The Neely's Lobster Macaroni and Cheese

By Addie

Recipe courtesy The Neelys
Show: Down Home With the Neelys
Episode: Comfort & Company

I don't always make low fat meals and this definitely might be one of my favorite recipes. Definitely not something to eat everyday but a great treat now and then. Since it is Lent I made this on a relaxing Friday night. The only change that I would make is to toast the panko bread crumbs with a little olive oil before putting them on top of the finished mac and cheese. I also substituted white cheddar with orange cheddar, it added really nice color. It came out great even though I would make a change and the color looks great with the Emile Henri blue baker. Definitely recommend this dish!

Ingredients

• 4 tablespoons butter, plus 1 tablespoon for greasing dish
• Kosher salt
• 1 pound penne pasta
• 2 small shallots, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 5 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup white wine
• 4 cups heavy cream
• 1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 cups shredded sharp white Cheddar
• 2 cups shredded Gruyere
• 2 (8-ounce) raw lobster tails, defrosted if frozen, meat removed from shell, chopped
• 1/4 cup panko bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup freshly chopped parsley leaves

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and adjust racks to the middle. Grease a 13 by 9-inch baking dish with butter.

In a large pot of boiling salted water over medium heat, add the pasta and cook until al dente. Drain the pasta and reserve.

Add 4 tablespoons butter to a large pot over medium heat. Once the butter shimmers, add the shallots and garlic and saute until translucent. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Add the tomato paste and flour and stir to toast, about 3 to 4 minutes. Add the white wine and reduce, by half, about 2 minutes. Slowly add the cream, whisking well to remove any lumps. Add the paprika, cayenne, and bay leaf. Bring the cream up to a simmer and turn the heat to low. Let reduce until the cream is thick and can coat a spoon, about 5 to 10 minutes. When thickened, remove the bay leaves.

Stir in the grated cheeses, a handful at a time, combining well after each addition. Add the chopped lobster meat to the sauce and stir well. Add the pasta and stir. Add to the greased baking dish and sprinkle with the panko crumbs and parsley. Bake for 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and let rest for 10 minutes before serving. Sprinkle individual servings with parsley.
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REVIEWS: (117)

This is so delicious! The only reason that I found it to be expensive is because I didn't have the things that will now be staples in my kitchen. The lobster could probably be substituted with crab, but I am not willing to mess with perfection! I will definitely make this for Christmas dinner. On another note: I accidentally picked up applewood smoked gruyere and it was fabulous in the recipe.

Amazing! Better than any restuarant I've had it in. I switch out the guyreye chesse for sharp Cheddar. Too stinky and expensive

LOVE IT!! I simply love it! I made this for my birthday along with a great chocolate cake for dessert! This mac & cheese was a hit for my family! Along with a big salad this was the BEST, at home birthday dinner, I have EVER had! You MUST try this recipe and DO NOT change a thing!

Love this recipe! Made it almost exactly according to the directions, except I used macaroni shells instead of penne noodles. However, I think it could probably have been made with 1/2 & 1/2 cream instead of heavy cream. I wound up with about a cup more of the cheese sauce than I needed to make it nice & creamy, so I put the extra aside to use for something else. This recipe was very tasty and I intend to make it again with possibly the above changes. I would definitely recommend this recipe to anyone who likes a rich, cheesy, slightly tart mac & cheese. I think it might also be good with shrimp as well, but lobster definitely made it a decadent delight.

So so so good! Perfect recipe!

I don't have any idea why this recipe has so many high ratings. It has a surprisingly low level of taste for the ingredients that went into it. It was almost like they said how can we put the highest calorie, highest fat things into a single recipe. There is such a thing as too much of a good thing and this is it. There are many more satisfying recipes out there for mac and cheese.

OMG, an extreme Mouthgasm!

I got roped into making something for my family's Memorial Day BBQ and I was having a tough time finding a dish that I could get excited about cooking and would also be tasty. So I settled on mac n' cheese because it is truly my favorite comfort food... I've attempted it before with varying degrees of success, but found I was never able to achieve that homerun, cheesy-goodness that you want from a good mac n' cheese. Well, when I saw this recipe I decided I had to try it as it is a marriage of my two favorite foods (seafood & mac n' cheese... Suffice it to say, this recipe did not dissapoint. I was fortunate enough to find an amazing aged English cheddar that really sent the mac through the roof! It wasn't too labor intensive either which was great. So thanks to the Neelys for making my family gathering a bit more special, it was a hit, everyone loved it, it was delicious!

The lobster meat at my supermarket was way too pricey so I used langoustine in place of it and it still came out spectacular! I am a beginner in the kitchen and found the recipe easy to follow. The portions are enough to feed a full table and my entire family raved about it. This is definitely a recipe for keeps!

Awesome awesome.....I DOUBLED the recipe and changed the pasta, and it came out sooooo good ! I made it for my annual BBQ and My family and friends went nuts!!

This was delicious! It was pretty expensive, so I will save it for a special occasion dish, but it feeds an army. I will definitely be making it again.

WOW!!!! This dish is amazing, and thankfully because its so expensive to make it will be one of those "once in a while" special occasion dishes. Not to mention you will need a month to burn off all the fat calories but this dish is a definite must try at least once....

Extremely tasty, easy to make & beautiful dish that was satisfying & filling dish. It is definitely worth making over & over again. Positively one for my recipe box. I will double the lobster meat next time I make this one.

Amazing! It makes a TON, FYI. It's worth the cost, a real special occasion recipe.

