We decided at some point in the past couple of weeks that we would start using everything we have on hand before buying anything else. Of course, there have been a couple of lapses. Sometimes you simply buy too much of a thing and some of it needs to be frozen.
Or, sometimes, a friend gives you a pound bag of lobster meat. What are you going to do… say, “no?” I held onto that bag of lobster for several weeks before deciding what we should do with it. We used half of it for risotto, and the other half for today’s recipe.
This recipe is a pasta dish based on a traditional French preparation called Homard Américaine. It has become one of our favorite dishes. Instead of serving it soup-style, we serve it over pasta. In the traditional dish, tarragon is used to flavor the sauce, but it is hard to find fresh around here, and we find that basil works equally well.
The pasta I used is called gnocchette made by Rustichella d’Abbruzzo. This is an excellent brand of dried pasta, and I highly recommend it if you can find it. If it’s not readily available, any other variety of gnocchette will work just fine. In fact – since we are going so far outside the pale of authenticity here – you could serve this with fusilli, farfalle, campanelle, or spaghetti.
Lobster Américaine is a very complicated dish. It involves crushing shells, making stock, multiple ingredients, and a lot of butter and cream. My recipe, however, is much simpler. You can throw this together in just a few minutes while the pasta cooks. A simple tomato sauce is enhanced with a little cream and the lobster meat, then tossed with perfectly cooked pasta. What could be easier? Or better?
~ David
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Ron
April 10, 2021 at 7:11 amWhat a wonderful friend you have. We don’t have lobster in the freezer, but it’s packed full these Covid days. We just made a pack yesterday not to order any more fresh proteins until we eat down the freezer. Luckily I do have some frozen prawns, so they will be a lobster substitute in your lovely Gnocchette with Lobster dish.
Cocoa & Lavender
April 22, 2021 at 7:07 amRon – I think frozen prawns would be perfect for this dish – and mussels, too (maybe skip the cream for the mussels)! We are making headway in emptying our freezer – but it is going to take tiem! Hope you and Eva are safe and well (and Chloë, too!)
John / Kitchen Riffs
April 10, 2021 at 7:26 amLike Ron, we don’t have lobster in the freezer either! Although I’m lucky enough to be a few miles away from a really good fish monger who always has cooked lobster at the ready. And our freezer is SO full! We’re doing a good job of reducing it, though — which we need to do, because we FINALLY are visiting grocery stores again. And loading our cart with treasures forgotten over the past year. Bliss! And speaking of bliss, this dish is. Such a great combo of flavors — simple, yet so elegant (that’s the lobster talking, of course). Such a nice recipe — need to try this, and I know exactly the friends (fully vaccinated) I want to serve it to (they’ll love it). Nice to be thinking of having friends over again. 🙂 Anyway, this is exceptionally good stuff — thanks.
Cocoa & Lavender
April 22, 2021 at 7:08 amIsn’t it great to be getting back to in-person shopping, John? Lucky for me, I did all the shopping during the quarantine, which included our farmers market. But I am glad my options are opening up now…
Fran @ G'day Souffle
April 10, 2021 at 7:47 amHow lucky you are to have a friend who gives you a pound of lobster! I remember making this dish at the Le Cordon Bleu School and several of the girls in the class screamed when we had to first kill the lobsters with a cut to the head. The lobsters continued to squirm after the initial blow to the head! Anyway, your recipe looks delicious and a lot easier!
Cocoa & Lavender
April 22, 2021 at 7:11 amI never mind boiling or steaming lobsters – I am sure it is a very strong form of denial… but I could never do the knife thing… And, of course, a bag of frozen lobster meat is even better!
Gerlinde
April 10, 2021 at 8:54 amThis dish looks fantastic. If I ever see lobster claws at Costco I will make it. David, I have been growing tarragon for years in my tiny garden with my brown thumb. I think tarragon will do well in a pot.
Cocoa & Lavender
April 22, 2021 at 7:12 amI keep looking for the lobster every time I go to Costco! It is so good with tarragon – our little plants are doing very well now.
Easyfoodsmith
April 11, 2021 at 2:41 amThe dish looks fantastic and we do get fresh lobsters here, so I guess I will treat my family to this meal one of these days. thanks for sharing 🙂
Cocoa & Lavender
April 22, 2021 at 7:13 amIt would be a lovely treat for your family, Taruna! Glad to know fresh lobster is easily available for you!
Chef Mimi
April 11, 2021 at 4:59 amI need better friends.
Cocoa & Lavender
April 22, 2021 at 7:13 amI am lucky, I must admit, Mimi!
Jeff the Chef
April 11, 2021 at 6:23 amI love that the pieces of lobster and roughly the same size as the pasta. I also love that your shells probably carry tons of sauce. I’ll bet this is delicious. It’s rare that I have lobster, but this would be the way I’d like to have it!
Cocoa & Lavender
April 22, 2021 at 7:14 amYes, the gnocchette were a great form to carry the sauce. I hadn’t thought about that when I made it – I was just using what pasta I had in the cupboard!
Vance Morgan
April 11, 2021 at 9:18 amDavid, you are very lucky to have a friend who gives you a pound of fresh lobster meat. Even here in Maine, the last price I saw at Sue’s Fish Market was $60/lb.
Great recipe – will ty when price of lobster comes down.
