Lobster Pot Pie and Lobster Mac & Cheese

I love seafood.  Lobster is one of my favourites, as you can see by recipes here, here, here and here.  So I was very lucky to be given the opportunity to try some Hancock Gourmet Lobster products recently.  

Above you can see the lobster pot pie.

The pies arrived frozen and I followed the instructions to thaw them in the fridge overnight before baking.  I love the little ceramic ramekins they came in!  I also love the adorable cut-out lobster on top.

Spring Lobster Salad with Corn, Potatoes & Tarragon

It's finally starting to feel like spring around here.  So I decided to celebrate with a simple but luxurious dinner salad.  

Tarragon is easily found in most grocery stores. It's has a liquorice flavour that's a great match for lobster.  

This recipe is inspired by Epicurious but I made some small changes.  

Here's what you need to serve two as a main course or four as a starter:

Lobster Corn Chowder

Is there anything as pretty as a seafood chowder?  Chunks of lobster, potatoes and vegetables, fresh corn and bacon.  So tasty!

How about a close-up?

I was lucky enough to find some frozen lobster claws at the supermarket right when the last corn of the season was available.  So I snatched it up and chowder was an easy decision.  

Lobster Rolls

You can't argue with that.

I love cooking seafood because it photographs so beautifully.  This tastes as good as it looks but it is not a "traditional" lobster roll and it is not a healthy choice.  I went light on the butter compared to the original recipe and it's still about twice as much butter as I'd normally consider cooking with.  But it was worth it.  So delicious.  

I picked up a couple of frozen lobster tails on sale this weekend and thought lobster rolls would make good use of them.  I originally intended to make traditional cold lobster rolls with mayonnaise and celery, but I got lazy at the last minute and found these buttery, Connecticut-style lobster rolls.  Never a fan of mayo, these are more my speed so I made them instead. 

First, a disclaimer.  Lobster rolls are one of those foodstuffs like pizza that people have passionate, regional, unbreakable rules about.   A real lobster roll must be made with fresh whole lobster, with mayonnaise and minimal other ingredients and served on a top-sliced, commercial hot dog bun.   Check out this awesome blog post where the writer is outraged about the use of green stuff and frozen lobster tails.   

Even though this recipe may be considered a travesty by traditionalists, it was so delicious I have no regrets.  

Lobster Bisque

This is one of the most delicious things I've ever made. It has a long list of ingredients that aren't cheap, but if the circumstances are right (lobster is on sale) I highly recommend giving this a try.  It is sublime. 

The original recipe from Epicurious calls for a whole 3lb lobster. I don't care to work with live lobsters but lobster tails were on sale so I figured I could make a substitution.  I used eight 3oz lobster tails, so about 1.5 lbs.  It was certainly more than enough meat, and you really need the shells for this.  It may have been even more flavourful with the whole lobster but it was incredible with just the tails.  

(These were $1.99 per tail which I think is a great deal but it's still a splurge to spend $16 on lobster.  The end result would feed four as an appetizer or two to three as a main course with salad and bread.)

Besides the lobster, here are all the ingredients:

• 1 medium onion
• 1 celery rib
• 1 carrot
• 1 vine-ripened tomato (mine is peeled and frozen from summer so it looks odd in the picture)
• 1 full head garlic (you read that right)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon leaves
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme leaves
• 1 bay leaf
• 8 black peppercorns
• 1/2 cup brandy
• 1/2 cup dry Sherry
• 4 cups fish stock (I purchased 2 cups in the grocery store seafood section where I got the lobster and used 2 cups of shrimp stock from my freezer at home made from boiling shrimp shells with onion, celery, bay leaf, etc.)
• 1/4 cup tomato paste
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch (optional, I didn't use this but it would thicken the broth if necessary)

I had to buy the sherry which I don't normally keep on hand but it was only about $7.00. I had just enough brandy in the cupboard from a little bottle I bought for a previous recipe.  I also had to source fresh tarragon from a local market since it's not something I usually buy.  

If the lobster tails are frozen, thaw them.  Boil about 4 cups of water and plunge the lobster tails into the boiling water.  Cook for 5 minutes and remove them with tongs to cool.  Reserve the boiling liquid.  

Once cool enough to handle, shell the lobster.  For me this was the only unpleasant part of the whole process and I can't imagine using a whole lobster.  Luckily, the meat will be chopped so you don't have to be careful.  I tried breaking the tails and if that didn't work, I'd slice the shell lengthwise with a sharp knife and pick out the meat.  

Cover and refrigerate the lobster meat... 

... and reserve the shells. These shells are vitally important to the flavour of the bisque.

Chop your onion, celery, carrot and tomato. No need for uniform cuts, this will all be strained out in the end. Slice the garlic bulb in half across the equator; no need to peel it.

Now heat a couple of tablespoons of oil in your soup pot.  

And add the lobster shells and sauté, stirring, for about 8 minutes.

Then add the onion, garlic, carrot, celery, tomato, peppercorns, bay leaf, thyme and tarragon.  I didn't bother to chop the herbs.  Add in the sherry and brandy as well and sauté for 5 more minutes until the booze is mostly evaporated.  Things will be starting to smell pretty amazing at this point.

Add in the fish/shrimp stock and 2 cups of reserved lobster boiling liquid.  My shrimp stock was still a little frozen so that's the ice-cube-looking thing at the front. 

