Lobster on a Work Night?

So, you want to do a little special weeknight meal...entertaining some good friends, the boss, your special someone...and you're short on time but want to make a great impression? Here's your menu and it will only take about 45 minutes to prepare, and you can pick up all the ingredients at the grocery store on your way home from work!

I bet you've never thought of lobster as fast food, but it definitely is an I'm going to show you how to do it anytime and with ease and style!

Menu for Entertaining on a Week Night!

Sweet Iced Tea
Chardonnay Wine (Unoaked is best)
Cheese & baguette slices (purchased baguette slices, your favorite artisanal cheese)
Grilled lobster with compound butter and fresh lemon
Tossed green salad & vinaigrette (organic mixed spring greens, ready to serve from the container, favorite bottled vinaigrette)
Rolls & butter (get the brown & serve kind of rolls)
Vanilla ice cream with grilled pineapple (purchase fresh pineapple rings and good quality vanilla bean ice cream)

Here's your grocery list:

1 ready-to-eat baguette
Your favorite cheese (don't you dare get the little cut-up squares!)
Organic Salad Mix
Vinaigrette Dressing
Brown & Serve Dinner Rolls
1 stick butter for rolls
1 lobster (1 1/2 - 2 lbs.) per person
1/2 stick butter per lobster
1 tsp. minced garlic per stick of butter
1 small bunch of fresh basil per stick of butter
1/2 lemon per lobster
Good quality vanilla bean ice cream
Fresh pineapple rings (allow 1 per person)
Ground cinnamon

Here is the only recipe you need:

Grilled Lobster for Four

1 lobster (about 1 1/2 - 2 lbs.) per person
1/2 stick salted butter per lobster (yes, I know this is 4 oz. per person but this IS a special meal!)
1/2 tsp. minced garlic
1 small bunch fresh basil

Here is the game plan:

1. When you get home, put your box of lobsters in the fridge or in a cooler, put the salad in the fridge and leave the butter on the counter. Put a very large stockpot of water (heavily salted) on the stove to boil and put your pretty glass bowl for the salad in the fridge.
2. Take your shower or freshen up and put something FABULOUS on for the evening.
   Pour yourself a glass of wine (an unoaked Chardonnay will be great with this meal) and put your apron on.
3. The water should be boiling by now, so drop into the boiling water (head first) as many lobsters as will fit into your pot. (You might have to do this in a couple of batches, and if you do,make sure to bring the water back to a boil each time.) Make sure you have your exhaust fan going full blast....you don't want to give yourself a facial AFTER you have your makeup refreshed!
4. Boil each lobster for 7 minutes and then put them on a platter or baking sheet to cool on the counter.
5. While the lobsters are boiling, finely chop the fresh basil and stir it and the garlic into the softened butter. Set that aside on the counter.
6. Set the table; cut the butter for the rolls into pats and place on a plate in the fridge.
7. Return to the cooled lobster. Place each back-side-down on a cutting board and cut in half lengthwise. Scoop out body but leave tail and claws intact. Spread 2 T. compound butter over the meat in the tail and put 2 T. in the body cavity and leave on sheet pan on counter. (You may cover with a clean cloth or plastic wrap if you want.)
8. Open wine bottles and place corks part way back into bottles; place in ice & water-filled buckets to chill and artfully arrange cheese and sliced baguette on your decorative platter or beautiful wooden cutting board in a strategic location.
9. Turn on oven to desired temperature for browning rolls and light grill.

When your guests arrive:

1. Greet guests with wine or sweet tea, cheese & baguettes, a relaxed smile, and chat a bit.
2. Put the rolls in the oven and return to your guests for more chat.
3. When the rolls are finished, put them in fabric-lined baskets and set aside.
4. Call everyone into the kitchen and, with a flourish, unveil your beautiful red lobsters and head for the grill. Everyone will follow to watch because this is so special!
5. Turn the grill to medium-high and place lobsters directly over the flame with the cut side up. Close the lid and grill for 3 minutes while you entertain your guests with brilliant conversation. Turn off grill and move lobsters to top rack and navigate your guests to the wine to refill their glasses while you return to the kitchen.
6. Toss salad greens with vinaigrette and pile artfully onto your chilled platter. Place on the dining table with the basket of rolls and chilled pats of butter.
7. Assign a helper to refill wine/tea glasses while you arrange your lobster halves, wedges of lemon and basil bouquets on a pretty platter. Place on the table and be ready to take bows!
8. When most of your guests are half way through the lobster, excuse yourself to the kitchen. Put coffee on if you are serving that. Dredge the pineapple slices in the light brown sugar and grill on each side until heated through and caramalized, about 2 minutes per side. Place scoop of ice cream in each bowl, lean warm pineapple ring jauntily on each scoop and sprinkle with ground cinnamon. Serve and bask in the praise!

