a lobster, sea bean and potato chip sandwich
This week there was no farmers’ market. That is to say, there was a farmers’ market, I just wasn’t there. Instead I was on Cape Cod for a Love Diet book event. But that didn’t mean I was deprived of local flavors.
In fact, I was inspired by the flavors of the Cape to take a local classic aphrodisiac and gave it a modern, but very local, spin. Yes, I’m talking about doctoring up the lobster roll.
On Friday night my mother, my friend Annette and I visited one of the locals’ favorites, The Chart Room. (Don’t bother trying to find it, our GPS couldn’t even locate the place.) For the most part, the Chart Room offers pretty ordinary fried food but what they do have, for those in the know, is one of New England’s best lobster rolls. (I say “those in the know” because the roll doesn’t appear on the menu, even though its the dish everyone orders.) The lobster roll is a little unusual in that its served on two slabs of soft, white bread.
It really is a great, no-nonsense sandwich-all lobster and bread with no fancy sauces or flavorings to get in the way-but Annette, mom and I all agreed that it needed crunch. So we started stuffing the side of potato chips into the sandwich. The result was pretty darn good.
On Saturday, we steamed lobsters for dinner so by Sunday there was about a cup of lobster meat just begging to be reinvented. Since I’d just wandered into the marsh behind our Cape cottage and harvested sea beans (a lovely sea vegetable with a mineral flavor), I decided to pair the sea greens with lobster for one of my Sunday meals, Cape Cod style.
lobster, sea bean and potato chip sandwich
makes 2 sandwiches
1 c lobster meat, cut into bite-sized chunks
1 celery rib, finely chopped
1 tbsp vidalia onion, finely chopped
1 scant tbsp mayo
1 /2 c sea beans (optional)
2 slices whole wheat bread
2 romaine leaves, rib removed
10-12 Cape Cod potato chips
Combine the lobster, celery, onion and mayo to make lobster salad.
Blanch the sea beans and immediately rinse with cool water to stop the cooking.
Top each slice of bread with 1 romaine leaf and half of the lobster salad. Divide sea beans and top each sandwich with half. Cover each sandwich with potato chips-you must use Cape Cod potato chips, which are extra thick and crunchy-in place of a top slice of bread.
Eat immediately.