Feeds 4
When Danny and I drove through New England in a minivan with our daughter, we both gawked at nearly everything in Maine. Craggy coastline, gorgeous green fields, good people, and a real back-to-the-land ethic that stirred us both. On top of that, in every gas station? Whoopie pies and lobster rolls. At first, I thought Danny was a little crazy to get a lobster roll from a gas station. Isn’t that the path to food poisoning? But in Maine, fresh lobster, good lobster, is everywhere. Many Mainers told us that lobster is no big deal. It’s working man food, easily available and cheap. Of course, for the rest of us, lobster is a real treat. And that gas station lobster roll was great, Danny told me. So we came home and made our own version with a gluten-free hoagie roll. We both felt the same: we wanted the taste of the lobster to shine through the salad. Some people put chopped celery in their lobster roll, and you’re free to add it here. But this lobster roll? It’s as pure as the water off the coast of Maine.
Make the lobster salad. You want big chunks of meat, so you should barely touch the meat from the claws. Tail meat can come as one big piece, so cut that up a bit. In a bowl, combine the lobster meat with the mayonnaise, lemon juice, tarragon, and parsley. Season the salad with salt and pepper.
Make the sandwiches. Stuff the lobster salad into the hoagie rolls. And go ahead and really stuff. This is not a streamlined sandwich. It’s messy and glorious and full of lobster. Eat immediately.