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
¼ tsp red pepper flakes
2 tsp capers
2 Tbsp fresh parsley, minced
½ cup chicken stock or clam broth
½ cup white wine
4 oz whipped butter
2 lemons
1 lime

The hard part: Dispatch (kill…) the lobsters in a humane fashion with a sharp knife quickly inserted in the back of the head to sever the spine instantaneously – if you are unfamiliar with this technique it is worth reading up on it in cookbooks, or the web – please do; I don’t do it justice here and it is not for the faint of heart… Slice the lobsters in half, and clean out the tamale, gravel sac and intestinal vein (or shmooze with your fish monger to do this for you!). Place lobsters halves in a large oiled roasting pan, alternating head and tail.

The fun part: Preheat oven to 400F. In a large skillet, sauté the leeks in a bit of olive oil over medium heat for about 10 minutes until the leeks begin to brown. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes and continue cooking another few minutes until very fragrant. Add the capers and parsley and stir to combine. Spoon leek mixture evenly on top of lobsters. Juice the lemons and the limes, discard the seeds, and pour the juices over the lobsters. Cut the lemon and lime rinds up into ½ to ¾-inch pieces. Toss over lobsters. Salt and pepper to taste.

Meanwhile prepare the sauce by simmering the broth and the wine. Whisk in the butter. Whipped butter holds an emulsion much better than regular butter and makes a really nice smooth sauce. Pour over the lobsters evenly. Bake for about 25-30 minutes. Serve lobsters over linguine for a fine presentation.


Rich Lobster Bisque
Shells from 3 to 4 cooked lobsters, broken up
Shells from ½ lb. shrimp

3 Tbsp olive oil
3 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp tomato paste
1 onion, quartered, skin included
2 carrots, peeled and coarsely
2 stalks celery, coarsely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
¼ cup cream sherry
meat from one lobster
½ lb shelled shrimp cut into ½-inch pieces

For stock – sear shells, onion, carrot and celery in a bit of olive oil in a large pot for about 15 minutes. Add 6-8 cups water just to cover shells and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 45 minutes. Strain through a soup sieve.

Whisk together the cream sherry and the tomato paste. Tip stock into a soup pot and add cream sherry, and tomato paste along with the lobster meat and shrimp. Simmer just enough to cook shrimp through, about 3-5 minutes.