This week’s recipe serves one of the most luxurious ingredients of the season, lobster, in an elegant but super easy way. Cannelloni can take a while to make, but if you take a couple of shortcuts by using high-quality, ready-to-use ingredients, you end up with a fantastic tasting dish whipped up in a very short amount of time.
My shortcuts for this recipe? The best dried Italian pasta and high-quality ready-made pesto and rosé sauce. As much as I love pesto, the truth is that I almost never make it at home because buying enough fresh basil to make a batch would cost me a week’s worth of groceries, and I’m plagued with the inability to grow my own (it always, always, dies on me – I can’t seem to do anything about it). Also, I confess: ever since I discovered Maison Le Grand’s line of raw pestos and sauces, I haven’t really felt the need to make my own. Their pestos are so bright and fresh, they really do taste like they were just coming out of my food processor. They’re one of the very few convenience foods I actually buy at the grocery store.
Maison Le Grand recently expended their line of pestos with new rosé sauces and they contacted me to see if I was interested in having a taste. (Full disclosure: this is not a sponsored post. The products I’ve used to make this recipe were provided for free, but the content of this post and my opinions are entirely mine). Being a long-time fan of their products, I quickly accepted – especially since the new sauces were dairy-free. Yes, dairy-free rosé sauces! My lactose-intolerant tummy allows me a small quantity of dairy products daily (like grated parmesan cheese over pasta, for example), but I absolutely cannot digest cream-based dishes and sauces. I have made rosé sauce before, both using soy cream and lactose-free cream, but it was the first time I heard of commercially made lactose-free rosé sauces.
The new sauces didn’t disappoint: they taste fresh, they’re well seasoned and… they make up a meal in no time! My favorite is the Rustic variety (with chunks of roasted bell peppers, caramelized onions and sun-dried tomatoes), but for my Lobster Cannelloni recipe, I went the classic route. I simply mixed the freshly cooked lobster meat with pesto, mixed in some toasted pine nuts, and cooked the pasta in a little rosé sauce. I believe the restraint use of seasonings and sauces lets the lobster’s delicate flavor shine through beautifully. A new spring classic in my house!
Of course, you can really make this dish your own by rolling out your own pasta, and making your own pesto and rosé sauce… But if you go the easy way, like I did, I won’t tell anyone, I promise.
Penang, Malaysia. Despite living in Australia for over 17 years, I still have very fond memories of my home country, Malaysia, where my family still lives. Being thousand miles away from home, there are only two things I miss the most – my family and the food. Good delicious Malaysian food can be found almost anywhere in the country, and then there is this little island on the North-West coast near the border with Thailand called 
Assam Laksa, hands down. Assam Laksa is also known as Penang Laksa, it is a specialty of this city. Many people would agree that no visit to Penang is complete without eating this famous and much-loved local delicacy. It consists of round rice noodles swimming in a dark muddy fish-based broth that has this distinctive spicy piquant flavor, soured with tamarind pulp, with a fishy mackerel aroma that is deliciously addictive. Many Penangites have mastered the art of Assam Laksa over decades, and several street food vendors have been selling the same dish at the same spot for generations. One of the most popular spots in Penang where you can taste this delicious bowl of Assam Laksa is at Jalan Pasar in 
Meet Albane Sharrard, pastry chef, and Evi Abeler, food photographer, both from New York City. Albane has worked with some of the best pastry chefs, including Dominique Ansel and Jacques Torres, and she now has her own line of jams and baked goods inspired by her grandmother’s recipes. Evi is an experienced life and food photographer who has worked for Anthology Magazine, Food+Wine and Sweet Paul. Together, Albane and Evi form the duo behind 
Cheese Plates. Our favorite New York food experience in all seasons is enjoying a cheese plate for a picnic or a gathering with friends. We have some great picnic spots in Harlem. 
