Easy Persian Lime Grilled Live Maine Lobsters

The best foods in life are usually very simple to prepare.
If you start with great ingredients, you don't need to add much to get a great result.
One of the best "simple" recipes I use for lobster takes just one extra ingredient besides the lobster.
A bottle of Persian Lime Extra Virgin Olive Oil from The Olive Tap.
From start to finish, this recipe should really only take about 20 minutes.
The longest amount of time will be spent on bringing the water to a boil.
So, if you have a hankering for easy-peasy lobster with a lime-tastic flavor, use this recipe.

Lime Grilled Live Maine Lobsters

• Two 1 1/2 lb Live Maine Lobsters
• 2 tbs Persian Lime Olive Oil

Directions
Bring a stock pot with enough water to cover both lobsters to a boil.
Once the water reaches a full rolling boil, throw the lobsters in head first and cover the pot.
Once the water returns to a full boil, set your timer for 5 minutes.
After five minutes, the lobsters will be undercooked, but it's time to pull them out and give them a cold water rinse to stop the cooking process.
Once the lobsters have cooled, remove the tail and arms from the body. Place the claws in a zip lock freezer bag and use at another time.
Once the tail has been removed, use a sharp knife and split the tail completely from front to back length wise.
Once the lobster tails are split, brush the meat with a little Persian Lime Olive oil, and place meat side down on the grill for 3-4 minutes or until all of the Lobster tail meat becomes firm and white.

So Much Going On...So Little Time!

Sometimes there just are not enough hours in the day.
The last two weeks have been like that for me and I'm so glad I'm getting back to some sense of normalcy today.
Last week Tuesday, I finished my class for my Multi Channel Marketing Communications and gave my group presentation. We were supposed to have 5 in the group, 3 presented. Oh well, it went well and I got my certificate in the mail the other day :)
Also on Tuesday, friends of my family suffered a great loss when their house burned beyond use.
Apparently the wife went to go pick the boys up, and while she was gone the freezer in the basement malfunctioned and set the old pine paneling behind it on fire. The windows were all closed and the air was on, so the smoke and fire traveled to the third floor quickly, and no one noticed that it was burning. Yay brick.
By the time the family got back, it was already too late. The fire department was there and by some miracle, managed to save 3 of their 4 house pets. Lost was their 19 year old male cat. He was put down because he was already suffering from cancer, and was too old to revive in an oxygen tank for days. The firemen saved Puck, their Newfoundland dog, Won-ton, the pekingese, and their female cat, Roux.
And a miracle it was...Chicago literally just got pet oxygen masks for the fire departments in the last few weeks, and the local fire house that answered the call had just received their pet masks the very morning the house burned.
These animals were the very first to be saved with on site oxygen from the fire department in Chicago, and I'm so very glad of that.
The house is a total loss and must be gutted, but at least our friends are ok.
So that was Tuesday...
Thursday was my 26th Birthday.
Didn't do a whole lot. Went to work and had dinner plans for afterward at my favorite restaurant in Chicago; Sabatino's on Irving Park.
Incredible food, amazing staff and service, and I admit that I have a sweet spot for old school European places that still have a wandering string trio in the dining room.
The meal was incredible. Everything from the escargot to the very last bite of pistachio gelato with a chocolate liquor glaze was perfect. It was so nice to have someone else cook my steak for once lol. I was just happy my Birthday was not Wednesday. Wednesday is Lobster Night at Sabatino's haha.
The day I go out for Lobster is the day I'm committed to the asylum.
Quick pic of me on my way out the door to dinner on Thursday...

No..I usually don't smile in pictures...not even on my birthday ;)
I enjoyed a long weekend for my birthday, and ended it with the City Heat Annual RIP Run.
The purpose of this run is to go to the cemetery where most of the absent brothers are laid to rest and pay them a visit. It began in 1993 and has continued the first weekend in June ever since.
Here are some pictures from my Birthday and the RIP run.
Tomorrow I'll be putting up recipes and pictures for Herb Compound Butter Baked Lobster Tails!

Some of the club's bikes

in the Memorial building

City Heat Chicago Members

Cajun King Crab Cakes

Very few things make me as happy as crab cakes. Maryland, King, Creole...no matter what crab or spices are used, the outcome is rarely bad.
This past weekend, I decided to make Cajun King Crab Cakes. I had never made these before, but I had made something similar about a year ago called Creole Crab Burgers. This dish was good, but I remember it needing a little more flavor.
The solution was simple. Skip the Jonah Crab meat and go for the Alaskan King Crab.
King crab is so much more flavorful, and the texture really stands up to all of the mixing, and frying that is involved in making these delicious little treats.
Shucking 2 lbs of Alaskan King Crab is not an easy task, but well worth the effort in the end.
Give this recipe a try if you get a chance. These would be perfect served along side a nice thick NY Strip Steak. YUM!

