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Dear Eric: I had lobster mac and cheese in a restaurant on the East Coast and it was really good. Would you have a recipe for it?

Andy

Dear Andy: I love macaroni and cheese, and when I feel like kicking things up a notch, I’ve experimented with what I’ll stir in with the key ingredients, namely the cheese-rich sauce and pasta.

Over the years, that has included B.C. canned albacore tuna, smoky bits of ham, pieces of pulled pork and most recently, in my latest book, The Great Rotisserie Chicken Cookbook, pieces of meat from store-bought rotisserie chicken.

More recently, after trying some in a New York eatery, I have been making the occasional batch of mac and cheese strewn with bits of lobster meat. Andy is right — it is really good!

To make my version of this dish, still trendy in restaurants, I boiled a one- and-a-half pound live lobster in salted water for five minutes, quickly cooled it in ice water and then drained it well.

At that point, the lobster is not quite cooked all the way through. That will occur when the meat, which you remove from the shell and cut into pieces, is cooked in the mac and cheese.

When buying live lobster, choose those that when pulled from the tank struggle vigorously, not those that are docile, as that is an indication the crustacean is not in prime condition.

I like to cook the lobster for mac and cheese as soon I get home from the store. That way, I’m cooking it at its freshest. You can also remove and store the cooked meat in the refrigerator until you are ready to make the mac and cheese.

However, if you need to store the live lobster before cooking, take the advice of chef and lobster expert Matt Dean Pettit from a story I did last year: Place the live lobster in a paper bag, cover it with wet newspaper or paper towel and store it on the bottom shelf of your refrigerator.

Pettit said a dry lobster is an angry lobster, so make sure the newspaper remains damp; you can store a live lobster at least 24 hours.

That said, Pettit added that if the lobster dies during storage, don’t eat it, as it quickly decomposes and is not safe.

Because I wanted to showcase the taste of the lobster, I decided not to add a wide range of different cheeses to my sauce for the mac and cheese, as you’ll find in some recipes.

Instead, I added rich-tasting, but not overwhelmingly strong, old white cheddar cheese to the sauce. It paired nicely with the lobster and because it was white, you could actually see the bits of the red-hued lobster meat among the pieces of macaroni.

I also sprinkled the top of the mac and cheese just before baking with a little freshly grated Parmesan cheese and panko, as that helped give it a nice golden top once cooked. Panko are coarse Japanese-style breadcrumbs sold in the Asian food aisle of most supermarkets.

I served the lobster mac and cheese to my wife and the first thing she said was: delicious.

I agreed.

Lobster Mac and Cheese

Serve the mac and cheese with a simple green salad, as that will be a nice balance to the richness of the lobster and cheese sauce.

Preparation time: 25 minutes
Cooking time: About 45 minutes
Makes: Four to six servings

1 (1 1/2 lb.) whole live lobster
(see Eric’s options)
• sea salt
1 3/4 cups macaroni
3 Tbsp butter, plus some for greasing
3 Tbsp all-purpose flour
2 cups warm milk (see Note)
1/2 cup half and half (10 per cent) cream
1/4 tsp paprika
• pinch or two cayenne pepper
200 grams old cheddar cheese, grated
• salt and white pepper to taste
1/4 cup thinly sliced green onion
2 to 3 Tbsp freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 Tbsp panko
1 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley

Bring one and a half gallons of lightly salted water to a rapid boil in a large pot. Add the lobster, return to a boil and cook for five minutes. Carefully remove from the pot, holding the lobster above the water to allow it to drain. Set the lobster in a bowl filled with ice and water.

When cold, remove the lobster from the bowl and drain well again. Remove the meat from the lobster, cut into thumbnail-sized pieces and refrigerate until needed.

Cook the macaroni in a second pot filled with a generous amount of lightly salted boiling water until just tender, about eight minutes. While the macaroni cooks, preheat the oven to 350 F.

Lightly butter the inside of a 2 1/2-inch deep, 8-inch square baking dish, or 2-inch deep, 10-inch diameter cast-iron skillet, and set aside.

Place the 3 Tbsp of butter in a medium- to large-sized pot set over medium heat. When the butter is melted, mix in the flour and cook, stirring, two minutes.

Very slowly, while whisking, dribble and mix in 1/2 cup of the milk. Cook until the mixture becomes quite thick, and then slowly whisk in the remaining milk and cream.

Bring this sauce to a simmer, stirring frequently so it does not scorch on the bottom. Simmer one minute to thicken. Remove the sauce from the heat.

Mix in the paprika, cayenne and three-quarters of the cheddar cheese. When the cheese has melted, season the sauce with salt and pepper.

When the macaroni is cooked, drain it well. Add it and the lobster and green onion to the sauce and gently mix to combine. Spoon the macaroni mixture into the prepared baking dish or skillet. Sprinkle the macaroni with the remaining cheddar cheese, Parmesan, panko and parsley. Bake for
25 minutes, and then turn on your oven’s broiler.

Broil the mac and cheese one minute, or until golden on top, and then serve.

Note: I warmed the milk for this recipe to just below a simmer in my microwave.

Eric Akis is the author of The Great Rotisserie Chicken Cookbook (Appetite by Random House). His columns appear in the Life section Wednesday and Sunday.

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