Lobster Mac & Cheese

It’s getting cold out there. Warm up with a thoroughly comforting dish of lobster mac & cheese from chef Andy Husbands. Not content to merely throw a few chunks of lobster into your standard cheese sauce, this recipe doubles down on seafood goodness, infusing the lobster flavor into the sauce itself by making a lobster Mornay (don’t worry – it’s not nearly as hard as it’s fancy French name makes it sound). Take care not to overcook the lobster when par-boiling it though – you don’t want it to get tough during its 30 minute stay in the oven.

Details

Servings: 6

Ingredients

  • 3 lobsters 1 1/2 pounds each
  • 4 1/4 cups milk
  • 6 tablespoons butter
  • 1/2 cup all purpose flour
  • 2 cups cheddar cheese, grated
  • 1 cup Swiss cheese, grated
  • kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper to taste
  • 1 pound elbow macaroni, cooked al dente
  • 2 cups Ritz crackers, crushed
  • 1 cup chives, minced

Directions

  1. Place the lobsters in a large pot of boiling water and cook for 1 1/2 minutes. Remove the lobsters from the pot and cool down in ice water until cold. Crack the lobster tails, claws and knuckles and remove the meat, rough chopping it into bite-sized pieces. Refrigerate the chopped meat until needed.
  2. Split the lobsters shells open and remove the tamale and all insides including the head.
  3. Place the cleaned lobster shells and milk in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat and simmer (do not boil) for 30 minutes.
  4. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
  5. In a 2-quart heavy-bottomed sauté pan melt the butter over medium heat. When melted, add the flour and stir with a fork until the roux (that's what you've just made), has a slightly nutty smell, about three minutes.
  6. Strain the milk (reserving the milk and throwing out the shells) and slowly add the milk while continually whisking into the roux. Simmer the sauce for 5 minutes over medium heat, stirring with a wooden spoon frequently so as not to let it burn.
  7. Add the cheeses to the sauce and season with salt and pepper. You have now made lobster Mornay sauce.
  8. Place the cooked macaroni, lobster meat and Mornay sauce in a large mixing bowl and mix well.
  9. Place the mixture in an oven proof-baking dish, top with the Ritz cracker crumbs and bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes.
  10. Remove from oven and let cool for ten minutes. Garnish with the minced chives and serve.

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