My Love for Seafood, March 20, 2006

My Love For Seafood!

Saturday night my youngest and I were eating some shrimp and fish from Long John Silvers Seafood Shops. Even though seafood is my favorite type of food, we don't do the fast food seafood thing very often because it just isn't the same as fresh prepared seafood. But it did get me to thinking about my love for fresh seafood.

I'm not sure when or how it happened and I don't remember it being a big favorite in our house growing up, but somehow I developed a love for seafood that only gets stronger as the years go by. Maybe it was the 10+ years I spent in the Navy. More specifically, maybe it was the 4 or so years I spent on islands in both the Atlantic (The Azores) and the Indian Ocean (Diego Garcia). But now, I find myself landlocked (hopefully temporarily) in the inland valley of Northern California and I still find myself addicted to one of the few vices I have left.....SEAFOOD!

I love most all of it! From the exotic stuff like shark, squid, and octopus to shellfish favorites like shrimp, crab, clams, and lobster and everything in between, I've tried almost everything at least once. I first tried squid and octopus while in the Azores. There, they serve both with vegetables and at least one fried egg. I thought the egg part was a little odd, but then almost everything in the most restaurants would come with a fried egg, a Portuguese thing I guess. We also used to buys 100's of dollars in shellfish for clambakes we would have on one of the beaches there in the Azores. It would be an all weekend party with more food than we knew what to do with. But we sure had fun trying to figure it out. And as you might expect, living in the Indian Ocean on a tropical island called Diego Garcia only fueled that love for seafood even more. There was one small pub/grill on the island that was run by a couple of government service workers from the Philippines. They did the best Sea Bass that I have ever tasted. I'm getting hungry just thinking about it.

So after eating my Long John Silvers and thinking about all this seafood, I think I need some of the real stuff. This evening I found a recipe for broiled lobster tail that is so quick and easy that even I couldn't mess it up. For those of you who love seafood too, I thought I'd share...... Enjoy!

BROILED LOBSTER TAIL

This is a quick and tasty way to prepare delicious broiled lobster tails. Be sure to keep an eye on them while they are in the oven so they don’t burn. Serves two.
Prep time: 15 minutes Cook Time: 5 minutes Ready In: 20 minutes

INGREDIENTS: 2 whole lobster tails, ½ cup of melted butter, ½ teaspoon of ground paprika, salt to taste, ground white pepper to taste, 1 lemon cut into wedges for garnish

DIRECTIONS: First, preheat the broiler. Then place the lobster tails on a medium baking sheet. With a sharp knife or kitchen shears, carefully cut the topside of the lobster shells lengthwise. Then pull apart the shells slightly, and season the meat with equal amounts of butter, paprika, salt, and white pepper. Broil the lobster tails for five to 10 minutes or until the butter is melted and lightly browned and the lobster meat is opaque. Garnish with lemon and serve.

(originally posted 3-20-06 on Yahoo 360)