the original plan for the IOU was to get a small mountain of snow crab legs, and to sit around eating them with beer (for me, as he does not like alcohol of any kind) and much laughter shared between the two of us.
however, we are in the middle of lobsterfest in Montreal, so... when in
i was "professing" in the wilds of New England during the Bush (the second) recession, when the local lobster catchers were selling their goods for rock-bottom prices, and i offered them as much support as i could afford. this gave me the chance to try out different preparations, and i arrived at this one as my favorite treatment for a lobster.
get a couple live lobsters. you can tell them a story while you gather ingredients for the next step, but make it a short one, as it only takes a few minutes.
preheat the oven to 450 , and make sure it is completely pre-heated, because you want it to be super-hot when the lobsters go in.
while that is happening, grab some butter, white wine (or beer), a lemon (or two, depending on the size), a shallot (finely chopped), four or five cloves of garlic (crushed), salt, black pepper, smoked paprika, and a few sprigs of fresh parsley (finely chopped) from your balcony garden. okay... that last part is optional. use whatever fresh herbs you have on hand (i have used thyme, cilantro, or chives in the past... or no fresh herbs at all).
melt half a stick of butter in the microwave (or in a small saucepan), and add about half a cup of the wine to that, along with the juice of the lemon and the remaining ingredients. this may require a brief re-heating if the wine is cold. you end up with a mixture that looks like this. set that aside for a minute.
now, split the lobsters in half, beginning with a quick, sharp cut right between the eyes to dispatch them quickly, then continuing down to the tail. place them cut-side-up on a foil-lined baking dish.
note the claws were also cracked with the back of the knife to allow a bit of the butter mixture to trickle in.
give the butter mixture a stir, and spoon about half of it over the cut surfaces of the lobsters, and try to trickle a bit of it into the cracks on the claw.
place the baking tray into the oven, and do not open the door for about ten minutes, as you want it to stay incredibly hot around those lobsters.
i used that time to make a quick salad of mini cucumbers, orange peppers, Vidalia onions, and a pinch of fresh cilantro. the cilantro was also from my balcony garden. i tossed this with a light vinaigrette, and put it in the fridge until we were ready to eat.
at this point, give the butter sauce another deep stir, and spoon the rest of it over the lobsters. switch the oven to "broil" (or, place them directly under the broiler if that is how your oven works).
allow the lobsters to broil until charred specks begin to emerge. it should look something like this.
i melted an additional bit of butter, and mixed that with the pan drippings for a sauce that makes the customary accompaniment of clarified butter look absolutely pedestrian by comparison.
now, just serve the lobsters up along with the sauce, salad, and a beverage of your choice. he had a large glass of home-brewed iced tea, and... not gonna lie... i had the rest of that bottle of wine. it is a celebration, remember.
we love seafood of all kinds around here. however, he is not quite as patient as i am when it comes to those particular meals that require sitting around, picking tiny bits of meat from the nooks and crannies of lobsters, crabs, and the like, but he indulges me every once in a while.
mostly, we try to squeeze in some fish regularly, or we go for the occasional light meal of mussels.
we had that particular pan of mussels with a salad that included a block of feta cheese that had been lurking at the back of our fridge for many months. that stuff has a seriously impressive shelf-life. i took step-by-step photos of the salad-making process, but i will save that for another day... or not. it is a salad. you get the general idea.
the mussels and feta salad were supposed to be the focus, of today's post. but, Croatia won, and that needed celebrating. how do you say "yummy" in hrvatski?
him: since you get to cash in an IOU, can i cash one in too?
me: sure. what is it.
him: you promised to watch "Cat-Women of the Moon" with me.
me: i promised that like ten minutes ago.
him: i know, but i want to watch it now.
me: okay.
so we did, and a good time was had by all.
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