Stir-fried Maine Lobster

I bet you didn't know I worked in a Chinese restaurant!  Yup, I worked at a Cantonese restaurant  in New York called King Dragon  (3rd Avenue 73rd St) for about 10 days when Leslee was away in Belgium learning French. 

Leslee and I and my parents had been customers of King Dragon for many years and got really friendly with the one of the owners, Scott, and the Chef, Mr. Tong.   

Often after the restaurant was closed I was invited me to go to Chinatown with Scott, Chef, some other kitchen staff and the prep chef I called the Chopper.  The Chopper sliced, diced chopped lobsters, vegetables and everything he handled so beautifully and with such perfection that I was amazed. But he never would speak with me! On those nights in Chinatown, we had duck tongues, eels and had fantastic new food (for me). We washed it all down lots of Hennessy XO cognac. On other occasions,  Mr. Tong would  invite me to his house in Chinatown for lunch with his wife and daughter where we prepared Cantonese style abalone and other delicacies  And just the everyday food he'd cook for his family. 

For those 10 days that I worked at the restaurant,  I carried heavy bags of rice, clumsily chopped lobsters, sliced and diced vegetables (probably why the Chopper would not speak to me) and cleaned the kitchen (or did anything else they told me to do) until I was sore! I learned a lot and had such fun! At the beginning I was was called  'Lo Fan' (佬番) but this was really joking (I hoped) among friends and guys who worked back in the kitchen.  At the end, I was touched as they called me,  阿伯(a baak), one of the Cantonese words or 'Uncle'

A good friend gave Leslee and I a cookbook for Christmas: The Great Lobster Cookbook by Matt Dean Pettit. The book brought back those fond memories of my days eating and working at King Dragon.  The Great Lobster Cookbook looks really great, has lots of excellent photos and the recipes "read right" and seem to be really doable. 

Here's my notes and pics for a variation of Chef Pettit's recipe for Stir-fried Lobster. 

I might have added the ginger and garlic to the oil (reduced to 1/2 Tbs) at the beginning to soften their flavors on the final dish..

This was lunch for me but could I could have easily added the meat form a second lobster to make a dinner for two.

Enjoy!