Best Lobster Dinner Ever!

Update to the earlier post...just look at that color. This has to be the best lobster ever. Just steamed - first time for me, and it will definitely be the way to go. Way less "juice" to clean up and so moist and tender. And because it was just caught yesterday - you could really taste the ocean.
That's my son-in-law enjoying his - notice the rice my daughter had me make... that no one actually ate because the 1 1/2 pound lobster and a little salad was plenty ... enough said... all but - Thank you Captain Chris!

My Market Catch - Lobster - Hi Tech, Local & Sustainable

A little birdie told me about Off the Hook and fresh lobster at the Historic Brewery Farmers Market. If you are in Halifax and missed out today, they'll be back on Dec 23rd & 30th.

First, a little about Off the Hook - You can find out all about it HERE, but in a nutshell...

"We believe that healthy, prosperous fishing communities are vital to the economic, cultural and environmental resilience of our province. We believe that the future of our communities depends upon diverse local economies that work to enhance the “triple bottom line.” The triple bottom line refers to the idea that nature, society and economies are interconnected. We feel that long-term solutions must recognize and nurture all three of these aspects together ...

...Community Supported Fisheries (CSFs) are modelled after “Community Supported Agriculture” (CSA) enterprises, which work to connect consumers to locally and sustainably grown, fairly traded foods. Social enterprises like CSFs help make sure that independent, small-scale fishing families can continue to pursue their livelihoods in an industry rapidly becoming dominated by large-scale, corporate players."

I love supporting local farmers and fishermen when I can, so when I heard about the lobsters... I was there bright and early and met Captain Chris Hudson and (I'm guessing) his lovely wife.
Just check out the haul- too bad I didn't take a video because they were all waving at me and I can only assume they were thinking "Pick Me! Pick Me! Then again, perhaps they were saying "Pick Him! Pick Her!"
My catch of the day...four gorgeous 1 1/2 lb lobsters for dinner tonight. Well, my Honey, my daughter & son-in-law will love them. The boys will enjoy their chicken fingers.
And that should be enough to get you green with envy, but I have more to tell...
...check out the tag on the claw. Each lobster has an ID number and you can trace it to when & where it was caught, plus who caught it. What a cool hi tech way to actually know how fresh your lobster is.
Check out... This Fish. This one... and his three friends were caught yesterday in the Bay of Fundy, by Captain Chris Hudson; his vessel - the Fundy Viper II; port - Victoria Beach NS.

It's a wonderful way to really understand when & where our food comes from. A couple of months ago I reviewed The Ocean Wise Cookbook, that made me more aware of how little I knew about the fish I was buying. It got me checking out labels at supermarkets and asking fishmongers pointed questions about the provenance of my potential purchase... and still leaving me frustrated and uninformed.

But not today. Today I have the most beautiful, fresh lobsters, caught yesterday in the Bay of Fundy, purchased this morning before 8am, and I'm going to do the simplest thing with them for dinner. Steamed or boiled in sea salted water (1 tbsp salt for every litre/quart of water) for 12 minutes for 1lb/500g lobster and an additional minute for every 1/4 lb/125 g. My 1 1/2 lb/750g lobsters should only take 14-15 minutes - for boiling and 20 minutes for steaming (1" of salted water in a huge pot). Tip from Anita Stewart's Canada is to plunge the cooked lobster in a sink of ice water for 30 seconds to to prevent the meat from sticking to the shell. I'll be serving them with melted garlic butter and lemon wedges. A side salad is enough for me, but apparently my daughter needs some carbs, so perhaps some steamed rice.

Another Local Tradition - Lobster Nova Scotia Style

Here's how to eat like a Nova Scotian" and you can find the recipe here for the best Nova Scotian way to cook it.

This summer I was hoping to get to another one of the lobster festivals that Nova Scotia is so famous for. I wrote about Pictou’s fantastic Lobster Carnival last summer and really did want to go back , but it was not in the cards.

