Bargain Basement Lobster Risotto

8 servings
Total cost NY $19.59
Cost per serving NY $2.49

Yes, you read that right, LOBSTER! In the current economy, the price of lobster has fallen to a point it hasn’t seen since 1990. In Manhattan it’s currently running about $9.95 a pound, down from almost twice that a little over a year ago, back when the recession was just starting to get its groove on. The lobstermen/women/folk are suffering fiscally due to the lack of demand for their catch. So, yes it’s still a splurge, but by buying lobster you (1) enjoy a spectacular bargain*, (2) help fellow victims of the economy out and (3) get to eat lobster! Isn’t that worth $2.49 a serving?


Now for some unpleasantness. Yes, this recipe calls for a live lobster. Yes, that means that you yourself will have to make it un-live.** If you’ve seen Julie & Julia***, you’ll know that this is when you start singing “Lobster Kill-ah! Qu’est que ce? Fa fa fa fa fa fa!” One can buy cooked lobster meat, but the price is sky high and the freshness is frequently in doubt, so I just can’t recommend that method. If you don’t have the stomach for this (and I feel you, I really do) perhaps you’d be interested in a nice vegetarian mac & cheese? Or some salmon cakes or clam chowder, both made with seafood that comes in nice little tins?



(UPDATE: We've been Slashfooded! ("Lobster Risotto - Feast Your Eyes")


Ingredients

• 1 1 ½ pound lobster ($14.93)
• 1 onion (NY $0.37)
• 2 bay leaves (staple)
• 15 peppercorns (staple)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil (staple)
• 2 tablespoons butter (staple)
• 2 shallots (NY $0.92)
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste (staple)
• 1 cup white wine, at room temperature (NY $0.75)
• ¼ cup chopped flat leaf parsley (NY $0.79 for one bunch)
• 2 cups arborio rice (NY $1.83)
• Salt and pepper to taste (staple)

Directions

Bring just enough water to cover your lobster lengthwise to a boil in a large pot. Add the peeled, quartered onion along with 2 bay leaves and about 15 peppercorns. Pop the live lobster in the freezer for about 15 minutes to desensitize. (“Ah yi yi yi yi yi yiiiiiiiiii!!!!”) Once the water is boiling, plunge the lobster into the pop head first and cover. (“Run run run, run run run awaaaaaaay!!!”) Cook about 5 minutes, until bright red. (Be careful not to overcook at this point, as the lobster will continue to cook in the risotto later.) Remove lobster from pot ("Hey hey hey hey HHHHHHAAAAAAAA!"), but leave the pot on the heat. Rinse your lobster in cold water, then remove lobster meat from the shell.


Since the LBUH is renowned far and wide as a master lobster sheller****, I’ll let him tell you himself exactly how it should be done:

Since the Lobster is full of the lobster stock, start by dismantling the lobster over a lipped plate or a shallow bowl. Start by removing the claws. While holding the lobster’s main carapace in one hand, grab one of it’s claws and while gently twisting the limb, pull it away from the body. As the clawed limb comes off, the juice inside the body should start to pour out into the bowl. Repeat this action with the other clawed limb.

Next, while grasping the tail in one hand and the body in the other, twist your hands in opposite directions and gently crack and pull apart to separate the tail from the torso. Pour the rest of the liquid held in the torso back into the bowl of lobster stock.

To remove the meat easily from the tail, start by snapping off the fanned end so that the flesh is exposed at either end of the tail. Next, insert a chopstick (or the handle of a fork or spoon if you don’t have a chopstick) into the smaller opening on the tail and gently push forward to coax the meat out in one lovely piece.

Now attack the claws. Start by removing the claws from small joined pieces. Don’t discard the joints as there is meat inside those that we will remove soon. Crack the claw vertically along the thickest part of one claw, breaking off the back shell exposing the flesh within. Twist and remove the lower pincer, and pour the liquid within the claw back into the broth (don’t want to lose that tasty lobster infused water!). Using your chopstick, prod the meat through the hole made by removing the lower pincer, pushing it out through the large hole in the rear of the claw. Repeat with the other claw.

Crack each joint to separate from the others and more easily coax the meat within out with your chopstick.

Return cleaned pieces of lobster shell to your pot as you go. Next, remove the carapace shell from the legs by holding the shell in one hand and the legs in the other, and pull apart. Return the shell to the broth, take the remaining legs and break into segmented pieces to allow the bits of meat within to be more easily absorbed into the broth and toss them in as well, and toss them in along with any other lobster bits you have left (but reserving the larger than tiny chunks of meat for the risotto).

