Lobster Sliders

There is almost no food I love more than a lobster roll. On occasion I have ordered them at restaurants in California, and invariably I have been disappointed. Some of them are decent, but they almost all cost more than twenty bucks, and something gets lost in translation. Years ago I ate a $9.95 lobster roll at the Mill Wharf Pub in Scituate, Massachusetts, overlooking the ocean on the first weekend of autumn. Not surprisingly, I have been unable to recapture that moment anywhere around here. C'est la vie.

Saturday I was over at my parents' house to watch the UCLA-Cal game (although I ended up watching more of Florida-Arkansas and USC-Notre Dame, as those were better games.) Continuing in the tradition of making pseudo-gourmet bar food during football games, I had earlier in the week planned to cook some meatballs in a Guinness reduction. But that was when the weather was cool and rainy and it felt like autumn. It got hot again and I did not feel like meatballs. So I decided to make some lobster sliders.

Usually, when I feel like lobster, I just get some of the langostine from Trader Joe's. They aren't quite as good as lobster, but they're delicious and a fraction of the price. But I decided to go all-out for these, so I went to Bristol Farms and bought Maine lobster meat. (The fact that my parents paid for the food made this decision much easier.) I also picked up a container of their Chinese cole slaw.

I chopped up the lobster meat and mixed it with a bit of mayonnaise, some lemon juice, and diced celery. I had some small King's Hawaiian rolls; I brushed butter on them and toasted them in the oven for a couple minutes, just long enough to get them warm. I had some potatoes from Fresh & Easy and I thought homemade potato chips would be good, so I sliced up a couple potatoes, let them soak in water, and dried them. As the oil was heating up I grilled a few pieces of sweet Italian sausage.

I put a piece of butter lettuce on each bun and spooned the lobster into it. The sliders were fantastic; everyone loved them. If lobster were less expensive I would probably eat these two or three times a week.