This is one of my favorite salads. I pan-seared halved lobsters and garnished them with fennel, lemon and celery orzo salad. To add a luxurious touch to an already luxurious dish, I drizzled the salad with truffle oil.
To ensure that my husband was able to share the same meal with me, I prepared the orzo salad separately from the lobster so both of us could enjoy it to our liking; husband loved his flavorful vegetarian meal and I absolutely adored the addition of seafood. Feeding a vegetarian has never been this easy!
1. Info for Lobster Orzo Pasta Salad Recipe
- Cook Time: unavailable
- Total Time: unavailable
- Servings: 6
- Calories: unavailable
2. Ingredients for Lobster Orzo Pasta Salad Recipe
- 1 (16-ounce) package orzo pasta, cooked and drained
- 1 teaspoon fennel seeds, lightly toasted
- 6 tablespoons grapeseed oil
- 2 tablespoons truffle oil
- 3 celery stalks, peeled and thinly sliced
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper, freshly ground
- 1 lemon, zested and juiced
- 1 clove pickled garlic, finely minced
- 2 teaspoons honey Dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 3 lobster tails
- 1 tablespoon curly parsley, chopped
3. Directions:
3.1 For the truffle salad dressing
Use a sealable container (such as a mustard jar, previously washed with hot soapy water). In this order, combine honey, lemon zest and juice, mustard, pickled garlic and grapeseed oil in the container. Seal it and shake until the dressing is emulsified. Finish with truffle oil. Mix well. Add the fennel seeds. Set aside.
3.2 Prepping the lobsters
Clean the lobsters; brush and rinse thoroughly. Place in a pot filled with boiling water. Cook for 4-5 minutes, then immediately transfer to an iced water bath.. Using kitchen shears, cut the lobster tails in half, lengthwise. Pat dry using a paper towel. Brush with grapeseed oil. Season with salt and pepper.
Heat 1 tablespoon grapeseed oil in a non-stick pan. . Place the lobster tails on the pan, flesh side down and cook for 4 minutes until seared on one side. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, then flip the tails and cook on the other side. Transfer to a platter, drizzle with a few tablespoons of truffle dressing and cover with foil.
3.3 Assembly
Combine the orzo and celery. Drizzle with the pasta salad dressing. Toss well. Serve all the ingredients at room temperature.
Drizzle the lobster with more salad dressing. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. Serve with the orzo on the side (You could also toss pieces of lobster into the pasta salad if you like). Sprinkle with parsley.
Serve immediately.
Bon appétit!
4. Tips and advices:
- The key to good pasta salad in general is to have a flavorful vinaigrette.
- You can use fresh garlic instead of the pickled garlic but the garlic flavor is going to be a lot stronger. You can find pickled garlic in Asian stores.
