The Ultimate Lobster Mac & Cheese

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Because this has been such a weird year I decided to get a little fancy for one of the two holiday dinners that I was serving. I try very hard to accommodate everyone’s schedule, so we celebrated “Festivus” on the 23rd. There were just three of us, but we had a lovely time, and the food was delicious. I had baked a ham, made Cheese Peta, and a casserole of Lobster Mac & Cheese. Trust me when I tell you that this is the most money and time that I have ever spent on a casserole, but it was well worth it. It took a good bit of honing to get everything just right, so please do not skimp on ingredients or alter any of them, and please use the cavatappi. My daughter-in-law (whose grandmother is Sicilian) and I agree that it is an underutilized pasta, and we aim to change that. If you’re looking to celebrate a special event, or just treat you and your sweetie, give this a try. It can be baked up in a casserole or spooned into individual ramekins. It also freezes beautifully; when you want to bake it up, put it into the oven cold and bake for 45-55 minutes until hot and bubbly. Delish!

  The Ultimate Lobster Mac & Cheese

8 c. water
2 8-oz. lobster tails in the shell
8 oz. cavatappi
3 T. butter
3 T. flour
2 c. whole milk
1 ½ c. heavy whipping cream
1 T. lobster base

6 oz. Gruyere cheese, grated

6 oz. white cheddar, grated
1 - 2 t. salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Few gratings whole nutmeg
3-4 T. dry sherry

 

Topping:
1 c. Panko breadcrumbs
2 strips bacon fried and finely chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
½ c. freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 T. butter, melted

Preheat oven to 375° F.

Combine topping ingredients in a medium mixing bowl; set aside.

Bring water to a boil in a medium stockpot, add lobster, and boil 5-6 minutes until the shell is pink and the meat is cooked through. Remove lobster with tongs; reserve water. Return lobster water to a boil and cook pasta until al dente, 6 to 8 minutes; drain.

Combine milk and heavy cream in a medium saucepan. Heat until simmering, but not boiling. Whisk in lobster base.

In the same pot that you used to cook the lobster and pasta, melt butter and then whisk in flour. Cook over low heat for 2 minutes, whisking constantly. Continue to whisk as you add the hot milk/cream mixture and cook for a minute or two more until thickened.

Remove from heat and add the cheeses, 1 teaspoon of salt, pepper, a few gratings of nutmeg, if desired, and sherry. Add cooked cavatappi and lobster meat, and stir well. Place the mixture into a 2-quart casserole dish and scatter topping to cover. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until the sauce is bubbly and the topping is browned.

 

 

Brandied Mushroom Steak Tarts

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My plan for dinner this evening was to make an olive tart. Over the Christmas holidays I purchased the most beautiful jar of mixed olives that I was saving for a special recipe. The olive tart, spotted in a recent issue of Sweet Paul magazine, seemed to be it. There was only one problem; I couldn’t get the jar of olives open. Generally, I’m pretty good at getting jars open, but not this one.

So, I took it outside (it was a lovely day for taking a jar of olives for a walk), and started going around the neighborhood seeing if any of the big, strong men could help me. Nope. Not a one. I had to go to CVS and the library, so I put the jar of olives in my car and took them with me. A slight, but wiry-looking pharmacist greeted me at the drive-up, so I handed the jar of olives to him. He couldn’t get it open either. Then I went to the drive-up window at the library, fully expecting a woman, but no, a big, burly guy greeted me. So, I handed him the olives. I thought he was going to pop a vein, but he couldn’t get the jar open either.

  An olive tart without olives wouldn’t quite be the same, so I went in an entirely different direction, cooked a steak, made a delicious mushroom sauce, and ended up with these easy and elegant steak tarts. Super delicious, easy to prepare despite what appear to be lengthy and complicated instructions, and certainly company worthy.

Brandied Mushroom Steak Tarts

Serves 2

2 (8 oz.) filet mignon steaks (1-1½" thick)

Freshly ground black pepper

1 T. unsalted butter

1 T. olive oil

1 sheet puff pastry, thawed

1 slice lean bacon

1 medium clove garlic, finely minced

1 T. unsalted butter

6-8 large button mushrooms, sliced

Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

2 T. Brandy*

2 T. water

2 t. freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 t. Worcestershire sauce

½ t. Better Than Bouillon Beef Base

½ c. heavy cream

1 T. fresh parsley, finely minced

Preheat oven to 400° F. Cut one sheet of puff pastry in 2 6” x 5” pieces. Score ½” from the edge around the perimeter; do not cut through the pastry. Slide pastry onto a parchment-lined baking sheet, and bake for 12-15 minutes until puffed and golden. Remove from oven and cool 10 minutes. With the back of a spoon, depress center of puff pastry, inside the score lines, to make a well for the steak.

