Grilled Lobster Tail Po' Boy

So I had a couple of lobster tails laying around this weekend and wondered what to do with them. Obviously the grill would be in play, but I've grilled lobster tails before. I wanted to mix it up a bit.

So I looked around the spice cabinet and saw some Cajun spice shake begging to be used (really, it called to me). So, Cajun seasoning, shellfish... Po' Boy!

The po' boy is New Orleans' unique take on the hoagie. According to Wikipedia, it's usually made with roast beef or fried seafood. The seafood variant typically has a remoulade sauce. Well, I wasn't planning on cranking up the fryer this weekend, so I opted to grill the lobster tails. Tradition be damned.

I made a tangy remoulade (except I used roasted garlic instead of raw) and mixed some more of the roasted garlic with melted butter to baste the lobster tails. I recommend using Zatarain's Creole Mustard in the remoulade. It has a great spicy flavor and the whole mustard seeds give it great texture.

So I brushed the lobster tails with the melted garlic butter, tossed on some Cajun seasoning, and grilled them for about five minutes per side (until the flesh was opaque). Since I was planning to cut them up for a sandwich I didn't care about keeping the shells intact for plating. Which was a good thing since the shells did not cooperate with me when I was getting the tails ready for the grill.

While the tails were cooking I tossed half an lemon on the grill to cook also. A little canola oil helps the lemon get those nice grill marks. Cooking a lemon this way really releases the juice and adds a little smokiness. Grill your lemons whenever you can.

Finally the lobster was done, the lemon was just charred enough, and the remoulade had rested long enough in the fridge. Time to assemble the po' boy. I used an Italian style roll (I know, not traditional). I spread a healthy portion of the remoulade on both halves, added shredded lettuce and red cabbage, then piled on the lobster. I finished the po' boy with a couple of tomato slices and a quick squeeze from the grilled lemon.

End result? A great sandwich you'd be proud to serve your guests. But you'd prefer to keep it all for yourself.

What's that? Lobster's too expensive? Use grilled shrimp instead. It's great both ways.