I just know my PC buddy Debbie will notice that I neglected to remind you to refill your wine glass during the course of the preparation/evening! (I bet you won't forget to do that!)

Heritage Beet Salad with Goat Cheese

We all agreed that the best part of our meal last evening was the beet salad that I made from the organic heirloom beets and tender Swiss chard that I brought home from the farmer's market earlier in the day.

I was disappointed that I couldn't get my goat cheese from Bosky Acres goat dairy, but Bill Makuch said he'd heard that the recent afternoon thunderstorms had knocked out their power and they lost much of their cheese.

Make sure you serve this salad at room temp. You will love the way the tangy, salty goat cheese contrasts with the sweetness of the beets, and the minced shallots provide just the right amount of crunch and bite. We liked lots of coarsely ground black pepper on this salad.

Heirloom Beet Salad with Goat Cheese
Serves 4

Adapted from Martha Stewart Living, July 2008

1 1/2 lbs. small to medium size beets (mixed colors make a pretty salad)
12 cups combined beet greens and Swiss chard
2 T. white wine vinegar
2 T. minced shallot
2 tsps. Dijon mustard
1/4 c. Canola oil or olive oil blend
Salt and pepper
2 oz. or more goat cheese, crumbled (place in freezer for 20-30 minutes for easier crumbling)

Make beets: Heat oven to 400˚. Trim beet stems to 2 inches; wash beets and place on heavy duty foil. Bring sides together and crimp to form packet. Place on baking sheet in oven and roast for about 1 hour or until tender. Remove from packet and allow to cool to room temperature. Trim ends and peel or rub skin from beets. Cut into 1/2 inch pieces and combine in a bowl. Toss to distribute different colored beets together.

Make greens: While beets are roasting, pull chard and beet green leaves from thick stems and discard stems. Wash leaves thoroughly in several changes of fresh water until clean and drain in colander. Pack into microwavable bowl, cover with plastic wrap and vent by poking holes in surface with a fork. I use the Pampered Chef large micro-cooker. Place in microwave and cook on high for 5 minutes (1000 watts) until greens are wilted. (Water clinging to leaves from washing is sufficient for steaming in microwave.) Remove from bowl and spread on plate to cool to room temperature. On cutting board, roughly chop cooked greens.

Make vinaigrette: Combine vinegar, shallot, mustard, a good pinch of salt and sprinkling of pepper in small bowl. Pour oil into vinegar mixture in a steady stream, whisking briskly until thick and incorporated. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.

Make ahead: You can make these salad components ahead to this point and refrigerate them. Return to room temperature before serving.

Compose: Distribute chopped greens evenly between 4 salad plates. Top with beets and crumble a generous quantity of crumbled goat cheese over top of each. Spoon vinaigrette over each salad, top with a coarse grind of black pepper and serve.

Waxhaw Farmer's Market Finds

I wish that I could do justice in photographing the beautiful fruits and veggies that I found at the Waxhaw Farmer's Market this morning.

We have a lady who grows organic veggies, makes her own soap, and is always ready with a suggested recipe. The carrots and beets in the picture came from her.

Bill and Donna Makuch, who started this farmer's market, provided the tomatoes and baby pattypan squash, and their neighbor went the whole way to McBee (pronounced Mac'-bee) and probably to McLeod Farm to bring back these giant, aromatic peaches. I'll have some photos over the next few days to share what I transformed these veggies into. Lyndsey (daughter) is going to make healthy, whole grain pancakes in the morning and has laid claim to the peaches for slicing over those. Of course, I'll take pictures of those, too!

