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By Wolfgang Puck, Tribune Media Services
Look for live lobsters from a reputable seafood shop or a supermarket that has a good fish department. You don't need super-big lobsters, which some restaurants push but actually have tougher meat than smaller specimens; a lobster weighing about 1-1/4 pounds will be fine for each person. Buy the lobsters the same day you plan to cook them; put them in a cardboard box or heavy-duty paper bag, cover them with a clean damp cloth or wet newspaper, and refrigerate until it's time to cook them.
For the best results when grilling lobster, I briefly boil them first, just until the shells turn red. Then, after they have drained and cooled briefly, I split them in half and remove their sand sacs and intestinal veins before brushing them with seasoned butter and quickly completing the cooking on the grill.
That seasoned butter gives you the chance to get creative when grilling lobster. In the recipe I share here, I combine garlic, chives, parsley, jalapeno chili, and lemon juice. In place of the jalapeņo, you could use paprika or cayenne, and even add a touch of sweetness with some honey. Or leave out the spice and add fresh basil for an Italian flavor. If you prefer Asian-style lobster, mix a little soy sauce and grated fresh ginger root with the butter, garlic, and lemon, and substitute fresh cilantro for the parsley and chives. The possibilities are virtually endless. Once I've prepared the butter, I use some of it for seasoning and basting the food while it cooks; and, to avoid cross-contamination, I set aside a little beforehand to pass at the table.
One of the things I love most about grilling is that you can cook a side dish right along with your main course. In the case of this end-of-summer extravaganza, an assortment of summer vegetables is the perfect choice. Feel free to include your own seasonal favorites, including thick slices of beefsteak tomato, different colors of bell pepper, whole green onions, or even some fresh corn. After all, the more the merrier is my philosophy when I'm putting together a late-summer grill blowout!
Serves 4
Ingredients - Spicy Herb Butter Recipe
1 pound unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
1 red or green jalapeno chili, stemmed, seeded, deveined, and coarsely chopped
1/4 cup coarsely chopped Italian parsley
1 lemon, juiced
3 tablespoons chopped chives
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Ingredients - Grilled Lobster & Summer Vegetables Recipe
2 1-1/4 pound lobsters
1 yellow summer squash, cut lengthwise into slices 1/4 inch thick
1 zucchini, cut lengthwise into slices 1/4 inch thick
1 red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, deveined, and cut into 4 pieces
1 lemon, cut into 6 wedges
Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Preparation - Grilled Lobster & Summer Vegetables with Spicy Herb Butter Recipe
Preheat the grill.
Meanwhile, prepare the Spicy Herb Butter. In a food processor fitted with the metal blade, combine the butter, garlic, jalapeno, parsley, lemon juice, and chives. Season to taste with salt and pepper and process until blended. Transfer to a small container and remove about 4 tablespoons of the mixture to another container, setting both aside.
Bring a large pot of water to a rapid boil. Place the lobsters in the boiling water and cook them just until their shells turn red, or enough to cook the meat completely, about 3 minutes. Remove the lobsters and leave them at room temperature until they are just cool enough to handle.
Turn the lobsters on their backs on a cutting board. With a large, sharp, heavy knife, cut each lobster lengthwise in half. Pull out and discard the sand sac near the head of each lobster. With the knife tip, remove the gray intestinal vein.
Brush the meat and inside of the lobsters with some of the herbed butter from the main container, using about 1 tablespoon per lobster half. Place the lobsters on the grill cut side down and cook until the meat has grill marks and starts to turn opaque and firm up, about 5 minutes.
While the lobsters are cooking, start grilling the vegetables. Drizzle the squash, zucchini, pepper, and lemon wedges with olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and place on the grill; then, brush them with some of the butter from the main container. Grill until tender and browned, 3 to 4 minutes per side.
Turn the lobsters shell side down and grill them 3 to 4 minutes longer, brushing the meat with more butter from the main container.
