The key to Nana’s stew.. a slow cooked lobster stock
Having the family together for Mother’s Day was so much fun. The weather.. just gorgeous. My beach bums were loving it even if the water temps are still in the low 40’s here.. brrr! They managed to dip their toes up to the ankles before a quick turn-about. LOL
We, are a family of seafood lovers here, and when the gang gets together the menu is varied but usually includes some kind of fresh caught fish or shellfish. It being ‘my’ weekend, the girls evicted me from the kitchen.. which was fine with me, as I got to play more with my grandboys. 🥰 but getting them to decide on what they would be serving another story.
Finally, it was decided… grilled swordfish, Ma’s crabby crab cakes, various salads, stuffed mushrooms, hamburgers for the boys and Nana’s lobster stew. Nana’s stew was my Moms go-to dish. It was her Moms fave stew and handed down for years to all the cooks in our family.
Last summer, for her birthday the recipe torch was handed down to our youngest daughter for her birthday. I think it’s spent time in all of our homes at one time or another, their great grandmas hand stitched sampler of the recipe. It’s so easy to prepare, presents well.. and simple fare but always delicious. Over the years I’ve doctored up the original version with the addition of a splash of cream and sherry to the stock, but other than that, it remains the same. If it works, no need to fix it.
Nana’s hand stitched samplerNana’s famous lobster stew.. yum!
Yesterday was the last day here for the season to dig clams ☹️ They won’t re-open the flats again until mid November, so until then we’re dependent on the local seafood purveyors to get our clam fixes.
Digging soft shell clams
After digging a half an hour we had our allotted peck dug, rinsed and hauled home. A lunch of steamers was in order.. freshly steamed, dipped into a yummy hot broth and to finish… drawn butter. I reserved half of our dig and into a pot of cioppino (a delicious seafood stew) they went for dinner tonight. Yum! 😋
Lobsters… are clearly the king of seafood in the summer months here…. simply steamed with butter or stuffed into a roll for a tasty lunch.
Hard or soft, unmistakably delicious. Maine lobster.
Steamed lobstah
It’s hard to believe that at one point in time, lobsters were considered nothing more than a poor man’s dinner at best.. even used as bait by local fishermen. But since lobsters finally stumbled into the gourmet spotlight in the urban centers of Boston and New York, they are now hailed as one of the ‘must have’ foods when visiting Maine. With their once cooked bright red color and unmistakable flavor, lobsters are now forever linked with traditional Maine dining.
Nothing but the harder shelled variety is available during coolor months here, but with the dog days of summer bring lobsters with a much softer touch…
Ayup, soft shelled lobsters abound. Which is better? Arguably, I think it is a draw. And one that can be boiled down to one of quality vs. quantity. Most visitors enjoy the summer prices, sometimes as low as $4 per pound.. this summer, down on the docks, right off the boat, they were running around $5 a pound… tough to argue at these prices. The thing about soft-shells for a tourist is, that it’s very easy to eat.. no nut crackers needed! But for the first time eaters, the soft shelled lobster is truly not all it’s ‘cracked’ up to be.
Soft shelled tails. Note the small size
The reason they cost so little?….. there’s not nearly as much meat in them, because the new shell hasn’t had enough time to fill up, as opposed to our hard shelled lobsters overflowing with succulent meat. Flavorable as ever.. you bet! Yes, molting season does have it’s advantages and disadvantages. Dollar for dollar and pound for pound, I’ll take hard shelled lobsters any day!
But when you have a lobsterman friend, who generously shares his trappings with his good friends, especially on certain birthdays and holidays, I’ll gladly take either 🙂 The menu could be anything from steamed, to lobster stew, or chowder to baked & stuffed, or lobster rolls… but lobsters easily make the transition to Fall cooking, too. Creamy lobster with pasta dishes, lobster casseroles ( think Mac n’ cheese) and this recipe, one of our family favorites…. Lobster Risotto
Lobster risotto.. Yum!
So after a celebratory steamed lobster dinner this week, I ‘knuckled’ 🙂 two tails along with a few cups of broth and decided to make my lobster risotto. I could easily eat risotto every night of the week. But this dish I think I’d save for special occasions.. unless of course you have your own lobsterman friend too! Creamy, rich and absolutely marvelous flavor. Thanks John for such a great gift. 💕
Lobster Risotto
Cooked lobster meat 3 – 4 cups seafood broth or chicken broth in a pinch. I blend the two. 2 TBLS white truffle oil 2 carrots, grated fine ¼ cup shallots, minced 2 TBLS extra virgin olive oil 1 TBLS salt-free butter zest of one orange 1 cup arborio rice sprig of fresh thyme 1/2 cup white wine- I prefer Pinot Grigio 2-3 cups low sodium chicken broth pinch of crushed red pepper flakes fresh parsley ground pepper
Simmer broth and keep warmed. Heat olive oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add shallots and carrots and sautee for a few minutes. Add arborio rice & stir around cooking for two minutes more until all the rice is well coated. Add white wine and reduce heat to low. Simmer until wine is fully absorbed, stirring constantly.
Add 2 cups chicken broth and 1 1/2 cup seafood broth. Simmer on low until the rice becomes creamy, adding the rest of the seafood stock and broth by ladleful until it is gone, stirring often about 20 minutes or so. Add lobster meat, fresh thyme, orange zest, butter, and red pepper flakes, stirring until heated through.
Remove from heat. Stir in truffle oil, parsley and ground pepper. Allow it to rest a few minutes and then give it one last good stir and serve. This is one risotto I wouldn’t consider adding any cheese to. You want the lobster and truffle oil to shine through.. and it surely did! Enjoy.
An annual event for a gang of us… head north up to Boothbay Harbor and then a ferry ride out to Cabbage Island. Always a fun day, great food with a bit of imbibing. 😇 A perfect day to escape this heat down south.
Brazilian fish stew – Moqueca … an experiment that turned out really good. 😋
I had never heard of this Brazilian Fish Stew until I read about it in a magazine. It is a tropical fish stew mellowed by coconut milk and flavored with a spicy sauce. The original recipe called for clams.. but I made it with shrimp and a piece of cod I had in the freezer just hankering to be used. It was very easy to make, but for my taste, the pepper sauce tasted a little bit too much like “raw onion”, so I let it cook down a couple of minutes extra on the stove to mellow it out. Served it over some brown rice and rustic bread to soak up the yummy sauce. Will make this again!
As I couldn’t be in the French Quarter this year to celebrate Mardi Gras and was missing my traditional bowl of Etouffee gumbo I made some blue crab and shrimp gumbo here instead. The perfect choice for the start of the Lenten season… fewer crowds and a whole lot quieter! 😊
… Prepped for grilling- – fresh lemon thyme, savory, minced garlic, sliced lemons, a sprinkle of za’atar, and white pepper. A splash of white wine with a drizzle of olive oil and he’s good to go (if this rain let’s up! 😠).. Just reeled him in… the biting was so good this morning. Yum!
Thyme Goes By... 