The Simple Things: Lobster Sandwiches

So it seems, I like everything about summer. I like watching my nephews eat popsicles in the sun and run through the sprinklers and otherwise act like all of us would if we could. I like eating easy salads (especially the kind that my sister cleverly places in portable jars) and I have no problem with blue skies, twinkle lights, bug spray or the philosophy that “if you can’t tone it, tan it,” which I think I heard on Toddlers & Tiaras, but still.

Summer feels somehow casual and light and celebratory all at once, and I’ve known this for quite some time. What I didn’t know — not until this weekend — was that everything I wanted out of summer could be found between two pieces of bread. Whether you’re reading this stuffed in an office cubicle or you’re at home gathering your nerves between kid naps (shhh!) I have two words for you that should make you want to fling your shoes off and go hang your legs in the pool: lobster sandwich.

I’ve always worried that combining chunks of lobster with mayonnaise and other things might somehow destroy, or at the very least taint, the pure flavor of lobster. I worried about it for years, in fact, and I resisted lobster sandwiches despite seeing them laid out on Epicurious and in the glossy pages of Thomas Keller’s Ad Hoc. But because the first eleven days of July bring my wedding anniversary and three family birthdays, I figured there was no better time to just go ahead and do this thing.

If I’m being quite honest, I really will take any excuse to make homemade mayonnaise, which yields a relatively neutral flavor and a pale yellow hue — a color that makes the white jarred variety seem suspicious if nothing else. In this case, chopped tarragon and chives add freshness and celery adds just the right amount of bite and texture. Pickled red onions are bright and couldn’t be easier to make (just boil sugar and vinegar in a pot and pour the hot liquid over the raw onions).

So, maybe you’re feeling in the mood or maybe you’re just feeling hungry. I get both of these things. I’m passing this along to you in hopes that you’ll catch lobster sandwich fever, pour yourself a glass of rosé and toast to the lighter things, the finer things, the simpler things. Do it while it’s sticky and warm and the days are longer and the AC is pumping. Do it because summer doesn’t last.

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Lobster Sandwiches

Adapted from Thomas Keller’s Ad Hoc

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 tbs. butter
4 hot dog buns or rolls (tear out inside breading if too thick)
4 leaves romaine lettuce
4 cups of lobster meat, cut into 3/4″ pieces
2-3 tbs. mayonnaise
2 ribs of celery, small dice
juice from 1/2 lime
1 tbs. flat leaf parsley, chopped
1 tbs. tarragon, chopped
1 tbs. chives, chopped
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

where can i buy Seroquel without prescription For pickled red onion:
1 small red onion, sliced into strips (reserve 1 tablespoon and mince well)
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cups white vinegar

Fort Walton Beach For mayonnaise:
1 egg yolk
1/2 oz. lemon juice
6 ounces canola oil
pinch cayenne pepper
salt, to taste

Procedure

Chop lobster into 3/4″ pieces and combine in bowl with mayonnaise, celery, minced onion, parsley, tarragon, chives, salt, pepper and lime juice.

Cut roll from top down and toast in a saute pan in 1 tbs butter on low heat until slightly brown.

Stuff rolls with a few leaves of lettuce and then add lobster filling. Top with pickled red onion slices.

For pickled red onion:
Combine 3/4 cups white vinegar and 1/4 cup sugar in pot and bring to boil. Pour mixture over sliced red onions in a medium bowl. Let stand for 15 minutes, drain and cool.

For homemade mayonnaise:
Beat 1 egg yolk and 1/2 ounce of lemon juice in medium bowl with wire whisk (alternatively, you can use an immersion blender) until well blended. Slowly pour in oil (drop by drop at first) and beat constantly. Continue adding oil until mayonnaise is thick. Add a few drops of lemon juice if too thick. Add more oil if too thin. Season with salt and a very small pinch of cayenne pepper.

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Tagged as: lobster sandwich, recipe