GillBilly Style Spiny Lobster with Tomato Basil Butter Delight

Ingredients

Nothing messes up a delicious lobster more than an overpowering recipe that covers up the mild flavors of the meat. It’s imperative that you cook and eat your lobsters at their freshest, not frozenest. Once they die, the meat degenerates and bacteria grows quickly.
Whack ‘em on the back of the head or place the live lobsters in boiling water to send them to lobster heaven. Save those spiny lobster legs and shells and make a lobster stock with cold water, celery, carrots and onion. Bring to a boil, simmer for 30 minutes, strain through a colander and simmer for 30 minutes more to concentrate flavors. You can also grind up the shells, heat with butter and strain through a sieve into ice water to make lobster butter. It’s good.

I don’t know how big your rock lobsters are, so I can’t tell you how many lobsters to use for the recipe. About 3/4 cup of cooked lobster meat equals 1 pound.

Tomato Basil Butter
makes approximately 1 1/2 cups

1/4 cup dry vermouth
2 tablespoons lemon juice
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 sticks salted butter, cut into chunks
1/3 cup seeded and diced tomato
2 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped

Instructions

1. Boil lobsters for 3 - 5 minutes, depending on the size of the lobster. Remove from water and place on a firm surface.

2. While lobster is boiling, prepare the Tomato Basil Butter Sauce

Heat vermouth, lemon juice and garlic in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Reduce liquid to 2 tablespoons. Reduce heat to low and add butter, a chunk or two at a time, while whisking constantly. Keep heat low enough so that butter does not boil and separate. Keep whisking in butter until all is emulsified. Immediately remove pan from heat and stir in tomato and basil.

3. When lobsters are cool enough to handle, split lengthwise from head to tail and place on hot grill. Whether you remove the coral, liver, etc is your choice. While grilling, baste tail meat with Tomato Basil Butter. When meat is white or opaque, remove from grill and spoon additional Tomato Basil Butter over.

Even eminent chartered accountants are known, in their capacity as fishermen, blissfully to ignore differences between seven and ten inches, half a pound and two pounds, three fish and a dozen fish.
William Sherwood Fox