April 7 – April 13, 2025

Monday:                               Quick Tomato Soup and Grilled Cheese

 

 

Tuesday:                               Ricotta Pasta all Vodka

Wednesday:                        Pan-Seared Ranch Chicken

Thursday:                             Cheesy White Beans and Kale

Friday: Lobster Rolls

Saturday: Chicago Tavern-Style Pizza

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday:                                 Brisket with Roast Vegetables and Tomato Sauce

Stepping up our Friday game

In Lent, on Fridays, practicing Catholics like us (Yes – we’re still practicing, hoping to make the first string some day) are obliged to forego meat.  No hot dogs at the ballpark, no fried chicken or barbecued ribs at the picnic, no Delmonico to go with the martini at the Steak House and no hamburger at McDonald’s.

Growing up, we often had baked flounder on Fridays in Lent, but just as often we had Kraft macaroni and cheese paired with that seafood-adjacent treat – Mrs. Paul’s frozen fish sticks.  And occasionally, when Mom didn’t have time to go to the store, she’d give us a piece of toast with slices of hard-boiled egg on top smothered with Campbell’s Mushroom Soup.  Oh – and a really great night was when we had some oyster stew, a frozen concoction which came in a container similar to frozen orange juice and was, I think, also made in Camden by the Campbell clan.

All of these foods bring back fond memories for me and I would gladly eat every one of them today, with the exception of the fish sticks – no offense to the Paul family.

But last Friday, Beez told me about having seen a video of Ina Garten cooking lobster rolls and, switching to her SWMBO persona, wondered if we might try that.  There wasn’t really time to cook a whole lobster, crack and clean it and reheat it in butter and parsley and shallots, so I bought two lobster tails and those Chicago-style hot dog buns with the opening in the top instead of the side.  These buns are idiotic for hot dogs and not ideal for eating anything, especially if you’re arthritic.  They require an unnatural reverse pronation of the wrist and, when they don’t lead to orthopaedic injury, almost always result in dropped food.  I’m convinced they were devised by Big Laundry to increase business.  But we were going for the traditional look – the lobster rolls you see on Cape Cod.  So, Chicago-style it was.

Well, whatever holder you use to eat the lobster rolls in the recipe below – shamelessly stolen from the great Ina – you will be very happy.  For someone who once ate Mrs. Paul’s frozen fish sticks, the result was transcendent.  Though you’ll have to have them after Lent, Easter being this Sunday and Good Friday* not a big eating day for us benighted Catholics.

*I had meant to publish this post on Thursday (Holy Thursday) – and then early on Friday, but my editor was asleep on the porch on the first really warm day of the year and I didn’t have the heart to wake her.  I let the reference to Good Friday stand because I liked it and, after all, it’s my blog.

WARM LOBSTER ROLLS

(adapted from Ina Garten)

Note:  You will need cooked lobster meat for this.  Ina calls for a whole lobster boiled – the claw meat is particularly unctuous.  But my version involves lobster tails – easier, quicker and still pretty damn good.

Timing:             After you’ve cooked and picked the lobster – 10 minutes

Ingredients:    Serves 2 – easily scalable – you’ll need 1 lobster tail per person

Lobster meat from two lobster tails

2 tablespoons butter plus another tablespoon and a half

¼ cup small-diced celery

¼ teaspoon diced dill, plus more for garnish

2 top-sliced hot dog buns

¼ teaspoon minced parsley

Juice of ½ lemon

Kosher salt and ground black pepper

Prep:

Cook the lobster meat and, when cool enough to handle, cut into large dice (3/4-inch or so)

Dice the celery, dill and parsley.

Cook:

Heat 2 tablespoons of butter in a skillet over medium-high or a bit lower and add the lobster, celery, 1/2 teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon pepper and cook, stirring from time to time, for 2 minutes or a bit more – just to heat it through.

Off the heat, sprinkle the lobster with the dill, the parsley and ½ the lemon juice.

Now heat another tablespoon of butter in a small sauté pan until it sizzles and place the hot dog buns on their sides in the pan and cook over medium-high for 2 minutes on each side, until nicely browned.

Serve:

Divide the lobster between the rolls, sprinkle with some extra dill, salt and a little more lemon juice.  Serve hot.