Mac 'n Cheese with Lobster

Chef's notes

One thing I love about food is how simple and comforting it can be. And the more I look into food and what I need to create next, the more I look to my children and wife for advice.

We love to eat. Even though my kids are just 2 and 3, they simply love food. I can't seem to get them away from sushi, pizza, burgers, hot dogs and especially the K word: That's right - that wonderful mix 'n mac we all grew up with. So I took it upon myself to come up with a replacement for their Kraft Dinner cravings, and I think I found one.

Back in Grade 8, mac and cheese was one of the first things I learned in home ec. I loved that all I had to do was boil macaroni, make a simple sauce with milk and cheese, add some flour, mix it together, bake it, and it was done. Maybe this is why I wanted to become a chef: For the first time, homework was fun.

Years later, I still love the simple flavours of mac 'n cheese and now I can make it for my kids. If there is just one thing they love, it's pasta and cheese, and we all love lobster. So I figured, why not put them together in one big dish?

With this recipe, feel free to change the cheese to whatever you like. The cheeses I have added are my favourites. Just be careful not to go too strong. What's such a treat about this dish is that if you're going all the way, you might as well go over the top. You can add scallops and prawns, as well as smoked salmon.

Béchamel Sauce

• 4 cups milk
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
• Salt and freshly ground white pepper to taste

Combine milk and garlic in a saucepan on medium heat. Bring to a boil and remove from heat. Cover and leave to infuse for 10 minutes. Strain through a fine-mesh strainer and discard solids. Make a roux by melting butter in a heavy-bottomed saucepan on medium heat. Whisk in flour and cook for about one minute, or until light brown. Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly.

Add strained hot milk, whisking constantly. Return the saucepan to medium heat and bring the mixture back to a boil, whisking constantly until sauce thickens. Add nutmeg, then season to taste with salt and pepper. Allow to simmer for three more minutes. Remove from heat.

Mac 'n Cheese

• 1 pound live lobster
• 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
• 8 ounces Irish or double-smoked bacon, finely diced
• 4 shallots, peeled and finely chopped
• 1/4 cup grated Emmental
• 1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese
• 1/4 cup grated sharp white cheddar cheese
• 1/2 cup freshly grated pecorino Romano
• 12 ounces dried succhietto pasta, cooked al dente

Boil large pot of salted water, add lobster. Cook for three minutes at rolling boil. Remove lobster from water, cool. Remove meat, dice the tail and claw meat.

Preheat oven to 375 F. Heat vegetable oil in a frying pan on medium heat. Sauté bacon and shallots for about five minutes, or until bacon is just cooked and shallots are translucent.

Reheat béchamel sauce on medium-low heat and whisk in Emmental, blue cheese, cheddar and half of the pecorino Romano. Add half of the bacon-shallot mixture and fold in lobster meat.

Divide cooked pasta into four individual three-cup casserole dishes and pour sauce over (enough to cover pasta by half an inch).

Sprinkle the tops with the remaining pecorino Romano and the remaining bacon-shallot mixture. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, or until hot and bubbling.

Place under broiler for three to five minutes, or until top is light golden brown. Place each casserole dish on a napkin-lined plate.

As seen in Chef Feenie's monthly feature in The Globe and Mail, March 29th, 2008