...with shrimp, too. Food Lion had 4 oz. cold water lobster tails on sale last week for Mother's Day for $4.99/each. Well Tuesday they reduced them to $2.99/each so I bought what I thought were the best looking 5 to make mac & cheese. I didn't really think that would be enough so I thawed out a quart of shrimp to use, as well. The quart containers I use hold about 1½ lbs. or so and that's a little too much so I used about half of the container. So here we go...
5 tails and the shrimp...
![20230517_163423[1].jpg](data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,%3Csvg xmlns%3D'http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg' width='750' height='1000' viewBox%3D'0 0 750 1000'%2F%3E "20230517_163423[1].jpg")
Peeled the shrimp and split the tails...
![20230517_164533[1].jpg](data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,%3Csvg xmlns%3D'http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg' width='1000' height='750' viewBox%3D'0 0 1000 750'%2F%3E "20230517_164533[1].jpg")
I decided to grill the lobster so I lit the grill with some lump on the side and brushed the tails with melted, unsalted butter. On they went...
I was looking for an I.T. of about 125℉ which didn't take long...maybe 10 minutes...
The meat from the tails was cut into bite size pieces and the shrimp were cut in half, but not cooked. They will cook when the casserole is baked.
Meanwhile I had thawed out some of my shrimp stock to cook the noodles in. The elbows were cooked about 5 minutes at most, still wanted them a little crunchy, or al dente as the Italians say...
Drained the noodles reserving about a cup or so of the stock to use in the roux.
Melted 6 TBSP of unsalted butter and added about the same of all purpose flour. Cooked over medium heat for about 4-5 minutes until the roux develops a slightly nutty aroma. Stirring constantly to prevent burning or it's time to start over...
Next I added in the reserved shrimp stock, stirring constantly...
Then I slowly added about 4 cups of ½ & ½, stirring almost constantly to blend. I add the milk until I get the creamy consistency I'm looking for. Also stirred in ½ tsp nutmeg, 1 tsp ground mustard, and 1 tsp garlic powder. Let this cook on low stirring occasionally until desired consistency is reached, but being careful not to burn. It will go from perfect to burnt real quick...
In a bowl, I mixed together 2 cups white cheddar (because that's all I had), 2 cups regular sharp cheddar, 1 cup gruyere, and ½ cup parmesan. Once the roux was done to my liking, the noodles, roux, cheese, shrimp, and lobster meat are mixed together...
This was poured into a greased 9x13 baking dish. It was almost too much for the dish...
In a small bowl, I mixed together 1 cup of panko bread crumbs, ½ cup freshly grated parmesan cheese, salt and pepper to taste, and a good drizzle of EVOO...
This was spread on top and it went into the oven at 400℉ for about 35-40 minutes or until the topping gets brown and the mac & cheese gets bubbly...
Served with corn on the cob and green beans. Time to eat...
It was creamy and rich and everyone loved it, but a little on the rich side for me. Maybe less cheese next time and whole milk instead of the ½ & ½? Grilling the lobster did not add any flavor to the dish that I could taste, but the shrimp stock definitely did...
5 tails and the shrimp...
Peeled the shrimp and split the tails...
I decided to grill the lobster so I lit the grill with some lump on the side and brushed the tails with melted, unsalted butter. On they went...
I was looking for an I.T. of about 125℉ which didn't take long...maybe 10 minutes...
The meat from the tails was cut into bite size pieces and the shrimp were cut in half, but not cooked. They will cook when the casserole is baked.
Meanwhile I had thawed out some of my shrimp stock to cook the noodles in. The elbows were cooked about 5 minutes at most, still wanted them a little crunchy, or al dente as the Italians say...
Drained the noodles reserving about a cup or so of the stock to use in the roux.
Melted 6 TBSP of unsalted butter and added about the same of all purpose flour. Cooked over medium heat for about 4-5 minutes until the roux develops a slightly nutty aroma. Stirring constantly to prevent burning or it's time to start over...
Next I added in the reserved shrimp stock, stirring constantly...
Then I slowly added about 4 cups of ½ & ½, stirring almost constantly to blend. I add the milk until I get the creamy consistency I'm looking for. Also stirred in ½ tsp nutmeg, 1 tsp ground mustard, and 1 tsp garlic powder. Let this cook on low stirring occasionally until desired consistency is reached, but being careful not to burn. It will go from perfect to burnt real quick...
In a bowl, I mixed together 2 cups white cheddar (because that's all I had), 2 cups regular sharp cheddar, 1 cup gruyere, and ½ cup parmesan. Once the roux was done to my liking, the noodles, roux, cheese, shrimp, and lobster meat are mixed together...
This was poured into a greased 9x13 baking dish. It was almost too much for the dish...
In a small bowl, I mixed together 1 cup of panko bread crumbs, ½ cup freshly grated parmesan cheese, salt and pepper to taste, and a good drizzle of EVOO...
This was spread on top and it went into the oven at 400℉ for about 35-40 minutes or until the topping gets brown and the mac & cheese gets bubbly...
Served with corn on the cob and green beans. Time to eat...
It was creamy and rich and everyone loved it, but a little on the rich side for me. Maybe less cheese next time and whole milk instead of the ½ & ½? Grilling the lobster did not add any flavor to the dish that I could taste, but the shrimp stock definitely did...