Phew, got that? I promise it took you longer to read than it took the LBUH to execute. (Err, no pun intended.) OK, now continue boiling the lobster shells in the pot for about another ten minutes. Meanwhile, dice the shallot finely.

In a large sauté pan, heat 1 tablespoon butter in 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Add diced shallots and tomato paste. Saute just until golden, about 5 minutes. Add Arborio rice and toast, stirring, about 1 minute until opaque. Begin adding lobster stock by ladlefuls: add a ladleful, then stir until absorbed. Repeat until you’ve added about 5 -6 cups of the lobster stock. Umm, yeah, that is a lot of stirring. Congratulations, you’ve squeezed in an upper body workout while you’re cooking! You’ll know when to stop when the risotto seems to resist adopting any more liquid. If it seems to be thinking to itself “no, stop, no more I can’t take AAAAHHH!”, that’s when you’re done.***** Stir in the remaining tablespoon of butter and reserved lobster meet, and warm for about 1 minute. Stir in chopped parsley, and season to taste.


* And I will freely admit that I am a sucker for a deep discount.

** Sound of our vegetarian audience frantically closing out of their browser windows.

*** What do you mean you haven’t seen it yet? I’m sorry, I’m not sure we can still be friends.

**** We recently attended a rehearsal dinner clambake for some friends of ours, at which a crowd gathered to watch the LBUH extract the lobster from it shell. Of course, about half the attendees were vegetarian, so they were pretty easy to impress on this score. But still!

***** If you have stock left, discard the onion, peppercorns and lobster shell and freeze for another use.


Nutritional Facts
Amount Per Serving

Calories 371.8	Sugars 2.8 g	Folate 5.2 %
Total Fat 8.5 g	Protein 20.1 g	Iron 5.5 %
Saturated Fat 2.9 g	Vitamin A 8.3 %	Magnesium 9.8 %
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.8 g	Vitamin B-12 40.5 %	Manganese 10.3 %
Monounsaturated Fat 4.2 g	Vitamin B-6 8.9 %	Niacin 16.8 %
Cholesterol 68.2 mg	Vitamin C 6.4 %	Phosphorus 19.6 %
Sodium 559.9 mg	Vitamin D 0.5 %	Riboflavin 11.1 %
Potassium 512.3 mg	Vitamin E 7.1 %	Selenium 52.7 %
Total Carbohydrate 7.9 g	Calcium 6.1 %	Thiamin 4.3 %
Dietary Fiber 0.2 g	Copper 80.8 %	Zinc 17.1 %

Recipe and Nutritional Information after the jump

Salmon Cakes with Lemon-y Tzatziki Sauce

Makes about 15 cakes
Total price: NY $10.33
Price per cake: $0.69


As we’ve said before, we’re not willing to give up fish entirely until the Great Recession is at last over, but we’re not about to go splurging on wild bluefin tuna these days either. Enter fish cakes. This version uses canned salmon, which is very inexpensive. These are topped with tzatziki, a riff on the traditional tartar sauce accompaniment.


Tzatziki has a similar smooth creamy mouth feel punctuated with crisp bursts of green, and also contrasts nicely with the texture of the fish cake, but is a lighter and more modern alternative.


Ingredients
For the Salmon Cakes:

• 2 cans salmon (about 6 oz. each) (NY $3.98)*
• 3 stalks celery, finely diced (about ¾ cup) (NY $1.69 for bag of 2 bunches)
• 1 small onion, finely diced (about 1 cup) (NY $0.59)
• 1/3 cup mayonnaise (staple)
• 1 tbsp dijon mustard (staple)
• 1 tbsp drained pickle relish (staple)
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice (NY $0.50 for 1 lemon)
• ¼ teaspoon paprika (staple)
• ¾ teaspoon Worchestershire sauce (staple)
• 2 dashes hot sauce (staple)
• 1 cup panko bread crumbs (staple)
• 4 tablespoons canola oil (staple)

For the Lemon-y Tzatziki Sauce:

• 1 cup Greek yogurt (NY $1.99)
• 1 cucumber (NY $0.99)
• 1 tsp lemon zest (uses the same lemon from above)
• 1 tsp lemon juice (uses the same lemon from above)
• 1 clove garlic (NY $0.59 for one head)
• Pepper (staple)

