Cheesy Lobster Pasta

This time of year is great for hot, comforting dishes. There is nothing better on a cold winter day than taking something out of the oven, dropping a steaming spoonful onto your plate, and indulging in the coziness of a well-cooked meal. This dish is so easy yet so decadent, your friends and family will beg you to make it again.I personally am not much of a lobster lover. I grew up keeping kosher and was only exposed to shellfish in my more recent years when I’ve been obsessed with culinary exploration. The lobster from Lobster Maine-ia, however, is a different story! It comes hand-picked in packages of half or whole pounds and it is so delicious and easy to work with. Lobster Maine-ia actually gets their lobsters from Maine and sells products at the market ranging from cooked meat and live lobsters to lobster rolls and accessories.The pasta I used was from Cavanna Pasta, a small, fresh pasta maker based in Richmond, VA. I chose to use Tagliatelle, which are long, flat ribbons similar in shape to fettuccine. It only took about two minutes in boiling water for this fresh, handmade pasta to cook to perfection.The final main ingredient in my dish is the cheese. Alan James, co-proprietor of Stonyman Gourmet Farmer, helped me taste a mixture of cheeses before we found the right combination to mix with the bold flavor of lobster. We decided on two cheeses: Jersey Tomme, a raw, Jersey cow milk, aged 4 months, with an all-natural washed rind. This semi-hard cheese is creamy and mild in the beginning but finishes with a bold, mushroom-y flavor. The second cheese is the Aged Swiss Gruyere Style cheese; semi-hard, made with raw cow milk and aged 6 months. This one has a deep flavor much like you would expect from a Gruyere. Together, they were the perfect blend of subtle and bold.Like I always do, I put in parentheses where I purchased my ingredients at the market.

Cheesy Lobster Pasta

Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp. olive oil (All Things Olive)
• 1 lb. fresh pasta (Cavanna Pasta)
• 2 cups milk (Woodbourne Creamery)
• 5 Tbsp. butter, unsalted, divided (Blue Ridge Dairy Co.)
• ¼ cup All Purpose Flour
• 8 oz. cheese, grated (Stonyman Gourmet Farmer)
• ¼ tsp. black pepper
• ½ lb. cooked lobster meat (Lobster Maine-ia)
• ½ cup Panko bread crumbs

PreparationPreheat the oven to 375 degrees.Cook fresh pasta noodles in a large pot of about 6 quarts of salted, boiling water. Fresh pasta takes considerably less time to cook than dried, usually 1 to 3 minutes, so watch it carefully. To test, remove a noodle with tongs or a long-handled fork and take a bite.Heat the milk in a small saucepan, making sure it doesn’t boil.In a large pot, melt 3 Tbsp of butter and add the flour. Cook over low heat for 2 minutes, whisking gently. Still whisking, add the hot milk and cook for another minute or two, until the mixture is smooth and thick.Take the pot off of the heat and add the cheese, salt, and pepper. Add the pasta and lobster and stir well.Place mixture in a 9 X 13 oven safe dish or individual gratin dishes. Melt the remaining 2 Tbsp of butter, combine it with the bread crumbs and sprinkle on the top. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until the sauce bubbles and the top browns.This pasta certainly works as a leftover dish, but it is so much better fresh! Make sure you invite enough people over to share it with you!