DS Sunday No.2

la lobster roll

Plan C. or C is for Crustacean.

It's Dim Sum Sunday {No. 2} and the theme for this week is shellfish or crustacean. Hmmmmm says the girl from the tiny Nova Scotia seaside village. Initially I was thinking scallops - scallops are good, not too expensive if you buy just a few and usually readily available at our little tiny village grocery store. Sadly this week no scallops were to be found and after taking a quick peek at the frozen foods selection and finding only product of Thailand raw jumbo shrimp I thought Well, I guess I'll resort to Plan B. I'll tweak the rules and cook seafood - fish. Salmon to be exact. Lobster didn't occur to me. It's not lobster season (yet) and even though the price of lobster has gone way down I rarely ever buy lobster ... and you can be sure that you would never ever find me plunging live creatures into boiling water. I have some issues with lobster (more on that later*).

As we walk each night along the harbour's edge (Miss D and I) I always spend at least some of that time pondering the ice ... and the melting of it. This is a little fishing village and the ice in the harbour is another harbinger of spring round here - the receding ice very much like spying the first dandelions and crocuses. Lobster season starts May 1st and in order for the season to begin without a snag the ice in the harbour and out into the Straight must be gone. In a round about way, which is always my preferred way of thought, I've been thinking about lobster. It amazes me how our little harbour which was frozen so solid all winter long - a big, cold, white expanse of flat, snow covered, thick ice - is now once again mostly open. Big flat cakes of ice gently sail back and forth on the tide, the water's sparkling again and filled with ducks and it won't be long now until the harbour is completely free of ice and lobster season will begin again.

Since I spent the entire day (I'm not kidding) and into the evening working on my new etsy shop I devised Plan C. & decided to re-post this Crustacean recipe.

Tres delicious, it must be summer by the sea food

lobster roll
lobster
buttered and grilled hot dog bun
mayonnaise
smidge of Dijon mustard (because I'm on a bit of Dijon kick at the moment)
pepper
garlic chives from the garden

The key ingredients to any good lobster roll are mayonnaise (never salad dressing) and a buttered white bread hot dog bun and it must be the kind with crustless sides because you butter these bready sides and grill each side in a frying pan - so the outside of the bun becomes crispy, browned and buttery like the outside of a grilled cheese sandwich while the inside stays steamy and soft.

* Quite a famous & fascinating article published in Gourmet Consider the Lobster on the ethics of eating lobster by the late David Foster Wallace. Whole Foods has a ban on selling live lobster - you know those giants tanks you see in many seafood places stuffed with live lobsters 5 or 6 deep crawling all over each other, claws banded and useless and tres sad.

** apparently if you place the live lobsters in the freezer for 1-2 hours before cooking this will kill them much more humanely

The lobster photographed above was given to me, a gift - already cooked and ready to be eaten. I wouldn't want to waste it would I ? I'll admit to the extreme wishy washy-ness of my lobster politics. Would I wear a vintage fur coat if given to me as a gift - No ! not on your life.

Hey ! the new 29 Black Street shop is open. All originals !

update speaking of harbingers of spring - Winnie D and I spied a pair of red winged blackbirds on our walk this early morning (actually we heard they're distinct trilling call first). Normally a marsh and pasture bird they've stopped by the petite forest in our backyard this morning for a little visit. (and don't I sound like a birding geek ?- oh yeah and the song sparrows are back too ! ) A great animal totem blackbird is ... especially for us Cancer gals.