Happy V-day peoples~! Had a super busy weekend so y'all will have to excuse me for not postan here or on y'all's blogs but I shall make up for that today.
What is everyone doin for V-day? ... or is it forever-alone day? (not for me~! bwahaha)
Actually, not doing much of anything today, as I celebrated Valentine's with my girl yesterday. I love cooking, so I made her a rather special dinner-- Grilled Live Maine Lobster with Tarragon Beurre Blanc served with baked potato and roasted asparagus:
Also, bought some new wine glasses and some wine, of course. Overall had a very good time heheheh... >:3
For anyone curious, lobster at home is muchmuchmuch more affordable than at a restaurant and it is so easy to prepare, to me its a crime to do anything but. Sooo... here's how to do what I did:
For Tarragon Beurre Blanc:
In sauce pan, reduce a cup of white wine, 1/4 cup (or less) lemon juice, and 2 finely chopped shallots till it becomes about 2 Tblspn of liquid. At this point, add 1Tblspn heavy cream and whisk. Reduce heat to low and add 1.5 sticks of butter. Butter is to be cubed and whisked in one cube at a time, whisking constantly to reach an emulsion. Once butter has been fully integrated, take it off the stove and set aside for later.
For Baked Potato:
Take large potatoes and wash thoroughly. Poke a few times all over with fork, then rub with vegetable oil and coat potatoes in salt. Bake in oven for about 1.5 - 2 hours, depending on how big the potatoes are.
For Roasted Asparagus:
Take asparagus (1/2 lb to a lb) and cut off bottom if woody. Put on baking sheet and rub with olive oil. Season with salt and pepper (lightly!). Broil in oven on high for approximately 12 minutes. The GF likes thin asparagus but any kind will do, thicker ones might require a longer cook time, but not by much.
For Lobster:
Place lobster on cutting board, preferable in or around the sink because you are about to make one hell of a mess. Seriously, lobster crab will be everywhere. Also, this is not for the squeamish. Natalie, if you are in fact reading my blog please stop here. <3
Place lobster on cutting board facing you. With a VERY sharp knife, make a cut into the lobster starting at the head area, to kill it fast, then move on throught the rest of its body. After cutting, you might need to use your hands to snap the shell, freeing the two halves from each other. Once split, you want to remove the greenish and yellowish guts inside the head area. If you got lucky and your lobster has any pinkish or redish innards you can leave those in as they are tasty, especially the redish one, as that would be the roe (it also means the lobster is a girl~! how 'bout that!?). Once that's done, remove the claw from each half and use the back of a knife to make cracks in the claw to make it easier to eat later on. You might want to put the claw in a bag before you smack it to keep lobster parts from flying everywhere... in fact you straight up should not do this without a bag... and do it in the sink.
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| Lobster on grill at night. |
Once split and cleaned, place lobster on plate, shell side down. Season with salt and pepper, and drizzle with olive oil. Heat up grill. Once hot, place place lobster meat side down on grill for 3-4 minutes, you can also just keep checking it till it has some nice grill marks on it. After this, flip lobster shell side down and continue to cook for another 3-4 minutes or until the meat is clearly done (you can tell, it looks white when cooked and it isnt like... transparenty lookin anymore). For the claws, place them on the hottest side of the grill and let them bake the whole time the lobster bodies cook (8ish min total).While lobster is shell-side down, baste meat with Tarragon Beurre Blanc if desired (When you serve, you can put some of the sauce on the lobster meat or just put it in a bowl to be used as a dipping sauce (which is what I did (parenthesis))).
BAM ~ !
Well, there it is. Y'all have a happy Vday, good luck and what not~!
