I got the itch to cook lobster!

Salmon, beef, and chicken are starting to bore me.  My girl Lo introduced me to an Asian market in the city which got my attention really quickly!  I had already cooked octopus, so even though they had huge octopus and baby ones (which you can cook completely differently) I wanted something different.  I've never cooked any sort of shellfish but I decided lobster would be a great idea.  However, with the new job I'm a little strapped for cash.  Wanna know a cheap but delicious way to cook lobster? 

Buy lobster claws.  Seriously.  The claws have a lot of meat in them and taste just as good as the tails.  The only difference is that they're much harder to get into.  Cook some scallops for the side and you have an awesome meal.

Lobster is actually pretty easy to cook.  So if you're looking for something fancy but not that difficult, you should try it!  I'll share what I did.

Bring a large pot of slightly salted water to a rolling boil.  I added crab/seafood seasoning (powder), cajun seasoning, freshly ground black pepper, and Grill Mates garlic & herb seasoning.  Add quartered potatoes (smaller if you use large potatoes).  Let them boil for about 10-15 minutes.  Throw in small ears of corn.  After about 5 minutes add a teaspoon (I just poured some) of Zataran's liquid crab boil.  When it is at a rolling boil again, place lobster(s) in the pot.  Bring back to boil, cook until bright red (around 10-15 minutes).  If you want mushrooms, add these a few minutes before you remove everything because they cook very quickly.

Pretty damn easy, right?

The difficult part was the scallops.  They are finicky.  I thawed mine and then let them sit in a mixture of melted butter and garlic powder until I was ready to saute them.

Usually people just saute them alone, but I wanted to do something crazy.  I found a recipe by Rachel Ray that I changed up and made my own.

In a skillet, I sauteed artichoke hearts in olive oil until they were hot.  You kinda have to remove the oil after so they aren't dripping, so I placed them between layers of paper towels while I sauteed scallions, sweet onions, fresh garlic, and tomatoes.  Then I added the scallops to the mix.  Most recipes tell you to saute them until they're slightly browned, however, mine never turned brown.  I cooked them until they lost the fishy taste that so many people complain about when cooking scallops.  It took about twenty minutes, but will probably take less if I do it again.

Arrange artichoke hearts on a serving dish (or your plate, whichever way you want to do it) and place scallop mixture on top.

Scallops, grape tomatoes, onions, scallions, and artichoke hearts.

Lobster claw with potatoes, shitake (sp?) mushrooms, sweet corn, and scallop mixture.

The boyfriend loved it!  Make sure you have a good shellfish cracker or one of those culinary mallets lol.

Have a wonderful Thursday night!!

Love!!!