Lobster Killa

The title of this post comes from Julie and Julia. Julie has dreams that her sleep machine says "lobster killer, lobster killer, lobster killer". When Julie has to make lobster, she puts a whole live lobster in the boiling pot and the lid pops off, she screams and runs out of the kitchen. Her husband runs in and replaces the lid and as he walkes out he whispers "lobster killa, lobster killa...".

Since it's Valentine's Day we decided to splurge and buy lobster tails for dinner instead of going out. Three tails were $27 bucks at Costco...you can keep your "market price" restaurants! As long as you know how to make them, they are great at home!

Do yourself a favor, if they put a bag of ice in with them, take it out as soon as you get home. I forgot and had lobster water leaked (through two bags) all over the shelf in the fridge. Yuck. I put it in two freezer ziplocs after that so that it would contain the juices and smells.

They could not be easier! You split the shells down the back, it helps to plunge the tip of the knife where you see in this picture, where the tail meets the shell, and then push the rest of the knife down. Tap your other fist on the knife if you need to.

After they are like this, you open the shell, pull out the meat while keeping it attached at the very end of the shell. It will sit on top of it's shell. Have a wide pan ready with less than an inch of boiling water in it. Simply put them in the water and put the lid on, leaving it cracked for steam to escape.

I forgot to cut the meat down the back before I put them in the water, so I took another picture. Just gently slice along the back of the meat and it will split open as it cooks.

Sprinkle the tops with paprika. Depending on the size, they take less than 10 minutes to cook. Seriously, as with all seafood don't overcook them or you will ruin them. Start checking them after 5 minutes, look for all white.

While I was curling my hair my hubby put them in a oven safe pan and put them under a hot boiler for 1-2 minutes just to lightly broil the tops. Look how much they shrink up when they cook! it's a good thing they were big to start with!

Serve with drawn butter {melt your butter, separate the solids off, leaving only the clear yellow butter}, and a lemon wedge if you like. I have to say this: be careful about getting carried away seasoning lobster, you can ruin it quickly because you will mask the taste of it. Save all the fancy stuff for something else, don't mess with perfection. I once went to a fancy restaurant and they served their lobster with some sort of dijon mustard sauce on top of it and it was terrible. Keep that in mind before you go reaching in the spice cabinet! ;)