Simple, hearty foods can be turned into gourmet treats with one simple addition: lobster. Fold in some lobster meat to such comfort-food favorites as macaroni-and-cheese or mashed potatoes or risotto or pot pie and everyone wants to eat!

An elderly customer told me yesterday, “I bought a live lobster and while I was driving home, it broke out of the paper box and started crawling around the car. Luckily, I was close to home and so I stuck the knife into it. Killing the lobster is my favorite part!” Most lobster-eaters do not feel that way, but purchasing live and frisky lobsters mean that the lobsters are fresh.

Lobsters are sold alive because toxins develop if they die and are not cooked. To use lobster meat in a dish, do not overcook (which toughens the meat) but steam the lobster for about 3 minutes. The shells will be red, but the meat still raw. Shell the meat. I don’t use traditional lobster tools, but crack the shells with a meat pounder. Be sure to remove the vein in the lobster tail. The sweetest meat is the knuckle, which is best removed with Joyce Chen scissors. Each lobster leg has one bite of meat; to remove, roll each leg under a rolling pin and the one bite will pop out.

Smaller lobsters have more tender meat; buy 1-pound or 1 1/2-pound lobsters for the best taste.

Lobster Twice-Baked Potatoes

• one 1 1/2-pound lobster 
• 8 baking potatoes
• 8 ounces mascarpone cheese
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh tarragon
• 2 tablespoons minced chives
• salt and pepper

Bring an inch of water in a stock pot to a boil. Add the lobster, cover, and steam for 3 minutes. Remove and place in ice water. Shell the meat, cut in pieces, and reserve.

Bake the potatoes at 400 degrees for an hour. Cut off the top 1/4-inch piece. Scoop out the insides, leaving a 1/4-inch shell of potato. Mix the potato insides with cheese, butter, tarragon, chives, salt, and pepper. Fold in the lobster meat, stuff back into the potatoes and bake until hot, about 10 minutes.

Can’t get enough lobster? Join us for these cooking classes:

• lobster tostadas on March 12
• lobster and scallops on linguine in cream sauce on March 19
• lobster empanadas on March 26
• an all-lobster class on April 7
• lobster-mango salad with citrus-vanilla dressing on April 19
• asparagus soup with lobster on June 5