Directions
For Salmon Cakes:
Crack open the salmon cans, and empty the salmon into a small colander to drain. (Warning: if you have a puppy, she will become most decidedly under foot at this point. The opened cans will be, ummm, fragrant. If you’re new to canned salmon, I promise the final result won’t smell like this! Of course your puppy thinks it smells just divine right now.) Flake the salmon in the colander, then transfer to a medium bowl. Combine chopped celery and onion with the salmon in the bowl. (If any small bits of salmon still cling to the colander at this point, put it on the floor for the puppy, who will now love you forever. Or at least until somebody else starts to look like he might take her outside to play.) Salt and pepper to taste, and fold together gently with a rubber spatula.


In a small bowl, combine mayo, mustard, relish, lemon juice, Worcestershire, paprika, and hot sauce, and then gently fold into salmon mixture.

In same small bowl, crack open one egg. Whisk vigorously, then fold into salmon mixture along with ½ cup panko. (Shoo the puppy away with your ankle, as she will be inquiring as to who, exactly, will be licking these discarded dishes and spoons you’re going through.)

Pour out about another ½ cup panko onto a plate.


Using a spoon, pick up about a palmful of salmon mixture, and roll it gently between your hands to form a ball shape. Try not to overhandle the fish. Put the ball down onto the plate, and gently flatten to form a patty shape, about 2 inches across. Gently flip over to coat the alternate side with panko. Transfer to a flat-bottomed dish. Repeat until you’ve used all the salmon mixture, creating approx. 15 patties. (The puppy will reeeeeeallly want to know why she can’t have the nice fishy dirty bowl, especially since her mean owners haven’t fed her in weeks and weeks and weeks and she’s wasting away to nooooooothing. Stay strong: its had onion in it. Ignore the beseeching puppy dog eyes.)


Transfer to fridge to chill for about an hour, and move on to making the tzatziki sauce.

Remove chilled cakes from fridge. Heap 2 tbsps canola oil in non-stick skillet. Carefully transfer cakes to skillet. Be sure not to crowd them in the pan: give them some elbow room, this isn’t a subway car! Let them cook about 2 minutes, then carefully flip with an offset rubber spatula and continue cooking about another minute longer. Transfer to paper-towel lined plate to drain, then serve immediately, garnished with the tzatziki.


Directions for Lemon-y Tzatziki Sauce:
Seed and dice the cucumber finely, and mince the garlic.

Combine all ingredients in bowl, and put in fridge to chill and allow flavors to blend until ready to serve.

Any leftovers are delicious with pita bread, carrot sticks, or even tortilla chips.



Loosely based on Parade, October 2002

* We got boneless, skinless canned (Wild Alaskan but still inexpensive! High fives for the shopping coup!) at Trader Joe’s. If yours has skin and bones, pick out the skins. You can then either remove the bones or mash them into the salmon for extra calcium. I recommend the later option (the bones are soft cartiledge, and in these cakes you shouldn’t even be to tell that they’re in there) but if they skeeve you out, go ahead and dig them out.


Nutritional Information
Approximate values per cake

Calories 142.9	Vitamin A 2.0 %	Iron 4.0 %
Total Fat 9.1 g	Vitamin B-12 16.9 %	Magnesium 4.0 %
Cholesterol 13.9 mg	Vitamin B-6 5.8 %	Manganese 6.4 %
Sodium 212.5 mg	Vitamin C 5.2 %	Niacin 10.3 %
Potassium 163.0 mg	Vitamin D 0.0 %	Phosphorus 10.1 %
Total Carbohydrate 8.3 g	Vitamin E 5.2 %	Riboflavin 5.1 %
Fiber 0.9 g	Calcium 8.3 %	Selenium 13.9 %
Sugars 0.9 g	Copper 3.1 %	Thiamin 6.4 %
Protein 6.9 g	Folate 5.0 %	Zinc 2.7 %

Recipe and Nutritional Information after the jump

Herbed New England Clam and Corn Chowder

8 servings
Total Cost: NY $18.67 (plus extra bacon* and carrots)
Price per serving: NY $2.34


Even though its technically spring, its going to be cold and rainy weekend here in New York: perfect chowder weather! I adapted this recipe from a recent Bon Appetit article about eating better for less, but last I checked this chowder doesn’t seem to have ever made it on to Epicurious. Which is a darn shame because its economical, quick, easy, tasty, and a great way for Lovely But Unemployed Husband to get his bacon (“Mmmm, bacon”) fix without me worrying about the state of his arteries. (I am sparing you here from a truly dreadful joke about bringing home the bacon. I would like this noted on my permanent record. Thank you.) The original recipe called for whole milk, but I’ve substituted 2% because it’s a little less heavy and for us its more economical as 2% is what we use on a daily basis. Go ahead and use whichever you have on hand, or a mix if you feel like it. Like most soups, this freezes well.


