Skewers of lobster over pasta with summer vegetables.
Lobster Spiedini
By Sue Lau | Palatable Pastime
This month for #FishFridayFoodies I am hosting (for the first time) and as a theme I chose “Seafood on a Stick” because I enjoy a lot of grilling during the summer months and find a number of fish and shellfish do really well as skewers of one sort or another.
For my own selection, I decided to do a lobster version of spiedini, which is an Italian type of skewered meat or fish (usually meat) which is sometimes wrapped around a filling. For mine, I had intended for the pancetta to wrap the pieces of lobster, but I managed to cut them into too-large chunks (I wanted to keep them bigger so they wouldn’t dry out when grilling) but then the pancetta I got wouldn’t quite wrap around them without splitting, so I ended up just folding those and placing on the skewers in between lobster chunks. I worried they might not crisp up in the sections between lobster, but in fact they did, so all turned out quite well.
I made up a pasta using the lobster shells for a stock which gave it lots of flavor and made sure the shells were not wasted. The lobster tails are quite simple to get open using kitchen shears and cutting along the underside from the top to the bottom near the tail flap. Then just bend the shell open, being careful not to tear up the lobster because it is quite tender before cooking, much like raw shrimp.
You can use any sort of vegetable you like in the paste- it really doesn’t make a lot of difference except to be what you like. For me, the zucchini, onion and tomato was just right, and perfectly summery. I do hope you enjoy this one. I liked it a lot and while lobster can seem expensive, if you watch for sales on the smaller tails those work out just fine without too much expense.
Be sure to check out the other blogger recipes- I’ve seen some photos already and they do look fabulous.
What’s not to love about a fish on a stick? (And mind you, I did not say fish sticks like the sort we ate as kids! LOL!) Until next time-
~Sue
Lobster Spiedini
Ingredients:
- 1 pound small lobster tails (about 4)
- 6 ounces thinly sliced pancetta
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon fresh minced rosemary
- 1 teaspoon fresh minced oregano
- 4 skewers (soaked if not metal)
Pasta accompaniment:
- 8 ounces dry capellini pasta (angel hair)
- 1/2 cup dry white wine (chardonnay)
- 1 small zucchini, cut into matchsticks
- 1/2 medium red onion, thinly sliced
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons butter
- salt and black pepper
- 1 teaspoon freshly minced rosemary
- 1 teaspoon fresh oregano leaves
- 1 tablespoon freeze dried chives or 2 teaspoons freshly snipped
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
- pinch red pepper flakes (optional)
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1/3 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese
Method:
- If you are using wooden skewers, get them soaking submerged in water for at least an hour (I put a plate on them to keep from floating) or they will burn heavily during grilling.
- Using kitchen shears, cut the underside of the lobster tail and gently bend them open to free the raw meat, reserving the shells. Cut each 4 ounces tail into four chunks, place in a small bowl and keep chilled.
- Take the lobster shells and place in a saucepan and cover with water; simmer for about an hour, then strain. Stir in the wine and reduce to one cup of liquid.
- About thirty minutes into the broth cooking, stir the olive oil, lemon juice, rosemay and oregano into the chunks of lobster and let marinate at room temperature.
- Prep vegetables for the pasta and start your salted water boiling.
- Thread the lobster four chunks to a skewer with a folded piece of pancetta in between each piece. Grill over moderately hot coals for 5-10 minutes or until the lobstar becomes opaque but not overcooked. Keep the skewers warm.
- Heat the oil and butter in a large skillet and saute the onion, zucchini with the salt, pepper and seasonings until almost tender; then stir in the tomatoes, cooking until they just begin to soften.
- While the sauce is cooking, boil the pasta until just al dente, then drain. Stir the pasta into the sauce in the skillet and add the heavy cream. Toss to blend and turn out into a pasta dish. Top with Parmesan and toss again to mix.
- Serve pasta with spiedini skewers.
From the kitchen of palatablepastime.com
Fish Friday Foodies
Seafood on a Stick
hosted by
Sue Lau of Palatable Pastime
Be sure to check out the other Fish Friday Foodies Bloggers this month!
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Great theme this month Sue and great job hosting. Thank you so much.
This looks really delicious. I’ve never heard of spiedini! The long list of ingredients makes my heart smile! Right up my alley!
We get small lobster tails called ‘dozers’ down here and those would be perfect for this dish. My mouth was watering when I looked at the pictures.
So glad you picked this theme Sue! I almost went with lobster as well, but the price made that a no-go! This pasta dish looks amazing!