Breakfast for Mom

Michael LaDuke here again at The Red Lobster Chef’s Blog. Don’t forget, Mother’s Day is right around the corner, so I wanted to share some cool ideas for a breakfast or brunch for Mom. Breakfast is a great time to experiment with new flavors and seafood is a great way to make those dishes special. Shrimp cocktail is a classic way to brighten up your items, but try making it with a nice Lime Aioli in a salted glass, and call it a Shrimp Margarita. I also like to add a little lobster and bacon to my breakfast potatoes for some nice Lobster Hash Browns! You can always substitute shrimp or bay scallops for a slightly less expensive version. My favorite brunch dish is a Smoked Salmon and Asparagus Frittata au Gratin with on Whole Wheat Crust. I know it sounds complicated, but it’s really is simple to make. A frittata is a classic Italian open faced omelet. In this dish we simply add asparagus tips to the omelet and top it with shredded Jack cheese and thinly sliced smoked salmon. Served on a whole wheat individual pizza crust, it makes a great brunch dish.
Whatever your favorite dishes, Mothers Day is a great time to have some fun with brunch, then relax for dinner and come see us at Red Lobster!! (No sense in you working all day, right?)
Check out these recipes below to add to your brunch, and please, come back soon to see what’s fresh today at Red Lobster.

Lobster Hash Browns!
Smoked Salmon and Asparagus Frittata

Spring into the Season

Michael LaDuke here again, back from a week’s vacation enjoying time with my family and eating some great seafood in Hilton Head SC. OK, I will admit, one night we had steaks cooked over charcoal, but I had BBQ shrimp with them.

As we were driving home, I began thinking about the great season that is upon us: spring. As a chef, I love spring because so many great items are beginning to come into season, and markets flourish with the first crops of beautiful local produce. Dishes become lighter, flavors more vibrant, and everything just starts to taste better as we roll out of the long winter. On a personal note, spring is a great time of year as well with Mother’s Day, school graduations, both my children’s birthdays and plenty of reasons to spend time with loved ones and enjoy special meals together.

This year, as you plan your own spring celebrations, I wanted to share with you a few ideas for ”Culinary Cocktails.” When I have friends and family over, I always love to come up with a new drink that has a chef’s twist -- adding fresh herbs, or replacing a typical ingredient with a not-so- common one. The drinks are always the hit of the party, and are a great way to get everyone gathered around the table. Here are three drink recipes, all of which have nonalcoholic versions the whole family can enjoy.

The first is a Pineapple Basil Margarita that uses a very cool and easy pineapple salt as a garnish, and fresh basil to give the drink a neat sweet twist. The second is a Melon and Fresh Mint Mojito. For this drink I made a juice from fresh Honeydew melon and cucumbers, and infused it with mint, for a crisp, fresh twist on a classic drink. The last drink is my favorite, a Banana Smoothie with Curry and Cinnamon. A blend of curry powder is mixed with cinnamon and sugar to give your drink a smooth, spiced flavor. You will find all of these very easy to make, and the non-alcoholic versions are also fun to make with the whole family.

So enjoy spring with some great ”Culinary Cocktails” and your favorite seafood. Thanks for reading, and please, come see what’s fresh today at Red Lobster.

Michael LaDuke

A Taste of Maine in Hilton Head

Michael LaDuke here again at the Red Lobster Chef’s Blog, coming to you this week from Hilton Head Island, S.C.

Each year my wife Kathleen and my children Alexis (10) and Zachary (9) take the six- hour drive north from Orlando, to spend some time on Hilton Head Island. The trip has the same purpose every year: to re-connect and spend time with my family, and to enjoy a relaxing week on the coast. Every morning I go to the local markets and buy what we need for dinner, and cook it that night. Whether it is firing up the charcoal, or making BLTs with my kids, it is always a great family experience. Yesterday I was at the market and saw a tank of live Maine lobsters. I couldn’t resist. I picked out a couple of lobsters, some clams, shrimp, early season corn from the South and red potatoes, and decided to have a Lobster Boil.

First I made a batch of the Red Lobster Cheddar Bay Biscuits -- sorry, knowing the recipe is a perk of my job -- and then I started a pot of water boiling with a generous portion of seafood seasoning (there are plenty on the market; you can use your favorite.) Then I added half a bottle of a New Zealand Marlborough County Sauvignon Blanc to the pot, and saved half for the chef! This region produces a great Sauvignon Blanc that is far less earthy and dry then its California counterpart. I have found them to be great drinking wines and at a great value. Don’t be scared off by the screw top. Some wine makers in this area use screw tops on all their wines now, The tops are less expensive than cork and some say they are actually better for the wine.

OK, back to the food. Once the pot simmered I added the corn and one stick of whole butter (hey it is vacation). After a few minutes, I added the lobsters, clams and shrimp, topped them with the potatoes, and covered the pot. In the meantime I finished the warm biscuits with a little garlic butter. After simmering the seafood for about 15 minutes, I removed everything from the pot and simply served it from platters on the table. Some folks lay the ingredients out on newspaper, but I prefer platters so I can use the liquid for dipping with my seafood and biscuits.