Transfer the lobsters and vegetables to a large platter. Squeeze some of the grilled lemon wedges over the lobster meat. Pass the platter along with the 4 tablespoons of reserved butter for guests to add to their servings if they like.
(c) 2008 WOLFGANG PUCK WORLDWIDE, INC. DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.
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Wolfgang Puck's Kitchen by Wolfgang Puck
The world-renowned chef with an extraordinary passion for food now shares that passion in Wolfgang
Puck's Kitchen. Puck makes great cooking easier than you ever imagined. He reveals how to turn common ingredients into uncommon masterpieces. Each feature includes both an expert tip and an easy recipe-exactly what you need to transform your home cooking from acceptable to delectable. Moves with color photos.
About Wolfgang Puck
Wolfgang Puck, in the eyes of food lovers and experts alike, is one of the most famous chefs in America and arguably the world. He has spawned a culinary empire that includes a fine dining group of 12 internationally acclaimed restaurants in Beverly Hills, Hollywood, Santa Monica, Las Vegas, Chicago, San Francisco, Palo Alto, and Maui; an extensive catering & events business with bases in Hollywood and Chicago, famed as official caterer to the Governors Ball following the Oscars; as well as Wolfgang Puck Worldwide, Inc., a corporation that controls, licenses, and franchises the Wolfgang Puck brand in a wide variety of business activities, including casual Wolfgang Puck Cafes, fast-casual Wolfgang Puck Expresses, consumer packaged foods, cookware, book publishing, television, and the Internet.
For the first time, Puck shares his expert, easy-to-master approach to cooking in the newspaper arena through WOLFGANG PUCK?S KITCHEN, a newspaper column syndicated by Tribune Media Services.
The Austrian-born Puck began his formal training at age 14, inspired by his mother, Maria, a hotel chef. He left Europe for America in 1973 at the age of 24, having already worked in the master kitchens of three-star French restaurants. In 1975, Puck moved to Los Angeles, and soon was both chef and part-owner of Ma Maison. It quickly became a magnet for the rich and famous, with Puck as star attraction. Since then, he has changed the way Americans cook and eat by fusing formal French techniques and Asian and California influenced esthetics with the highest quality ingredients.
After the 1981 publication of the first of his five cookbooks, Puck, in partnership with designer Barbara Lazaroff, opened Spago. Located in West Hollywood on the Sunset Strip, it was an instant success and culinary phenomenon from its opening day in 1982. Although the original location closed in 2000, three years after the successful opening of Spago Beverly Hills, Spago Hollywood today is remembered internationally as a legendary haven for entertainment, political and social luminaries.
In 2000, Puck developed his own "Wolfgang Puck" television show, which began airing on the Food Network in January 2001. The show features Puck sharing his cooking expertise with a studio audience who joins him in his kitchen, along with field documentary segments in which he explores the vast and diverse world of food, from farms to artisan workshops to restaurants, and visits with such luminaries as Julia Child, Robert Mondavi and Paul Bocuse. "Wolfgang Puck" was awarded a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Service Show in 2002.
Puck also appears regularly on ABC's "Good Morning America," sharing his latest creations. He has been a guest on a multitude of other shows, including "The Late Show with David Letterman," "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," "Entertainment Tonight," "ABC News with Peter Jennings," "CBS Evening News with Dan Rather," "Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher," "Frasier," and "The Simpsons." In 2001, the A&E Network featured Puck's life on its popular "Biography" series.
Puck and partner Barbara Lazaroff are actively involved in many philanthropic endeavors and charitable organizations, including their own Puck-Lazaroff Charitable Foundation, established in 1982, which supports the annual American Wine & Food Festival to benefit Meals-on-Wheels.
Puck lives in Beverly Hills. He and Barbara Lazaroff have two sons, Cameron and Byron.
(c) 2008 WOLFGANG PUCK WORLDWIDE, INC. DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.
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