Ingredients

• 6 bacon slices (NY $3.99 for 1 lb. package)
• 2 medium onions (NY $.69)
• 3 large carrots (NY $1.29/Bunch)
• 1 ¼ tsps dried thyme (staple)
• ¾ teaspoon dried rosemary (or a few sprigs fresh if you have it) (staple)
• Salt (staple)
• Pepper (staple)
• 3 tbsps flour (whole wheat pastry if you like) (staple)
• 4 cups 2 % milk (NY $2.25 for organic)
• 2 8 oz potato (NY $1.50)
• 3 6 ½ oz. cans chopped clams in juice (NY$5.97)
• 2 10 oz packages frozen corn** (NY$2.98)
• Chopped fresh parsley (staple)

Directions
Cut bacon crosswise into ½ inch pieces. Peel and chop carrots, chop onions. Chop, but do not peel, the potato into ½ inch cubes.

Cook bacon in soup pot over medium heat until crisp. Transfer bacon to a plate lined with paper towels to drain.

Pour out all but 2 tbsps of bacon drippings from pot. (Note: if you’re phobic about saturated fat, you could pour out all but 1 tbsp and substitute 1 tbsp olive oil. But you get a lot of flavor bang out of the bacon grease for both your actual and caloric bucks.)

Add onion, carrots, thyme, rosemary, a few pinches salt and several grinds of pepper. Saute until vegetables are tender but still crisp (approx. 5 minutes).

Sprinkle in flour, stir over heat until well combined (approx. 1-2 minutes). Stirring constantly, slowly pour milk into pot. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to medium. Cook until slightly thickened, stirring frequently (approx. 5 minutes).

Add potatoes, and simmer until potatoes are tender, stirring often (approx. 15 minutes.)

Add the clams with their juice, and the corn Return to a boil, then reduce heat to medium low and let simmet for another 10 minutes. Adjust seasoning to taste. Crumble bacon slices into bits. Sprinkle individual bowls with bacon and parsley, serve and enjoy!

Adapted from Bon Appetit, January 2009

*Bacon freezes well and according to Sarah Moulton stays tasty for up to a month. Insert a sheet of wax paper between every six slices or so (or whatever the smallest quantity you think you might want at one time is), wrap in plastic wrap, and place in heavy duty freezer bag before freezing.

** The original recipe called for 1 8 ¾ oz can corn kernels, drained. “CANNED CORN?!?” you ask, increduously. Hand to heart, Bon Appetit said to use canned vegetables. We elected to use frozen corn instead as, among other things, canned corn frequently contains added salt or sugars.

Nutrition Facts
Approximate values per serving, using 2% milk

Calories: 285.6	Vitamin B-6: 14.9 %	Manganese: 15.7 %
Total Fat: 6.5 g	Vitamin C: 25.5 %	Niacin: 11.7 %
Cholesterol: 46.4 mg	Vitamin D: 0.0 %	Pantothenic Acid: 4.5 %
Sodium: 496.6 mg	Vitamin E: 1.1 %	Phosphorus: 11.7 %
Potassium: 795.1 mg	Calcium: 63.3 %	Riboflavin: 7.3 %
Total Carbohydrate: 37.4 g	Copper: 5.8 %	Selenium: 4.4 %
Protein: 21.8 g	Folate: 61.2 %	Thiamin: 12.3 %
Vitamin A: 352.7 %	Iron: 11.4 %	Zinc: 6.2 %
Vitamin B-12: 1.4 %	Magnesium: 9.8 %

Recipe and Nutritional Information after the jump

Shrimp Enchiladas Verde Casserole

8 servings
Total price: NY $ 25.87 (with leftover cheese and cilantro*)
Price per serving: NY $3.23


