Greek Lobster Spaghetti combines succulent lobster, tomatoes, fennel, thyme and brandy in an impressive dinner that takes only 30 minutes.
By the time you read this, we will be aboard Viking Vesta, sailing from Athens through the Greek islands and along the Adriatic coast to Venice.It seems the perfect moment to revisit one of the most memorable dishes we brought home from an earlier journey through Greece: Astakomakaronada, the country’s glorious answer to lobster spaghetti.
The word may look as though it requires its own boarding pass, but it is easier to pronounce than it appears: ah-stah-koh-mah-kah-roh-NAH-thah. Its impressive 17 letters simply combine astakos, the Greek word for lobster, with makaronada, meaning a pasta dish.
More important, Astakomakaronada is considerably easier to cook than it is to say. It is an exquisite combination of lobster, pasta, fresh tomatoes, fennel, thyme and a splash of brandy. We made it practically the moment we returned home, combining the best elements of several recipes to create the version below.
That gives the introduction personality, explains the name immediately and sets up the extremely useful promise: hard to say, easy to cook.
ASTAKOMAKARONADA WAS BORN IN THE GREEK ISLANDS
Astakomakaronada is served throughout Greece, but the dish is particularly associated with Skyros, a beautiful island in the Aegean Sea. Skyros wowed us with its scenery, its extraordinary Sacred Temple of the Assumption and an astonishing icon created by Dominikos Theotokopoulos—better known as El Greco. Now we have another reason to love Skyros: Astakomakaronada.
It’s not hard to taste why. Don’t be put off by the length of the recipe. Lobster Spaghetti takes little time to make. In Greece, many versions use whole lobsters. 
That would be the most authentic way to make this dish. We used lobster tails both for ease of cooking and eating. And then there’s the pasta. Greek spaghetti used is considerably heftier than ordinary Spaghetti. It’s much closer to Bucatini in size. If you want to be completely authentic, Misko is a 95-year-old pasta maker that sells the real deal, Misko #5, on Amazon. But Bucatini is a worthy stand-in. Here is the recipe followed by links to some other Mediterranean specialties.
An exquisite Greek dish of “Aegean lobster meat homemade pasta, fresh tomatoes, fennel, thyme and a splash of brandy.”. We substituted Atlantic Lobster Tails and loved it!Astakomakaronada. Greek “Lobster Spaghetti”
Ingredients
Directions
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