6/27/1984
BAKED STUFFED LOBSTER "MATUNUCK"
5 bullet (clawless) lobsters, 1 pound each
½ cup heavy cream sauce ( recipe follows)
¼ pound butter (8 tablespoons), divided
¼ pound monkfish, chopped coarsely
4 scallions, minced
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 plum tomatoes, chopped
4 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1 large fresh basil leaf, minced
¼ pound sea scallops, sliced
2 large shrimp, chopped
5 ounces crushed sesame and poppy seed crackers (about ¾ cup)
4 ounces (about 2/3 cup) or slightly less seasoned bread crumbs or crumbled Ritz crackers

Split lobsters. Remove the sac near the head and the vein that runs down the center. Leave everything else.

For cream sauce, stir 1½ tablespoons flour into 1½ tablespoons melted butter, heat to bubbling, remove from heat, gradually stir in½ cup milk, then cook and stir until thickened. Season with salt and pepper.

Saute monkfish in 2 tablespoons of the butter. Remove from pan. Melt 2 tablespoons butter in pan, then add in this order: scallions, garlic, tomatoes, basil, scallops and shrimp. When seafood is about half done, add chopped parsley, cooked monk fish and cream sauce. Bring to boil. Remove from heat, add crackers and bread crumbs and remaining 4 tablespoons butter, to achieve the proper consistency . . . spoonable but not sticky.

Open lobster cavity and spoon in stuffing. Bake in covered roasting pan with 1 cup water in bottom of pan. Tails curl during cooking unless you weight them with a rock or place a heavy cover directly over the lobster. Cover may be removed after first 10 minutes. Bake at 550 degrees for 10 minutes, then at 400 degrees for 5 to 10 minutes. The water in the pan is for the initial steaming of the lobsters; it keeps them tender. It should have evaporated at end of cooking, and lobsters should be bright red.

Bullet lobsters are a good buy, but any lobster could be used.

-- Recipe is an original from Hugh O'Reilly.