Soft buttery lobster and mexican street corn come together in this amazing taco.
So many things remind us of summer—beaches, fireworks and cookouts, just to name a few. We imagine bright flavors in our foods made with the freshest vegetables my state of Maine has to offer. Speaking of great Maine offerings, we can’t forget the lobster. Sought-after around the world, it is a delicacy that we fortunately have usually easy and cheap access to. Today we are going to use our lobster and also take full advantage of another summer crop that we are very proud of: our fresh corn.
I can think of no better way to bring the bright fresh flavors of summer to the table than elote, or Mexican street corn. Elote is a form of roasted corn on the cob that is often slathered with a mixture of mayo, sour cream, cotija cheese, lime and other spices. It is a simple and truly amazing thing to behold.
We will combine our two stars into a mashup of sorts, the Lobster Elote Taco. Our lobster will come out tender and buttery, thanks to a gentle poaching in butter and tarragon. We will deconstruct the elotes and transform them into a flavorful topping for our poached Lobster. As of late, it’s become trendy to cover elotes with crushed up Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. While this may seem strange and is completely optional, the combination of crunch and heat atop the taco adds another level of depth to the flavors at play.
Below you find all the steps to make everything from scratch, including the tortillas, pickled jalapeños—you get the point. Feel free to buy some of these components in their store-bought form to save some time, but I can assure you they are all worth the effort. Do yourself a favor and make the pickled jalapeños, elote sauce and tortillas a day or two before (you’ll have plenty left over to use in other dishes). If you have someone with a food allergy to lobster, these tacos can also be made with steak, chicken, shrimp or vegetarian. I can attest that they are even great with a grilled classic Maine red hot dog in place of the lobster.
I think you’ll find a new favorite in this taco.
Makes 6 tacos
Equipment
Here are some of the tools I used in this recipe.
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Cast Iron Pan: Ayesha Curry Home Collection Enameled Cast Iron Skillet/Fry Pan with Pour Spouts, 12 Inch, Twilight Teal
Rolling Pin: Farberware Classic Wood Rolling Pin, 17.75-Inch, Natural
Mason Jar: Ball Regular Mouth 32-Ounces Mason Jar with Lids and Bands (2-Units), Pack Of 2, Clear
Lobster Elote Tacos
Ingredients
Pickled Tarragon Jalapeños
- 1/2 Cup White Vinegar
- 1/2 Cup Water
- 1 tsp Kosher Salt
- 5 Sprigs Fresh Tarragon
- 3 Cloves Fresh Garlic
- 1/2 Pound Fresh Jalapeño Peppers Roughly 5-6 medium sized peppers
Elote Sauce
- 150 g Sour Cream
- 150 g Mayonnaise
- 2 Cloves Fresh Garlic
- 1/2 Cup Fresh Cilantro Stems removed
- 1/2 tsp Ancho Chili Powder
- 1/2 tsp Fresh ground Pepper
- 2 tsp Lime Zest From about 1 lime
- 4 tsp Lime Juice About 2 limes
- 1/2 cup Cotija cheese Crumbled
Flour Tortillas
- 300 g All Purpose Flour Plus a little extra for rolling out
- 8 g Kosher Salt
- 45 g Lard
- 180 g Ice Cold Water
Roasted Corn
- 2 Ears Fresh Corn on the Cobb
Butter Poached Lobster
- 3 Med Maine Lobsters About 5 Pounds total weight
- Water
- White Vinegar
- Kosher Salt
- 1 Stick Salted Butter
- 3 Sprigs Fresh Tarragon
Taco Assembly
- 6 6 Inch Flour Tortillas Recipe Below
- Butter Poached Lobster Meat Recipe Below
- Roasted Corn Recipe Below
- 1 Med Tomato Diced
- 3 Green Onions Chopped
- 1/2 Cup Fresh Cilantro Chopped
- Elote Sauce Recipe Below
- 1/2 Cup Flaming Hot Cheetos Crushed into a fine powder (optional)
- Lime Wedges For Serving
Instructions
Pickled Tarragon Jalapeños
- Combine Vinegar, Water, and Salt into a small saucepan over medium high heat to bring to a boil.
- While the mixture is heating up, place the Tarragon into a large (24 ounce) canning jar.
