Celebrate National Lobster Day With Spaghetti Aragosta Recipe From Chef Dave Pasternack

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Saturday is National Lobster Day.

Whether you like it boiled with melted butter or in a lobster mac 'n' cheese, there's so many ways to enjoy this maritime fare.

Dave Pasternack, executive chef and partner at Esca in Midtown and Barca and Surf restaurants on Staten Island, joined CBS2 to celebrate and offer his recipe for Spaghetti with Lobster.

Spaghetti with Lobster – Serves Four

Ingredients:

• 4 1 to 1 ¼ lb fresh Maine Lobster
• 1 cup fennel large dice
• 1 cup leek large dice
• ½ cup tomato paste
• 1 cup brandy
• 4 cups lobster poaching water
• 1 cup lobster stock
• 1 cup cooked tomato sauce (over the counter is fine, just no additional flavor
• 2 serrano chilis blistered, peeled and chopped
• 1 cup picked basil
• 1 lb spaghetti
• Evoo
• Salt

Instructions:

Remove the tail, knuckles and claw from the lobsters and reserve the heads. If you ask, your fish monger will happily help you with this. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and cook the knuckles and claw for minutes and let rest on a cooling rack in the refrigerator. Once cool, take all the meat from the knuckles and put aside. Using the back of a heavy kitchen knife, crack the claw and leave half the shell on, exposing half of the cooked claw. For the tail, again using a heavy kitchen knife, carefully split the raw tail down the middle, leaving the shell on.

To make the lobster stock, take the gills out of the heads and roast the heads at 350 degrees for 20 minutes until the heads become light pink in color. While the heads are roasting, saute the fennel and leek in a small saucepot. Once the vegetables are soft, add the roasted lobster heads and smash with a rolling pin until mostly broken apart. Add tomato paste and ½ of the brandy and cook for eight to 10 minutes until the alcohol has cooked off. Add four cups of the water used to cook the lobster (should be enough to cover what is in the pot so you an add more if needed) and simmer for 45 minutes. Strain off the veg and shells and reserve liquid. Lobster stock can be kept in the refrigerator for one week or in the freezer for one month.

Place pasta in a large pot of heavily salted boiling water and cook per instructions on the package. While pasta is cooking, place tail meat in a sauce pan with olive oil and chilis and cook for four to five minutes, turning over as needed. Deglaze the pan with the brandy, be sure to let the alcohol cook off and add tomato sauce and lobster stock. Add remaining lobster meat (claw and knuckle) and cook for another two to three minutes to allow sauce to reduce and meat to cook through. Add pasta and basil to the sauce, a good glug of olive oil and let cook together for another minute.

To plate, take the lobster that is in the shell and arrange on a large platter. Give the pasta a few more tosses in the sauce and arrange on the platter. Another finish of olive oil and enjoy.