Alternate post title name: What Yvo Did With 5 Lobsters at $3.99/lb 😉
Stew Leonard’s had a sale on lobsters. $3.99/lb. I talked briefly about the distance to Stew Leonard’s and all that we bought but I thought I’d go a little more in detail with what I did exactly with my 5 lobsters. Yeah, I bought 5 lobsters, and it came to just under $25. Hello??? WIN!
Instructions on how to store a lobster and how to cook one. I followed these because last time I cooked a lobster, let’s just say… there was a lot of wasted roe (SADFACE…!) and whatnot because I was so afraid of overcooking the lobster, I kept taking it out. Boo. (And that was a lobster fresh from Maine – my brother makes a yearly pilgrimage up to Maine, and usually generously brings back a lobster or two back each for our sister and myself…)
Here are the 5 lobsters, in their glory. Yeah, one or two of them were on the small side, but dude, it’s 5 lobsters, and they were $3.99/lb each, what more do you want? (They limited this to the under 1.5 lbs lobsters, but that was alright.)
Another picture, just cuz I can.
This is the meat from all 5 lobsters – tails, claws, BODIES, which too many people seem to neglect! – minus part of a tail, a bit of body meat, and a claw that I generously “donated” (read: my bf made me give some to his mother; I’m still learning to be a better person from him, but that doesn’t mean it always works or makes me happy!).
As I mentioned, I took some of the lobster meat and mixed it into Stew Leonard’s New England Clam Chowder.
Here’s what I did with some more of the lobster – I made a quick lobster salad and scooped out a giant tomato that I received from my CSA.
Because I was hungry and impatient (sort of), these pictures suck. They were at night, and my lamp just doesn’t properly illuminate what’s what.
However, I really liked the plating job I did, so I took a lot of photos.
Also, because, while this version of lobster salad (I made another one the next day with the rest of the lobster… you’ll hear about it in a minute) was only alright, omfg that tomato… was the tomato of my dreams. The tomato of my childhood.
When I was a child, I used to eat tomatoes like apples. I would pluck one from the bowl on the table, rinse it off, then bite into it, exactly how I did an apple. There came a short period of time when I didn’t do this for a few months or years (time all blurs together a bit in childhood), for whatever reason, and then one day, around 10 or 11, I saw a tomato on the table, like old times, and picked it up. I shrugged, rinsed it off, and decided to eat it just the way I had as a younger child.
*bite*
Blegh.
WTF?
The tomato was flavorless, boring, uninteresting, not good. I grabbed a bottle of dressing from the fridge and doused the tomato in it, then happily ate it. (No, it didn’t occur to me to just sprinkle a bit of salt on it.)
This happened a few more times over the next few years, until I finally gave up on eating tomatoes like apples, out of hand, fresh. My mother once asked me why I’d stopped, and I told her the tomatoes didn’t taste the same anymore. We both thought it was my tastebuds changing – which happens frequently, you know, I stopped eating chicken for a good portion of time in the early adolescent years.
But cutting into that tomato above – stuffed with lobster salad as it was – I took a bite of tomato and immediately, without any thought or provocation on my part, my face shot into a huge grin. I ate a bit more, just to double check it wasn’t a fluke.
It wasn’t.
Bursting with sweetness – not sugary sweet, mind you, just that wonderful sweetness that only super fresh, super ripe, super awesome produce has – I was almost in tears as I ate the tomato. Yes, the lobster salad was good with the tomato. But the tomato alone… the tomato alone transported me back to that little girl sitting in the living room after school, watching cartoons, a tomato in one hand, biting it like an apple as seeds splurted out and dribbled down her chin and hand, and mom rushing over to hand her napkins so she didn’t get seeds everywhere.
That was this tomato. Both wonderful, lush, and bringing back happy memories of a time when the most important thing on my mind was “Why isn’t Tiny Toon Adventures on today?” (Answer: the President was speaking.) It was just simply amazing.
I will probably re-post this as part of a separate post titled “And THAT’S why I’m renewing my CSA” but for now, you get the sneak preview. Lush produce.
And here’s the recipe for the re-tooling of lobster salad I did the next day. BTW – I wasn’t going to post a recipe for lobster salad at all, because I figure everyone who eats or makes this has their own version, right? And what new could I really bring to the table? Until I formed this in my head, made it, and then tasted it and realized, holyfartballs, this is THE ULTIMATE. WORLD’S BEST. LOBSTER SALAD.
I’m discovering a real knack for making world’s best items… I may just turn that into a series 😉
ULTIMATE Lobster Salad
2-3 lobsters, picked through for meat (tails, claws kept intact, BODIES, and TOMALLEY/ROE reserved – yes, you need these, trust me, I know the green goopy stuff and the red hard stuff isn’t for everyone, but it takes the dish to a whole new level; if you don’t want to use it, you don’t have to, but it won’t be ultimate, is all)
Lobster meat, chopped into chunks (except the claws)
corn cut from the cob (boiled/steamed briefly beforehand)
minced shallots
juice of one lemon
chives, chopped
a little bit of mayo
In a big bowl, take all the tomalley and roe and blend with the mayo, using a fork. Press down on the bits of roe so that it really gets incorporated. Add minced shallots, lemon juice, and diced chives. Stir altogether to incorporate. Add corn, tossing slightly.
Add the lobster meat, tossing lightly to coat with everything.
Serve with a claw or two placed on top. I like the tomato idea, you can just put it in bowls lined with lettuce, or you can just stand there eating it straight from the bowl, it’s that good.
My father used to serve lobster salad in the empty tail shell, but to do so, after the lobster had cooked but before we picked through the meat, he would take the tail and chop it in half longways, reserving the shell, into which he’d pile lobster salad (which was not the same recipe as above).
There are a ton of ways to dress this up pretty for serving, use your imagination 🙂
Happy eating!!!
ailin says
love the way these lobsters look!!! cant beat 3.99 a pound. but nothing like lobsters fresh from maine
Lizz says
3.99/lb is awesome for lobster!! and I love ths shot of the salad in the tomato. Funny, I never liked tomatoes .. actually I hated them and never bothered to give them another try. When I joined CSA, I was amazed at how delicious, crisp and sweet their tomatoes were.. all of a sudden I was in love with them. (Though I still don’t prefer tomatoes in my sandwiches)
Anthony the WOP says
Looks yummy… may try the same thing with an avocado! 🙂
I also like making lobster pasta and seafood bisque.
Hungry says
Oh man, I dream of tomatoes like that! All supermarket kinds are tasteless. Also, my friend terrorizes me with talks to good tomatoes in Spain. Ah, to have a really good tomato. Jealous!
Allison says
I love the usage of the term “Holy Fartballs”. Let’s see those guys at Saveur do that!