PORTLAND, Maine — Chef Dana Moos believes lobster should be celebrated! And she's just finished a new cookbook that will be released in May.
Tonight, she joins us from her home kitchen to prepare Lobster Sliders with Candied Bacon and Wasabi Mayo. Here is the recipe:
Lobster and Black Pepper Candied Bacon Slider on Brioche with Wasabi Brown Butter Mayo and Pickled Red Onions and Carrots (Dana Moos, from the cookbook LOBSTER: 75 Recipes Celebrating America’s Favorite Seafood)
This is one flavor bomb of a sandwich full of mixed textures. Crunchy, soft, and creamy.
Makes 4
4 slices thick-cut bacon
1⁄2 cup light brown sugar
Freshly ground black pepper (to taste)
1⁄4 cup white vinegar
1⁄4 cup water
3⁄4 cup sugar
1⁄4 red onion, thinly sliced
1 medium carrot, julienned or cut into matchsticks
4 mini brioche buns
1⁄2 cup pea shoots or microgreens
12 ounces cooked lobster meat, cut into chunks (or poach in brown butter)
2 tablespoons Brown Butter Wasabi Mayo (see recipe below)
Preheat oven to 350°F.
1. Lay bacon strips flat on a sheet pan and spread brown sugar directly over each piece. Run the pepper mill over each piece to lightly cover.
2. Cook bacon, rotating pan if needed to cook evenly, until bacon is dark brown/burgundy in color, just shy of burned. Remove to clean pan (do not use a towel or paper towel, as the bacon will stick). It will harden as it cools to yield a crackling exterior like the top of crème brûlée. Cut each piece in half.
3. Mix vinegar, water, and sugar in a small saucepan and heat over medium until sugar is completely dissolved. Then pour into a bowl with onions and carrots and let sit at least 1 hour or more before using
Poaching Raw Lobster
If you want to poach your own instead of buying picked lobster or cooking and picking your own, a source for Maine picked raw lobster is Shucks Maine Lobster.
Add the raw lobster to pan of warm brown butter (recipe below), lower heat to a simmer and cook until lobster is fully opaque, but cook slowly to avoid overcooking, about 7–8 minutes.
Remove lobster and set aside.
When cool, cut into small bite-size chunks.
Strain butter to remove lobster remnants and keep strained butter for the next time you need some lobster flavored butter, or are making a seafood based soup!
Brown Butter
1. In small saucepan, add 1 stick butter and cook over medium-low heat until lightly brown in color and milk solids have fully separated, about 8–10 minutes, watching very carefully not to burn the butter.
2. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve and place in container to store at room temperature.
Brown Butter Wasabi Mayo
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 teaspoons prepared wasabi
1 teaspoon honey
3 tablespoons brown butter, melted (see recipe below)
Mix all ingredients.
Dana’s Tip: Kikkoman makes a creamy wasabi that you can use as your base. It’s delicious, and it’s what gave me the idea for this mayo.
To Assemble
Place pea shoots or baby micro greens on the bottom half of each brioche, top with candied bacon, lobster and 1 tablespoon of wasabi mayo followed by a tablespoon of the pickled onions and carrots.
Enjoy! Dana's cookbook will be available in May, and can be pre-ordered here.