- Take the three garlic cloves and crush them with the back of a chef's knife. Place them in the jar with the tarragon.
- Slice the Jalapeños about 1/8 inch thick and place into the jar.
- Once the vinegar/water/salt brine is boiling, pour it carefully into the canning jar over the other ingredients.
- Take care to make sure all the vegetables are covered in the brine. If not, top-off the container with more vinegar.
- Close the jar with the lid and allow to cool slightly on the counter for a half an hour.
- Place jar into fridge for at least 12 hours before eating. Jalapeños will keep for about 2 weeks.
Flour Tortillas
- In a food processor, Combine the flour and salt.
- Add Lard and mix in food processor for about 20 seconds until lard is distributed through and you've formed a pebbly looking dough.
- Turn the food processor on again and slowly pour ice cold water into the mix, should take around 8-10 seconds to pour.
- Process for another 5-10 seconds to let the dough come together.
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured counter and knead the dough until it is not longer sticky.
- Separate the dough into 12 equal size pieces, about 40 grams each.
- Roll the dough into balls and place on a sheet tray and cover for about 20 mins at room temp, this will help the dough relax and hydrate properly.
- To roll the tortillas, take a ball and flatten it with your hand. Then using a rolling pin carefully roll out into thin flat tortillas about 6 inches in diameter. Don't worry of they are not perfect circles.
- Once all tortillas are rolled out, preheat a cast iron or heavy bottomed pan over low-medium heat on the stovetop. If you have a infrared thermometer on hand, we are looking for about 375-400 degrees fahrenheit.
- Place the tortillas into the pan one at a time, cooking for about 40 seconds on each side. Once all tortillas are cooked, store in a bread bag or another airtight container.
- Use within 4-5 days.
Elote Sauce
- Combine all ingredients into a high sided container or a large canning jar that will accommodate an immersion blender. Blend until smooth. Alternatively you can place the ingredients into a small tabletop blender for the same results.
- Store sauce in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
Roasted Corn
- Remove the stalks and silk from the corn cobbs.
- Method one.
- Place oven rack 4-5 inches away from the top broiler.
- Turn broiler on high and keep the oven door cracked so it does not turn off.
- Place corn on top rack and turn a 1/3 of a turn every 5 mins or so, until the corn is charred on all sides.
- Method 2
- Preheat a grill to it highest setting.
- Place corn on the grill and turn the corn 1/3 a turn every 3-4 mins until charred on all sides.
- Once corn is charred, allow to cool for 5 mins.
- Cut Kernels free from the Cobb and set aside for topping the tacos.
Butter Poached Lobster
- Fill your largest pot with water with 1 Tablespoon of Kosher salt and about 4 Tablespoons of white vinegar per gallon of water. The vinegar will help the lobster meat release from the shell to make the process of removing the meat for poaching easier. Place pot over high heat and bring to a boil.
- Place the lobsters in boiling water for about 3-4 mins. (You may have to cook them in batches depending on the size of your pot.
- Remove the Lobsters to a sheet pan to cool for about 15 mins, or until cool enough to handle without burning yourself.
- While the lobsters are cooling, place one stick of butter into a small/med saucepan over the lowest heat setting just to melt the butter slowly.
- Add the Tarragon sprigs to the butter and turn off the heat once melted. Hold aside in the pot for the lobster meat.
- Once the lobsters are cool enough to handle, crack them open and remove all the meat into a bowl, discard the shells and carcass.
- Give the lobster meat a rough chop to make all the pieces a uniform size.
- Put the pot with the Butter and Tarragon back over low/medium heat and add the lobster to the mixture.
- Poach in the butter for about another 5 mins, until the lobster is fully cooked.
- Take the pot off the heat, remove the Tarragon sprigs and set Lobster and Butter aside for taco assembly.
Taco Assembly
- Line up all six Tortillas
- Add 1/6th of the Lobster meat to each Tortilla.
- Top with your desired amount of Roasted Corn, Tomatoes, Green Onion, and Cilantro.
- Top your Tacos with the Elote Sauce, use a squeeze bottle of you have one.
- Sprinkle the crushed Flaming Hot Cheetos over the top for some Crunch and a squeeze of fresh lime juice. (Optional)
- Enjoy.
