Green Beans with Garlic Parmesan and Bacon

The Best Green Beans

If you’re looking for a recipe that will make everyone love Green Beans, look no further. This dish is crisp, it is vibrant and most of all full of flavor. It’s got all of my favorite ingredients, including one secret ingredient that really takes this vegetable to the next level. With out it, I wouldn’t even bother making this recipe, it makes that big of a difference. What’s the secret ingredient? Lemon!

Fresh Green Beans

Don’t try to make this recipe using a bag of frozen or canned Green Beans, please, I implore you. If that’s all you have, don’t use this recipe because it won’t even come close to how good it would be using fresh ingredients. Grow them, buy them, I don’t care how you get them, just be sure to use them straight off the vine. You can also add other fresh veggies like red onion and tomatoes.

In this recipe, I blanch the green beans with out an ice water bath. I do this for two reasons. A cold water shock just prevents the beans from cooking any further but, in this recipe, you don’t want to do that. This is not a dish that is served cold. Once the bacon is cooked I continue to saute the beans in the bacon grease, anyway. So the cold shock is not necessary.

Green Beans with Garlic Parmesan and Bacon Ingredients:

Blanching
2 qt Boiling Water
2 tbsp Salt

1 lbs Green Beans, fresh
2 Bacon Strips, chopped
2 Garlic Cloves, chopped
1 tbsp Parmesan Cheese, grated
1 tbsp Lemon Juice
Salt and Pepper to taste

Grilled Lobster and Secret Sauce

The Best Grilled Lobster

This is, absolutely, hands down, the Best Grilled Lobster that I have ever had and it is so easy to prepare and grill.  The hardest part is dispatching a live lobster, if that sort of thing bothers you, but I show you the most humane way to do it and the quickest way to to clean and sanitize your lobsters, before grilling.  But, this tutorial isn’t just a how to, I give you the best secret sauce recipe to saturate the meat and it makes the lobster more savory and succulent than you could’ve ever imagined.

3 Pound Grilled Lobster

I’ve been waiting a long time to show you how I cook a Grilled Lobster.  The reason being that, up until now, there wasn’t anywhere near by selling live lobsters.  A while back I filmed and posted about my local Oriental Market.  Well, right next door, another Asian market, about the size of Walgreen’s, opened with a large variety of seafood options, including live crab and lobster tanks.  I was so excited.  The only problem was, they only had dungeness crabs.  I talked to the owner and checked back weekly for several months but they were really having a hard time finding a vendor with reasonable prices that would deliver to this area.  Long story short, they found one.  I’m still not ecstatic about the price but at least, now, they are available.  And thanks to my Patrons, I was able to walk in there last week and say, “Give me the biggest one!”

How much does a 3 lbs Grilled Lobster Cost?

This Grilled Lobster ain’t no joke and at these prices, who’s laughing?  I mean, if this is the market price, can you imagine what a 3 pound lobster would cost in a Restaurant.  The basic philosophy and justification behind restaurant cost is basic biz 101;supply and demand, overhead and employment cost and of course profit.  The easiest way to calculate this equation is to take the cost of the product and times that price by 3.  I paid $46.03, American, for this lobster.  So, in a nutshell, a restaurant would charge you close to $160!

YouTube Trolls often comment, “Poor Man’s my Ass” on my videos because they don’t grasp or understand this concept.  Also the fact that there is a time and a place for everything.  I don’t buy expensive food and cook and eat like this all the time.  That’s just ridiculous.  But, occasionally, for holidays or a special dinner, with my wife and family, I make an exception.  And the more of you that choose to get involved with my work, can help me make this happen, for you, more often.

Also, ironically, if you google, “lobster food history”, you’ll find that lobster was considered “Poor Man’s” food and served only to people and families in poverty.


Dispatching a Live Grilled Lobster

It’s always best to cook fresh and the only way to cook a fresh Grilled Lobster is to dispatch a live one.  This isn’t for the faint of heart but I strongly believe it’s for the greater good.

The last 100 hundred years or so we’ve gotten away from such practices and we no longer appreciate what we are eating.  We live in a world of instant gratification and all of the work that goes into the hamburgers we all love to eat so much is taken for granted.  We need to get more hands on and stop filling our heads with delusions that it’s wrong to do it or that it’s okay as long as someone else is doing it.

