This Lobster Pasta is a decadent dinner idea! Succulent, juicy lobster stirred through linguine or spaghetti dressed with a delicious chili and garlic sauce. Serve on date night or at a fancy dinner party. Lobster and crayfish aren't your everyday protein, but they are delicious and worth the splurge every now and then! So if you pick up a cooked crayfish or cooked lobster in the grocery store, you can turn them into an indulgent and scrumptious pasta dinner with this easy seafood pasta recipe.
Remove the tail meat from the lobster/crayfish and cut it into small bite-sized chunks. Set to one side until you have made the pasta.1 cooked lobster/crayfish
Break the shell/head into chunks (don't throw out the tomalley from the lobster head, add that to the pan)
Add the olive oil to a large deep saute pan (or saucepan); once shimmering, add the shells and head and fry over medium-low heat until aromatic and the oil is a rich orange color.3 tablespoon olive oil
Use your spatula to push and squish the hard shells about, getting plenty of roasted color on them.
Add in the broth/stock and simmer gently for 20 minutes.2 cups/500ml stock/broth
Strain the stock well and boil to reduce to about 1 cup of liquid.
Set aside until needed.
To make the pasta
Bring a large saucepan of water to a boil, add in the salt and the pasta and cook for 1 minute less than the packet suggests—Reserve 2 cups of the pasta cooking water and then drain the pasta.6oz/180g dried pasta 1 tablespoon salt
While the water is coming to a boil, finely slice the garlic and chili.2 garlic cloves 1 red chili
Pour the olive oil into a frying pan, add the garlic and chili, then heat over very low heat.3 tablespoon olive oil
When the garlic starts to sizzle, pour in the reserved 1 cup of lobster stock and bring to a simmer.
Add in the cooked pasta.
Stir to combine and allow the pasta to soak up the flavor.
Add around ¼ cup of the pasta cooking water, the chopped lobster, and the cubed butter. Allow this to melt and combine with the stock, turning the pasta gently to coat it in the sauce and heat the lobster/crayfish. Add more pasta cooking water if the pasta starts to look too dry.¼ cup pasta cooking water chopped lobster meat 2 tablespoon chopped butter
Add in about two teaspoons of lemon zest and cut the lemon into wedges. Spitz the pasta with one of the wedges and keep the rest for serving.1 lemon
Taste for seasoning, then sprinkle with parsley and serve with your lemon wedges.fresh parsley
Notes
You can often buy whole-cooked lobsters or crayfish in the grocery store. These are perfect for this dish. Keep the heads and shells as they are needed in the sauce. If you only have lobster/crayfish meat, you can definitely make this dish, but see notes 2 and 3 to add flavor.
I would recommend seafood/fish broth for the sauce, but chicken or vegetable is a great alternative, especially if you use the shells in the sauce.
If you just have lobster/crayfish meat and don't have shells, use seafood or shrimp broth/stock. This will give you the best flavor. Reduce 2 cups of stock down to 1 cup and proceed with the recipe. Or, for a boost of flavor without the shells, grab some seafood or lobster better than bouillon, which will add extra flavor to your sauce.
A long pasta noodle is perfect here; spaghetti or linguine would be my choice. However, it could work with a more dense pasta like an Orecchiette. Fusilli, spirali or a casarecce would work.
The recipe uses the zest of the lemon and a little juice. Make sure you zest the lemon before you cut it in half. It is tough to zest a cut lemon!