Shepherd’s pie, seafood-style

Everything’s better when made with local ingredients.

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On June 10, I went into Schooner Landing restaurant in Newcastle, Maine, with my father, and decided to get the lobster pie off the menu for dinner. The lobster pie had a Newburg sauce, which is a light tomato cream sauce, and had a crusted cracker top. I mixed my mashed potato side into the lobster pie, and came up with the idea to make a lobster and seafood–style shepherd’s pie.

About a week later I got to make the recipe, and it turned out to be an excellent start into summer cuisine. The lobster meat I bought to make the dish with was about $55 per pound at Edgartown Seafood Market, with scallops costing around $20 to $32 per pound. The recipes I used are based on the Seafood Newburg recipe at allrecipes.com and the Lobster Shepherd’s Pie recipe from Epicurious. I’ve changed some and added more ingredients for my lobster pie, which is how I like to approach any new recipe I want to try out.

Lobster Pie

Mashed Potato Topping

3 medium-size russet potatoes, peeled
4 cloves of garlic, chopped and sautéed
4 Tbsp. butter
½ cup milk
2 Tbsp. dried dill

Peel and cut up the potatoes, and boil them in a medium saucepan until tender. Mince the garlic and sauté for two to three minutes with 2 Tbsp. butter. Drain the potatoes and mash them in the saucepan, add the garlic into the potatoes, and put another 2 Tbsp. of butter into the mixture. Sprinkle the dried dill as you mash the potatoes until you get a creamy consistency.

Newburg Sauce

¾ lbs. scallops
¼ cup butter
¼ cup all-purpose flour
1½ cup milk
½ cup cream
¼ cup V8 juice
¼ cup white wine
¼ cup scallop juice
½ tsp. salt
1 tsp. paprika
1 cup carrot, sliced in coins
1 pound lobster meat, chopped
1 cup fresh or frozen peas

Preheat the oven to 400°. Sauté the scallops in 1 Tbsp. of butter for three minutes, and set aside with chopped lobster. Use the rest of the butter in the pan and whisk in the all-purpose flour until you get a smooth consistency. Stir in the milk with the cream, and bring the mixture to a boil. Add the V8 juice, white wine, and leftover scallop juice. Mix in the salt and paprika until blended. 

Use a two-quart casserole dish for the lobster pie, and be sure to spray the bottom of the casserole dish with nonstick spray before adding the ingredients. Steam the sliced carrots in the microwave for three minutes and add them in with the lobster, semi-cooked scallops, and one cup of fresh or frozen peas. Pour the Newburg sauce into the casserole dish, and mix it all together. Top it off with the mashed potatoes, and spread it across the dish evenly.

Bake in the oven for about 20 to 25 minutes, until it bubbles. Finish by broiling for five minutes or until the top browns. Let it cool for 10 minutes, and enjoy some great New England comfort food.