Cooking without failing....

Project Proposition:
Successfully cook seafood without burning down the kitchen or giving anyone food poisoning.

Please note I have set a kitchen on aflame with a grease fire that resulted in a half melted microwave handle (so I try to keep baking soda in reach). The following recipes are by all means fool proof- if I can do it, so can you!

Lobster Tails:
I bought frozen lobster tails from Central Market the day before I cooked them. As soon as I got them home I threw the lobster tails in some Tupperware (no ice) and put them in the fridge.

When I was ready to cook them I followed the instructions on this link to butterfly the tails. I will admit when I started separating the meat from the shell I was questioning what I kind of mess I had gotten myself into.

I then followed this very simple recipe I found on food network. I believe I only had 12oz of lobster, but I pulled off the lobster in about 6-7 minutes instead of 8 minutes (you could tell the lobster tails were starting to look done).

I nuked some butter and the tails were perfect.

Mussels:
After eating some pretty tasty mussels at an Italian restaurant, I decided to try making them myself. I also bought my mussels from Central Market.

The guy behind the seafood counter told me to rinse and boil the mussels for 3 - 4 minutes (you can tell the mussels are fully cooked when they open their shells). I boiled the mussels for a full 4 minutes because I was not planning on getting sick from consuming anything questionably raw. I then drained the mussels from the pot.

I also created a white wine - butter sauce. I heated up a third to a half of a bottle of white table wine, then I added half a stick of butter and a little garlic powder. (You have to make sure the wine is hot enough otherwise it will not mix well with the butter). I poured this wine sauce over the mussels and served them.

And no....6-12 hours later I was not sick, my mussels were a success!

Fish Tacos:
Tilapia can be cheap to come by, but also can be used for awesome fish tacos. Here is the recipe I use for the fish.

I like to put out lettuce, onions, tomatoes, grate fresh Monterrey jack (it makes all the difference), and Trappy's pinto beans with jalapenos. Kroger sells fresh flour tortillas that are to die for and make the fish tacos stellar.

Enjoy and best of luck!