High class meets down home. This dish is just my style. The amazing combination of flavors make this one of my favorites.
I thought this recipe was alot of work but worth it. I modified the recipe by just ommiting the part about cooking the lobster & using the shells and just used lump lobster meat bought from the fish market instead. It was great!
Read MoreTry Ina's recipe (The Barefoot Contesa) on Food Network. Better and easier.
Read MoreI thought this recipe was alot of work but worth it. I modified the recipe by just ommiting the part about cooking the lobster & using the shells and just used lump lobster meat bought from the fish market instead. It was great!
It is very good--not really difficult at all, just a little labor intensive. Use a good blender to grate the cheese, and most of the work is done. I add several more garlic cloves, peppercorns, and use lobster tails I get at Sam's for under $20. It's really not that spendy--this recipe actually makes about 8 entree-sized servings. I just use equal sized amounts of the cheeses--usually about 6 oz. portions, grated. I never use a whole lb. of macaroni--a half pound is plenty. This is good even if you omit the lobster. Try adding diced ham instead, or leaving out meat altogether. I also like it with a little heat--use some cayenne or a couple of tsp red pepper flakes--or just serve with your choice of hot sauce.
We enjoyed this well enough, but not nearly enough for me to make it again. The execution of the recipe is unnecessarily complicated, for one thing - it should have been nearly as basic and straightforward as “while pasta is cooking make the white sauce – melt the butter, add the flour. Stir in the milk, cook until thickened. Add the cheese off heat. Mix in all remaining ingredients. Top with buttered bread crumbs. Bake until sauce is bubbly and crumbs are lightly golden.” Simple as that. Also, I found the additions of garlic, shallot and onion distractions rather than contributions. Further, it wasn’t creamy enough – I found I had to add nearly twice as much milk as the recipe directed. Finally, I felt the Panko bread crumbs needed to be tossed with a bit of melted butter. Overly elaborate in both technique and ingredients. I did like the combination of cheeses, but this could have been as easy as simply making macaroni and cheese with a variety of cheeses and stirring in some lobster.
I made this recipe for a large dinner party, so I tripled the recipe to 24. I was multitasking during the prep and discovered the next day that I left out 9 cups of cheddar cheese! It was still a very good dish even without the cheddar but I look forward to making it again using all the ingredients.
Excellent recipe. We really love it it. As close as I've found to one that we enjoy at Binion's Steakhouse. I shorten the prep time by sauteing the onions along with the garlic and shallot, and skip the 20 minute boiling. I added about 1/4 cup extra milk because the sauce was so thick.
I made the following changes: I used about 1.5 Cups of leftover steamed lobster and used its butter dipping sauce to saute onion & garlic plus bits of celery, sliced mushrooms & 1 tbsp of chopped red pepper. Instead of elbow macaroni, I used linguine. For cheeses, I used an 8 oz. bag of mixed Mexican-style cheeses & some parmesan. No need to brown the roux 10 minutes nor strain the milk. I did not let the sauce thicken too much as it continues to thicken when it bakes. I browned the panko crumbs in 1 tsp olive oil. Also, I baked the casserole about 25 minutes until it was good & bubbly and starting to brown around the edges. Good recipe, very adaptable.
I didn't have any of the cheese suggested so instead I used Velveeta. I know it isn't quite the same, but it worked out perfectly! Still added onions, shallots, ground pepper and lots of chopped lobster. Absolutely delicious!
although it turned out ok, the cost for the ingredients made it not worth it for me for glorified mac and cheese. it was good, not great but a fun recipe to try.
I think I died and went to heaven when I ate this, how can you go wrong with lobster and Mac & Cheese! Heavenly, didn't change a thing!!!!
Really not worth the work at all. I've made different varaitions of this dish, and this one was the worst.
Once I got to the rue-making part, it got a little tricky. It only took about 2 minutes for the flour/butter mixture to be done and then I had to add extra milk because it was just a big plastey blob. I think the Panko could probably use some butter too since it didn't brown for me. Otherwise, it was fantastic!!!
My husband made this for a dinner party we had. It's requested now every time we have a get together.
Rated recipe as is. However upon making it second time, I made the following changes: reduced gruyere to 1/4 lb (1 lb was just too costly to justify)and the amount of cheese overall and used Vintage White Cheddar. Agreed with others - added more milk/half & half. Added bay leaf while simmering the milk, skipped peppercorn, smashed piece of garlic instead of chopping to reduce garlicky flavor. Sauteed shallots with onion. Added smoked paprika and dill to sauce. Sprinkled remainder cheese on top and dusted with paprika for color. The addition of paprika, bay leaf, and dill really made it "pop" in flavor! Husband loved it! The recipe unmodified was good, but lacking in flavor to do the lobster justice...
