Lobster Macaroni & Cheese

I made this lobster mac & cheese on my last cooking show.  The theme of the show was cooking new dishes/developing recipes, and this recipe fit in with the theme because I had never tried to make lobster mac & cheese before.

And the reason why I chose this specific dish?  My friend, Trish, was cooking with me and I knew that lobster mac & cheese was one of her favorite foods.  

I didn't come up with this recipe on my own; my brother is a really good cook and he has a lobster recipe for everything so I simply asked him how to prepare lobster mac & cheese.  I only tweaked his recipe a little, using less black pepper (actually, I didn't use any, only white pepper) and adding a bit of milk to thin down the cheese sauce.  

I wish I had thought to record all of the comments that my friends made when we sat down to eat after we had finished taping.  I definitely remember one of them saying, "I just want to sit here and eat this for the rest of my life," and another one saying, "This tastes like something I would order at the best restaurant I ever went to."

If you make this recipe, I hope you like it as much as my lobster-loving friends do!

Today's Playlist--'Tis the Season!!

• "Jingle Bell Rock"...Brian Setzer Orchestra
• "Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town"...Jackson 5
• "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)"...Michael Buble
• "All I Want For Christmas Is You"...Mariah Carey
• "Christmas Of Love"...Little Isadore And The Inquisitors
• "Mr. Heatmiser"...Big Bad Voodoo Daddy
• "Sleigh Ride"...Garth Brooks

Lobster Macaroni & Cheese
Printable Recipe

For the cheese sauce:

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 8 oz. cream cheese
• 8 oz. muenster cheese, shredded
• 8 oz. mild orange cheddar cheese, shredded
• 1 teaspoon white pepper
• 1+ cup milk (may need more, depending upon thickness of cheese sauce)

Remaining ingredients:

• 1 lb. pasta (I used cavatappi)
• 1 lb. lobster meat, roughly chopped (I use raw, frozen lobster that has been thawed)
• 1 cup panko bread crumbs
• 2 tablespoons melted butter

Gather your ingredients.

I had already shredded my cheese when I took this picture.  I always suggest buying blocks of cheese and shredding it yourself, but for this recipe you definitely should shred it yourself!  It melts so much nicer without all of the added ingredients that they put into the pre-shredded packages!

Set a large (8 quart) pot of salted water over high heat to boil.  Cook pasta according to pkg. directions.

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

Heat cream in a medium saucepan over low heat.  Add the cream cheese, stirring frequently until melted.

Add the muenster, stir until melted.

Add the cheddar, stir until melted.

At this point, my pasta water was boiling so I added the pasta.  One more pot to stir.

Now that the cheeses have all melted...

Add the milk and stir.  I started out by adding one cup of milk.  I still thought that the sauce was a bit thick, so I added another 1/2 cup of milk.  

I think that the sauce should appear to be a bit more runny than you would like it, because it does thicken up a bit as it bakes.

1 1/2 cups of milk did it for me, but don't hesitate to add more if you feel that it needs to be thinned down even more!

Stir the white pepper into the cheese sauce.

When your pasta has finished cooking, drain it and return it to the pot that you cooked it in.

Pour in the cheese sauce.  

Hopefully, by looking at this picture, you can get a sense of how runny the cheese sauce should be.  Not watery, just runny.

Stir to combine.

Stir in the lobster.

Remember, I used raw lobster.  It will cook as the pasta bakes; however, if your lobster is already cooked, decrease your baking time!  You do not want the lobster to be overcooked and rubbery.

Pour the mac & cheese into a 3-quart baking dish.

Smooth it so that it's even and level.

Stir the melted butter and the panko bread crumbs in a small dish until combined.

Sprinkle the buttered bread crumbs on top.

Bake in your preheated 375-degree oven for 20 minutes, until the top has started to brown and the lobster is cooked through.

Sprinkle with a little bit of chopped parsley, if you like.

Yum!

And you can see how the sauce thickens up and is not as runny as it looked before it was baked.

So don't be afraid to add a bit more milk than you think you need when you are preparing the cheese sauce!

Enjoy!