Lobster is one of those dishes we seldom have at home, unless you live in an area of the country where lobster is available and as plentiful as chicken at the supermarket. Before 2005, I may have had lobster a total of 6 or 7 times. In 2006 -2008 we probably had lobster two dozen times or more. What changed? Availability, price and I learned how to make it at home. The reason for all that changing has more to do with our lifestyle and location changing, than anything else. It’s a bit of a story, but there are so many great memories wrapped up in the years 2000 to 2009. When I started this blog, I said I wanted to also share stories and explain why some of my dishes are special to me. I hope you enjoy the stories, if not as much as the recipes, at least enough to make it worth your time to read them. Maybe they will trigger a memory of yours and so inspire you to some creative cooking.

Suzanne and I lived on a sailboat for those 9 years. We decided to make plans so that I could retire early, in 2005, and go cruising on our full-time live aboard sailboat, “Carolina”. We purchased Carolina in 1999, took delivery in 2000 and moved from Havre de Grace, MD to the Inner Harbor of Baltimore. It was a wonderful experience, filled with many, many friends and memories.

One memory, in particular, was the evening we made fresh Maine Lobster onboard Carolina for six of us. Some friends and marina neighbors had them shipped to us as a surprise. It was the first time I ever knew you could ship live lobster that way and the first time I would fix them at home. We all had a blast and of course, the lobster was incredible. I wouldn’t call what the lobster had, a blast though! Preparation was a bit of a challenge, given the size and limits of a small galley/kitchen. But we managed and were able to pull off one of the many memorable meals on Carolina. We lived aboard Carolina longer than any house we have ever owned!

The full-time live-aboard boating community is really unique. Everyone agrees that it is an “equalizer”. It doesn’t matter your background, profession, social status, race, creed or religion. Everyone depends on everyone. You become truly self-sufficient and dependent on one another in many ways, turning to each other for help, assistance, and advice. We all had shared experiences to which we could relate. We all found things to make life aboard a boat easier and fun. We all traveled to many of the same places, or recommended places to those who have not been there. We ALL end up sticking our hands into things and learning about on-board systems that we wish we didn’t have to deal with. No one is above any of it, so it doesn’t matter what your social or economic status might be. It sure as hell does matter if you know how to fix a toilet, unstop a plugged water intake or replace an engine water pump. Mechanics, Doctors, Lawyers, Teachers, Nurses, Corporate Executives, Truck Drivers, Farmers are all at the same level when you’re up to your elbows in “whatever”, and it happens to EVERYONE!

The next time we had lobster was in the Bahamas. In 2005, as planned, I retired and we began our cruising life on Carolina. Like hundreds of others, we headed south in October of that year, finally making our crossing to the Bahamas in December. I was so looking forward to all of the things I knew we would experience. One, in particular, was to “free dive” for fish and lobster. I had all the gear I needed and was totally prepared. In the Bahamas, it is illegal to wear scuba gear or use a speargun when hunting fish or lobster. You can only use a Hawaiian sling (like a large sling shot) and snorkel (holding your breath while you dive). It took some practice and lots of failures, but I finally got my first lobster in January, 2006.