Vance
Cocoa & Lavender
April 22, 2021 at 7:15 amWow – that price is a shocker, Vance.. but it is out of season now, so I suppose that makes sense. Definitely worth trying when it becomes less ridiculous!
sippitysup
April 11, 2021 at 4:57 pmI have seen that beans of pasta but only in half rigatoni. It’s become my go-to shape in fact. Lobster is hard to come by for me, except in the winter. That’s spiny lobster season here. But crab might just do in a pinch. GREG
Cocoa & Lavender
April 22, 2021 at 7:17 amI think crab is a great idea, Greg – as I was saying to Ron, mussels could be good without the cream, and Trader Joe has great langoustine tails that are quite nice.
sherry
April 11, 2021 at 11:13 pmwhat a marvellous friend to give you lobster. thinking on it, i have hardly ever eaten lobster. crab and prawns and scallops etc yes but lobster -mmm. i do love it tho. i really must go thru my freezer one day and find out what is lurking there. i did use up some of the miso i had bought at christmas the other night, and there are so many more secrets hiding away in my fridge and pantry…
Cocoa & Lavender
April 22, 2021 at 7:18 amI did a full inventory of the freezer but it didn’t do any good, Sherry – it is so packed that I can’t even find things that I know are in there! I think I need a retroactive New Year resolution to just clean the thing out!
Carolyne
April 13, 2021 at 1:45 pmYummy! 1 lb of lobster meat – Now, that is a real friend. And, you made a feast of it.
Cocoa & Lavender
April 22, 2021 at 7:18 amDefinitely wanted to use such a gift to its best advantage, Carolyne!
Raymund
April 13, 2021 at 5:21 pmI do this exercise once in a while, as a food blogger this is a common issue. We always have a lot of leftovers but I do have allocated a day to use them all up before buying new stuff. BTW if its lobster, they wont see the light of day at our home. That recipe looks delicious!
Cocoa & Lavender
April 22, 2021 at 7:20 amThat is one thing I generally do not do – make enough for leftovers. I love having new and different food every day! However, during lockdown, I would make extra at dinner to have for lunch the next day…
2pots2cook
April 14, 2021 at 5:44 amTotally, completely, absolutely, wholeheartedly agree with Mimi !! 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
Cocoa & Lavender
April 22, 2021 at 7:20 amI never take my friendships for granted, Davorka!
Inger @ Art of Natural Living
April 15, 2021 at 1:45 amSuch a problem having lobster burning a hole in your freezer :). Though I completely understand the need to push through one’s pantry!
How do you think this would be with crab? My CSF box this month will be a couple types of crab. As much as I hate to say it, I am getting tired of Steak (or Seafood) Oscar which I just made a few times to finish up last year’s crab.
Cocoa & Lavender
April 22, 2021 at 7:21 amI think it would be great with crab – with or without the cream. Crab is very versatile!
Valentina
April 16, 2021 at 5:13 pmLucky guys to have friends dropping off lobster! A friend just brought me a bag of lemons and I was thrilled. Imagine if I received the lobster! Your pasta dish looks and sounds utterly delicious, David. 🙂 ~Valentina
Cocoa & Lavender
April 22, 2021 at 7:22 amWell, I am always thrilled when someone drops by with their homegrown lemons 🙂 Yes, I was very fortunate to get this lobster!
Christina Conte
April 18, 2021 at 8:24 amYou have the BEST friends! And this recipe? Fricking YUM! Love that the easiest sauces are the best, but it’s so sad that so many people don’t know this and are buying overpriced, horrible tasting jars of sauce 🙁
The bad thing for me is now I want lobster pasta! haha!
Cocoa & Lavender
April 22, 2021 at 7:04 amThere is NOTHING bad about wanting lobster pasta, my dear! 🙂 You know I agree with you 110% – jarred sauces are pretty awful, no matter what the brand. ANd it is so simple to make a nice, fresh sauce either using fresh tomatoes or good quality canned ones… I feel the same about salad dressings, too!
Andrea
April 19, 2021 at 12:17 pmDear David, I have not had lobster in a very, very long time. I must admit I am a bit jealous….;) in a good way, of course!
Your pasta looks so good – a no-fuss recipe with nothing but wonderful ingredients. I certainly would have loved to have a bowl!
Btw the Italian bowls that you used as your ‘mise-en-place’ /prep bowls are very pretty.
Liebe Grüße,
Andrea
Cocoa & Lavender
April 22, 2021 at 6:59 amI love those Deruta bowls, Andrea – given to us by a dear friend many years ago… Yes, lobster is a wonderful thing, but maybe it is good that neither of us has it too often? It keeps it special!
Karen (Back Road Journal)
April 25, 2021 at 9:51 amHaving a pound bag of lobster meat given to you by your friend, it doesn’t get much better than that. While no one has gifted me with lobster, I recently was given a huge basil plant. This would be a good recipe to use some of its leaves…now for that claw meat, that is another question. I’ll have to make do with Florida lobster tail meat. 😊
Cocoa & Lavender
April 28, 2021 at 11:50 amIt is pretty wonderful to have a friend like this! I have never had FLorida lobster – I don’t think I can get it here…
John
May 7, 2021 at 3:32 pmI really like the sound of this recipe, David, and I’m a tad envious of having you having friends that give away lobster.
Just last night I looked through our freezers and noticed they were getting rather empty, although the pantry is still over-stocked with legumes and dried pasta. So much pasta!
Cocoa & Lavender
May 9, 2021 at 11:20 amWe are still pretty well-stocked in the freezer department but it is getting more manageable. I can actually see things now.
Yep, I was pretty lucky with that gift!