Grilled Lobster Tails

I never knew until recently how incredibly easy grilled lobster tails are to cook up.  Like freakishly so.  

1- Stir marinade.

2- Cut shell open.

3- Stick a stick through it.

4- Brush with marinade and plop on grill.

See, easy.  If I can do this one, surely anyone out there can too!

Tomorrow’s One Day Sale at Whole Foods is lobster tails- they’re half off!  So when I was thinking of what I wanted to make as a recipe for this week’s sale (I create recipes each week with their One Day Sale ingredient so people at home can cook up a meal while getting a steal!), I knew I wanted to keep it simple.  So I went with grilled… a super simple marinade, and an even simpler side of melted herbed butter.  I knew these teeny little tails would be perfect for that.  People hold lobster up on a pretty high pedestal these days, but that doesn’t mean it has to get complicated or fancy!  Simple = happiness.

I served these little guys up with some grilled asparagus and tarragon-hollandaise.  ‘Cause butter on butter, why not?  That recipe is coming up next! 

serves two

INGREDIENTS

2 lobster tails

1 tbsp fresh lemon juice

1/2 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp granulated garlic

1/4 tsp white pepper

1/4 cup olive oil

*optional: serve with fresh lemon wedges and a side (or in this case bowl lol) of melted herbed butter

DIRECTIONS

Add the lemon juice, paprika, salt, garlic, white pepper, and olive oil to a small bowl

Stir… there, marinade done 🙂

These were Atlantic lobster tails, previously frozen

If you can get your hand son fresh, you’re one lucky human

If you’re like the majority of us frozen tailers, make sure those puppies are thawed

The best way is to place them in a bowl, covered, in the fridge for 24 hours before cooking

If you don’t have 24 hours, place them in a bowl of cold water

(You may want to change the water every so often as it will become super cold once after with those tails)

They’ll likely need at least an hour, probably a couple…

they really should be completely thawed or the texture may become tough, which is a very sad thing

Once they’re ready to go, preheat your grill to a medium-high heat

Using kitchen sheers (or a sharp large knife), cut through the top of the tails,

opening the shell all the way down

When baking or broiling, you may notice the flesh is often pulled out and laid over the shells…

for this, open up the shells, but leave the flesh in there- makes grilling easier

(Psst, watch out for those shells, they can be sharp!)

Open them up as wide as you can without breaking them,

then brush that marinade all over those guys

I say the more the merrier 😉

Slide a skewer right through the center of each tail… this helps to keep them straight 

while cooking, otherwise they tend to curl up

Lay the tails flesh-side down on the grill for approx 3 minutes, covered

Flip, then cook for another 3-5 minutes, depending on how large the tails are

(These guys were tiny- only 30 oz each- so they were cooked on the lesser side)

 Serve up immediately, with herbed butter if desired

(Melt butter with garlic, chives or parsley or whatever you have on hand, and some salt and pepper)

If you’re eyeing that asparagus and hollandaise down there, that recipe is coming up next!