Lobster & Crab – Mac & Cheese

Yesterday was 70 degrees, and today is not even 50. It is cloudy and gray outside, so we wanted something hot and delicious. I had lobster tails in the freezer I had bought on sale from Wegmans, and also a pound of jumbo lump crab meat. I decided to make Lobster & Crab Macaroni & Cheese. This recipe has a lot of steps, but none of it is that hard. I’ll point out timesaver tricks whenever I can. The mac&cheese is made in the crockpot, then combined with butter poached lobster tails, and jumbo lump crabmeat. Topped with seasoned bread crumbs, and then baked to get that crispy crust on top. It makes a lot of servings, so we had my Mom over for dinner too, and we have plenty left for tomorrow night’s dinner. I steamed broccoli, had a salad and some strawberries and dinner was done. Everyone ate and enjoyed their meal. If you make it, you will love it too!

Macaroni & Cheese

Ingredients:

1 – 12 oz. can evaporated milk
3 cups milk (I used skim)
3 cups shredded cheddar
8 oz. velveeta, cut in cubes
1/2 stick unsalted butter, cut in cubes
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

1 pound pasta, cooked 3 minutes short (it cooks for hours more in the crockpot, then the oven, so save 3 minutes)
Make sure you season your boiling water with kosher salt

Directions:

Put all the above ingredients in the crockpot except for the pasta.

As you can tell, I like to use crockpot liners to make clean up easy!
Cook on low for one hour. Now add your par-cooked pasta and stir gently.

Cook on low for another hour.

Mac & Cheese is done! Feel free to eat it as is or move on to adding the seafood.

Make seasoning mix:

In a small bowl, mix up a quick seasoning mix –
2 teaspoons paprika
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons onion powder
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Mix 2 teaspoons from the above seasoning mix into the macaroni & cheese

Poach the lobster tails (This method of cooking was found on a French Laundry recipe):
(or you could purchase cooked lobster meat, but the price of that is even more than the raw tails!)

First, pull all the raw meat out of the tails.
Then chop the lobster tails into bite size pieces.
These were small tails, so each one was cut into 6 pieces.

I know what you are thinking, you need to cook lobster in their shells.
Don’t do it! It will be flavorless. Just try it this way and see if you like it.

Boil 2 cups of seafood stock or chicken stock (low sodium) until it is reduced in half.
Add one stick of salted butter to the broth.

Cook just a few minutes on LOW, until the lobster meat turns from clear to pink/red (just like a shrimp)

 
And here is the cooked lobster meat.

I know it is tempting to just eat this as is, but then what would your family eat?

Add 1 pound of jumbo lump crabmeat and 1 to 1.5 pounds of butter poached lobster tails

Mix seafood with the seasoned macaroni & cheese.
Another option is to use cooked shrimp instead of the lobster.

Toss gently.

Put in casserole dish sprayed with cooking spray.
Top with ~ 1/2 cup seasoned bread crumbs.

Put foil on top of the dish, and bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes.
Take foil off and continue baking until brown and bubbly – another 10 minutes or so.
If you make entire thing a day ahead and its been in the fridge, it will take a little longer.

Cheese is all bubbly!

The slightly crispy crust on the top.

Creamy and delicious on the inside.

Enjoy with some healthy veggies or fruit, and a delicious meal (restaurant quality) is on the table.

A few more time saving tips:
♥ Purchase already cooked lobster to use or pre-cooked shrimp
♥ Make sure you have all ingredients on hand before starting the recipe
♥ Reduce stock a day or a week ahead
♥ Make the spice mix a week ahead and keep it in a small container (LABEL it!)
♥ Use crockpot liner, so less clean up
♥ Have your family help you! (OK, stop laughing…..)
♥ Let kids pick through the crabmeat to make sure there are no shells
♥ Have your husband feel strong by pulling the lobster meat out of the shells
♥ Kids can set the table
♥ Let the kids stir, my son is an expert at this one
♥ Have your family make all the other sides for dinner