Grilled Lobster and Corn with Buttery-Lemon-Herb Dipping Sauce and Gazpacho Andalus
What’s better than the sweet taste of grilled shellfish on a hot, I mean really hot, summer day? That’s why we decided to grill a couple of lobsters today. (Even the thought of firing up our eight burner range sent us running for cold showers or a plunge in the pool or the ocean.) Drawn butter would have been fine as a dipping sauce, but then, you know us; we like to take it one step farther. So we literally whipped up a zesty butter-herb-lemon sauce. Not satisfied with that, we grilled several ears of “just-picked-this-morning-corn” and served this happy duo with a chilled bowl of Gazpacho Andalus.
If you had a couple of mouthfuls of our lunch, we’re sure you would agree that you would like to have a couple more; actually, probably a lot more.
Zesty Buttery-Lemon Dipping Sauce – Ingredients:
- 1 cup butter (or a butter-olive oil spread)
- 1 Tbsp minced garlic (about 4 large cloves)
- 3 Tbsp fresh lemon juice (1 lemon)
- 1 Tbsp lemon zest
- 1 tsp ground black pepper
- 2 Tbsp fresh chopped parsley
- 1 Tbsp fresh chopped tarragon
- 1 Tbsp lobster roe / tomalley (optional)
Melt one tablespoon of butter in a saucepan over medium heat and sauté garlic until fragrant and lightly golden, about 2-3 minutes. Reduce heat to low, add the remaining butter and melt, stirring well. Mix in the lemon juice, lemon zest, pepper, chopped herbs, and lobster roe (if using). Let it steep over low heat for about 5 minutes, while stirring. Pour into small bowls and serve warm. Leftovers can be stored and used on other seafood, chicken, meats, or pasta.
Gazpacho Andalus – Ingredients:
Yields 3-4 servings
- 4 cups cold water
- 4 large tomatoes, chopped
- 1/4 cup minced onion
- 1-2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 small cucumber, peeled and finely chopped
- 1 small red bell pepper, finely chopped
- 1/2 loaf stale bread, cut into 1” cubes (I used whole wheat)
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- Julienned cucumber and sliced green onion for garnish
Combine water, tomatoes, bread, and oil in a medium stock pot and set aside. In a food processor or blender, process onion, garlic, cucumber, and red pepper until well blended. Stir into the stock pot, add vinegar and salt, and mix well. Transfer the mixture into a food processor or large blender and process in batches, blending until smooth and reddish-pink. Add vinegar, and season with salt. Can be chilled for several hours or overnight. Mix well before serving as some ingredients may separate. Garnish with herbs and serve chilled.
Grilled Lobster:
OK, think about this: you can’t put a live lobster on the grill, nor should you. In fact, you shouldn’t drop a live lobster into a pot of boiling water either. You’re not doing the lobster any favors. In the case of the former, your lobster is going to try and crawl anyway possible to get off of those blistering hot grates (wouldn’t you?), whereas in the latter scenario you’re actually drowning the lobster in boiling water as you simultaneously scald it. I know this might seem like tough food talk, but after all, to feed the protein engine in us all, something has to perish, daily. Sad but true, so be happy that you’re at the apogee of the food chain and let’s be humane about it.
Hopefully, this grilled lobster preamble has given you the resolve to prepare yourselves for killing the lobsters before you grill them. Actually, it’s real simple: if you’re a rightie, grab a hold of the lobster with your left hand, hold it with its head facing right, and with your right hand, drive a stout knife right through its carapace and draw the blade down, slicing all the way through the head and cutting down to the surface underneath, but not all the way through to the other side. (Obviously, if you’re a leftie, simply reverse hands and direction.) Now that wasn’t so hard, was it?
After a half-a-life time of entertaining more people than we can remember who have enjoyed lobsters at our table, we can count those who were ready to kill one on the fingers of one hand. Our own son runs, not exactly screaming, but visibly disturbed, when he sees that lobsters are about to be dispatched. And then, lo and behold, when the lobster is plated and brought to the table, he’s the first to be eating it and sniffing around for seconds.
Enough said. To continue: Take the two lobsters and place them belly down on a cutting surface. Drive the point of a stout knife blade through the carapace behind their head and slice forward and down into the cutting surface. (Yes, your lobsters are dancing now, but they are deader than a door nail.) Next, turn the lobsters over and plunge the knife blade into the body section to open it up and reveal the green stuff. Scoop the tomalley out with a small spoon and reserve it for the butter dipping sauce. Now slit open the underside of the lobster’s tail. Crack the body and tail open like you would a brand new book’s spine. Remember to remove the elastic bands from the claws, and brush both the top and bottom of the lobsters with olive oil. Once on the grill, the lobster’s tail will curl from the heat; to maintain it flat, run a metal skewer lengthwise through the tail right up into the body. Good news! You’re almost done. Make sure your grill is nice and hot, back down the temperature to medium, and throw the lobsters on, belly down. Let them cook for 8 minutes. There’s no need to flip them, just wait until they become that familiar red color you know so well.
A couple of minutes before you take the lobsters off the grill, lightly rub the ears of corn with oil or butter, throw them on the grill, and remember to turn them a couple of times.
Easy enough, right?
RSA & RMA
