Lobster Mashed Potatoes

March 18, 2021| Books, Cooking, Cozy Mystery

By Barbara Ross

Even though Shucked Apart is the Maine Clambake Mystery about oyster farming, every book in the series contains at least one lobster recipe. I thought lobster mashed potatoes might appeal to Between the Chapters readers. In the book, they were served as an appetizer in a martini glass, garnished with a green olive. They can also be served as side dish.

Ingredients

  • 4 russet potatoes
  • 2 cups lobster stock
  • 8 tablespoons butter, divided
  • 2 large shallots, chopped
  • 1/4 cup heavy cream
  • 12 ounces cooked lobster meat, roughly chopped
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • snipped chives for garnish
  • green olive stuffed with pimento for garnish

Instructions

  1. Peel the potatoes and place in a pot of water to cover by 2 inches. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Drain and set aside to cool. Cut into cubes.
  2. Heat the lobster stock in a small saucepan.
  3. Melt half the butter in a large sauté pan and add the shallots. Sauté for 3 minutes.
  4. Add the potatoes and heat for one minute. Begin adding ladles full of stock one at a time, stirring until absorbed by the potatoes, before adding the next until the stock is depleted. Stir in the cream and continue cooking until mostly absorbed. Add remaining butter and season with salt and pepper.
  5. Mash the potato mixture. Gently fold in the cooked lobster meat.
  6. Place in 6 to 8 martini glasses. Garnish with chives and green olive.

In the ninth installment of the award-winning Maine Clambake Mystery series, Julia Snowden and the Snowden Family Clambake Company return for another case of mystery and murder in Maine–this time, Julia must uncover the murderer of an oyster farmer.

When oyster farmer Andie Greatorex is robbed of a bucket of oyster seed worth $35,000, she comes to Julia Snowden for help. Who wants to sink Andie’s successful business? Is it a rival oyster farmer, an ex-employee, a neighbor who objects to the oyster cages floating on the beautiful Damariscotta River, a lobsterman who feels pushed out by the farm leases, or someone from Andie’s personal life?

Then Andie turns up dead, floating by her dock in the SCUBA gear she wears when harvesting her oysters. Julia’s head start puts her in a perfect position to help her friends in the Maine State police major crimes unit with the investigation. But can Julia make sure the right suspect gets sent up the river before she ends up in a watery grave?