At my farmer's market, I can find organic, TRULY free range chicken eggs, small-batch delicious goat cheese (chevre), pickles and fruit preserves, whole grain and organic pita and other breads, all the veggies I would want, herbs and even flowers far more beautiful that any local florist has.

If you haven't been to your local farmer's market and maybe don't even know where it is, go to Local Harvest to find a market near you and take advantage of it. You will be getting produce cut and pulled that morning, eggs freshly plucked from the nests, and will be able to shake the hand of the farmer that is providing the food for your table.

Chicken Vegetable Soup with Tortellini

Do you make your own chicken stock or do you have a favorite boxed stock? I do both depending on what I'm making. There is no substitute for homemade stock for some dishes, such as Southern Style Chicken & Dumplings and Pennsylvania Dutch Chicken Corn Soup, but there is great boxed stock and broth being made for our convenience now and since low-sodium and low-fat varieties are available, they are also much healthier than they used to be.

Price-wise, two boxes of really good quality stock (8 cups) will run you about $8.00 and the time it takes to open and pour them into your stock pot. Yesterday I made "from scratch" stock and it cost me $12 to make 8 cups, but then I had the bonus of the chicken to use and my house smelled fabulous all afternoon. So it was a wash as far as the price, but it also took about 3 hours to make and most days I just don't have that much time.

I made a great soup with my stock and vegetables from my daughter's garden. I've streamlined this recipe so you won't have to spend 3 hours making the stock before you even begin to make the soup. Using rotisserie chicken speeds up the process even more and you'll have a delicious, healthy and colorful meal in about 30 minutes!

Chicken Vegetable Soup with Tortellini

2 boxes good chicken broth or chicken stock (8 cups)
1 medium zucchini, coarsely chopped
1 medium yellow squash, coarsely chopped
2 large carrots, peeled and chopped
1 large onion, coarsely chopped
2 ribs celery, coarsely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 bag (9-16 oz.) frozen tri-color cheese tortellini
4 Roma tomatoes, coarsely chopped
1 T. fresh basil (or 1 tsp. dried)
1 T. tsp. fresh oregano (or 1 tsp. dried)
Salt and pepper to taste
1 rotisserie chicken, skinned and boned

• Pour broth or stock into stock pot.
• Add zucchini, yellow squash, onion, celery, carrots and garlic; cover and bring to a boil, reduce to simmer and cook for 10 minutes.
• Add tortellini and tomotoes. Run your knife through the fresh herbs to roughly chop them and add them to the pot. Cover and bring to boil; reduce heat to simmer for 3 minutes.
• Remove pot from heat and stir in the chicken. Adjust seasoning. Cover and let rest for 5 minutes before serving.

Cookies for Care Packages

Sending home-baked goodies to troops in the Middle East is tricky right now because of the intense heat there. Our son-in-law, who is in the Air Force in Iraq, says not to send chocolate because it will melt. Of course, that was a challenge that I couldn't ignore.

Once when I was in the American Southwest desert, we were hiking and when we returned to the Jeep, we found that we had left a zippy bag full of white chocolate-macadamia nut cookies lying in the sun. To our delight, the white chocolate chips were soft but intact and the cookies had that just-out-of-the-oven taste and texture! Wow....the heat could actually be to my advantage because he would be getting cookies that would be as good as if he were in my kitchen!

The next consideration besides affects of heat is the texture itself. They have to stand up to being thrown around in transit; what I didn't want was for him to open a box to find nothing but crumbs. The cookies would have to be dense but still tender and a bit crisp but not too delicate. And I did want to use real dark chocolate because, well, there is just nothing like chocolate to give you that sense of well-being! Here is the recipe I came up with. I sent them yesterday packaged in disposable plastic bins in a box full of magazines, and I doubled the recipe so that he can share both the magazines and the cookies with his troops. I'll let you know what he says when they arrive.