While pastry is baking, press ground pepper into both sides of each of the fillets. Place butter and olive oil into an oven safe 9-inch sauté pan, melt over medium high heat until hot but not smoking. Carefully place fillets into hot pan and sear for 1-1/2 to 2 minutes on each side. Remove from heat and place immediately into the oven to bake for 8 minutes.

Remove steak from oven and place on a plate. Allow to rest for 10 minutes before slicing into thin slices. This will yield a medium steak. Bake a couple minutes longer for a steak more well done.

In the same pan in which you cooked the steaks, cook bacon until crispy.  Remove bacon, crumble, and set aside.

Add butter and garlic to skillet with drippings.  Sauté for one minute, stirring constantly to prevent the garlic from burning.

Add mushrooms and pepper, and simmer until mushroom liquid begins to evaporate.  Add brandy to deglaze pan, and continue simmering until almost evaporated.  Stir in water, lemon juice, Worcestershire, and soup base, and boil until thickened slightly.  Pour in cream and stir to blend.  Add reserved bacon and parsley.

Place slices of steak on top of prepared puff pastry and spoon mushroom sauce overall. Garnish with additional chopped parsley, if desired.

*If you don’t have brandy, use red wine. If you don't have wine, use strong, black coffee.

Oven Chicken Kiev

It was only on the most special of occasions that my mother made Chicken Kiev. When she did, it took her the entire day, so she would make a lot of them. Generally, she would make them for a fancy dinner that she and my dad would serve to their friends. Because she knew I loved it so much, she would make three extras to serve us for dinner the day before. Dad and I never minded having the same thing two nights in a row when it was something we loved. 

She would de-bone her own chicken breasts (back then it wasn’t all that easy to find chicken breasts without bones), flatten them, fill them with parsley, scallions, and butter, roll them up as tightly as she could, and then roll them in a crumb coating. Then, of course, they had to be deep-fried. I remember that I always got the job of doing dishes, and I hated cleaning that deep fryer. As much as I loved it when she would drag it out because I knew that something good was to be had, I hated emptying that oil (that I usually poured all over the counter and had a devil of a time getting up), and then trying to scrub that thing clean while keeping the plug end out of the hot soapy water.

So, when this recipe fell into mother‘s lap, the deep fryer was put away for good. No, this oven version is not as good as the deep-fried version, but it goes together quickly, is tasty and satisfying, and is company worthy, and it’s tough to beat all of that. Because you all seemed to enjoy my Chicken Piccata recipe so much, I thought I would share this one with you as well. It’s a keeper!

(As I always tell you, and it is so important here, marinate your chicken in buttermilk overnight for the juiciest most succulent results.)

Oven Chicken Kiev

(My momma’s recipe)

2 whole, boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2/3 cup butter
3/4 cup Italian breadcrumbs
2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/4 cup dry white wine
1/4 cup chopped scallions
1/4 cup minced parsley

4 pats of butter

Preheat oven to 375° F. Spray a baking dish with Pam; set aside.

Butterfly and halve chicken breasts (you learned how to do that here). Melt butter in a metal or glass pie pan. In another metal or glass pie pan combine breadcrumbs, cheese, basil, oregano, garlic salt, onion powder, salt, and pepper. Dredge each chicken breast half, first in butter, then in the crumb mixture, coating well. Place chicken breasts into prepared baking dish. Bake, uncovered, for 50 to 60 minutes until juices run clear.

While chicken is baking, stir together wine, scallions, and parsley. During the last 10 minutes of baking, pour this mixture on top of the chicken, top each with a pat of butter, and return it to the oven.

PRINT RECIPE

Another easy, company-worthy chicken dish is this Asparagus and Mushroom-Stuffed Chicken. So good, and makes such a beautiful presentation.

 

This post is linked to:

Happiness is Homemade Sunday

What’s for Dinner Sunday

Dishing It & Digging It

Cooking & Crafting with J&J

Amaze Me Monday

Busy Mondays

Over the Moon

Celebrate Your Story

Wonderful Wednesday

O My Heartsie Girls Wonderful Wednesday
Full Plate Thursday

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