My entry to the Master Chef's 405th Cookbook...
Do you like Seafood? YEAH, WE LIKE SEAFOOD! Do you like Mac&Cheese? YEAH, WE LIKE MAC&CHEESE! So I took those two things and was like "how could this possibly go wrong"... and to everyone's surprise it was so very right.
Ingredients:
8-10 oz of macaroni noodles.
3 cups of cheeses (I suggest 1 cup parmesan, 1 cup gruyere, and 1 cup sharp white cheddar, but I'm not your mom, I can't tell you what to do).
6 tablespoons of salted butter (plus more to butter the pan)
1 lobster tail or full lobster (the bigger the better... leave this in big chunks)
1 cup of crab chunks (not the shredded stuff you might feed your cat the good chunky stuff from by the seafood)
1.5 cups of heavy cream
1 cup of milk
Bread crumbs
Salt & Pepper to taste
Process:
1) In a big ol' pot... boil your macaroni... salt the water. Cook until still hard, not al dente, but still very chewy... it should be soft enough to eat without breaking a tooth but hard enough that if I asked you to eat a second one you'd say "what is wrong with you, no!".
2) Drain the pasta, set it aside. Optional: save a bit of pasta water to deglaze to make fond. Keep using the same big ol' pot. Set your oven to 180 celcius or 350 Fahrenheit.
3) Lobster and Crab time! In the same pot, add 2-3 tbsp of butter (eyeball it, this isn't science class). Add in your lobster and crab chunks once the butter starts to brown, cook them in the butter for 1-1.5 minutes. Don't worry if they aren't fully cooked, they will cook more in the oven. Set them aside once cooked.
4) DO NOT CLEAN OUT THE POT! If you are lucky, there will be some nice brown gunk clinging to the bottom of the pot... that is going to make fond... fond is what gives life meaning.
5) Add a tiny bit of the pasta water to the bottom of the pot. Stir/ scrape with a soft spatula (don't hurt your pans, but get that fond up! Then in the butter (3-4 tablespoons), milk and cream to the pot. Get it to a soft boil (not a hard boil, don't burn your milk you savage).
6) Once you have your milk warm like that bottle you cherished as a baby, start adding the cheese SLOWLY. Continuously whisk. If you have a friend, get them to add it so you can keep whisking. If you don't have a friend, I'm there for you, struggle through it, we are friends now. Add your salt and pepper to taste.
7) in the very same pan (I know, right), toss a little bit more butter (2-3 tablespoons) sprinkle enough breadcrumbs in to soak it all up and become a crumbly mess.
8) Add the macaroni and crab into the sauce... mix it. Pour it into an oven-safe pan... sprinkle on the breadcrumbs. Put it in the oven for 20-25 minutes.
9) ENJOY!
I don't have any pictures... it doesn't last long enough to take them in my house.
Do you like Seafood? YEAH, WE LIKE SEAFOOD! Do you like Mac&Cheese? YEAH, WE LIKE MAC&CHEESE! So I took those two things and was like "how could this possibly go wrong"... and to everyone's surprise it was so very right.
Ingredients:
8-10 oz of macaroni noodles.
3 cups of cheeses (I suggest 1 cup parmesan, 1 cup gruyere, and 1 cup sharp white cheddar, but I'm not your mom, I can't tell you what to do).
6 tablespoons of salted butter (plus more to butter the pan)
1 lobster tail or full lobster (the bigger the better... leave this in big chunks)
1 cup of crab chunks (not the shredded stuff you might feed your cat the good chunky stuff from by the seafood)
1.5 cups of heavy cream
1 cup of milk
Bread crumbs
Salt & Pepper to taste
Process:
1) In a big ol' pot... boil your macaroni... salt the water. Cook until still hard, not al dente, but still very chewy... it should be soft enough to eat without breaking a tooth but hard enough that if I asked you to eat a second one you'd say "what is wrong with you, no!".
2) Drain the pasta, set it aside. Optional: save a bit of pasta water to deglaze to make fond. Keep using the same big ol' pot. Set your oven to 180 celcius or 350 Fahrenheit.
3) Lobster and Crab time! In the same pot, add 2-3 tbsp of butter (eyeball it, this isn't science class). Add in your lobster and crab chunks once the butter starts to brown, cook them in the butter for 1-1.5 minutes. Don't worry if they aren't fully cooked, they will cook more in the oven. Set them aside once cooked.
4) DO NOT CLEAN OUT THE POT! If you are lucky, there will be some nice brown gunk clinging to the bottom of the pot... that is going to make fond... fond is what gives life meaning.
5) Add a tiny bit of the pasta water to the bottom of the pot. Stir/ scrape with a soft spatula (don't hurt your pans, but get that fond up! Then in the butter (3-4 tablespoons), milk and cream to the pot. Get it to a soft boil (not a hard boil, don't burn your milk you savage).
6) Once you have your milk warm like that bottle you cherished as a baby, start adding the cheese SLOWLY. Continuously whisk. If you have a friend, get them to add it so you can keep whisking. If you don't have a friend, I'm there for you, struggle through it, we are friends now. Add your salt and pepper to taste.
7) in the very same pan (I know, right), toss a little bit more butter (2-3 tablespoons) sprinkle enough breadcrumbs in to soak it all up and become a crumbly mess.
8) Add the macaroni and crab into the sauce... mix it. Pour it into an oven-safe pan... sprinkle on the breadcrumbs. Put it in the oven for 20-25 minutes.
9) ENJOY!
I don't have any pictures... it doesn't last long enough to take them in my house.
