The Guest Menu Part 2 [Lobster Mac & Cheese]

My Mac & Cheese is always a crowd-pleaser and a favorite among our guests. This time I wanted to try something a little more special.

First I bought 2 lobster tails of the Florida spiny persuasion...about a pound a piece and frozen.
I let them sit and thaw while I prepped the other parts of the recipe such as grating the cheese [8oz. of cabot's low fat sharp white cheddar] and boiling the pasta [barilla pasta plus shells to go with the seafood theme.]

Next I steamed the tails in the veggie steamer for about 5 minutes...then dumped them in a colander and covered them in ice to stop the cooking process. The tails were slightly under-cooked...definitely no trying a nibble...but it made them easy to remove from the shells. I gave the lobster meat a quick chop and set aside.

Next I prepped my liquid which consisted of 4 eggs and a quart of fat free half and half. I have had pretty good luck with the fat free stuff although the results would probably be creamy with the regular.

Usually in my mac and cheese, to complement the flavor of the cheddar, I add a dash of Worcestershire and a squirt of good mustard. This time, I thought sherry would be good. I bought cooking sherry at the grocery and although it worked just fine, it is very salty and you have to be careful. Next time, I'll spring for a small bottle of the real stuff and have a sip or 2 of it while everything is baking.

I added maybe a 1/4 cup of the sherry to the egg and cheese mixture with a sprinkle of garlic powder and a dash of pepper.

Now for the cheese part. As I previously mentioned, I grated the block of cabot's but then added to it a bag of the new Kraft cheese with Philly cream cheese...the triple cheddar, I think.
The cream cheese added to the shredded cheese has got me thinking about the next time adding some actual cream cheese to the recipe...perhaps 1/2 the cream and a block of softened low-fat Philly whipped into the egg mixture.
Just something to think about.

So now it's it's time to put it all together.

Melt 1/4 stick of butter in your casserole dish...swish it around and pour the rest into the egg mixture.

First layer 1/3 of the pasta...I tried to make this a smaller dish with more lobster to pasta ratio so I did not use a full pound of the cooked shells. The dog was all for this decision and graciously helped with the extra shells I no longer required.

Next sprinkle 1/3 of the cheese with 1/2 of the lobster. Don't get hung up on the math...it all works out.

Now 1/3 more pasta...1/3 more cheese....the rest of the lobster. Finish off with the rest of the pasta and the last of the cheese. Give it all a good pat and then pour the egg/cream/sherry mixture over the top.

Now bake it according to whatever the other page says or covered for about 45 minutes in a hot oven.

In the meantime melt the rest of that stick of butter, combine with a generous amount of panko, a fair amount of parmesan cheese, and a sprinkle or 2 of old bay.

When the timer goes off, remove the covering and spread evenly over the top.
Bake for another 15 minutes or until it's done.

Let me know how yours turns out.
Mine was quite yummy and I look forward to tweaking the recipe just a bit to make it even more delicious.