Bugs in Cairns
 

One of the finest meals I've had in a very long time was Morton Bay Bugs at the Villa Romano restaurant in Cairns last November. Can anyone help obtaining the restaurant's recipe for this wonderful dish or suggest a recipe? Since I can't find Bugs in the U.S. can you suggest an alternative? One of our travelling companions became ill while we were in Cairns and received excellent medical treatment at the Cairns Base Hospital. She was there for 4 days and had to fly back to Florida. Many thanks, Jerry

Jerry, when I first looked at that I thought you meant the other types of bugs, of which there are plenty. If you give us a hint of how your Moreton Bay bugs were cooked at Villa Romana, am sure we can dig up a recipe. I don't know their equivalent in US, if indeed there is one, they're a small and as you discovered, delicious shovel-nosed lobster, with the best part in the tails. Sorry to hear about your friend and glad they looked after her in Cairns Base.

I would guess that it was an Italian Restaurant you went to and I would think then that the recipe would be something like this:
Cook your bug or whatever in a combination of garlic and butter with perhaps an addition of basil and if you like it, a touch of chili. - remove bug or whatever and set aside whilst you make a sauce with pan juices with added wine - cook till reduced a bit and add double cream stiring until warm only so not to destroy the cream. Pour over bug or whatever, sprinkle with parsley and fresh basil and coriander and serve.

How about using a crayfish?

Here are several recipes that I personally love. However, there are many ways to cook Moreton Bay bugs (a crustacean from Moreton Bay, in Brisbane, Queensland); can you be more specific about the style of the dish? Perhaps I can be of more help if you are able to. Click on these links for the recipes (my favourite first!)- you can use small lobster instead for a similar flavour:

http://www.abc.net.au/brisbane/stories/s1146723.htm
http://www.abc.net.au/tropic/stories/s1058271.htm
http://www.abc.net.au/farnorth/stories/s841885.htm
http://www.abc.net.au/centralqld/stories/s987322.htm
http://www.abc.net.au/northwestwa/stories/s965203.htm

Thanks for the helpful replies. At Villa Romano it was the sauce that made the dish. It was a light cream that my wife thought had a flavor close to a lobster bisque. Not a hot sauce nor a red sauce. BTW, people in Cairns ought to be very proud of their EMS and hospital. Jerry