Bring to a boil and simmer uncovered for an hour.

My stock looked like this after an hour.

Now strain the stock into a smaller sauce pan. 

I only ended up with about 2.5 cups which seemed a little light, but it was so amazingly flavourful, it worked for me.   

Now add in the tomato paste.  I like this stuff in a tube from the Italian speciality store because you can just use a small amount, but canned works just as well.

Bring the broth back up to a simmer. If necessary, reduce to 3 cups but mine was already reduced.

Add the heavy cream and simmer about 5 minutes.  Now is the time you can mix some cornstarch into water and add the slurry to the soup, but I didn't think that was necessary.

Add the lobster back into the soup to just heat through.

Serve the soup in small bowls. It is very, very rich.  Add parsley, salt and pepper to taste. (I didn't think it was necessary to even add salt!)

The combination of the lobster, herbs and vegetables and brandy and sherry make for such a delicious, flavourful broth.  We ate our portion and froze the rest based on some online advice so I hope it's half as good next time.  I can't recommend this recipe enough!

Road Trip - Iceland - Exotic Tapas

One of our most exciting plans for our trip to Iceland was to try as many local foods as possible.  On our first night in Reykjavik we decided to try the Icelandic Gourmet Feast, a tasting menu of Icelandic dishes at Tapas Barinn in the centre of town.  

Tapas Barinn, Reykjavik

The atmosphere was cozy and a little dark.  We ordered a bottle of Spanish red wine to accompany our dishes and all ordered the tasting menu.  The first thing served was a shot of Brennivin, an Icelandic liquor flavoured with caraway.  It is also called "Black Death" but it wasn't bad at all.   

Smoked puffin served with blueberry brennivin sauce

The first dish was Icelandic smoked puffin served with blueberry brennivin sauce.  This was the least successful of all the dishes we tried. It was served at a cool temperature and that and the texture made it not so appetizing. 

Lobster tails baked in garlic

But the next course was the most delicious thing I ate on the whole trip!  Lobster tails baked in garlic.  The Icelandic lobster is actually a langoustine, sort of like a large shrimp. The tails were served in a hot dish with garlic butter and a lemon on the side.  So delicious!  

Pan-fried monkfish with lobster sauce

Next we were served pan-fried monkfish with lobster sauce. The fish was lovely and tender in a tasty sauce. 

Icelandic sea trout with pepper salsa & Minke whale

Next came Icelandic sea trout with pepper salsa, which was much tastier than I expected.  I am not always over the moon when it comes to fish but I think that comes from living in the centre of North America with very little good fresh fish available. This trout was delicious!

Minke whale in cranberry sauce

Along with the trout we received the most exotic, controversial and exciting dish on the tasting menu: Minke whale. There's a general moratorium on whaling all over the world, but Japan and some Nordic countries, including Iceland, continue to hunt whale. Minke whale is not endangered but some people do have an objection to eating the meat. We figured we'll likely never have the chance again so we might as well try it.


We were not disappointed.  It was delicious!  It was served over a sweet potato pure with a cranberry glaze. It was extremely meaty, almost like steak but with a slightly different flavour and texture. It tasted wonderful and I'm so glad we had the opportunity to try it.  

Grilled Icelandic Lamb

 Next came grilled Icelandic lamb Samfaina served with zucchini and peppers in a minty sauce.  This was lovely and tender and the vegetables were nice.  

Tapas Barinn

Here's a variety of our dishes on the table. The service was good but the dishes were a little rushed. It would have been nice to have a little time between courses but they came two or three at a time, perhaps that's how tapas should be served but we would have preferred a slower pace. 

Dessert & coffee

Dessert was White chocolate skyr mousse with passionfruit coulis. It was like a cheesecake but so light and delicious. I also indulged in a pricy spanish coffee.  Liquor is pretty expensive in Iceland but it was a great pairing with the dessert. 

White chocolate skyr mousse with passionfruit coulis

 This meal was an outstanding introduction to Icelandic cuisine. To be honest I wasn't expecting a whole lot because it seemed like a tourist joint and I couldn't reconcile the spanish tapas concept with Icelandic food, but it was truly wonderful and our best meal on the whole trip.

We liked it so much we went back a second time!  There were a few dishes we missed on our first trip that we wanted to try, and some favourites we wanted to repeat. On our second trip we ordered the lobster, lamb and again.  

Icelandic foal in Calvados sauce

 We also ordered the filet of Icelandic foal in Calvados sauce. It tasted sort of similar to lamb with a rich taste and texture. 

Grilled Sweet Peppers

 This is roasted peppers and salad, a nice light dish.  

Baked potato with salad and Alioli

Also a baked potato and salad was exactly as advertised. 

Serrano ham with melon

 As was Serrano ham with melon and horseradish, a nice refreshing bite.  


To spend two of our five prescious vacation dinners at the same restaurant meant we really liked what they had to offer. If you happen to be in Reykjavik and would like to try Icelandic cuisine, I highly recommend this restaurant. It is very reasonably priced and the food is delicious. Even if you're a little shy about trying new things, they have a wonderful menu with lots of options.


Tapas Barinn
Vesturgötu 3b

101 Reykjavík

Sími 551 2344

tapas@tapas.is