Naturally, the best part for me, of any lobster festival is the community lobster dinner. Nova Scotia is famous for them and last year I made it to three of them! Typically, you find them in many coastal villages celebrating the end of lobster season….Don’t panic, you can get delicious fresh NS lobster all year round, but the fishing season does move from area to area around the province. I’m assuming it’s to give the lobsters a chance to grow. And a little trivia for you….it takes a lobster 7 years…yes….SEVEN years to get to be a pound. And just a few minutes for us to devour it. It doesn’t seem right, so the next time you sit down to a lobster dinner, remember to savor it.

Unfortunately, the summer whipped by without me getting to even one community dinner, but I was lucky enough to get invited to a family lobster dinner recently…and with 20 people enjoying the evening, I’d call it a community dinner, wouldn’t you? Please note the "tablecloth"...nothing makes lobster eating easier than a tablecloth made of newspapers (already read, is best) to make clean up a breeze. Just dump all the shells on the table, roll up the paper and...voila...ready for garbage.

First thing to know about NS Community Lobster Dinners for those of you who’ve never eaten them “the Nova Scotian way”…the lobsters are precooked and served cold with lots of potato salad, coleslaw, fresh rolls and some heavenly pie for dessert. Growing up in Montreal and then living in Toronto and Ottawa as an adult, I’m used to eating my lobsters boiled or steamed, served hot and then dipped in melted butter…I’m drooling just writing about it.

But if you think about it….cooking up lobsters for a gazillion people at a time, requires some serious pre-work. I did write about another lobster dinner, so if you’re up for doing it yourself , you can find out how here.

The video is the “how to” to eat your lobster like a real Nova Scotian …not for the delicate and be forewarned …wear clothes you can throw in the washing machine!

Enjoy and don’t forget to invite me to your next lobster dinner.

We're On Vacation - But First a Lobster

We're on vacation, so I won't be posting as often as usual for the next couple of weeks. That said, I couldn't leave without sharing last night's dinner. Joanna will be celebrating a big birthday...I'll never tell which one...so the in-laws invited us over to their place for lobster. Of course there were a couple of hold-outs who preferred steak...more for the rest of us to share.

It was a pretty "Eat Local" meal...lobster from off the coast of Nova Scotia, local new potatoes and fresh mixed greens and herbs for the salads. And for the hold outs...Canadian beef steaks.

Here's the best lobster recipe anywhere from Clearwater who believe in sustainability and responsible stewardship, and the ones we had...1 1/2 pound/680 grams of the juiciest, sweetest, most delicious lobsters found anywhere.

I brought the salads...usually at local Nova Scotian Lobster Suppers, you'll also find potato salad, and I wanted to take it beyond the usual, very mayo versions found around here.

Roasted Potato & Garlic Salad with Mint (somehow, I don't have a photo...too bad, it's almost as pretty as it is delicious) still has some mayo (I like Hellmann's with Olive Oil) and some white wine vinegar. The real stars are the roasted garlic and fresh mint.

Instead of coleslaw, I made an Asian Mango Salad made with local mixed greens with blackberries as well.

The Birthday Girl wanted some of my Katherine Hepburn Brownies for her cake. How could I say no? Lots of candles to blow out, so Boaz helped his mummy.

Dinner was delicious, filled with lots of local goodies and now we're off to Montreal and Toronto. I'm sure I'll get some time to share some photos of our food journey. Don't be jealous.

Lobster Dinner at Home

My brother-in-law is visiting from Toronto, so we're naturally doing some touristy things...time checking out the Halifax harbour, heading out to Peggy's Cove and the rest of the lovely Lighthouse Route. We've taken many a visitor on these journeys in the past year and we love doing it. But this is the first time we actually cooked lobster at home. And it was absolutely spectacular.

