Lobster Obsession

Is there anything better than fresh-caught dinner? Especially when it's Caribbean lobster and crab!? The Sea was generous with husband yesterday when he set out to catch dinner...one huge crab, 4 Slipper lobsters, and 8 Caribbean lobsters!



He gave some to friends to chill until Sunday when we'll have a big lobster boil, and kept some for dinner- crab and lobster gumbo!



Let me tell you- as someone who used to live in New Orleans, his was the best gumbo I have ever tasted. He made the stock by boiling the crab and lobster shells, and that alone smelled delicious...I'm not sure what all he added because he was like a crazy man in the kitchen. Chopping veggies, cooking sausage, making roux. Oh, he must have been taking notes in the cooking class that we took in New Orleans on our last vacation! The color of the roux was a deep carmel with a nutty smell and was perfect with the sweet lobster and crab and spicy andouille sausage. Yum!

He set aside some meat from the legs that he cooked in the Lobster Popcorn method (see older post) and that went into omlettes this morning with spinach, cream cheese, onions, and peppers. Topped with a splash of Crystal hot sauce- perfect!




Aren't these gorgeous? The name of our power boat is Obsession, and here some of his catch rests on the dockbox. He does lobstering, freediving, and spearfishing charters with this boat, so if you'll be in the islands...

http://www.obsessionsportcharters.com/

Came under budget this week, spent $97 of the $105 budget, and this is what we ate:

Thursday: Burgers

Friday: Mini grilled cheeses with leftover white borscht

Saturday: Minestrone (here I used the first of sister's dried zucchini)

Sunday: Roasted pork tenderloin with rice and broccoli

Monday: Girls night out- cocktails and movie. Also boys night out-Hooters

Tuesday: Pasta Primavera (here I used the last of sister's dried zucchini)
I just added it to the sauce and let it cook for a while.

Wednesday: Pizza

And the week ended with the gumbo!

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great week!

How to Make Caribbean Bouillabase

Step One: Send your husband out to catch a lobster

Step Two: Have him grab a crab, too!

Step Three: Spear a big fish...

Step Four: Make a fish stock, add wine, potatoes, tomatoes, and

carrots. Throw in a packet of bouillabase seasoning (cheating? maybe...but he's worked hard enough!) When everything has boiled for a while, add the rest of the lobster, crab and fish. Don't forget all the meat in the legs! See my post "Lobster Popcorn" for an easy way to get it all. Let it simmer while the fresh bread finishes baking.

Step Five: Invite a couple neighbors over and enjoy!

For the rest of the week, we did great on the budget ($105) for the week...we only spent $70! This was in great part to our neighbors who left for the season and gave us what was left in their pantry- always appreciated, and this is what we ate:

Wednesday: Stir fry vegetables with rice

Thursday: Split pea soup

Friday: Lobster BBQ (next post maybe?)

Saturday: dinner out with a visiting friend...T had Wahoo and I had Beef Wellington

Sunday: Pasta with pesto made from basil out of our "garden"

Monday: Caribbean Bouillabaisse

Tuesday: Sandwiches with the last of our tomatoes from the garden, served with microwave potato chips (sounds weird but really good!)

Hope everyone has a great week!

Crab Dinner!

Two gigantic crabs that will become dinner!


The claws were so big that we had to use a hammer and a rolling pin to open them...and they were delicious!
The dog agrees!
We ate lots of delicious meals this week, though we went slightly over budget ($105) for the week. Somehow we ended up with three dinner parties, and the wine/beer portion always breaks the budget. In addition to the crab dinner, which was served with a pork tenderloin that friends brought over, we had vegetable coconut curry one night, spinach salad with home made focaccia bread the next. I also made fried chicken with mashed potatoes, ch