We had caught up with some friends of ours, from Harbor View Marina in Baltimore, and Dave taught me where to look for lobster. I had envisioned them walking across the sandy bottom or across coral formations, just waiting for me to come shoot them with a spear. Didn’t quite work that way. Once I learned where to look, I caught lobster almost every time I went out hunting. It was an amazing feeling to take lobster and fish out of the ocean and feed ourselves from what I caught. The day I got LOBZILLA, was the first time Dave took me out. We had been hunting for a couple of hours and Dave already had one. He was going back for a second, in a place he was pretty sure he had seen another. I was frustrated, having had so many failures already, but thought, what the hell, I’ll try one more spot that I had snorkeled over. It was about 20 feet down, a formation of brain coral, surrounded by white sand. There was an opening at the bottom of the brain coral, with a slight mound of sand on the outside, as if something had dug it out and made its way under the brain coral. I hyper ventilated, took a deep breath and dropped slowly to the bottom, right over the coral formation. I had to lay down on the sandy bottom to peer inside the hole. As I looked in, sure enough, for the first time, I saw the eyes of a lobster starring back at me. In the darkness, it’s the one thing you can see on a lobster. I bounced back to the surface, got another breath and dropped back down, this time with my Hawaiian sling at the ready. As I hit the bottom I made sure my spear was lined up and I fired at the two eyes glaring from inside the darkness. The spear left my sling and the next thing I could hear was the impact of the barbed tip crashing into and through the hard shell. Suddenly, ALL HELL broke loose! Dave had told me never to use the spear to pull a lobster out of its hole. If you do, there’s a good possibility you’ll lose your catch. The trick is to reach inside the hole and grab the lobster by its back. Once you have a good hold, pull it out with your hand. So, reaching into the darkness, still holding the other end of my spear, I found him and wrapped my hand around the back of the beast. Holy cow, what a ruckus! At that moment, two things occurred to me. Damn, this is a big lobster, or my hands have shrunk. Secondly, Oh crap, I need to breath, this guy does not. As Lobzilla thrashed his strong tail repeatedly I did manage to get him out, and immediately bounced to the surface for air. Swimming on the surface and breathing through a snorkel tube, with my first lobster held tightly against my chest, I finally made it to the dingy. Carefully, I eased my catch, with the spear still though it, into the dingy. I was so excited! I pulled myself up and into the dingy. Ripping my mask and snorkel off I reached over and took hold of my catch. This was my first, but I was thinking, this guy seems to be pretty big. After removing the spear I put soon to be named Lobzilla inside the huge cooler I had for any fish or lobster I might catch. His antennae were sticking out one side. I was stowing the spear when Dave arrived back at the dingy. He pulled himself aboard and took off his mask and snorkel. He did have his second lobster for the day! Leaning over to open the cooler and drop in his second catch, he said, “Gawd Damn, I’ve never even seen one this big, and this is your first catch! Good job!” Wow, did that ever feel good. Getting that kind of praise from Dave was inspiring and awesome. I couldn’t wait to get back to Carolina and show Suzanne. She met us at the stern of the boat as we pulled up in the dingy. Pictures were taken. I beat my sub primal chest. Grunted, “Me Tarzan, you Jane.” Suzanne just rolled her eyes and murmured, “Yeah whatever….I’m not cleaning’ that thing” and walked back to the cockpit of the boat. LOBZILLA was delicious and only the beginning of a great lobster hunting season our first year out. It was an awesome experience.

Our winter in the Bahamas gave me a chance to sharpen my hunting skills and got me into the best physical condition I had been in for many years. I caught fish and lobster every time I went hunting and we made great use of our vacuum sealing system and a freezer that really worked. Most boats have terrible refrigeration and freezers. I had completely replaced the factory system before we left Baltimore and ours worked great. We could even make ice and keep ice cream on our boat! Even as we were frequently eating fish and lobster we still managed to bring back about two dozen frozen lobster tails when we returned to the US.

There was such a beautiful bounty of fish and lobster. We found many ways to prepare it and enjoy it and the recipe here will be an entire dinner with some of the Bahamian twists we learned there.

Sharing these experiences and memories with many of our friends has been great fun over the years. Sharing the dishes we learned to cook and the recipes we acquired has been even more special. Food is an integral part of our shared experiences. Delighting in the flavors and textures, the colors and aromas, the company and friendship create memories that last a lifetime. Sometimes, even beyond the life of a friendship. Even when that happens, it doesn’t diminish the memories and the feelings they may evoke.

Lobzilla Dinner Menu

Bacon Wrapped scallops – Frascati, a fresh, crisp white Italian wine

Beer Steamed whole lobster – Chardonnay from Shug Vineyards and a Sauvignon Blanc

Chicago Style grilled ribeye – Stayed with the whites

Bahamian Style Mac ‘n Cheese

Lemon Delight squares

Prep Time: 1 – 2 hours – Cook time: 1 hour

To make this dinner manageable for the chef and fun for everyone, make your dishes in this order so the easiest is left for last. Let me state, right here at the beginning. Insert the following instruction throughout any of these steps as often and where ever you like. It’s essential to the joy of cooking!

“Pour yourself a glass of wine and take a sip! Hug someone you love! Continue…..

1 Lemon Delight Squares

Ingredients

Pecan Crust

1C – Flour

1/2C – Ground or finely chopped pecans

1/4C – Butter, melted

Lemon Square Layers

2 1/2C – Cool Whip, thawed

2pkgs – Lemon Instant Jello Pudding

8oz – Cream cheese

1-2T – Lemon juice, fresh squeezed if you have it

3C – Milk

1C – Sugar, powdered or icing (same thing)

1/4C – Finely chopped, toasted pecans

Making The Magic

Crust

Preheat oven to 350°.

