Decadent Lobster Macaroni and Cheese #recipe @LucyBurdette

LUCY BURDETTE: A DEADLY FEAST will hit bookstores in one month and I'm getting very, very excited about it! So excited that I thought I'd share one of my favorite recipes from the book ahead of time. Hayley Snow is on a seafood tasting tour and this lobster mac and cheese is one of the offerings. Miss Gloria is so sad about missing this taste sensation that Hayley agrees to make it for her. (And what Hayley makes, I make...)

There is nothing low-calorie or health-conscious about this dish, but it is delicious and good for special celebrations. I don’t know how close my rendition is to the one that Hayley eats at Bagatelle in A Deadly Feast, but my tasters loved it.

Ingredients

1 pound good quality short pasta, such as ziti
4 cups shredded cheese. (I used 2 cups Gruyere, about 1 1/2 cups white cheddar, and a half-cup Havarti. You can mix and match according to what’s in your fridge and which are your favorites.)
4 ounces cream cheese, cut into chunks
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus another
3 tablespoons flour
2 cups whole milk
Several splashes of Tabasco sauce, to taste
Meat from the claws and tails of two lobsters
2 or 3 slices of good quality bread for bread crumbs

Grate the cheeses and set them aside. Melt the butter in a large pan over low heat, and stir in the flour to make a roux. Gradually add the milk, stirring constantly until everything is absorbed and the white sauce is beginning to thicken. Stir in the grated cheese and the cream cheese. Whisk until smooth.

Toast the bread, break it into crumbs, add a tablespoon of melted butter, and set aside.

Cook the pasta in boiling water, but for two minutes shorter than your package tells you.

Tear or cut the lobster meat into bite-size chunks, and whisk this into the cheese mixture. Stir the white cheese sauce into the pasta. Pour this into a well-greased 9 x 13“ pan.

Top with the buttered breadcrumbs. Bake at 350 for half an hour until everything is piping hot and the top is starting to brown.

Enjoy!

Death on the Menu, the 8th Key West food critic mystery, is available now from Crooked Lane Books, and will be out in paperback on April 9. You can order it wherever books are sold! A DEADLY FEAST will be out in May, but can be pre-ordered now on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Indiebound, or wherever you buy your books.

And T-bone says please follow Lucy on Instagram and Bookbub!