The Yankee Kitchen: Lobster Pie

Yankee Magazine Lifestyle Editor Amy Traverso shows you how to cook a lobster pie. This is a really rich tasty New England treat! Hi. I’m Amy Traverso, Lifestyle Editor at Yankee Magazine, and welcome to The Yankee Kitchen. Today I’m making lobster pie, a classic New England dish, lobster in a creamy sauce. It couldn’t be more delicious. This is actually, technically, probably not a pie because it has more of a crumb topping than a pie crust topping or pastry topping. The fact is it’s so easy, the topping is delicious, and you’ll get your pie on the table faster. So I really like this method. Let’s get started. For this recipe you will need: 10 tablespoons of Butter 1/2 cup of good quality dry sherry 2 cups of Lobster Meat, cut into bite-sized pieces 2 two tablespoons of Flour 1 1/2 cups of Half & Half 4 Egg Yolks, lightly beaten 1/2 cup Cracker Meal 1/2 teaspoon Paprika 2 tablespoons Grated Parmesan Cheese 4 tablespoons Melted Butter First, preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Melt 4 tablespoons of the butter. Add sherry and boil for one minute to cook off the alcohol. Now add the lobster meat and remove from the heat. In a medium saucepan, melt the remaining butter. Add flour and cook, stirring until the mixture begins to bubble. Then remove from the heat. Drain and reserve the sherry from the lobster meat, and slowly stir the sherry and cream into the mixture until thoroughly blended. Return the pan to the heat and cook, stirring constantly, until the sauce is smooth and thick. Take a quarter-cup of the hot cream mixture and stir or whisk it into the egg yolks. Bring the temperature of the egg yolks up slowly. Pour that egg mixture back into the sauce, stirring constantly. Stir this mixture over low heat for about three minutes. It will thicken noticeably, but don’t allow it to boil. Keep it on a low flame. Remove from the heat and add the lobster meat. Pour this mixture into four individual ramekins or a small deep dish pie plate or a gratin dish. In another bowl, combine the topping ingredients. Stir well and sprinkle over the pie. This is going into a 325 degree oven for just about 10 minutes. Okay, here it is, the gorgeous lobster pie with a nicely browned top. It smells amazing. I wish you could smell it. It’s just a great classic Yankee dish.