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Lobster and shells with roasted corn, mascarpone and chives.

Just a quick reminder to watch me on QVC tonight, at 8:30pm EST. You can snag yourself a copy of my new book, due out next month! See you live, friends!

I feel like lobster is having a moment this summer. No? Just me? Me, all alone in the corner with a lobster tail in my mitts and butter running down my elbows? Sorry for that visual…

I had a box of lobster tails in my freezer (thanks to my partnership with Omaha Steaks (hello, #DREAMJOB)), and I imagined coating them in a cream sauce. I am always imagining coating things in cream sauce, but the thing is, I rarely make a true cream sauce. I take a big shortcut: I plop in a heaping scoop of mascarpone into the hot pasta pot, stir stir stir, and call it creamy pasta. I’ve used this same trickery before with yogurt in my 5-ingredient creamy bacon pasta recipe. But that was a bit too healthy for lobster, ya know? Enter mascarpone.

In fact, enter the only 5 ingredients you need to make this recipe:

Lobster pasta recipe

I used to live in a place without a Trader Joe’s. I refer to that period of my life as the dark days. It took a shockingly long time for Trader Joe’s to infiltrate Northern California. Anyway, I now live near tons of Trader Joe’s, and I buy an 8-ounce tub of mascarpone weekly. It’s $3. Isn’t that crazy? The regular grocery stores have it for $6-8 in the fancy Italian section. If the fancy Italian section is your only bet, go ahead and splurge because you only need half the tub for this recipe. Then, you can make my Tiramisu for Two with the rest.

Grilled lobster

Be sure to do your part in keeping 2015 the summer of lobster. Deal?

Yield: 2

Dinner for Two: Creamy Lobster and Shells

Dinner for Two: Creamy Lobster and Shells
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 50 minutes

Ingredients

  • oil
  • 2 ears corn, husked and cleaned
  • 2 lobster tails, trimmed
  • 6 ounces dried pasta shells
  • 4 ounces mascarpone cheese
  • handful of fresh chives
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

  1. First, preheat the grill (or grill pan) to medium-high. When it's good and hot, char the corn evenly on all sides. You can also char the corn directly over a gas flame. Let cool, and then cut the kernels off the cob.
  2. Next, ensure the grill or grill pan is well-oiled, and place the lobster tails on the grill. Cook for 5-10 minutes on the first side, then flip. You'll know the tail is done when it's red on the side you're cooking. Peak on the meat at the end, too.
  3. Remove the lobster from the heat and let cool.
  4. Meanwhile, bring a pot of salted water to boil for the pasta. Once boiling, cook the pasta until al dente. Drain, but reserve 1/2 cup of the cooking liquid.
  5. Carefully, using kitchen shears, cut down the center of the tail on both sides. Pry the lobster meat out of the shell. Chop into large pieces.
  6. Toss the hot pasta, pasta water, lobster, corn, mascarpone, salt and pepper together. Toss until the mascarpone melts and evenly coats all of the ingredients. Taste and adjust for seasoning.
  7. Top with snipped chives and serve.
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