Lobster Bucatini

 

  “If you work on a lobster boat, sneaking up behind someone and pinching him is probably a joke that gets old real fast.”

Italian Sunday dinner inspired by a football game?  Why sure, New England and Balamer.  So we had the hot crab dip that I posted earlier and then I had to honor NE and what better way than to start with lobster actually my lobster tails were sold as “North Atlantic” lobster tails, close enough.  What a wonderful dish…

I chose to use a small sauté pan for roasting the tomatoes and then reused it for the lobster, but the handles were too hot to proceed with the rest of the sauce preparation and not large enough to hold all of the sauce and past in the end.

Lobster Bucatini for 2

4 lobster tails, meat removed and cut into large pieces
2 Tablespoons butter
1-pint grape tomatoes, seasoned with a little EVOO, salt and pepper, roasted
1 large-sized shallot, finely minced
3 cloves garlic, finely minced
6 ounces white wine
1 + cup seafood or lobster stock ( I have extra on hand in case the sauce gets too thick)
3 cups strained tomatoes
5-8 fresh basil leaves
Crushed red pepper flakes
Ground black pepper
EVOO

About ¼ lb pasta per person, this is a main dish pasta dinner

1.  4 small lobster tails, about 1 lb, remove the lobster meat from the lobster tails, slice down the middle and cut into large pieces.
2.  1-pint grape tomatoes, roasted seasoned with a little EVOO salt and pepper, at 350° for 15 minutes or just until skins split, remove from pan, and save to add to the sauce later.  I used an oven-safe sauté pan so that I could briefly sauté the lobster meat in butter and the juices of the tomatoes.
3.  2 Tablespoons butter, in the heated sauté pan, add lobster pieces and sauté for about 1-1/2-2 minutes over medium-high or high heat, remove lobster meat and deglaze the pan with 1 tablespoon each seafood stock and white wine.
4. Heat a sauté pan large enough to hold all of the sauce ingredients.  Add 3 Tablespoons EVOO and sauté the shallot, garlic, and a couple of pinches red pepper flakes until fragrant, do not brown, add the remaining stock and white wine and reduce by half.  Stir in the strained tomatoes, season with pepper.  Turn down to simmer, add torn basil leaves, simmer and stir often, for 20-30 minutes.  It can be made ahead and reheated.
5. Stir in the roasted tomatoes to the hot sauce and cook for 3-5 minutes.  I remove about a cup of the hot sauce and add the lobster rather than toss all of the meat into the sauce, it gets lost 😉 Toss hot pasta in the sauce, serve in warm bowls, add more sauce and warmed lobster, garnish with fresh basil.