Grilled Lobster
By Charlotte Pike
Let award-winning cookery writer and chef Charlotte Pike teach you how to make the most of your luxurious Native Lobster in a few easy steps.
Grilled lobster is possibly the simplest way to cook a lobster at home. Serve one per person for a main course, and a half for a small starter.
Serves 2
Ingredients
2 lobsters, defrosted
40g butter or garlic butter, melted
Sea salt
Freshly chopped parsley or lemon wedges, to serve (optional)
Method
The lobsters will arrive uncooked and will look a dark blue or brown colour.
To grill them, take a large, long-bladed chef’s or chopping knife and split or cut the lobster in half.
To do this, line the knife up carefully along the line on the carapace (the part that runs from the eyes to the start of the tail). You’ll see a line down its ‘back’ to follow with your knife. Carefully cut down the centre of the head and then tail.
You will find the stomach sac and tomalley inside, so don’t be put off, just pull the insides out. Occasionally, these can burst, so just give the lobster a good rinse and dry, if you need to.
Crack the claws gently, so that the shell is split. Sit the lobster halves shell side up on a baking tray and preheat the grill to the highest temperature.
Grill the lobster for 5 minutes, shell side up, and then remove from the grill, flip it over and gently pour or brush the melted butter over the tail meat and grill for a further 3 minutes until bubbling, the tail meat looks pale and firm and no longer opaque.
Serve immediately, with crackers and picks, perhaps with some chopped parsley on top.
The lobster can also be topped with hollandaise sauce over the tail meat and grilled, which is called toasted hollandaise, and is delicious.
About Your Lobster
Lobster is usually seen as the jewel in the crown of Scottish seafood. It’s a very special treat to enjoy and surprisingly straightforward to prepare.
Ensure your lobster is fully defrosted before starting. Always defrost it in the fridge, so that it stays really cold. Remove the sleeve and bands on the claws before cooking.
Some lobster crackers and picks are useful to have to extract every last morsel of sweet flesh from the shell. A gentle tap with a hammer will break the claws and allow you to carefully pull out the meat, if you don’t have any to hand.
Do keep the shells and make a stock with them. It is very quick to do and will help extract every last bit of goodness from these beautiful crustaceans.
Head to our COOKING page for more for great tips on how to make the most of your Amity catch from award-winning cookery writer, teacher and chef Charlotte Pike.