Combine the flour, the finely ground pecans and melted butter. Blend these together until you have a crumbly mixture. Add a little butter if it seems to dry. It should be slightly pasty.

Spread mixture evenly into a 9×13 baking dish.

Bake in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes. Remove and let cool completely. While it’s cooling…..

Lemon Layers

Cream Cheese

With an electric mixer, blend the cream cheese, slowly adding all of the powdered sugar. Blend until smooth and creamy. Continuing to blend, slowly add at least 1T of fresh lemon juice

Gently fold in 1C of Cool Whip

Gently spread evenly over the cooled pecan crust. Have a knife or another spatula ready to scrape the layer off the spatula you’re using to spread the cream cheese layer. The crust may want to pull up, so be gentle.

Lemon Pudding

Whisk together the pudding packets and the milk. The directions on the packets will call for 4C milk. Ignore that and use 3C. Add at least 1T of fresh lemon juice for additional tartness. Continue to whisk until the pudding has thickened.

Spread evenly over the Cream Cheese layer.

Topping Layer

Spread the remainder of the Cool Whip over the Lemon Pudding. Sprinkle 1/4C toasted, finely chopped pecans over the Top Layer.

Refrigerate for several hours. I made mine the night before and stored it covered in the fridge until desert was served the next evening.

2. Bacon Wrapped Scallops

Okay. I’m busted here. I have to admit that this is a “cheater recipe”. We LOVE the Bacon Wrapped Scallops you get prepackaged and frozen at Target! Yes, I did say Target. I figure, with all the other things I’m doing, using this as an appetizer is just fine, and guess what, your dinner guest will LOVE them too!

Here’s the instructions: Buy them at Target. Open the box. Cook as directed. OMG, they are so GOOOOOOOOD!

Drink wine and serve these before the Mac ‘N Cheese goes in the oven.

3. Bahamian Mac ‘n Cheese

Ingredients

1 pkg – Macaroni, elbow, 16oz

2 – Country Ham slices, can also use bacon or sausage, fully cooked

2 – 3T – Butter

2 cans – Evaporated milk, 12oz

6C – Cheddar cheese, grated, use sharp medium or mild, or 2C of each, or whatever is your preference

2T – Onions, yellow, finely chopped or minced, add more if you like onions

2T – Sweet Pepper, finely chopped use red or yellow and I add up to 1/4 cup, always depends on my mood

1 – Pepper, Habanero, seeded, deveined and finely chopped. I sometimes wear a face mask to keep the vapors of the pepper out of my nose. This pepper is very hot and will burn your skin and eyes if you’re not careful. This much pepper will not add a lot of heat to the dish because of what we’ll be doing with it in the recipe.

3 – Eggs, large, beaten

1t – Paprika, sweet, smoked paprika will give this a nice change.

Salt

Pepper

Making The Magic

Fill a large pot, 6 to 8 Qt, approximately half full of water and add salt. Turn the burner on high and bring the water to boil. Once boiling, add your macaroni elbows, reduce heat to medium high, and cook the recommended time for al dente, minus 3 minutes. The macaroni will finish cooking while you bake this dish in the oven.

While the macaroni is cooking, coat the inside of your 9×13 baking dish with butter. Preheat your oven to 400°.

Also, mince the onion, bell pepper and habanero pepper. Finely chop the country ham. This is a very salty ham and is sort of an American prosciutto, just a little thicker and not so subtle a flavor.

Sauté the ingredients in olive oil and butter. 5 to 7 minutes should do nicely.

While sautéing the mixture, heat the evaporated milk in a sauce pan, slowly. Do not bring it to a boil.

When the macaroni is finished, minus 3 minutes, drain the water and return the macaroni to the pot. Stir in the warmed milk, the sautéd onions, peppers and ham, and 1/2 of the cheddar cheese. Stir in gently so everything is well mixed. I prefer using a silicone spatula because it is gentler on the food you’re mixing.

Transfer your macaroni mixture to your 9×13 baking dish and spread evenly.

Beat the eggs and spoon them evenly over the macaroni mix, working the eggs into the macaroni. Don’t stir it in, just push it in gently with the spoon or the silicone spatula.

Sprinkle and evenly distribute the remaining cheddar cheese over the top, finishing it all off with a sprinkle of paprika. Smoked, Spanish paprika gives a nice twist to the flavor.

Bake in the preheated oven at 400° for 35-40 minutes. Look for a dark golden crust to develop on top.