The rest is history. We just rolled up our sleeves, sat at the picnic table and enjoyed the fresh air and the fresh seafood. The flavors and the atmosphere took me back to times I had travelled to Maine and New England, and reminded me just how relaxing the coast and the ocean can be.

So that’s it from my vacation. A couple more dinners to go and I’ll be back to work. Until then, if you really want to relax and re-connect, come see what’s fresh today at Red Lobster, and let us fix you lobster any way you like it.

Michael LaDuke

Have you seen the price of groceries?

Michael LaDuke back with another edition of the Red Lobster Chef’s Blog. I have gotten a lot of questions lately about how to shop for seafood and keep home meals affordable, especially with the rising costs of groceries. Since I do all of the shopping for my family, (actually, my wife Kathleen owns the mall piece of our shopping, I am relegated to the grocery store!), I do have a couple of tips:

1. Plan ahead and only buy what you need. Often when you look at raw product in the store, it does not look like a lot until you get it home. When buying seafood, have a good idea of the amount or weight of product you use. It will keep you from having too many left-overs.

2. Simplicity wins, and it is less expensive. As I have said often in the blog, great dishes can be accomplished by concentrating on flavor and simplicity. Buy fresh fish and grill or broil it with just a squeeze of fresh lemon, or lemon and orange. The more you complicate a dish, the more time, effort, and money it will take for it to be great.

3. Focus on the side dishes. If you keep on hand the dishes you and/or your family like to eat with seafood, it will be easier to shop on a weekly basis. Long grain brown rice and flavorful instant couscous are great accompaniments for seafood. Try not to add expensive items to your side dish. For example, if you cook pasta, but it requires sun dried tomatoes, kalamata olives and extra virgin olive oil, is that really the right combination for a simple, affordable fresh fish dish? Let the seafood be the star.

4. Plan your experimentations. If you are going to experiment with seafood, make sure you use information from a reputable source (like the Red Lobster Chef’s Blog!) so you know the end product will come out right. I recently answered a question from a reader who had purchased crab legs that ended up tough, chewy and flavorless. Her fish market had given her the wrong directions on how to prepare the crab.

Thanks for stopping by the blog, I hope you enjoyed the recent video on ideas for cooking crab. Later this week, will join you from Hilton Head SC, where I will be on vacation enjoying time with my family and eating great local seafood. Thanks for reading and come see what’s fresh today at Red Lobster.

Try our Oven Roasted Tilapia and Vegetable with Lemon Herb Butter recipe.

Michael LaDuke

More Recipe Requests

Michael LaDuke back again at The Red Lobster Chef ’s Blog. Last week we started posting answers to some of the commonly asked questions we receive from all of you, and due to the large number of questions on Shrimp Scampi, I devoted the entire blog to it. This week I want to take a second to answer a few more questions. So here goes:

Q: Can we get the recipe for Red Lobster’s Tartar Sauce, Cole Slaw, and Cocktail Sauce?
A: There are a few items we keep as our signature recipes because over time they have become preparations that create a unique experience at Red Lobster. Often the most simple of items can make a big difference, and these are three great examples. Our guests love our cole slaw, tartar and cocktail sauce and we pride ourselves in having what we feel are the best recipes for these in the business. So I apologize for not being able to share those recipes, but some things we just have to keep a secret.

Q: How do I cook crab legs at home? My market tells me to just drop them in boiling water and serve, but when I do, they are tough and rubbery. Am I doing something wrong?

A: The answer is your market gave you some bad advice. A couple of tips for serving crab legs at home:
1. Remember, crab legs are already cooked. They are steamed in processing, so you are really just trying to get them back to temperature.
2. The best way to cook crab legs is with steam. If you have a double boiler at home and can cook the crab over that, they will stay tender and juicy. When you boil them they become tough, and often you leave all of the flavor in the pot!
3. Always cook/steam the legs as close to when you want to eat them as possible; it is best to take them right from the steamer to the table. Also, do not over-cook or over-steam crab. If there is a nice steam present, 3-4 minutes in the steamer is plenty.
4. Always buy good quality butter for dipping. A nice warm melted butter makes a huge difference in eating the crab legs


Q: What is the recipe for the Pina Colada dipping sauce for the coconut shrimp, and is it the same in every Red Lobster?
A: Yes it is the same, and has become one of our guests ’ favorite sauces. It is also great on grilled fresh fish. The recipe from a past blog is listed below:

Pina Colada Dipping Sauce
1 cup Sour Cream
1 cup Coco Lopez Pina Colada Mix
¼ cup Crushed Pineapple
1 each Fresh Lemon (Juice Only)

Method
1. Combine sour cream and Coco Lopez in a bowl, and mix together gently. Do not use an electric mixer or over mix by hand. That will cause the sour cream to break down and make the sauce too thin
2. Drain crushed pineapple
3. Fold Crushed Pineapple into cream mixture
4. Finish with juice from one lemon
5. Cover and store refrigerated

I hope these answers help make it easier for you to enjoy great seafood dishes at home. Of course, for a great fresh seafood experience, please come see what ’s fresh today at Red Lobster.

Back to the kitchen…
Michael LaDuke