Cooking out of the comfort zone

So, I was cooking for my step-father for his birthday last Saturday and I had the grandiose idea of some type of surf and turf - preferably some type of lamb and fish (or scallop) dish. I went to the grocery store back home and I found a rack of lamb, but no fish really looked that great. What did catch my eye was some lobster tails, which I decided to get. Now, I've never cooked lobster tails or rack of lamb before, but I decided why not.

Menu:
Lobster tails with a corn puree
Rack of lamb with a rich tomato sauce over quinoa
Papaya gelato

Unfortunately, only the rack of lamb was a winner. Lesson learned, research and practice dishes first before serving to people other than yourself/your significant other.

Lobster
I cut the lobster shells down the center to expose the skin and broiled the lobster tails for 5 minutes with some butter and a little salt, but something wasn't right. I had to broil it again for another 7 minutes, since it was still raw on the inside. When I was finished, it was overly salty and the lobster just didn't taste right. It wasn't overcooked, but something was wrong. The corn puree was great and it made the dish OK - I gave it a 6/10. Need to do more research - maybe boiling next time? I served roasted Chinese mushrooms as a side dish - this was very flavorful.



Lamb
This was also a challenge for me, since if I cook meat - it's usually in a braise or just smaller portions (like a steak). Luckily, this came out great and I applied the same base for my braising liquid as a sauce. Tender flavorful lamb accompanied by a rich sauce. I gave this an 8/10.


Papaya Gelato
Was going for a papaya gelato, but since I was in a rush with everything else, this was messed up to. A gelato base I use is 1 quart milk, 1.5-2 cups sugar and heat on the stove to dissolve the sugar. Unfortunately, I added the papaya in the beginning which made the taste slightly bitter. Another lesson learned, papaya should not be heated through, since it will become bitter. Fortunately, before I boiled the mixture down I saved a glass of the "papaya milk" which was wonderful. From a disaster, I may have found a great amuse bouche to serve :)

Now the wonderful thing about cooking is that there's is always something new to learn. Now that I f'd up lobster, I will be even more determined to cook it better. Time to ask and document some correspondents to the dudes on foods for some recipes and techniques.