Tonight's dinner was excellent. A little expensive but worth it. (I'm still romancing my wife and she loved the dinner.) The lobster was half a package of frozen VIP brand from Costco Canada. The asparagus came from Remark on Oxford Street in London and it was the usual product from Peru and not local. The season for local asparagus has passed.
This dinner was exceedingly easy to put together. I simply used my previous recipe for a lemon pasta and substituted lobster meat for the chicken.
Ingredients (Serves 2)
6 oz or 160 g of lobster meat (I use VIP frozen lobster meat I buy at Costco Canada)
3 Tbsp of olive oil
6 large mushrooms, each cut into eight, large, pie-shaped chunks
10 asparagus spears chopped into 1-inch sections
2 cloves of finely chopped garlic
1 Tbsp of freshly grated lemon zest - don't scrimp
5 Tbsp of no fat sour cream (I'm considering using 1% sour cream. This is very close nutritionally but the small amount of fat may add some flavour and texture.)
140 g of linguine - I find 70 g of dry linguine is enough per person while cutting the calories.
4 Tbsp of fresh squeezed lemon juice
4 Tbsp of fresh grated Parmesan cheese
At the table add a pinch of dried, crushed, hot-peppers, plus salt and pepper.
Preparation
1. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. While it's heating, heat the olive oil in a large, deep fry pan.
2. Add the mushrooms to the hot oil and drop the linguine into the boiling water. From this point, you have about eight minutes to get this dinner together. Stay focused.
3. With the mushrooms beginning to cook, add the asparagus to the fry pan. (I cheated and put mine in a microwave at high for 30 seconds. Don't do too much precooking. The asparagus should have good colour and a little crunch.) Stir all with a spoon or toss with a flipper as the mushrooms/asparagus cooks. You don't want this to burn. Stir the pasta occasionally to keep the linguine from sticking.
4. Add the minced garlic to the fry pan. After a minute add the sour cream. You don't want the garlic to burn. At the well drained lobster meat. I sprinkled a little lemon juice onto the meat five minutes before using. This is optional. Sprinkle the Tbsp of lemon zest over all and flip or stir all.
5. At this point, the pasta should be done. Drain and save a cup of pasta water just in case the dish seems a little dry. Add the pasta to the fry pan. Sprinkle the lemon juice over all and the grated Parmesan. Toss all and serve.
6. At the table, add a pinch of dried, crushed, hot-peppers, if desired, plus some salt and pepper. Have some extra grated Parmesan for adding at the table.
