This isn’t your ordinary mac & cheese! Ultra creamy with tender chunks of lobster coated in our habanero ginger sriracha butter. . . indulging in this elevated comfort food will leave you saying, “Damn, I want more!”.
Habanero Macaroni & Cheese
Ingredients
Directions
Set the oven to broil at 500 degrees. Make sure the oven rack is placed 4 to 5 inches away from the broiler. This way the lobster will not burn while broiling.
To prep the lobster tails, rinse the lobster shells first. Then butterfly the lobster tail by cutting down the middle of the top shell only (make sure not to cut the bottom of the shell or the fin).
Use your fingers to spread open the shell on top, pull the lobster meat forward, leaving the ends attached.
Place the butterfly lobster on a baking sheet and repeat the steps again for remaining lobster tails.
For the butter, whisk together the melted butter with the sriracha.
Brush the butter onto the lobster tails, making sure to coat the meat evenly so that the lobster stays nice and juicy. You will want to brush the lobster tails once again, towards the end of cooking.
Once ready, broil until the lobster meat is opaque and slightly browned. Tip: for broiling lobster tails, broil for every minute per ounce of individual tail.
Once the lobster tails are done, remove the meat from the shell and cut into chunks, set aside to add into the mac and cheese.
Preheat the oven to bake for 400 degrees. Lightly butter the baking dish for later use.
Using a large pot, fill with water and add a teaspoon of salt. Bring the pot to a boil over high heat. Cook the pasta as indicated on the box or al dente, as you will be cooking the noodles even more during baking.
Once the pasta is cooked, drain the water and place back into the pot.
While the pasta is cooking, you will be making the cheese sauce.
To make the roux, using a saucepan on medium-low heat, add the butter. Once the butter starts to melt, add the flour and whisk together until the mixture starts to thicken. Make sure not to burn the mixture, you will only want to mix for approximately one minute.
Next add the half and half and milk into the mixture. Continue mixing together for another five minutes until smooth and thickened.
Once complete, remove the pot from the heat. Add the smoked cheddar, gruyere, and Monterey jack cheese. Tip: Purchase the blocked cheese rather than the pre-shredded cheese packages for better results.
Add the habanero ginger sriracha, salt, pepper, and parsley. Mix evenly.
Then add the cheese mixture and the lobster chunks to the noodle pot. Mix well until evenly coated.
Add the pasta mixture into the baking dish, add the parmesan cheese, cover with foil, and bake for 25 minutes or until the dish is bubbling.
While the mac and cheese is baking, heat up some butter and panko bread crumbs and fry until golden brown. Tip: Make sure to watch the frying pan so it doesn’t burn the panko bread crumbs.
Five minutes prior baking the mac and cheese finishing, remove the foil from the baking dish, add the crispy panko bread crumbs and bake for the remainder of the time.
Once done, top the mac and cheese with chives and serve!
