Grilled Curried Lobster: Summertime Goodness

One day, when we've got enough time, I'll tell you the story of the best lobster ever, an epic tale of the quest to find grilled lobster in Barbuda. But today, we don't have that kind of time. Seriously.

I will tell you, however, that the idea of grilled lobster sounds great, but the execution is often lacking. We've had it a few times in the Caribbean, and it was usually too dry and lacking in flavor. The first time I made it, I followed the advice of several cookbooks and boiled the lobster until it was almost done before placing it on the grill. And I didn't make it again for years.

This weekend, however, my sister asked me to grill some lobster. Who am I to say no to my little sister?

Grilled Curried Lobster

What You Need:

4 Lobster tails (ours were 4 ounces)

3 limes

2 1/2 tsp green curry

1 tsp ground ginger

1 jicama

1 large avocado

1 mango

1/2 cup cilantro

5 roma tomatoes

1 clove garlic

1 red boiler onion

Salt

Olive oil

1 lemon

What to do with it:

Squeeze 2 1/2 limes: you should end up with about 1/2 cup of juice

Add 1 tbsp olive oil, the ginger, 2 tsp green curry and about 1/2 tsp salt. Now you have the marinade for the lobster.

Start your charcoal.

Peel and seed the tomatoes, and chop them.

Finely chop the onion and garlic.

Add this, 1/4 cup of the marinade, 1 tsp olive oil, 1/8 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp curry and the juice from the final 1/2 lime in a sauce pan on medium heat. Cook until the tomatoes are broken down, about 15 minutes. Now you have a marinara. Set this aside to cool.

While this is cooking, cut the underside of the tail lengthwise. Now spread the shell along the cut, and spoon in about 3 tsp of your marinade.

Prepare your mango and jicama by chopping (you want all the mango, and about 1 1/2 to 2 cups jicama). Slice the avocado and rub lightly with lemon juice (this keeps the avocado from turning brown). Tear up the cilantro leaves.

Your charcoal should be ready now. Place the tails on the grill, hard side down, for 3 1/2 minutes. Flip, and cook another 3 minutes. (You may need a little more time, depending on how much your tails weigh.)

Remove the tails, and plate the jicama, mango, avocado and cilantro (in that order). Ladle some marinade down the center of this. Take a butcher knife and use it to split the tails completely in half, then place them on the plate.

Serve with a weissbier. We used Weihenstephaner Vitus (a weizenbock).

(We also tried a pinot grigio, but the marinara contrasted too much with it.)

Lambsicles and Basil Mint Pesto: baa, baa tasty sheep

The rest of world calls them lamb chops, but I just like the sound of lambsicles. Plus it accurately describes how you eat them.
I've been making these for years, but I prefer to serve them by themselves.

However some people seem to think that you can't have lamb without mint. The problem is that I'm not a fan of mint jelly, so I've been on the hunt for some sort of suitable replacement.

Not too long ago, I saw a show where they made a mint pesto sauce. Sounded pretty good, so with a few modifications we were on our way.

Lambsicles and Basil Mint Pesto

What you need:

(Lamb chops)

3-4 Lamb chops per person

1/2 tsp. ground fresh rosemary per person (more is ok)

1/8 tsp. salt per person (salt to taste, however)

1 tbsp olive oil per person

(Pesto)

2 cups chopped fresh mint (maybe chop 1/8 cup more, to add during the process in case you want a little more mint taste)
1 cup chopped fresh basil
12 roasted pecans
2 cloves garlic
3/4 cup sheeps milk feta
extra virgin olive oil
salt (I used Kosher)

What to do with it:

I highly recommend that you use a mini-prep food processor for chopping all the herbs. Otherwise, you'll be at it for a long time...

(Lamb chops)

Place the rosemary, salt and olive oil in a ziplock bag. Mix it up. Put in the lamb chops and coat them, turning the bag occasionally to keep an even marinade going. (if you're cooking a lot of chops, use a big dish, such as a roasting pan.

Once you've got the pesto made, put the lamb chops under a broiler for 4-5 minutes. You're going to cook them until they're just crispy on top, but don't go over 5 minutes. They should be a little pink.

