Lobster Mac and Cheese

For my friend's birthday potluck, I wanted to make her something special. I remembered she loved lobster mac and cheese (ala Purple Resaurant), and wanted to make it for her. However, never having had lobster mac or visited Purple, I didn't know where to begin. So I began with the internet.

And found this recipe (in a roundabout way-- I was searching for images!): Macaroni and Cheese with Lobster, from The Passionate Cook (blog).

I also found a Classic Macaroni and Cheese recipe on America's Test Kitchen website (they make you pay the price of membership to see it).

Originally, I used the same proportions as on the Test Kitchen recipe (8 people) and came out with enough to fill a 8x12 baking dish and a ~8x8 shallow casserole dish. I bought it to 2 parties! I think the recipe was relatively successful, especially the 2nd time, for which I made extra cheese sauce and dumped it on top of the bread.

I merged the two together and came up with this (thank goodness for electronic scales).


Lobster Macaroni and Cheese, with or without lobster (Swiss/Parmesan varietal)
For 4-6 people.

Ingredients
2 lobster tails (though honestly, the more the better. It's cost prohibitive)
50 g (1.76 oz, or 0.11 lbs) emmental cheese (grated)
50 g gruyère (grated)
50 g parmesan (grated)
3 tbsp butter
1-2 tbsp flour
~1 cup milk
Small onion finely diced
2-3 cloves minced garlic (no recipe called for it, but I like it)
A few shakes of cayenne
Pasta of choice for 4-6 people
Bread crumbs or croutons (I used 1 inch cubes of bread. Sourdough sounds good)

Recipe

1. Boil pasta until done.
2. If you want lobster, shell and rinse. Boil for 15 minutes or until done. Keep it warm.
   
3. In medium pot on medium high, melt the butter and saute the onions and garlic until caramelized. It will eventually start bubbling. Add your flour to make roux and whisk to get the clumps out. Add some cayenne if you want. Slowly add the milk and whisk to prevent clumps. Whisk frequently until boiling (careful not to burn; should be like thick cream). Take it off the heat and slowly whisk in the grated cheese. Taste and season to your likings (salt?).
   
4. Combine pasta and cheese sauce. Put into baking dish. Top with pieces of lobster. Top with bread crumbs or croutons. Bake or broil to brown the crumbs and serve.
5. If your bread didn't turn out, you can make more cheese sauce and pour it on top of everything. That always helps. Decorate as you want! Cayenne looks nice on white sauce, and I think it adds an interesting/fun kick to otherwise normal mac and cheese. Other people garnish with green onion or parsley.
   
   

I can imagine using barbeque or honey glazed chicken on this dish, too.

I hope I get to enjoy this again, soon.