Cajun King Crab Cakes

King Crab Cake Ready for the Fryer

Ingredients
2 lbs whole Alaskan King Crab Legs- Shoulder to tip
2 cups plain bread crumbs
2 tbs Spicy mustard (I use an apple/cinnamon spicy mustard: I'll supply a picture tomorrow)
Cajun Seasoning to taste
Granulated Garlic to taste
Pepper to taste
Salt to taste
Dried parsley to taste
Dried oregano to taste
Old Bay Seasoning to taste
1 tbs Worcestershire sauce
1 oz melted clarified butter
3 whole large eggs
Vegetable Oil for Frying
1/2 red bell pepper, minced
1/4 large red onion, minced
1 large stalk celery, minced

Directions
Thaw and rinse salt water glaze from the Alaskan King Crab legs. To remove the meat from the legs, take a leg, and break it by bending it backwards against the joint. Once you have a segment of leg broken off take your sea sheller and insert the pointed end into the shell. Using a can opening motion, move the sheller through the shell. Once the shell has been cracked, separate the shell and remove the interior meat. Be careful not to pull the cartilage with the meat.
Once you have the meat collected, put some vegetable oil in a deep skillet and begin heating it.
After the oil starts heating, combine all ingredients except for butter and eggs in a large mixing bowl and mix by hand. Once that is worked in, add the butter and work that in. Afterward, add all three eggs and mix well using your hands. Form crab cakes by rolling a 2 inch ball of the mixture between your hands and pressing until you have a patty about 1 inch thick.
To cook the crab cakes, place them gently in hot oil for 3 minutes per side. Finished crab cakes will be browned and crispy on both sides.

Meat Shucked from 2lbs of Alaskan King Crab Legs

Getting ready to shuck the King Crab

Lobster Gram has REALLY nice legs! There are only 2 legs per pound.

Lobster Gram King Crab legs are the whole leg shoulder to tip.

Alaskan King Crab from the Bearing Straight

Gorgeous King Crab Cakes

Everything tastes better when it's fried!

These King Crab Cakes will be a beautiful crispy brown once they are fried.

Lots of red pepper and red onion are the secret to making these Alaskan King crab cakes awesome!

The Perfect Cajun King Crab Cake

Mixing ingredients by hand is half the fun!

Fresh veggies bring this recipe to the flavor level I was searching for!

The Illusive Pearl Onions and My Bacon Wrapped Comfort Zone

I was so excited to make Boeuf Bourguignon on Sunday.
I went grocery shopping with my recipe in hand. Choosing the freshest looking mushrooms, carrots, celery, peal onions and bacon with the rind.
The problem...
I couldn't find pearl onions to save my life. I went to three different stores hunting for the them. I had everything else, and this was the last missing piece to the tasty puzzle.
I had to find pearl onions SOMEWHERE..this is Chicago! Right?! Alas...there were no onions to be found.
The search for onions consumed so much time, if I began cooking then, I would have been eating dinner at 11pm.
It was time to come up with a back up plan.
And a damn good one at that. I was pretty disappointed that I wasn't going to be able to make what I wanted to, and what I had already purchased fresh produce for.
It was time for a comfort food plan.
It was time for stuff wrapped in bacon.
Had plenty of it on hand already, and it always makes me feel better!
So here we are friends and foodies, bacon fest 2010.
And in case you were wondering, I felt much better afterwards :)
Go Bacon!

Wordless Wednesday- Butter Parsley Roasted Chicken with Duchess Potato Tartlets

Surf & Turf Sundays- Butterflying & Broiling a Lobster Tail

Another weekend passed, another great food frenzy in my kitchen.
I thought about making Lobster Hash this weekend. I had a really interesting recipe for it and I was excited about making something with that could possibly be good for St. Patrick's day celebrations.
Then I thought about it for a while longer.
How many of you out there dear readers, would ever do something like create hash with gorgeous lobster tails?
Few, if any I should think; unless you live near the Atlantic Ocean where lobsters are abundant and you can lay your own traps. Other than that...it's probably just not worth it. This started to look like a recipe for wasted time and lobster meat, and that foodie friends an egregious Lobster sin.
So I needed a new plan and I needed one fast.
The answer was so simple.
Surf & Turf Sunday.
How perfectly simple.
Nothing pairs better with a lobster tail like a great steak. So I did just that.
I butterflied and broiled the North Australian Lobster Tails, and grilled a fantastic New York Strip Steak. Dinner was perfect. A meal I have had a thousand times, yet never seem to grow weary of.
So here are the pictures I took of this fantastic Sunday lunch along with the directions on how to prepare and serve Lobster tails like the ones seen here.
Happy eating foodies!

How to butterfly and broil a Lobster Tail

Step 1
Start with a completely thawed Lobster Tail.



Step 2
Using a pair of kitchen shears, make an incision in the top of the shell starting at the front of the lobster tail where the meat is exposed, and cut back to the base of the tail where the fin begins. Do not go through the bottom of the tail.

Step 3
After the lobster has been cut to the back of the tail, insert your index finger into the shell at the back of the lobster tail. Remove the lobster meat from the side of the shell, and work your way to the front of the lobster tail, releasing the meat from the shell as you go.
Do this to both sides of the lobster tail and ensure that the meat is properly detached.

Step 4
After the meat has been detached from the interior of the tail, simply grab the front portion of lobster meat, and gently pull the meat up and back towards the fin, but do not completely remove the meat. Pull back until you have reached the end of your incision, close the lobster tail shell sides, and nicely lay the lobster meat on top of the closed shell.

Now all you have to do is brush the exposed lobster meat with butter and some spices and broil for 1 minute per ounce. These North Australian Lobster Tails are 8-10 oz tails, so I broiled them for 8 minutes and then checked to be sure they were cooked.