(Pesto)

Grind up the pecans and garlic, then set aside.
Chop the herbs in batches, until you've got the required amount, then put the herbs, cheese (crumbled), nuts and garlic in the food processor. Add about 1/4 cup olive oil, a teaspoon of salt and puree.

Check the consistency and taste. Add some more olive oil and salt, and puree again. You're not going to be adding a set amount each time. Ultimately, you want enough salt for your taste, and enough olive oil to get a consistency that allows you to spread the pesto evenly.

Scallops Peruano

Almost 20 years ago, I had fresh scallops in Peru. They were served on the half shell with the roe still intact. At the time, I didn't appreciate just how good they were.

For my 40th birthday, my wife ordered me fresh scallops from a local seafood market (in Texas, you can only get scallops in the shell by special order). The picture to the left shows how they arrived (minus the wine), of course.

Now, I recall the scallops in Peru as being baked, with only parmesan cheese. But that just seemed a little naked.

So, we added a little wine and some italian parsley, then baked. We were cooking for 12, so our cooking times were a bit off (probably cooked them about 1 minute to long). Nonetheless, WOW. Super fresh, a hint of sea, and all around delicious!

Scallops Peruano

What you need:

Scallops, still in the shell

Dry white wine (sauvignon blanc works well)

Argentinian parmesan cheese (it's not as hard as parmigiano-reggiano, and melts well)

Italian parsley

What to do with it:

Wash the scallop. It will be open slightly (like a soft-shelled clam), so don't worry.

Hold the scallop with the shallow side up, and cut away the shell from the scallop. Repeat for the bottom half.

You now should have the scallop detached. There's a sheath around the scallop that holds all that excess stuff to the scallop. Cut that off, and throw away everything except the roe (orange or slightly pink, depending on the sex of your scallop). Place the scallop and the roe in the deep shell, sprinkle on a bit of parsley (very little), grind on a twist of sea salt, sprinkle on some grated parmesan, and add about 1 tbsp. wine (add it on the side of the scallop, not on top).

Bake at 450 degrees for 4-6 minutes, depending on how many you have. Err on the side of not enough time (you can always put in for another minute).

Ours came packed in seaweed, so we put that down on the plate for serving. We also served with Rombauer Chardonnay. Any "oaked" chardonnay should do, however.

Oh, and I got a new digital camera. Nice, eh?

Caribbean French Toast Casserole

We try, once a year, to charter a boat with another couple and sail around the Caribbean. Jenn and I typically do food duty.

Actually, I typically do food duty, and Jenn does drink and bikini duty. But once a trip she does cook a meal.

At the beginning of the week, we provision the boat. Invariably, we get not enough rum and too much bread.

Toward the end, the bread is getting a little stale, and we've stopped somewhere (several times) to replenish our rum supply. Unfortunately, our livers usually cry "uncle" by day five, so we've also over-bought the rum.

What to do? Make breakfast, of course.

Caribbean French Toast Casserole

What You Need

1 loaf french bread
6-8 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp cinnamon
coco lopez
1 can crushed pineapple (if you happen to have some fresh chopped pineapple that's been soaking in vanilla rum, brown sugar and ginger overnight, that's even better...)
1/2 - 1 cup gold rum (also known as "enough" rum to get the bread soaked)

What To Do With It

Cut french bread into 1 inch slices, brush with butter, and toast to golden brown
After you toast the bread, cut into 1 inch by 1 inch squares

Beat the eggs, add 1/2 can coco lopez, 1 can crushed pineapple, cinnamon and rum in a large bowl. Combine bread with liquid until bread is fully soaked. If there is not enough liquid to soak the bread (shouldn't be sitting in liquid but everything should be wet), beat some more eggs, and combine with more coco lopez, rum, and cinnamon.

Butter a rectangular glass pan.

Pour into pan, sprinkle with cinnamon. Let sit overnight. (You don't have to do this but it is better this way).

Next morning, drizzle some rum on it (notice a theme here?), put a few pats of butter around the dish and bake at 350 for 35-45 minutes.

You've just created french toast in a casserole pan, but you shouldn't need syrup with this.

A little more rum, though, never hurt anyone.

Much.