Grilled Lobster with Roasted Garlic Basil Butter

I guess this one could have been posted in the barbeque section, but it such a uniquely New England dish I thought it better to post here. The basic recipe is one that I stumbled over years ago in some magazine or another, and I have refined it over the years enough that I now consider it to be my personal recipe.

We had guests over for this one yesterday...specifically FOTW member DCummings and her hubby Scott. Dawn made an appetizer that will knock your socks off, and I sure hope she posts it here soon. There is a picture of it further down in the post.

I started out by making the butter, which I did one day ahead of time, because it gets a little crazy when you start chopping up the lobsters.

Grilled Lobster with Roasted Garlic/Basil Butter

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My personal recipe for a summer classic


   4 2 to 2-1/2 pound lobsters
   1 large head garlic
   2 sticks butter
   1 medium shallots, minced
   1 cup freshly chopped basil
   Extra virgin olive oil
   Salt and pepper to taste



GARLIC BUTTER

Remove butter from refrigerator and bring to room temperature
Drizzle garlic head with oil and wrap in aluminum foil.
Bake at 375° for about 45 minutes...remove from oven and let cool
While garlic is cooling, sauté shallots in oil until slightly golden and tender
When all ingredients have cooled, squeeze the garlic out of the cloves and mix well into the butter with the shallots and basil, season with salt and pepper
Refrigerate if not using the same day.


LOBSTER

Heat the grill to medium-high
Bring a large pot of water to a boil, and season well with sea salt
Drop lobsters into the water, head first and boil for 3 or 4 minutes only...you may have to do the lobsters in batches
Remove the lobsters from the water , place in a sheet pan and take them somewhere that you don't mind making a mess of.
When the lobsters are cool enough to handle, split them down the middle, and pack them full of the roasted garlic butter
Place lobsters on the grill and cook shell side down for 9-10 minutes
Melt any remaining garlic butter to serve with the lobster




Recipe formatted with the Cook'n Menu Planning Software from DVO Enterprises.

Now, let's take it step by step

First things first, you can't make the butter without roasting the garlic. We'll drizzle with good oil and wrap it up. Into the oven for 45 minutes and it's done.


While the garlic is cooking and making the kitchen smell like heaven, we may as well sauté some shallots and chop the basil.




Now we'll put the butter, basil , garlic and shallots in a bowl and mix

then add the juice of half a lemon



Well, now it's time for Larry lobster to make his ultimate sacrifice for our heathen pleasures. It is more humane to drop Larry in head first...kills him a little quicker...remember...3 or 4 minutes only!


Like I said...you'll probably have to do them in batches...I could only fit two in the pot.



Just toss them on a sheet pan until they're all ready


OK...now it gets messy...really messy take everything to a spot you don't care about. It's not like you're gutting a deer, but you will have a lot of liquid to deal with.

Split old Larry right down the middle...a good sharp chef's nice can do it, but I prefer to also use my poultry shears.



Now we pack Larry full of that wonderful, creamy, garlicky basil butter and get his butt on the grill!



Now while Larry and friends are becoming delicious, we melt the leftover butter to serve with him, and have our appetizers. In this case, a wonderful Asian inspired ground turkey lettuce wrap made by Dawn. Had a great little bite to it. Rest assured I will hound her mercilessly until she posts it.



I guess we'll follow that up with the Caprese salad and smoked asparagus, and serve the lobsters!






Thanks for stopping by to check out our meal...hope you enjoyed it.

No, it would be the prevelance of lobster in this area Richard...right off the New England coast is the only place good lobster is caught here in the USA. Thus...anything lobster is immediately associated with the icy waters of the New England coast.

The ground turkey was just a bonus...actually I thought it was pork until Dawn told me otherwise

everything looked great, dave! i agree about the new-england exclusivity and i just know that those flavours had to work well together. the lettuce wraps looked very delicious as well.  thanks for posting!