Tom's Baked Lobster

I have eaten many lobsters over the years, but this was the best I have ever had. We visited Tom and Allison this past weekend for dinner. While I was making the Magical Margaritas, Tom was preparing to serve this awesome meal. What a great combination (Surf and Smurf)!

Ingredients based on one 1 3/4 pound live lobster

Preparing the Stuffing

Combine

·       1 sleeve finely crumble Ritz crackers

·       2 tablespoon of fresh parsley

·       5 to 8 cooked baby shrimp

·       1/2 cup fresh crab meat

·       1/4 cup melted butter

·       lemon juice to taste, about 1 small wedge

·       2 tablespoon dry sherry

Prepare the Lobster

·       Turn the lobster on it's back

·       Using a large, sharp butcher knife, slice from the tip of the head all the way down the tail. (See the tip below.)

·       Remove the "inners" from the belly

·       Rinse with cold water to clean out

Stuff the Lobster

·       Spread the lobster open as wide as possible

·       Stuff it with the stuffing

·       Drizzle melted butter on top of the stuffed lobster, just enough to moisten

Bake

·       Cook in a 450 preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes.  Keep an eye that you don't burn the stuffing.  It should come out slightly browned.

Tips

·       Serve with a small cup of melted butter for dipping

·       You can also include baby scallops in your stuffing.

·       If you would rather not cut the live lobster down the belly, you can boil it for a few minutes, just enough to kill it.

·       If you're serving for company, you can do everything a head of time.  Just wait to drizzle the butter onto of the lobster until the last minute.  Obviously refrigerate if you are preparing ahead.

Chuck's Fish Chowder

If you like a good fish chowder, this one is for you. This is a recipe that I took from allrecipes.com, then modified to my liking. We had some friends over last night, and this chowder was our first course of the meal. Everyone really enjoyed it (even my wife who isn't a big fan of fish).

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons butter
2 cups chopped onion
1 bunch of celery, chopped
4 cups chicken stock
4 cups diced potatoes (raw peeled)
2 pounds Haddock, diced into 1/2 inch cubes (any white fish will work)
2 teaspoons Old Bay Seasoning (or to taste)
1/4 teaspoon of Cayenne Pepper (or to taste)
1 cup clam juice
1/2 cup all purpose flour
2 12oz cans evaporated milk (not condensed milk!)
Salt and Pepper (to taste)

Directions:

1. In a large stock pot, melt the butter over medium heat. Saute the onions and celery in the butter until tender. Hit them with some salt and pepper during the saute.

2. Add chicken stock and potatoes, simmer on medium heat for 10 minutes (this will be long enough to cook the potatoes)

3. Add fish and simmer on medium heat another 10 minutes (this will be long enough to cook the fish)

4. Add the Old Bay seasoning and some shakes of salt and pepper

5. Mix together the clam juice and the flour until smooth, and stir into the soup (it's getting thick now, but will thin out with the milk)

6. Lower the heat to a low simmer and add the Evaporated Milk.

7. Add the cayenne pepper to taste.

8. Let the chowder simmer for a while, then taste. Gradually add salt and test until the taste makes you happy.

Ari's Beef Brisket

We recently had an international food day at work, and this recipe was one of my favorites. Ari brought in a traditional recipe that has been in his family for a long time. This Beef Brisket is very easy to make, and results in a delicous, tender beef with a nicely sweet gravy. I just made this today for dinner and it turned out great!

Shopping List (Serves 4 to 6)

3 to 3 1/2 lb. fresh beef brisket (This is not corned beef. Simply ask for Beef Brisket at the butcher shop)

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 envelope regular onion soup mix

1/2 tsp garlic powder

3/4 cup ketchup

1 disposable roasting pan

Instructions:

Use disposable roasting pan that fits brisket with some space, and place brisket in pan. Sprinkle / Rub sugar,soup mix, garlic powder over meat. Drizzle ketchup over all. Add water to bottom, enough to come up to the meat, and if it comes up over the meat a little, its okay. Wrap over with foil sealing securely, leave some air space.

Bake in 325 over for 3.5 hrs. I put mine of the oven bottom shelf. Take a look at the brisket and see if its cooked enough, it may need another 15 - 30 minutes depending on strength of your oven. The way to tell is how evenly the meat is throughout so you may need to cut it to see.

Take meat and place on cutting surface. Let cool. Trim fat from bottom and then slice thin across grain to get it into serving portions.

Save sauce and after you have sliced it, put sauce over meat in a serving dish.

