Lobster Mac and Cheese

This recipe rates right up there in the top ten, my friends. It's a little pricey on the pocketbook, but doesn't it taste like Heaven! From the swirly cavatappi pasta that captures cheesy goodness in all of its nooks and crannies, to the succulent lobster chunks surprising my tongue with sweetness in every bite, this is Bliss with a capital B.

I was introduced to several cheeses I had never met before: fontina cheese and mascarpone cheese. The fontina is quite well-mannered, melting without a fuss.  And Ms. Mascarpone? Well, she is simply divine! Let's just say that such a cheese never graced my morning bagel before. But now that we've met? You can bet we'll see more of her in our cheese drawer! Only for special occasions, of course, but she's definitely worth the investment.

My taste buds could not discern any noticeable difference by adding the 1 1/2 Tablespoons of cognac. And it is my opinion that the lovely cheeses and star-of-the-show lobster upstage the cognac and one is better off to save the cognac for a nightcap and let the mac and cheese enjoy its cheese and crustacean pairing sans alcohol.

As with other recipes in this cookbook, I cut it in half, although I'm quite sure we would have suffered through the full recipe, had I chosen to make it. I do have to conserve my grocery budget energy, though, because there are at least a dozen recipes in this cookbook that require lobster. Yikes, I've never eaten that much lobster in a year! We usually only treat ourselves once or twice a year. Due to COVID-19 and the closing or limited seating of restaurants, the price of lobster is down, so there's that. And we are glad to help out the lobster industry!

Oh, one cooking tip. The recipe says to boil the pasta only half the cooking time, then drain, as it will then cook for a 1/2 hour in the oven, mixed with cheesy, lobstery goodness.  I was a little worried the pasta would not cook thoroughly. No worries except for the noodles on top, which were a little tough. So, at the 30 minute mark, I just took a soup spoon and turned the top noodles under, into the cheesy, lobstery goodness, and let it bake another ten minutes. Which made for Perfection, the town right next door to Heaven.