Awesome and surely a cholestrol bomb to splurge on. Don't go sheap on the cheese or the Lobster. I recommend 10 - 12 ounces of lobster. Didn't use bayleaf as I was out and it still was a Valentines dinner she'll not forget!

One word...AMAZING! I just made this for my husband for our Valentine's Day dinner. The only changes I made were to use elbow macaroni instead of penne and smoked paprika instead of regular paprika and then I added crumbled bacon on top. Definitely a keeper!!

I made this recipe twice from scratch each time, the first time for a potluck and the second for a dinner party. Here's the thing: if you want mac and cheese that is evocative of what a lot of us grew up on (the orange stuff from a box, you'll probably like this recipe. It uses penne pasta, is orange, is thick and creamy. Maybe TOO thick. The second time, I used rotini pasta (more adult, lessened the flour to 4 Tbsp. and doubled the wine to make it less thick, and added more shallots, cayenne and lobster per reviewers' advice. I also baked it an additional 5 minutes, as it wasn't very hot the first time. It was better the second time, but not much. I will try some of the other recipes listed, maybe Ina Garten's, hoping for a lighter, more delicate, more creamy, more "adult" version of this dish. And, by the way, don't add Parmesan cheese to the topping as someone suggested - I did it for the second recipe and it doesn't add anything special. Just gilding the . . . carnation.

I made this today, for a Christmas entree, for the first time, along with a prime rib roast. Living in Maine, I've had my fair share of lobster in all it's various forms and have dined on Lobster Mac and Cheese at some high-end restaurants in Portland. This recipe is absolutely fabulous and got rave reviews from my family...and especially my mother-in-law ! I ordered three pre-steamed lobsters at the local Hannaford's at $5.99 a lb.( lucky us and who needs the smell of lobster in the house and shelled the lobster meat the night before. Three lobsters were fine, although a fourth would have been great. I picked the head as well as the claws and tail to make the most of being able to buy same day fresh. We have lots left over as there were only five of us, and this makes enough for a small army, but I know we will be eating this in the next few days as well as trying to freeze some as well. I highly recommend this recipe...it is yummy-licious!

Really liked this recipe. Unfortunately had to substitute lobster with crab meat. large chunks of imitation crab meat worked really well. Also added shreaded Pepper Jack Cheese for a little heat. Hubby loves it.

Delicious!!

There is a reason everyone is giving this recipe 5 stars-it's amazing!!! It calls for 2 lobster tails but you need at least 6 if you want everyone to get lobster, 2 just get lost in the pasta. this is not a traditional macaroni and cheese flavor, but it's better! Make this recipe for special occasions with a lot of lobster-your guests will love it!

Every friend and family member loved and requested leftovers. Definitely will make this again.

OMG!!!! Made this for an engagement party and it blew everyone away!! I'm a professional caterer and I loved this.I made a few changes I used lobster base instead of tomato paste, BAM!! (which kicked the loster flavor up a few notches also added a little cream cheese(green onion & chive to the sauce.This is a keeper for my catering menu!!!!

OMG!!! OMG!!! Love this recipe, it was not greasy, it is rich and can stand alone as a meal served with a veggie or salad. Made some changes, omitted greasing a the pan, added another small shallot, with a dash of garlic powder, 1/4 cup of finely onion, 1/3 cup of white wine (Pinot Grigio, had one lobster tail sub missing LT with shrimp and I used Kraft Triple Cheddar Cheese and yellow sharp cheese (not able to find the recommended cheeses.

I ate so much of the dish; I could not lay down for a long while. The next day I had this for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Due to the high calories will not serve this again until Thanksgiving.

Let me tell u something...had always made the mac and cheese the way mama did w/ eggs and milk...tried this recipe last year and everyone noticed...this was so awesome so cheesy such flavor even the next day when mac and cheese is usually a little dry and clumpy...this year on thanksgiving, mama's making her mac and cheese because can't convince her otherwise but I'll be making it the NEELY way uh you betta ask somebody!! lol...oh P.S. I made it sans the lobster absolutely fabulous!! Thanks

Delicious. Made with langostine instead of lobster and really enjoyed it!

Great will make again. To Brian: the sauce will seperate if you don't keep stirring!

This was wonderful. I am telling all my friends about it & sharing the recipe. Love their food as much as I love watching them.

This recipe was very good. I threw in a few small tweaks of my own. I first had Lobster Mac & Cheese at a restaurant in Pittsburgh called Capital Grille. I really liked it and wanted to try to make it at home. I came across this recipe, it looked like it could be pretty close, so I thought I'd give it a try. As it turns out, it was really close to what the restaurant served. Instead of lobster tail meat I used lobster claw and knuckle meat. The orange color from that meat gives it a nice color contrast. Also, instead of penne pasta, I used campanelle pasta noodles because thats what the restaurant had used. This recipe was very easy to make and it will become one of the dished I make for the holidays!

I followed recipe the recipe to the letter. Saw the show, not sure what went awry but the cheese separated and it was Exxon valdez on the bottom of the dish. Any tips I'm all ears.

Wow this dish is decadent or as my mother said, it is rich. However, we all thoroughly enjoyed it. I didn't change a thing. I'm not sure if they mentioned salting your pasta water, but I did. I didn's find it too greasy as others have mentioned. I have had it twice now and it was good each time. The second time we replaced the lobster with lump crab meat ans shrimp. My family thought I was a super star in the kitchen once again. Since this is expensive to make, I only make it for special events.

Very very good. I did tweak a few things. I added a cup of sliced mushrooms Used 2x the amount called for cayenne pepper And I made it with half lobster and half shrimp And I used elbow pasta. Delicious!