lobster mac and cheese

Lobster Mac and Cheese was always on my culinary to-do list. This week I came across canned lobster meat on sale and I knew it was time to make it happen. At $18 a can I think it's pretty good deal to have all the work done for you where all you have to do it chop and bake.

But having said that, this entire can cost just as much as the rest of our groceries for the week. Not that we keep a grocery budget (I'll always spend what I need to to make a meal happen), but we definetly found ourselves eating cheap this week leading up the the finale. Right now if you buy produce such as tomatoes and peaches from the farm stand, you make out like a bandit (at least we do). 

To make this Lobster Mac and Cheese we used an Ina Garten recipe. I've never tried one of her's before, but of the few episodes I've seen of Barefoot Contessa, I've always found myself thinking, "Yep, I'd eat that. No better yet, I'd make it and eat it!". This recipe is stellar. The ratio of pasta, to sauce, to cheese to lobster - all perfect! When it comes to pasta recipes especially, I weigh my ingredients because I find that sauce to pasta ratio matters and if left without a scale I dump the entire package of pasta into the pot and end up with a dry pasta dinner. The scale even came in handy when we fell a few grams short of cheese and used some of Owen's marble to make up the difference. This recipe made piles and piles of food - enough for 2 (and then some) dinners. I was a little concerned at the lack of effort to thicken the roux, but the saucy cheese is perfect in a mac and cheese and even BETTER the next day.

This recipe tastes like a seafood chowder version of mac and cheese which is something very nice and different. The blend of sharp cheddar and gruyere is a wonderful adult flavour that didn't fare well with Owen. He was telling everyone at childcare that he eats crab, octopus and tonight he was going to eat Lobster! He also said that he likes lobster best. Yeah kid's got some expensive taste. But because Owen's a different little eater, he's not really into pasta and this cheese flavour might just have been a little bit too strong for his palate. Oh well, it really wasn't too difficult to polish off Owen's portion as well as our own with this meal.