Maine’s Best Lobster Stew
(and they serve it with a blueberry muffin!)
A few years ago I dragged a couple of friends and my husband to Maine. It was a two fold trip, one-to see the New England fall foliage and two-to see how much lobster we can eat in a long weekend. We succeeded in both, while the beauty of the seasonal changes was an incredible site, the lobster was the stand out. After the trip we attempted to tally the total weight of all the lobster we consumed, I believe we agreed that it was about 30lbs. between the 4 of us.
Enter the Dolphin Marina and Restaurant in Potts Harbor. A fantastically scenic drive north of Portland, Dolphin Marina and Restaurant is located at the very end of a peninsula overlooking the Casco Bay. We paused our regularly scheduled lobster roll roll when the waiter recommended their Lobster Stew. “It’s award winning”, he touted “and the blueberry muffin is baked fresh in house”…”BLUEBERRY MUFFINS!?” we all exclaimed followed by huhs, whats and whys… “it is really really good” he continued. So, we gave it a try…and it was INCREDIBLE! How incredible? Well, as Dolphin Marina and Restaurant was near the tail end of our lobster themed road trip (maybe around the 25lb. point) we considered ourselves lobster aficionados. Every lobster shack and road side restaurant we dined we adopted an Olympic style blind voting.
Every voter wrote their (on a scale of 1-10) vote on a napkin and shared their rating with the group-the American Judge gives this lobster roll an 8.5 while the Austrian Judge gave it a 7…and so forth. This stew (and accompanying muffin) received 9.5-10 scores across the board. The highest rated place on our trip.
I just had to recreate this recipe when I got home! As I live a multitude of hours and miles away from Maine, getting this delish dish on site was just not feasible. It didn’t become ‘just right’ until I started using Cameron’s Seafood Whole Lobster. The size was right, I knew the lobsters were coming from the same waters where I dined on location-it was what I needed to put my seal of approval on this Maine lobster stew recipe.
Lobster Stew
Ingredients
Broth:
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter cut into cubes
- 1 carrot chopped
- 2 celery stalks chopped
- 1 small yellow onion peeled and chopped
- 1/2 leek cleaned and chopped
- 1/4 cup fresh fennel chopped
- 6 black peppercorns
- 2 bay leaves
- 1/2 cup cooking sherry or brandy
- 1 1 1/2 lb. Cameron’s Seafood Whole Lobster cracked, meat removed, body and shells reserved
- 6 cups whole milk
- 1 1/4 teaspoons paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne or more depending on your spice level
- 1 cup heavy cream
- salt to taste
Toppings:
- reserved lobster meat chopped into bite sized pieces
- 2 teaspoons fresh chives chopped
Instructions
- In a large soup pot melt butter over medium heat. Sauté carrots, celery, onion, leek, fennel, peppercorns and bay leaves for 3-4 minutes.
- Deglaze pan with cooking sherry and add lobster body and shells. Stir and bring to a light simmer, about 2 minutes.
- Reduce heat to low, once sherry stops simmering, stir in milk and season with paprika and cayenne. Cover and steep for 1 hour, stirring frequently.
- Strain broth using a fine mesh strainer and discard vegetables, whole spices and shells. Return broth to the stove, stir in cream and season to taste with salt.
- To serve ladle hot broth into bowls and fill with reserved lobster meat. Garnish with fresh chives before serving.
Homemade Blueberry Muffins
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup salted butter softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup milk
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 1/2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
- 1/4 cup caster sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°F.
- In a large bowl or electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugar until smooth and fluffy. Add eggs, vanilla extract and milk, beat until smooth.
- In a separate bowl sift together baking powder, salt and flour and add to wet ingredients. Blend until a sticky batter forms. Fold in blueberries.
- Place paper cup cake cups into a muffin tin and spray lightly with pan release spray. Fill each cup 3/4 full with batter and sprinkle the tops with caster sugar.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes or until muffins are golden brown and cooked completely. Let rest for 10 minutes before serving.
Buy Lobsters Online
You can buy our Whole Lobster from our online store. All of Cameron’s Seafood lobsters and lobster meat comes from the crisp cold waters of Maine offering you 100% authentic Maine lobster-the best lobster on the market!
Show us how you stew with Cameron’s Seafood. Whether you make these delicious recipes or have one of your own that you would like to share-we’d love to hear from you. Post your own Cameron’s Seafood dish on Instagram and tag us @cameronsseafoodonline. We’re also on Facebook and Twitter, we look forward seeing your creations.
By: Patterson Watkins
