lobster and linguine – part one

i love christmas, but not for the reasons you probably think. i don’t celebrate it at all which means i get to spend a few days on my own, doing whatever i feel like while (it feels like) the rest of the world dons its santa hat and settles in for a tradition-filled period of celebration and excess.

not having to think about traditional food xmas food and having only my foodie whims and foibles to take into account, i decided that lobster was on the menu this year. well, that and a good deal on frozen canadian lobster at lidl.

i had big plans – homemade ravioli stuffed with lobster or asian-flavoured dumplings to go in a spicy broth were my starting points. however, a stinking cold and a hefty dose of associated laziness saw those plans go out the window and i ended up falling back on that cupboard standby, dried pasta – linguine to be precise. twice.

this was my first lobster and linguine dish – cavolo nero cooked slowly in a mix of butter and smoked oil with garlic and chilli until it started to crisp up. this took about the same time as the pasta did to cook so i took it off the heat just before the pasta was ready and added the lobster plus a handful of oak-smoked tomatoes (it was their oil i was cooking everything in) to warm through. i then added the cooked pasta plus some of the cooking water and seasoning.

the flavours are quite rich and  work really well together as everything has a robust flavour, so nothing gets drowned out. i made a version of this last week, using smoked pancetta pieces, which was just as delicious, albeit a bit less indulgent.