Lobster scampi ... Friday 31st August 2012

Lobster scampi … Friday 31 August 2012

Today we bicycled the southwest corner of Mt Desert Island (Acadia National Park). As ever, eating featured highly in our plans, and we chose our route at least in part because we knew a fine cafe in Bass Harbor where we could get lunch. The coastline is beautiful and we took a nice walk through the woods at "Wonderland" and then clambered down on to the rocks by Bass Harbor light. "I'm ready for lunch now" I mentioned …. "I was ready for lunch an hour ago" Gloria replied. "Not far now" I mentioned …. "If we make it" Gloria replied. The weather turned showery so we sat inside to eat our haddock sandwiches …. yummy. A short ride back to Southwest Harbor and we're planning dinner. With some helpful directions we found the local lobster pound and bought a couple of 1.5 pound soft shell lobsters from a tank at the end of the dock. As it turned out, this was not an experience to completely get your mouth watering. "i'll help you in just a minute" the man said, "just got to load these two barrels of bait onto the boat". Believe me there's nothing quite like the smell of rotting salted herring! However, it takes a lot more than that to put me off my food. So off we go back the boat with lobsters strapped to the panniers. Before the culinary experience can start the poor lobsters have to endure a photo-shoot, then it's into to the pot to be steamed. You can't help feeling a bit bad about this …(i.e. the steaming, although from Tasha's reaction to my camera you might believe the photo shoot might be harder to endure). Saute garlic in olive oil with a little Alepo pepper and some ground black pepper. Add dry white wine and simmer for a few minutes. (Cover ears while propane alarm goes off - apparently this detects ethanol vapor as well). Add chopped lobster meat and a sizable chunk of butter. Mix with pasta (linguine), add fresh parsley and grated parmesan, and this is a meal for a king!

Mike

Bass Harbor Light

Lobster - fresh from the pound 

The ingredients (minus the butter)

Lobster scampi - the finished meal