This was wonderful - but maybe more geared toward an accomplished cook. It seemed that there was too much roux mixture to liquid ratio. I had to do some adapting to make the sauce the right consistency. I used 4 lobster tails - and made the stock as suggested in the milk - but cooking it down did not leave enough liquid. Had to add more milk to adjust the thickening mixture. I used shredded parm instead of the gruyere,so I think whatever cheese you use will work. All of that being said - it tasted great! My family absolutley loved it ! After a few changes - it is a definite keeper!
I made this for a party last night. I found it bland and not very saucy. Some of the guest agreed. I felt like I needed to add something to give it a kick, some sort of hot sauce. One person suggested Old Bay seasoning. Not sure if I'llmake it again...
Family loved this. I used EXTRA lobster meat and extra cheese and it came out wonderful. Even my neighbor happen to come over and had two bowls of this. Was a hit and will make again for the family!!
Very costly, very labor intensive and it did not turn out. I am a pretty savvy home chef but this just didn't pan out. I abandoned my sweetheart on Valentine's Day to make a fancy pants dinner that was not worth the bucks or the precious time I spent on it. :(
I made it as directed and EVERYONE at my Easter lunch table went back for more. The only thing I did differently was add 1 extra cup of milk to the recipe and I used 3 lobster tails. Delicious!
This receipe is good, but there is way to much cheese sause on this. About 3/4 of the amount and it is a wonderful meal.
I made this yesterday and it was very easy to make! I added the shallot but only 1/2 of the onion, thought it might be a bit much onion favor. I did not like the whole peppercorns, next time i'll use white pepper I think. I kept the water reserve from the pasta and lobster on the stove while making the rue because it was hard to brown without some additional moisture (1 tbs. per tbs. of flour) that worked great. I also added about a cup of the reserve to the cheese mixture that worked great too once I had it all melted. Once I finished and transferred the mac and cheese into the baking dish I pour a bit of the reserve over the top just to make sure it didn't dry out. I used the Italian panco for my topping added just a bit more favor!!! Both my husband and I LOVED this recipe and I will make again! Great recipe!
Recipe is slightly labor intensive but the net result is fantastic. Rave reviews from all our guests.
The Lobster Mac and Cheese was so creamy , delicious and had a nice amount of lobster in it . I will be using this recipe for years to come .
Yippy-Ki-Yah! After making this, my wife wants me to make it for all our family and friends...Jee-wiz she even let me off dish duty afterwards! I made one addition which was sauteed mushrooms in white wine...added it to the bake. Next time I'm going to try adding some broccolli too! Love this stuff!
This recipe, although labor intensive, was worth the time. It was very delicious and my husband loved it! However, the flour/butter ratio to the amount of liquid for thickening the sauce is too much. Rule of thumb is always 1 tablespoon of butter to 1 tablespoon of flour for thickening. This is how I prepared the sauce and it was quite creamy and thick enough. I also used lobster tails instead of whole lobster. Worked just fine. For the topping I used day old corn bread. Crumbled 1 cup fine and mixed with a tablespoon of butter. Worked great and had a good flavor. Will be making this again
I made this when my son requested it. Everyone loved it. I did make some minor changes however. I used 8 ozs of imitation crab meat and 8 ozs of imitation lobster instead of 2 lbs of fresh lobster. I also only used only 1/2 of the cheddar cheese and increased the milk by 1/2 cup. This is one I'll make again for a special meal since it does take awhile and is very rich.
Instead of cheddar, I used half Tallegio and half Gouda. Also, reduced cheese by 1/3 and omitted flour-roux step. Reduced pasta so mixture was creamier. Cooked shells in milk for more like 30 minutes, broke up shells so full flavor came out in sauce.
Add more mil and spices such as salt and pepper. This recipe was a real pain.
This was a good recipe, but we would of liked it more had it had more lobster. That's about the only thing we would change for next time.
Recipe easy to understand and complete. I substituted the Gruyere cheese for Swiss as I could find The cheese requested in the recipe it came out just as good in my opinion.
Flavor is great! BUT too much rue! I had to add a lot more milk, which was a shame because it diluted the flavor of the two cups I had simmered with the lobster shells. I will definitely make this again though.
I made this for a friend's birthday dinner, with the following modifications: I grilled the Lobster tails ( I split the top of the shells with kitchen shears and extracted the meat, but left the shells attached at the tip of the tail) over hardwood lump charcoal with Apple wood chunks mixed in, and served the lobster separate with drawn butter for dipping. I visited two grocery stores and neither had Gruyere cheese; being pressed for time, I substituted Baby Swiss in its place. I found the sauce mixture far too thick when the cheese was added - I had to add quite a bit of milk to get the right consistency. I also used way more than 3 tablespoons of Panko bread crumbs; probably closer to 2 cups - I piled it on fairly thick to make a nice crust, and I used Italian Panko for a little herb flavor twist. It was a HUGE hit; I've saved this one to my favorites and will make it again!
