Lobster Mac and Cheese

Fall in Love with Lobster Mac and Cheese

Lobster Mac and Cheese

With the rooomaaantic holiday of Valentine’s Day coming up this weekend, you might be looking for a decadent, indulgent, out-of-the-ordinary meal to cook for your special someone (or yourself, I don’t judge). For some reason, my mom would always make lobster for our family on Valentine’s Day, I suppose just because it’s a more “fancy” delicacy than your usual seafood. And I mean, lobster is delicious, so it’s a pretty solid choice! If you aren’t opposed to a truckload of cheese (actually if you are opposed to that I don’t even know why you’re reading this site) alongside your lobster, this could be the recipe for you!

Can’t even lie, this is not my creation, it came from my friends the Neelys. Their lobster mac and cheese is SO good, I don’t even understand it. I think it’s the use of gruyere alongside the white cheddar, plus the sweet paprika and lots of cracked black pepper… oh and the LOBSTER. I’ve made this twice for celebratory dinner occasions and it is a crowd pleaser to the millionth degree. To really kick things up, I like to add extra garlic, extra black/cayenne pepper, and an extra lobster tail for good measure. I also like to par-boil the lobster before adding it to the pasta, although the original recipe tells you to add it just straight up raw. I feel like the texture is better when the lobster is already cooked, but you can choose your own adventure on that one.

And YES, I realize the Neelys have filed for divorce and I DON’T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT and the state of their love lives can’t ruin how magical and special this lobster mac & cheese is. The love between the Neelys may be gone, but the love between my mouth and this mac will never be diminished.

Lobster Mac & Cheese

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Neelys Divorced Food Network

Plate It or Hate It: Fall 2014

Recent food world discoveries the ES crew is loving and hating…

Hate it: Overpriced Food & Drink Festivals

We LOVE that Oktoberfest is sweeping the nation, bacon festivals are occurring on the east coast, and people are excited to experience food. However, some of these prices are ridiculous. For instance, the Philly fest is asking $25 for general admission and THREE samples. C’mon now!

Plate it: Whiskey Wedge

The makers of corkcicle bring us a new and improved way to drink our whiskey without diluting the drink. Review to come!

Hate it: Christmas-Themed Food in OCTOBER

Peppermint Mocha Liquid (seasonal)

Somehow gingerbread flavored creamer ended up in my fridge. We’ve seen candy canes and chocolate oranges in the grocery stores. Apparently the supermarkets and the food corps want to push Christmas on us already. Well… we are not ready. Put the holiday foods/drinks/scents away! At least let us get through Halloween!

Plate it: BOOK IT! Alumni Program

Join the Alumni Program

Remember those buttons we would get in school with the purpose of filling it with stickers to earn your personal pan pizza? As we realize the Book It! program is 30 years old, we all realize that we’re not as young as we think we are. Now you can re-enroll online as an alumni and get a free pizza!. Nostalgia awaits you.

Plate It? The Olive Garden Foodie Strikes Again

Grand Forks Herald columnist Marilyn Hagerty is seen in an undated portrait. Hagerty, a North Dakota newspaper columnist, focuses on local food and...

Merilyn Hagerty strikes again as she reviews Applebee’s and their ground breaking Oriental Chicken Salad. While “lunching” with a friend, she helps us determine whether or not to go with the half or full size salad, and “regular customers know how to order two full sized entrees and one appetizer to share.” While insulting at one level, it’s pretty damn hilarious on another. We give the woman credit for getting by on these pieces. The publication – not so sure.

Hate It: The Neelys are Getting Divorced?!

Neelys Divorced Food Network

WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!?!?! Love is officially dead. Bye forever, everyone. (Image credit: internet ruiner of dreams, TMZ.com)

Blogger Boggle: FMK

neelys sandra-lee-749320 bobby_flay

Editors’ Note: You know, it’s hard thinking of snarky commentary every day, so we’ve opened up the labor pool to our fellow food bloggers.

This week we’ve asked our Food Network watching buddies to play a friendly game of Fuck, Marry, Kill. For those of you unfamiliar, you are given three things and must decide which one to fuck, marry and kill.

It’s summer, okay, give us a break. We’ll return to serious food matters soon enough.

Sandra – Fuck. I can picture the tablescape now.

Bobby – Marry.  I almost married a guy friend in college so we could do the Peace Corp together.  I’m not above it.  If I married Bobby, I would cheat on him with all of his ex-wives, in order.  Then I would sell the rights to the Made-for-TV Movie

Neelys – Kill. Actually, I don’t even have to.  The way they eat, I can just sit back and watch nature do its magic.  They butcher meals in a way that I’ve never seen before.

—Nick, Macheesmo

Of course you’re going to fuck the Neelys. It’d be an interesting night of saucy ribs and a sexy spice fairy… and I’m sure Gina would get involved, too.

I’d marry Bobby, since he has a high net worth and he’s already been married 4 times so we’d probably get divorced. And I wouldn’t sign a prenup.

I guess that leaves Aunt Sandy to get killed, but I’m sure she’d come back as a beautiful color-coordinated napkin ring made out of bottle caps stitched together with craft wire.

—Jacob Strauss, Food Network Addict

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ES/Food Network Contest: How Crazy Can You Grill It?

It’s that time of year again!  Spring! Which in addition to debilitating allergies, means it’s time to break out the grill. If the warmer weather wasn’t enough to clue you in to the onset of grilling season, the fact that you can’t flip on Food Network without seeing someone toiling away at an open flame would be a dead giveaway.

Oh, and speaking of giveaway, we’re partnering with the folks at Food Network for a little contest that will let you show off your grilling adventures, past or present.  All you need to do is send us your story about the craziest thing you have ever grilled. Have a creative topping for that burger that goes beyond just Dijon mustard?  Thrown something on the grill that you’re sure no one ever had grilled before you? Maybe you’ve traveled to the ends of the earth for the greatest grill of all.  Send in your story and you can be rocking the grill like a pro this summer with our sweet grand prize:

Nobody grills it like Bobby Flay, whose Grill It! can be seen on Food Network on Sundays at 9 am.  And so, it’s only fitting that our winner be able to do his or her best Bobby Flay impression with some real gear.  So our first place winner will receive a Food Network / Bobby Flay Grilling Basket, which includes an All-Clad BBQ Tool Set, Bobby Flay’s Burger, Fries, and Shakes cookbook and a canvas bag.  To our runners up, we’ll be sending copies of Down Home With The Neelys cookbook and a copy of the latest Food Network Magazine, which is all about the burger this month.

neelys-cover

Now that you know what you’re getting, how do you enter?  Tell us, in 100 words or less, about your most unusual, unique or just plain out-there grilling or barbecue experience, past or present.  While we won’t be fact-checking, let’s keep it to true stories…we don’t want to hear about cooking brisket for Mahatma Gandhi and Napoleon.  The story (and feel free to include photos!) should be sent to contests@endlesssimmer.com between now and midnight, Eastern time on Wednesday, May 20th.

We’ll be announcing the winners late next week, so get your story in now!