That being said, I show you the most humane way to dispatch a live lobster in the video.  The only thing I didn’t mention, however, is the fact that I placed the lobster in a more dormant state before doing so.  A lobsters normal habitat and water temp can vary between 45 to 60 degrees Fahrenheit, depending on where it’s from.  So, you can place the lobster in colder temperatures, like a sink full of ice water or a freezer, for 20 to 30 minutes, and the lobster will become more calm and docile.  This hibernation like state is considered, by many, to be the more humane way to take a lobsters life with a quick plunge of a sharp knife to the back of the head.  It’s quick and virtually painless.

Now all you have to do is clean the cavity and harvest the goods.

Grilled Lobster Tomalley and Roe

Before you cook your Grilled Lobster, you have to clean it.  Technically you can just throw them on the grill without doing so but there are a few things you should know about.  First is the Tomalley, which controls the digestive glands in the lobster.  Second is the Roe and it’s more or less lobster caviar.  Both are considered a delicacy but in truth, I don’t care for either.  The picture above is the Roe and it can be served raw or cooked.  Generally you just mix in some salt.  The Tomalley can be used as a spread, like butter but it’s best to just leave it alone and wash it down your sink, like I do in the video.  There are health risks associated to eating Tomalley, so proceed with caution.  Also, the same way you devien shrimp, you can devien lobster.

Eating Grilled Lobster

You’re Grilled Lobster can, technically, be baked if you prefer or if you just don’t want to grill.  In all honesty the grill just adds that smokey flavor which can be achieved with liquid smoke if you’re cooking in the oven, but still want the grilling taste.  The secret sauce recipe I give you below is more of a paste or a “topping”, if you will, that should be applied towards the end of the cooking.  Make sure the meat is well moisturized with some olive oil, beforehand, so the lobster doesn’t dry out and bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 1 1/2 minutes per ounce before applying the butter paste topping.  If any of the topping mix is left, when it’s done, just add a few tbsp more of melted butter for dipping.

You can eat the Claws, Arms, Tail and you can use a rolling pin to squeeze meat out of the legs.  There’s more meat at the base of the legs and in the body than most people realize, so be sure to check every nook and cranny.

Other Lobster Recipes: Lobster Tail with Claws, Tempura Lobster Tail, Lobster Bisque, Lobster Sauce, Stuffed Lobster, Poor Man’s Lobster

Grilled Lobster Ingredients:

2 lobsters
2 tbsp Olive Oil
3 Garlic Cloves
5 Fresh Basil Leaves(do not use dried)
2 Green Onions
4 tbsp Butter
Salt and Pepper to taste

Water for steaming

After the lobsters have been cleaned, steam them in a couple inches of water for 5 to 10 minutes, depending on their size.
Then Grill as instructed in the video for an additional 5 to 10 minutes before applying the Garlic, Basil, Onion and Butter paste.
Use half the butter for the paste and the other half for dipping the Grilled Lobster meat.

Garlic Parmesan Chicken

The Best Garlic Parmesan Chicken Recipe

This Garlic Parmesan Chicken recipe is very simple and delicious.  It can be made with white or dark meat, breaded or bare, pan fried or baked.  It’s entirely up to you.  This recipe is even good over wings and chicken legs if you’re just looking for a side dish.  The point is, Garlic Parmesan Chicken is so versatile it can practically be done anyway you want to cook it.  I even use these exact same ingredients over Brussels Sprouts, it’s that good.

The way I like Garlic Parmesan Chicken

My personal favorite way to cook this recipe is with chicken thigh meat cut into small pieces.  In fact, that’s how I like my Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo.  Cooking the chicken this way just adds so much more depth to the pasta and sauce.  So I highly recommend you add your Garlic Parmesan Chicken to your favorite noodles.  You can check out my Alfredo recipe HERE if you’d like.  Of course when I say “my” I mean The Olive Gardens! 😉

If you’re interested in other chicken recipes be sure to check out my Jamaican Jerk Chicken and my Blackened Chicken Alfredo or look over this Chicken Recipes Playlist for more options.

Garlic Parmesan Chicken Ingredients:

2 Boneless Chicken Breasts
2 tbsp Olive Oil
6 Garlic Cloves, chopped
1/4 cup Fresh Parsley, chopped
1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese, grated
2 tbsp Salted Butter (optional)
Kosher Salt and Pepper to taste

The instructions in my Garlic Parmesan Chicken video recipe tutorial is very easy to follow.  However, I don’t use any butter in the cooking, though it’s clearly in the ingredients as an option.  I do this for health reasons.  For me the Olive Oil is enough but the added butter does make this dish taste even better.  So consider adding it if it’s something you would normally do to make your Garlic Parmesan Chicken perfect.