DISAPPOINTING This recipe needs rework! As I was making the flour butter roux, I kept thinking the proportions were off. I should have listened to myself, but I trusted. I the cheese sauce, before I had to try and make it thinner and less of a GLOB,now has that weird flour-odd texture. The flavor is good, but I will never make this recipe again!!!
I really enjoyed this, made it for Christmas Eve, so I didn't mind the extra time it took. Definitely needed more milk though in the process of steaming the shells, peppercorns, etc.. But we all loved it, will make again for sure! And I ended up using shell shaped pasta like in the pic not elbows.
It was ok but way to complicated and expensive.
I used this recipe using the lobster, and have also used chicken...for an added twist, I put buffalo sauce in with it...was really good, if you like the heat!
Great recipe but I modified it a bit: I used chopped instead of whole lobster tail. My cheeses were medium cheddar and Gouda. The panko breadcrumbs didn’t toast fully so next time I’d mix it with shredded cheese.
Truly gourmet! I have made this for large groups many times now. Add a cup of Chardonnay to the cheese stir step for exquisite richness.
I love this recipe! Since Lobster is so expensive, I was only able to use the meat of one tail. I had it steamed at the grocery store with Old Bay. I used the Gruyère cheese and onions from this recipe. I made the rest of the mac n cheese my usual way. I also added part chicken broth as a liquid while boiling the noodles. Wow what a difference!
Really thought the cheese specified for this was a little too rich for this....Was a real heavy taste to it. Gruyere is good for French onion, but I wouldn't repeat with it....Maybe cheddar jack etc...
The roux/milk ratio is way off, I added an additional cup of milk and 1/3 cup Sherry and it was still extremely thick. I reduced the cheese by about half. I skipped the steamed lobster and wisked some concentrated shrimp stock into the milk. Used a pound of lobster and 3/4 pound crab. I added a handful of chopped parsley to the mix. Overall it came out good but I'll probably not make this particular recipe again. Something simpler next time.
Easy to follow. Hardest part is grating the cheeses. We added shrimp to the recipe. We also skipped the whole lobster and found langoustine Lobster in the frozen fish section in grocery store. Ill add a picture after it's baked
I think it's overcomplicated so I streamline this recipe a little. With that said it is a great recipe
OMG! I used 50/50 Gruyère and Medium Sharp Cheddar with some hard Fontina as an accent. Steamed the Lobster tails, used the shells in half the pasta water to make the broth. I sweated a bigger portion of sweet onions in butter and white wine. I used small elbow pasta and topped with breadcrumbs. Nothing really remarkable about the tails but wish I’d had more to include in the dish. This turned out sooo good I’m going to try it again in a couple months just to make sure it’s not a happy mistake!
All I can say is this is EPIC!!!
This was VERY tasty, but there are some issues. First of all, I added some bacon to the recipe because... it didn’t have ANY bacon in it. My complaint is that it is a bit of a complicated recipe, and it’s so expensive to make that refining it is cost prohibitive. I read over the recipe ahead of time and saw that there way a straining step involved. Because of that I chopped my onions rather course. Too late I realized that that was an ingredient not strained out. Though still tasty, the course onion detracted from the overall “feel” of the dish in the mouth. The other issue is the step that I had to add a LOT of extra milk to the cheese blend to thin it out just to be mixable with the pasta. Other than that the dish was really liked by my guests. My 4/5 stars is about the recipe it’s self and cost, not the flavor.
This was a really great recipe. Personally I would adjust the amount of milk from 2 cups 4. I had to add a lot of milk to mine. I would also do only a half pound of gruyere. It just seemed too smoky with a whole pound. If you use lobster tails instead of whole lobster like I did then I would suggest using 4 or 5 tails depending on their size.
I made this Mac and Cheese w freshly caught Fl Lobster. I pan fried it, then folded in the other ingredients. I did need to add more milk, as the recipe states, mine was too thick! Still delish non the less!
I spent a lot of money for all of the ingredients for this dish and it ended up not looking anything like the picture. I followed the directions carefully. When it said to add the cheeses to melt and become creamy, all they did was gum up and become stiff and stringy. The golden brown sauce was more of a dark brown color, and I totally agree with other reviews that more milk should have been added. The end product ended up not being anything like other lobster mac and cheeses that I've had in the past. A gigantic bust and a recipe I will never use again.
Love this!! I added about a quarter cup extra whole milk to the cheese sauce. It was a bit too thick without it. I also skipped the panko we like our gooey We used cavatapi noodles also. I'll definitely be making this again!!
We skimped a little and used imitation crab/lobster meat, and aged Swiss cheese instead of Gruyere. Still turned out awesome. My son said it was heaven in his mouth and better than Carabba's lobster mac and cheese.
