Lobster Mashed Potatoes with Viet-Cajun Brown Butter | Indulgent Eats - Dining, Recipes & Travel (2024)

These creamy mashed potatoes pair luxurious lobster meat with a spicy, umami-spiked brown butter sauce inspired by Viet-Cajun seafood boils

Ingredients

Creamy Mashed Potatoes

• 4 Russet potatoes, peeled
• 4 tbsp butter
• ¼–½ cup whole milk, use more for creamier texture
• ½ tsp salt, more to taste

Viet-Cajun Brown Butter

• 3–4 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into pats
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 tbsp lemon juice, more to taste
• ½ tsp smoked paprika, plus more to taste
• ½ tsp cayenne, plus more to taste
• ½ tsp Old Bay or crab boil seasoning, plus more to taste
• ½ tsp fresh ground pepper, plus more to taste
• Dash dried thyme
• Dash dried oregano

Garnish

• 1 cup cooked lobster, tail and knuckle pieces chopped and claws left intact (optional)
• 1 bunch fresh chives, chopped
• Fresh ground pepper, to taste

Instructions

1. Cook the potatoes. Place them in a pot and cover them with water so there’s at least 1-inch (2.5-cm) of water above. Bring to a boil and cook for 15 to 25 minutes, depending on the size of your potatoes, until you can easily pierce the center of each potato with a knife
2. Prepare the rest of your mashed potato ingredients while the potatoes are cooking. Soften the butter by cutting it into pats and setting aside at room temperature. Heat up the milk until hot but not boiling in a saucepan for 4 to 5 minutes over medium-low heat, or about 2 minutes in the microwave.
3. Make the brown butter while the potatoes are cooking. In a medium frying pan or skillet, melt the butter over medium heat. Try to use a light-colored pan, if you have it, so you can monitor the color of the butter. Swirl the pan every so often so the butter cooks evenly. The butter will foam, then the color will turn yellow, then golden and eventually turn a toasty brown with little brown flecks in it after 4 to 6 minutes, depending on how much butter you’re using. Adjust the heat to low the moment this happens.
4. Add the garlic and lemon juice to the brown butter, cooking the garlic until softened and aromatic, about 1 minute. Add the paprika, cayenne, Old Bay or crab boil seasoning, fresh ground pepper, dried thyme, and dried oregano and simmer for another minute until fully combined into your Viet-Cajun brown butter. Set aside.
5. Mash the potatoes with OXO’s Smooth Potato Masher, or with an electric mixer, starting on low and increasing to medium as the potatoes get broken up.
6. Stream in the hot milk while mashing/beating until you reach your desired level of creaminess.
7. Add the softened butter, one pat at a time, mashing or beating until fully combined and your potatoes are nice and fluffy.
8. Fold in the chopped lobster meat (reserving the whole claws), plus a quarter of the Viet-Cajun brown butter, and half of the chopped chives. Season with salt to taste, being mindful of the brown butter.
9. Transfer to your serving bowl and make a well in the center of the mashed potatoes for the reserved lobster claws and another quarter to half of the Viet-Cajun brown butter. Garnish with fresh chives and a few turns of fresh ground pepper, leaving the rest of the Viet-Cajun brown butter on the side for guests to add onto their own servings.