Today's recipe for Quick Lobster Newburg comes from regular Countdown contributor and cook Kurt Karafinski, who got the idea from this column.
"I saw a recipe in Countdown to Dinner for bay scallops with sherry, (Scallops Harborside Style, Jan. 31, 02)" the Glenshaw resident said.
"We liked that one a lot, so I started looking for other recipes with sherry."
Surfing the Internet, he found several for Lobster Newburg, but they were more work than he wanted to get into.
Instead, he used bits and pieces from five recipes, adapting and simplifying the final formula to his liking -- milk instead of cream, no egg yolks or butter.
"I saw cream of shrimp soup on the supermarket shelf and thought that would be the perfect base," the seven-time Countdown winner said. "You can use real lobster, but I think Louis Kemp's imitation lobster is fine."
We couldn't find 8 ounces of lobster in the supermarket without buying lobster tails and cooking them, so for convenience we went with Kurt's suggestion, which comes in 8-ounce packages.
Real lobster, of course, would've been better, but the fake worked well enough in the creamy sauce. And it lived up to the Quick in its name. Dinner was ready in 12 minutes.
Kurt serves it over toast -- "trim the crust off the bread and call it 'toast points' . . . sounds more impressive" -- with rice on the side to sop up the sauce.
We did, too, adding Le Sueur peas for a touch of green.
A senior systems analyst for Eckerd Drugs, Kurt is the cook for his family and obviously enjoys the role, but occasionally he likes a break.
"We went to the Blarney Stone for Thanksgiving dinner," he said. "It was a day off for me from cooking and also our son Christopher's fifth birthday. We had the family back to the house for ice cream and cake."
He and wife Debby are expecting their second child in April. Another mouth for Kurt to feed.
Quick Lobster Newburg
- 8 ounces cooked lobster, real or imitation
- 1 can cream of shrimp soup
- 1/3 cup milk
- 3 tablespoons sherry
- Bread or English muffins
- One shake of nutmeg
Combine lobster, soup, milk, sherry and nutmeg in a medium saucepan over moderate to low heat. Stir occasionally, until heated through.
Toast bread and remove the crusts. Serve the lobster mixture over toast points or muffins.
Nancy Anderson can be reached at nanderson@post-gazette.com or 412-263-3549.
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