Lobsters a'Boiling!

Last night, I arrived home bearing lobsters and Pernod, the final two ingredients needed for the Lobster Paella dish that I planned to make. Once I'd put my things away and changed into comfier clothes, the first thing I did was put a large pot of water on the stove. It was going to take awhile for it to boil, and I needed to cook the lobster before I started on the paella.

As the lobster boiled away, I gathered the rest of my ingredients so that I could begin to make my paella. I preheated the oven and went to town on the prep work.

When the lobsters were pulled from the water and cooling on a towel, I started the paella, cooking some onions, adding some red peppers, and then some garlic. 

This is a pretty straightforward recipe, so I think this post might be more about sharing the photos I took along the way than anything else, but nonetheless, this recipe was worth sharing. At this point, I added rice, chicken stock, saffron, crushed red pepper flakes, salt and pepper to the pot and brought everything to a boil. It went into the oven, covered, to bake for 15 minutes. 

Yum! That's lookin' good! This went back in the oven for another 10 minutes, uncovered, allowing the rice on top to crisp up a bit. After pulling my dutch oven from, well, the oven, I stirred a third of a cup of Pernod into the rice and allowed it to absorb over a medium heat before removing the dish from the heat altogether. At this time, I added the kielbasa, lobster meat, and frozen peas, and covered the dish, allowing everything to steam for about 10 minutes. What's great about this is that the lobster isn't sitting on the heat, overcooking. It's just re-heating slowly in the steam, and that's how we prevent that fishy, over-cooked lobster taste!

Garnished with some lemon wedges and chopped parsley, this was a dish that you ask for seconds of! And better yet, have for leftovers tonight as well! It's delicious, simple and really tasty! ...and pretty to look at, too!

A Reader's Request:

One of my avid readers (and a very dear friend) has asked that I touch on the subject of vegetarian menus, and keeping it interesting. My very simple answer is: creativity. Now anyone with a vegetarian in their household knows how hard it is to cook for everyone, and keep everyone happy! Without the usual proteins to mix it up at dinnertime, it's difficult to always find new and exciting things to put on the table, but not if you use your imagination!

There are so many people that are vegetarian now, it seems that a lot of places are finding more and more ways to make delicious dishes, using only what comes from the ground! It used to be that if you wanted a vegetarian meal, you got some bland tofu on a plate with some snap peas and broccoli and called it a meal. I don't think so, that's not the way I eat anyway...and I've been known to choose the vegetarian option over a protein one sometimes.



Nowadays, there are plenty of main ingredients that you can choose from, to build your menu around. Some examples that I gathered while I was in Whole Foods on this fine snow day here in Massachusetts are as follows:

• Quinoa
• Cous cous
• Portobello mushrooms
• Tofu
• Pasta
• Rice
• Beans

By the way, that's seven ingredients. There are seven days in a week, and you now have a menu for an entire week with no repeats!


Now, the question you ask may be: "What can I DO with these things though?"

My answer to you all is SO MUCH. How about stuffed Portobello mushroom caps? You could use cous cous or quinoa as the base and load it up with delicious herbs, diced peppers and onions, and maybe even a little parmesan cheese. That was just off the top of my head! Veggie fajitas are another good one, because the tortilla gives grilled vegetables a bit more substance, making it into a meal. There's plenty you can do with tofu if you master the art of cooking it. Believe me when I say, tofu will pick up ANY flavor you put on it...it won't taste like tofu if you cook it in some Sriacha and soy sauce, or try a teriyaki and honey marinade...see how that works out!

For more exotic inspiration, look to the Indian cuisine. They do so much with lentils, potatoes, okra, and chickpeas, and so much of their flavor comes from herbs and spices. It's very inspiring to see a dish with such bland main ingredients turn into something so vibrant and flavorful.



As a last little tidbit, I came across a cookbook at Whole Foods, which I noticed (upon looking through it) contains a TON of vegetarian recipes. Now, I don't claim to know if they are good (although I would bet money that the majority of them are delicious) but I thought it was worth mentioning as I happened upon it today, and it seemed apropos of the topic at hand. It is called The Whole Foods Market Cookbook, and I just added one to my Amazon cart as well! Next time I place an order, it will be on it's way to me! :)

In the future, I will try and include vegetarian equivalents of recipes that I discuss. We have to keep it interesting for everyone!

And to my Lauren - I hope this helped. Keep us all posted on your vegetarian endeavors, and I'll keep the ideas comin' for you! Thanks for the post idea! xoxo