One of the big draws to Maine was the lobster. We'd heard stories about the abundance of lobster and it's relative inexpensiveness. Dave had begun to fear that what we had heard just wasn't true. He figured we'd pay about $20 a lobster. Turns out, we were able to buy 1-1/2 pound lobsters for $8 each!!!!!! So eat lobster we did. (Now think of Bubba from
Forrest Gump and his recitation of all the ways he ate shrimp. . . )
We had
lobster salad sandwiches
lobster fra diavolo
lobster and cream cheese eggs
lobster rolls
lobster tacos
lobster pizza
lobster chowder
lobster bisque
lobster soup
lobster breakfast quesadillas
boiled lobster with corn, potatoes, and butter
lobster and wild rice soup
Now, lest you think lobster is all that we ate, we also indulged in
fresh calamari
steamed clams
steamed mussels
clam chowder
Surprisingly, it seems that lobster for breakfast was not common for the locals. Bob mentioned our lobster, cream cheese, and scrambled egg creation to a local and got a puzzled look. Man, could we open a lobster restaurant up there. I'm sure no one ever had lobster tacos! (Or maybe we weren't in an adventurous cuisine area.)
The lobster fra diavolo had a great sauce that would make a wonderful marinara without the lobster, so I'm including the recipe here. You can easily substitute ground beef, turkey, or pork for a delicious meat sauce.
Lobster Fra Diavolo
Serves: 2-3 (So we tripled it, by tripling it, we had two meals, or 12 servings; I think 3-4 is a more accurate measure)
Ingredients:
1 medium onion, peeled
1 small carrot, peeled
6 cloves of garlic, peeled (we used minced garlic, and only 3T for our triple, so use 1 T)
6 T olive oil, divided
1 bay leaf
1 t dried red pepper flakes
1 t dried oregano
2 c. clam juice (we used 2 jars of clam juice + chicken broth for our tripled recipe)
2 t tomato paste
1-28oz can tomatoes (we used crushed tomatoes with juice)
black pepper
2 live 1-3/4 to 2 lb. lobsters (we used the meat from 6 steamed lobsters)
1/2 c dry white wine
6 sprigs Italian parsley, leaves picked and coarsely chopped
Directions:
1. Cut onion, carrot, and garlic to medium dice. Place in food processor (or blender) and finely chop without pureeing. Combine with 2 T olive oil in sauce pan and cook over medium heat for 10 minutes.
2. Add bay leaf, red pepper, and oregano. Stir and cook for 1 min. Add clam juice (and broth) and tomato paste.
3. Drain the tomato juice from the can into the pot and coarsely chop the tomatoes before adding to the sauce.
4. Simmer for 45 minutes to reduce by half.
5. Add cooked lobster to sauce; heat through.
6. Serve over pasta or on toasted French bread. (Slice the bread, spread both sides with olive oil and bake at 375.)
Dave, Bob, and Mike became quite proficient at boiling lobsters. And we all got pretty good at cracking lobsters to extract the sweet, delicious meat. Thursday, for our last hurrah, we had a lobster boil with corn and potatoes. We spread newspaper on the outside table, donned our lobster bibs, and ate with our hands. What a delicious meal.