This is just a short post...because we're heading out to take advantage of a gorgeous day, but I had to share. We bought our lobsters at the massive Clearwater store along the Bedford Basin. So many lobster options...soft shell (with lower percentage of meat), some perfect for canning, to the hard shell variety. Guess which route we chose....no contest....2 lively 1 1/2 lb hard shell primo lobsters went into the bag and we headed home.

I finally got to use the huge pot I bought last summer specifically for this purpose (although it will be used for making large batches of soups, sauces and stews for the freezer...but I digress. And naturally the menfolk reminded me of Woody Allen in the movie Annie Hall, so I had to do the handling.

Here's Clearwater's own recipe for Boiled Lobster and while you're there, check out the other great recipes. My Honey wouldn't let me post the photo of empty shells, so you'll have to trust me when I say there was nothing left. The lobsters were sweet and juicy and the best I've ever eaten. And, by the way...Clearwater has an online store and ships anywhere, so you don't have to live in Halifax to enjoy some of our local lobsters.

The picture of me in my lobster bib is still on my brother-in-law's camera and we're off to explore....see you all tomorrow for the Presto Pasta Night Roundup.

Prospect's Lobster Dinner

Where has the week gone? I started to write this post on Monday, but I guess I've just been having too much fun with my family. But I still want to share a lovely Nova Scotian tradition...community dinners. Perhaps it's not just a Nova Scotian tradition, but it's a new one to me and I'm glad to be a part of this one in particular...but let me back up a bit...

I wrote about Prospect last summer, when we first moved to Nova Scotia, last year. This time we took a much closer look at the village, including a lovely B&B called, naturally, Prospect Village Bed & Breakfast. We haven't stayed there yet...but we will. It looks awesome (You can check out the photos, etc., right here) As you can see from the photo, the little hamlet (you can make out the church and the parish hall that housed the community lobster supper is hidden by it) looked deserted when we drove in last year...almost like a set for a film that takes place in the 1800's. But this past Sunday, was a different story entirely...people from the village, surrounding neighborhoods and some "outsiders" like us were there. I wish I had taken a photo of the crowd, but I was too caught up in the moment.

We were all there for the Prospect Village Lobster Supper an annual fundraiser which is put together by the Prospect Peninsula Residents’ Association to raise money for the local wharf and community library.

Sunday was glorious...the weather was perfect and Ryan, Lex & cute little Piper, friends of my daughter, invited us to join in the fun. That's me and my daughter Sharron at the top of the post, about to get messy over a very juicy, tasty lobster dinner complete with a dish of mussels fresh from Prospect Bay to start, potato salad, cole slaw and for dessert...well, more in a minute.

Ryan, Lex and Piper and their two dogs live in the hamlet in the most delightful dollhouse ever. Take a look at the view from their backyard . Apparently, in winter storms, the waves of the Atlantic Ocean, lap their windows!

Lex's kitchen and the 4 apple pies she made for the supper...it really is a community affair. Everyone pitches in...men dealing with lobsters (last year over 500 were served) and mussels, the ladies make lots of delicious pies for dessert,

Everyone gets into the act to serve it all up. (I don't remember her name, but she's about to have a baby any day now).

Mussels to start


Lobster dinner with perfect potato salad...I wonder who's recipe and if they'd share...

Even Piper loved the lobster (that's her mummy helping her out)

I couldn't resist this strawberry rhubarb pie, but there were lots of choices.

Local musicians entertained outside and artisans sold their beautiful wares in the parish hall...too bad I didn't take any photos of those.

All in all...a perfectly heavenly day and the Lighthouse Route is still my favorite part of Nova Scotia, but we haven't even explored half of the province yet, so you never know.

Does your town/neighborhood have community dinners? I'd love to hear about them.

Lobster Heaven

Just in case I haven't enticed you with our own Nova Scotia style lobster dinner yesterday, you have to read this article in the NY Times I'm drooling over my breakfast coffee and wondering when I can pull off my own version of their wonderful lobster weekend.

For today...we're heading off to camp. Hope your day is sunny and lovely, like ours promises to be.