Seafood is admittedly pricey, but given how ridiculously healthy and delicious it is, we’re not willing to give it up until after the recession is over. But maybe that’s not as far away as it once
seemed? Just maybe? (Now’s when you nod your head and say “Yes, undoubtedly!”) As much fun as this site has been, it would be even better to be rendered obsolete. Back to seafood: one way to keep the price manageable is to use it as just a small part of a larger dish. This recipe does just that, and is truly idiot-simple besides. As easy as an old-school casserole—dump in a can of this, scatter over a pack of that—but blessedly devoid of cream of lima bean soup. Posting this sooner than anticipated as its one of the Lovely But Unemployed Husband’s favorites and, as you may have heard, its hard out there in the job market. (For the moment at least! Soon to end maybe! See above!)


Ingredients

• 1 pound peeled cooked shrimp (NY $9.20**)
• 1 10 oz package frozen corn (NY $1.39)
• 2 4 oz cans chopped green chiles, undrained (NY $3.78)
• 2 10 oz cans green enchilada sauce (or green salsa) (NY $3.98)
• 12 6-inch corn tortillas (NY $ 1.49)
• 1 15 oz can nonfat refried beans (NY $1.99)
• 1 cup reduced-fat shredded cheese (Mexican blend, Montery Jack,
• Cheddar or the like) (NY $5.19 for 8 oz.)
• 2/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro (NY $1.50 for 1 bunch***)
• Cooking spray (staple)
• Optional: 1 lime (NY $0.33)

Directions
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Coat a 9 x 13 inch baking dish withcooking spray. Remove tails from shrimp**** and dice. Combine shrimp, defrosted corn, 1/3 cup cilantro, chiles with their juice and ½ cup of the enchilada sauce in medium bowl.

Spread 1/3 cup enchilada sauce in prepared baking dish. Next put down an overlapping layer of 6 of the corn tortillas. Spread refried beans evenly over tortillas, top with shrimp mixture. Cover with another overlapping layer of remaining tortillas. Pour remaining tortilla sauce over the top. Cover with foil.

Bake until bubbly at the sides (approx. 20 minutes). Remove foil and sprinkle cheese over top. Continue baking, uncovered, until cheese melts (approx. 5 minutes). Sprinkle remaining cilantro over top (or serve on the side), and let stand (approx. 5 minutes). If desired, serve with lime wedges to squirt over the top.

Adapted from Eating Well

* To store leftover cilantro, I trim the bottom of the stems, and pop the bunch into a glass of clean water (like an herbal bouquet). Either keep this on the counter if you plan to use quickly, or put a plastic bag over the top, afix with a rubber band (so basically, your cilantro is wearing a shower cap), then pop the whole works into the refrigerator.

** We found that, surprisingly, shrimp was the same price per pound whether fresh or frozen, raw or cooked. We went with fresh, pre-cooked, but shop around and go with whatever is cheapest. If frozen, defrost before combining with the corn, etc. If raw is cheapest, cook before combining with corn mixture.

*** If you’ve figured out how to grow a pot of cilantro in your apartment, you have my congratulations! We’ve never managed to make that trick work. If you’ve done it, please share your secrets below!

**** If you’re lazy, or just don’t like playing with shrimp tails (like me), you can just take your knife and lop them off. You’ll waste some shrimp that way, however, so better to get the shrimp to come out of their shells. LBUH will either coax(he’s a good coaxer) the shrimp out of the shell by pinching the bottom or will slice the shell off by running a knife horizontally down one side of the shrimp.


Nutrition Facts
Approximate values per serving

Calories: 285.0	Vitamin A: 40.6 %	Iron: 15.3 %
Total Fat: 4.2 g	Vitamin B-12: 15.4 %	Magnesium: 15.3 %
Cholesterol: 114.0 mg	Vitamin B-6: 12.2 %	Manganese: 10.2 %
Sodium: 1,041.6 m	Vitamin C: 20.0 %	Niacin: 13.8 %
Potassium: 318.4 mg	Vitamin D: 0.0 %	Phosphorus: 30.6 %
Total Carbohydrate: 40.1 g	Vitamin E: 1.9 %	Riboflavin: 7.0 %
Fiber: 8.1 g	Calcium: 13.4 %	Selenium: 39.1 %
Sugars: 2.7 g	Copper: 9.6 %	Thiamin: 6.5 %
Protein: 23.1 g	Folate: 7.0 %	Zinc: 13.0 %

Recipe and Nutritional Information after the jump