When ready, remove from the oven and let this cool for a few minutes. Serve it by cutting into squares or rectangles, “Bahamian Style”!

4. Chicago Style Grilled Ribeye

Ingredients

2 – Steaks, I used ribeye, 1 to 1 1/2 inch thick. You could also use marinated flank steak, or New York Strip.

Olive oil, my favorite comes from The Natural Olive Hickory

Steak seasoning or rub, to taste

Making the Magic

I do these on the grill, outside, because of the amount of smoke. If you have a strong vent hood, you can probably do these on the stove top. The secret is to use a cast iron skillet or raised rib griddle. Make sure the surface temp is high. You want the steaks to sear quickly and blacken on the outside and be pink, all the way through.

Lay your steaks out for a couple of hours allowing them to come up to room temperature. Rub them with olive oil and your favorite steak rub. I used Mitchell Street steak rub this night. Do both sides of the steak and let them sit for the two hours, covered, while they come up to room temperature.

Put your steaks on the grill AFTER you start steaming your lobster. Have them ready to go.

Once you’ve grilled your steaks, slice them and plate them on a serving platter. Since we had so much other food, I only needed to grill two steaks for the six of us.

5. Beer Steamed Whole Lobster

So here’s the thing, cooking whole, live lobster requires a big pot. I used my 30 Qt Stock pot for this, with a steaming rack in the bottom. It was the perfect size for 6, 2lb lobsters. We got our lobster from an online source, the Lobster Trap, in Maine. They are very reasonably priced and next day shipping means you get “LIVE LOBSTER”, and it doesn’t get any fresher than that.

I used three bottles of Independence Ale that I get from Aldi’s. Pretty good beer to drink as well! Pour it into the bottom of your stock pot being sure the liquid doesn’t come above the steaming rack in the bottom of the pot. Bring the beer up to boil. Once you have it boiling, add the live lobster.

Steam a 2lb Lobster for 16 minutes. The calculation is 13 minutes for the first pound and then an additional 3 minutes for each additional pound. A 1 1/2lb Lobster would take 14 1/2 minutes. You want to see a bright red when they are done. If you steam too long, the Lobster will become a little rubbery, but you know what? The worst Lobster I ever had was wonderful!

After the proper cooking time, take them out right away. Use some oven mitts, and holding them over a sink, pierce the underside to let any excess juice run out. Otherwise, it will end up on the plate of the person eating it. Clip off the rubber bands, or slide them off and plate the Lobster.

Sequence For Timing All Of It

Make Lemon Delight and place in fridge.

Prep Mac’N Cheese – set aside.

Prep Steaks for grill. Olive Oil and season as you like.

Cook and serve Bacon Wrapped Scallops.

40 – 50 minutes before eating, preheat oven to 400° and put Mac ‘N Cheese in.

25 minutes before Mac ‘N Cheese comes out, boil beer and start steaming Lobster.

Melt 3/4 to 1LB butter – pour into individual serving cups as you plate and serve the Lobster.

10 minutes before Mac ‘N Cheese comes out of oven, grill the steaks, 2 1/2 minutes per side for 1 1/2 inch ribeyes.

Remove steak from grill and let rest for 2 to 3 minutes.

Remove Mac ‘N Cheese from oven. Let rest for a few minutes.

Remove Lobsters, pierce undersides, drain and plate.

Cut Mac’N Cheese into squares and plate with Lobster.

Slice steak into strips and place on a serving platter.

Serve it all and enjoy!

When everyone is finished and they think they just can’t eat another bite, holy moly, we almost forgot dessert! Not to worry, too much. You’ll be surprised at how light, refreshing, and perfect the Lemon Delight is for this meal.

Cut into squares, serve it, sit back and enjoy the Ummmm’s and Ahhhh’s and Oooooo’s and maybe even a “Please sir, may I have some more?”

What in the world are you waiting for folks……Dig in, before it gets cold!

Wines We Love With This

Frascati

Chardonnay

Sauvignon Blanc

Pinot Grigio

Gewurztraminer

Reisling

Leftovers

Wait! Before you throw out the legs and shells, there’s another meal in there. Yes, even the shells! Freeze them and look for my recipe for Creamy Lobster Bisque. You’ll love it!

Eat hearty friends, neighbors and loved ones! Feel the joy from the inside out? That’s the food you’re eating and the love that went into it!

Question/Request

Make any part, or all this menu. Make it really special and add your own twist. Share it with me so we can all try your creation! Let me hear from you.