If anyone ever held my feet to the fire and asked me to name my favorite (single item) food, I would have to say the potato! Why, you ask? Because of its endless possibilities. Baked, roasted, fried, steamed, boiled, mashed, scalloped, grilled and stuffed. And did I forgot to mention potato soup? Whew! I am sure there are other preparation options, but presently I can't think of them. I can eat potatoes every day, three times a day and never tire of them. There isn't anything you can pair with them and not have a spectacular meal. And with all of the new and improved varieties of potatoes available on the market today - fingerlings, purples, petites, etc - I expect that no other vegetable is likely to de-throne the potato of its rightful spot anytime soon.
So this past weekend, with special guests in tow, I was looking for a way to "jazz up" the usual steak and potato menu I had planned. There wasn't really anything I could do to improve the steak - already perfect in its own right - so naturally my attention turned to the almighty potato...
I had considered broiling lobster tails as a real treat to accompany the meal. Then I had an "aha" moment. Yeah, throw a lobster tail on top of the steak - not bad. But incorporate the lobster into the potato - now that is an "out of the box" idea. Not original, but forward-thinking. And then that prompted another idea, like maybe this potato could be a meal all by itself. Imagine that!
Lobster-Stuffed Potato Recipe
Ingredients
4 large russet potatoes
3/4 cup heavy ceream
1 stick unsalted butter, reserve 2 tablespoons
1 cup Gruyere cheese
1 pound fresh lobster meat, reserve 1/2 cup
1/2 cup chives, chopped
salt and pepper, to taste
Preparation
Preheat oven to 450 degrees and roast potatoes until fork tender, approximately 60-70 minutes. Cut potatoes in half, hollow out and reserved cooked potato. Combine potato, cream, butter, cheese, salt and pepper. Mash together and fold in lobster and chives, reserving 1/2 cup of the lobster meat. Stuff the lobster mixture back into the potato shells, and heat in the oven for 15-20 minutes, or until slightly brown on top.
In a sauté pan, heat reserved lobster meat in the reserved 2 tablespoons of butter until opaque in color. Remove potatoes from oven and top with warmed lobster meat.
