Leave the shrimp in the sea, its lobster scampi.
A classic Maine dish is shrimp scampi which is a very simple and clean seafood pasta with only a few ingredients that are typically ultra fresh seafood, garlic, lemon, pasta and herbs of some sort. As the original recipe has been changed over and over again I figure why don’t we create a new and improved version and instead of changing all of the ingredients around why not go for the big bucks and use lobster instead of shrimp!
Wine Pairing: Light and refreshing white wines; Viognier, Riesling, Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, Montrachet
Ingredients
For the Maine Event
- Lobster tails, split in half: 4 - 5 oz tails
- Butter, unsalted: 6 tbsp
- Garlic, roughly chopped: 7 cloves
- Lemon juice: 4 Tbsp
- Lemon zest: 2 tsp
- Red pepper flake: ½ tsp
- Olive oil: 1 tbsp
- Parsley, chopped: 3 Tbsp
- Tarragon, chopped: 1 Tbsp
- Capers, rinsed and chopped: 1 Tbsp
- Linguine: 1 lb
- Salt and FGBP: t.t.
Preparation
For the Maine Event
- Bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a boil. You want the water to taste like the sea the lobsters came out of.
- Add in the pasta and cook according to the directions on the packaging. You want it to be al-dente.
- Using a large sturdy knife or kitchen shears, split the lobster tails lengthwise.
- Season the lobster meat with salt and pepper.
- Heat 4 Tbsp of butter in a large saute pan over medium heat until the butter has melted and is bubbly.
- Add in lobster tails, cut side down and the garlic.
- Cook for 1-2 minutes while basting the shells with the hot butter.
- Flip and continue to cook for 1-2 minutes while basting the meat until the lobster meat is warmed through but not ripping hot.
- Remove the tails from the pan and remove and garlic that is stuck to them.
- Remove the meat once it is cool enough to handle and chop into bite sized pieces.
- Add the remaining butter to the pan used for cooking the lobster tails along with lemon juice, zest, capers and crushed red pepper.
- Add in the cooked pasta, ¾ tsp salt and olive oil.
- Toss, toss, toss...
- Adjust consistency with a little of the pasta water as needed so the sauce is smooth.
- Add in lobster meat, herbs and toss a few more times to combine.
- Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
- Garnish with fresh herbs and enjoy with a toasted baguette or as is.