Smokinlicious® Wood Recipe Blog

Wood fired Lobster Tails with Ash Minuto® smoker wood chips on the Plancha stove-top grill

When the temperatures go down and you simply can’t stand the thought of firing up the grill, but you crave something smoked, think plancha. This is a great method of bringing wood fired flavor to foods using the heat from your gas, electric, conduction, or infrared stove top.

I’m going to add a unique flavor to traditional chili by cooking lobster tail meat on the plancha using Ash Minuto® Wood Chips. This will give not only great sear to the lobster meat but a true smoked flavor.

Get ready as we give the SmokinLicious® take on Wood Fired Lobster Tails Chili.

Wood Fired Lobster Tails Chili

I’ve purchased two lobster tails and removed the shells so I can get great wood flavoring into the meat. First I lite up the plancha on my gas range as it’s simply too cold today to fire up the grill. I use a medium-high heat setting under the plancha to ensure I get a great char on the meat. I place Ash Minuto® Wood Chips around the outside of the plancha griddle so the wood fired lobster tails receive the intense heat of the plancha and sear. The chips will smolder and produce great smoke vapor to infuse the lobster while it cooks. These tails will cook about 3-4 minutes before I’ll turn them. Just a few minutes more and they are ready to come off the heat.

Wood Fired Lobster Tails Chili- Chili Ingredients

With the lobster meat smoked, it’s time to gather the remaining ingredients for the chili. Here’s what you’ll need:

• Ash Minuto® Wood Chips
• 3 medium shallots
• 2 medium cloves garlic
• 1 medium yellow bell pepper
• 2 ribs celery
• 8 to 10 ounces grilled/smoked lobster meat (from 2 lobster tails)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 15-ounce can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
• 2 to 3 tablespoons homemade or store-bought chili powder
• 1/4 cup tomato paste
• 1 cup fish stock (may substitute 1/2 teaspoon seafood base seasoning paste mixed with 1 cup very hot water)
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/2 cup heavy cream

Wood Fired Lobster Tails Chili- Starts with Tender Vegetables

We start this chili recipe off by placing 1 tablespoon of oil into a heavy pan set over medium heat. Once hot and shimmering, it’s time to add the base vegetables. First up, three minced shallots followed by two minced garlic cloves, two celery ribs finely chopped, and one yellow bell pepper seeded and diced fine. These will cook about 6 minutes until tender. Just be sure to stir them occasionally until perfectly tenderized.

Now it’s time to add the more traditional items for chili. Start by adding the kidney beans, chili powder and tomato paste. This should cook for about 5 minutes with constant stirring. The mixture will thicken as it cooks. Next, add the fish stock stirring to combine. The mixture should cook for 8 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking. Last, add the ¼ cup of water and cook for an additional 2 minutes.

The final items go in – wood fired lobster meat that has been rough chopped and the ½ cup of heavy cream. Now is the time to make the final adjustments to the taste – feel free to add more salt, pepper, chili powder, stock, cream – whatever brings the flavor in balance for your taste. Don’t forget, you can swap out ingredients for others too. You may prefer crème fresh over heavy cream or want to add a dollop of sour cream.

Although you’ll likely think of this as an entrée, don’t forgot how perfect this is for parties featuring assorted hors d’oeuvres. Fill shot glasses with this great variation and put out some crostini. That will be the go-to pick of any party.

We hope this recipe inspires you to try smoking more ingredients to add a balance of flavor. We’d love to hear what you think so leave us a comment and subscribe to get all our postings on techniques and recipes. Bringing innovation to wood fired cooking with recipes, techniques and the science behind the fire, that’s SmokinLicious®.

Purchase products:

Wood Chips- Minuto®

For more reading related to our recipes

Additional reading:

-STUFFED MUSHROOM APPETIZER FEATURING SMOKED ARTICHOKE HEART

-STUFFED SQUID COOKED ON THE PLANCHA WITH SMOKINLICIOUS®

-SUCCULENT WOOD FIRED STUFFED TOMATO WITH HERB RICE

Dr Smoke- “Wonderful recipe for when you want a seafood chili!”