Death by Chocolate Cookies

1 pkg. (8 squares) semi-sweet baking chocolate
1/4 c. (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 c. firmly packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs, slightly beaten
1 tsp. real vanilla extract
1/2 – 3/4 c. all-purpose flour (start with 1/2 c. and add more as needed)
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup white chocolate chips
1/2 c. chopped nuts (pecans, macadamias, walnuts, almonds, etc.)
1/2 c. dried cherries or cranberries

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Melt the semi-sweet chocolate in a large microwavable bowl in microwave for 2 minutes on high. Stir until the chocolate is melted and smooth.
• Stir in the butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla with a wooden spoon until the mixture is well blended.
• Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt, and then stir in the white chocolate, fruit and nuts. (The batter will stiffen as it sits.)
• Drop by spoonfuls (I use a one-ounce scoop) onto ungreased cookie sheets or preheated baking stones (that's what I use).
• Bake for 14 minutes or so until just firm on the edges but slightly soft on the top. These cookies are very dark so make sure you don't burn them.
• Remove from oven and cool cookies on wire racks.
• Makes about 2 dozen cookies, depending on the size spoon you use.

Wine with WHAT???

We all know the old "red wine with meat and white wine with chicken or fish" rule, right? Pretty simple thing to remember, don't you agree? But it's no longer as simple as it was in the '70s when our wine choices at most restaurants were simply "Burgundy" and "Chablis."

One of the most enjoyable things about exploring wine is doing it in the context of food. It's like creating a third dimension. For example, at a recent wine tasting at Global restaurant in Charlotte, NC, Chef Bernard Brunet offered a delicious New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc that was quite everything that grape offers from New Zealand, bright acid and lots of vibrant, flowery and green flavors on the palate.

Now, we know that Sauvignon Blanc is generally a perfect pairing for salads with vinaigrette, seafood, Thai food, etc., but the server placed a neat shot of cold, sweet, cinnamony pureed acorn squash soup on my plate. My interest was peaked! I took a sip of the fresh, light and perfectly balanced soup, rolled it over my tongue and then, with a tiny bit of the soup still upon my tongue, sipped the wine. Amazing! The wine's acidity dropped and the vegetal qualities disappeared! The soup tasted less sweet and the squash flavor became more pure. They became the sum of each other's parts and in my mouth joined into harmonious balance. That, my friends, was a perfect example of a brilliant pairing of food with wine!

Albert W. A. Schmid, a renowned expert on wine and spirits and author of manuals for the hospitality industry advises, "If all else fails answer these three questions: Do you like the food you are eating? Do you like the wine that you are drinking? Why does this have to change? Perhaps you have stumbled on the perfect pairing between food and wine…for you. Trust yourself!"

So go out and have fun playing with your food....and wine. And don't worry if you think you might be breaking "the rules." Explore, experiment, and trust your own palate!

30 days to a New Habit

I've been doing some serious introspection lately...thanks to my fellow personal chef and buddy Debbie Spangler of Yummy~Issimo! Personal Chef Service. And she doesn't even know that she was the catalyst here.

I mean, just look at the last time I posted to this blog! And every day I get a post from Debbie, true to her commitment to naploblamo or whatever the heck it is! The key here is the commitment, whether to naplobano or your accountant or yourself.

There are so many positive things that we can do to improve our lifestyle/business/health/spirituality simply by doing away with negative habits and creating new, positive and beneficial ones.

There's a great blog called ZenHabits that I want you all to visit for inspiration. Scott Young posted 20 Tricks to Nuke a Bad Habit and I'm sure that in those 20 tricks you can find YOUR key to give you the strength to create that new good habit. Mine is #8: Make it an Experiment. Be a scientist. Just try the new habit to see what it will be like, rather than a great emotional struggle. This will help keep you focused on conditioning the trial and allow you to view results with less bias.

So, I joined NaBloPoMo because #1 of Scott's Tricks is : Commit for a Month. Thirty days is all you need to make a habit change permanent. Less time than that and the new alternative might not be hardwired into your brain. More time and any failures to last are usually a failure of strategy, not duration. Joining NaBloPoMo is a commitment to blog every day for a month.

Symbolic, I know, but maybe that will inspire me to do other positive things every day....such as exercise, filing, housework, laundry.....well....one thing at a time. After all, Scott's Trick #3 is: Start Small . Changing habits isn’t a matter of willpower, but patience and strategy. Don’t expect to overhaul your diet, exercise or thinking patterns in a day. Tackle one habit at a time.

See you here tomorrow!