Hint: After a day of refrigeration, when it was warming up, I added some more water (sprinkling it over the meat) and a little more ketchup and then mixed it all in, rotating the pieces of sliced meat from bottom to top to ensure even simmering. I let it simmer again like a soup... and that made it even more tender and juicy.

You can get bottle of horseradish to serve with it if you want.

You can't really overcook brisket if enough water is involved.

I served the brisket with sliced potatoes and onions sauteed in the frying pan, along with some cinammon streusel muffins. It was a nice combination. And for the kids, naturally we had some macaroni and cheese!

Darn good Lobster Bisque

I've always wanted to make a good Lobster Bisque. But until yesterday, I had never tried. I lucked onto a good starting point for the recipe from www.allrecipes.com. The recipe below is a combination of the original from "all recipes", some tweaks suggested by one of their readers, and a few tweaks of my own. We had 6 of our neighbors over last night and those that tried it, loved it. I got lucky on my first try with this one!

INGREDIENTS (8 servings)

2 cups chicken broth
1 chopped medium onion
6 chopped green onions
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
4 cups heavy cream
1 teaspoon salt
4 lobsters (1 lb), boiled, picked into small chunks
3 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper (more to taste)

DIRECTIONS

In a small frying pan place 1/4 cup chicken stock and the chopped onions (season with some salt and pepper). Cook over a medium heat for 5 to 7 minutes.

In a medium size pot over medium heat melt the butter. Slowly whisk in flour. Whisk until a creamy mixture is created.

Gradually pour in stock, whisking constantly. Whisk in cream, salt, onions, lobster meat, Worcestershire sauce and cayenne pepper.

Heat until soup is almost boiling. Do not boil the soup as the milk will curdle when boiled. Then, on low heat, simmer for at least 1 hr, more if you have time.

Jay's Chocolate Chip Cookies (The Best)

These are definitely an awesome Chocolate Chip Cookie and now represent the best CCC I have found. Thanks to Jay for experimenting with recipes and coming up with this one!

2 cups flour
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 stick of unsalted butter
1 stick of margarine
2 cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 eggs

Preheat the oven to 350

Let the butter and margarine sit on the counter for an hour or two (if frozen) It should be soft (a quick microwave zap to soften works also).

Put softened butter, both sugars, and vanilla into a bowl and mix until smooth and creamy

Crack the eggs into a small bowl and break up with a fork

Mix eggs into the sugar/butter mixture one at a time

Mix salt, flour and baking soda in a bowl. add the flour mixture to the sugar/butter mixture a third at a time

Add chocolate chips

Scoop them onto the cookie trays and cook for 9-13 minutes (or until they are the color you like, they should just about flatten out before removing from oven)

Makes a thin, chewy cookie. very tasty!

Hokie, Hokie, High!

Hi all,

Here is a magical margarita made in my new Hokie Glass that I got for X-mas. It was a great way to break in the new glass! The recipe was as good as ever!

Merry X-mas and Happy New Year,
Chuck

Pasta and Vermouth?

Our neighbors, Alex and Janelle, brought over a pasta dish that they made to go with the Margaritas and Ribs. Janelle is Italian, and she is a great cook with some very interesting recipes. Many of her pasta dishes use vermouth in the recipe, which is new to me. Here is the basic recipe for Vegetable Pasta with Vermouth.

Ingredients you will need:

1-2 shots of vermouth
1 lb of bow-tie pasta
brocolli or other vegetables of your choice
2 handfuls of grated cheese (romano or parmesan)
fresh garlic
1 1/2 cups of cream
olive oil

Saute the garlic in olive oil until golden (do not let it get brown)
Then add 2 handfuls of romano or pamesan cheese and 1 1/2 cups of cream (make it to your desired thickness or creaminess)
Add in salt and pepper (to taste)
Add 1 or 2 shots of vermouth (to taste)
Add in your favorite vegetables
Cook until slightly reduced

Boil 1lb of bow-tie pasta, drain, then combine everthing together

Sorry for the "sketchy" ingredients...those Italians don't seem big on measurements!

Enjoy!

Saturday Night after Snowmobiling

Saturday night after snowmobiling is a popular time for The Magical Margarita. Here I am after reaching Defcon 1 (or was it Defcon 2?).
This was a common scene at the lake house on Moose Pond in Denmark, Maine. Between 2002 and 2005, the winters on Moose Pond were filled with snowmobiles, family, friends, and the Magical Margarita.