Lobster Rolls and Sliced Baked Potatoes

 Every September to October  we go down to Disney for their food and wine festival at Epcot. They have all of these fun kiosks of food from different countries and places. At America, they have the best lobster roll ever! They put the juicy lobster on a warmed buttered bun and it just melts in your mouth! That is my dad's absolute favorite food there, so for his birthday I thought I would make him some lobster rolls! In my new Food Network magazine, there was a recipe for two types of lobster rolls: the Maine style and the Connecticut style.

I planned on making both since each only made 4 rolls, but when we go to the store, we had a rude awakening. I did not realize how expensive lobster had become! It was about $40 a POUND! After I calculated how much lobster was needed for both recipes it came to a total of 6 lbs! So let's do the math... 6lbs of lobster at $40 a lb equals $240!!! Obviously I was not going to pay that for these rolls, so i decided to only do one type of roll  I talked with the lady to get some ideas  She suggested I take some crab meat and mix in the crab meat with the lobster.  So I bought about 1 lb of crab meat that was already cooked and decided to add that to the lobster mix.

The lobster tails that I used were not cooked and so you have to cook the meat. So I boiled a pot of water with a little salt and threw the tails in. I let them cook until they were bright red which was about 5 minutes. In order to cut the meat out I turned the tail with the back side down on a cutting board.  Then spread the tail out and take a knife and cut down the middle. Yes there will be cracking noises but no worries! Then I simply just pulled the meat out and cut it up. It was that simple!

Like I said in my last post, make a recipe yours in whatever way you can! Our family likes onions so I also added about half of an onion chopped to the mix. I think that it added a nice touch to it.  Another thing that I had trouble finding the top sliced buns. I chose to use the baby slider buns instead and they worked perfectly!

As a side to the lobster rolls, I made a sliced oven baked potato. To do this, I thinly sliced a potato and rubbed olive oil on top. Then I brushed some melted butter and sprinkled with salt and pepper. I baked them in the oven at 425 degrees for about an hour. My suggestion is to wrap each in foil and bake them directly on the rack. When I did ours, they were still a little undercooked, so I think wrapping them in foil would help!!

This lobster crab roll was a quick and easy recipe that would be perfect for any occasion! Enjoy y'all!

-Kym's Kitchen



Lobster Roll (Maine-Style, With Mayo)
(From foodnetwork.com)
* Indicates a personal change in the recipe 


3 lobster tails* 
1/3-1/2 cup mayo
1/2 cup celery, chopped*
1/2 of onion, chopped*
sea salt to taste

Directions:

1.  Fill a large steamer or pot with about 2 inches of water. Add 1 tablespoon sea salt and bring to a boil over medium heat. Put the lobster tails (about 1 lb of meat) in the steamer basket or directly in the pot; cover and steam until the shells turn bright red, 5 to 10 minutes.
2.  Remove the lobsters and rinse under cold water until slightly cool. Remove the meat from the shells and roughly chop; chill the meat.
3.  Mix  mayonnaise, celery, and the zest and juice of  lemon in a bowl. Stir in the chilled lobster meat and season with salt.
4. Divide among 4 split-top hot dog buns and top with celery leaves.


Sliced Baked Potato
(from:  http://www.seasaltwithfood.com/2009/05/hasselback-potatoes.html)

Ingredients

6 Medium Size Potatoes
2 - 3 Cloves Garlic, thinly sliced
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
30 g Butter
Maldon Sea Salt
Freshly Ground Black Pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 220˚C (425˚F). Put the potato on a chopping board, flat side down. Start from one end of the potato, cut almost all the way through, at about 3 to 4 mm intervals.

2. Arrange the potatoes in a baking tray and insert the garlic in between the slits. Scatter some butter on top of each potato. Then drizzle the olive oil and sprinkle some sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.

3. Bake the potatoes for about 40 minutes or until the potatoes turn crispy and the flesh is soft.




**If you want to try the Connecticut style lobster roll, here is the recipe:

Lobster Roll (Connecticut-Style; Butter)
(From: foodnetwork.com)


Fill a large steamer or pot with about 2 inches of water. Add 1 tablespoon sea salt and bring to a boil over medium heat. Put 2 lobsters (about 1 1/2 pounds each) in the steamer basket or directly in the pot; cover and steam until the shells turn bright red, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove the lobsters and rinse under cold water until slightly cool. Remove the meat from the shells and roughly chop. Melt 1 stick unsalted butter in a saucepan with the juice of 1 lemon and 1/3 teaspoon paprika. Remove from the heat; stir in the lobster meat and season with salt. Divide among 4 split-top hot dog buns. Serve warm.