An Island-Summer Dinner
The following three recipes; salad, main course, and dessert make for a delicious, unique, island - summer dinner. They are sure delight your friends and family. ENJOY!
Quansoo Beach Picnic Orzo Salad
This bright, colorful salad travels well; it's great to take along on a beach picnic or potluck cookout. It can also be expanded into a meal with grilled flank steak, chicken breast, wild salmon, or shrimp. Orzo is a rice-shaped pasta that works wonderfully as a salad. I've learned a few tricks for making orzo; do not over cook it cook it completely with cold water , drain well, and toss it with a bit of extra virgin olive oil until you're ready to use it.
2 cups orzo
¼ cup sliced scallion, white & green parts
6 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup of halved cherry tomatoes
2 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
½ cup diced red bell pepper
Grated zest of 2 lemons
½ cup slivered fresh basil leaves
2 tablespoon red wine vinegar
½ cup pine nuts, toasted in a 400
Salt and pepper for 5-8 minutes (watch like a hawk)
Bring 2 quarts of salted water to a boil, add the orzo, and cook for about 8 minutes, until al dente. Drain and rinse in cold water to stop the cooking. Toss in a large bowl with 2 tablespoons of olive oil.
In a separate bowl, mix the lemon juice and zest, vinegar, remaining ¼ cup olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste. Add the scallion tomatoes and red pepper; toss. Pour over the orzo; add the basil and pine nuts last. Toss Well. Serve at room temperature or chilled.
Stonewall Beach Clambake
Preparing a traditional New England clambake is not for the faint of heart. You need the beach and a whole day. The last traditional clambake I did was for a quarterback from the San Francisco 49ers and his family up on Stonewall Beach in Chilmark. My husband and I arrived in the morning to build a pit and prepared a fire. By dim afternoon there were plenty of hot, fiery coals. We removed the wood and added stones to the pit. When the stones were scorching hot, we began cooking the food in layers, with seaweed between the layers. We layered Red Bliss potatoes, seaweed, lobsters, corn and linguica, more seaweed, then finally steamers. After a last layer of seaweed, we put a wet canvas tarp over whole mound with more seaweed. About 30 minutes later we removed the tarp and carted the feast up the hill to the house. Everything was perfect and unbelievable sweet and tender. But there is a much easier way if you have large pot; at least 20 quarts. The total time for this amazing one pot meal is about 30 minutes. Linguica or chorizo sausage gives great flavor to the potatoes and corn.
1 1/2 pounds baby red bliss potatoes 3 pounds steamers (soft shell crabs)
Flour 1 1/4 pound live lobsters2 lemons
¾ pound linguica or chorizo sausage, cut 1 pound (4sticks) salted butter, melted into 2-inch pieces
4 ears of corn, shucked
Place the potatoes in a 20 quart pot and add enough cold water just to cover. Cover and bring to a rolling boil. Turn the heat off. Add the lobsters and layer carefully to optimize use of the space. Add the sausage, then the corn. Finally add the steamers on top. Some will fall down to the bottom, and that's fine. Cover-use tight foil if the pot is too full for the lid-turn the heat to high, and cook for 8-10 minutes until the lobsters are totally red. Reserve some cooking broth from the pan for the steamers and serve with melted butter.
Watermelon and Champagne Parfait
On a balmy summer night after dinner with friends, this adults-only dessert is a light and refreshing way to end the evening. Dice the watermelon ahead of time and chill until ready to serve. Prepare the parfaits just minutes before serving.
4 cups diced watermelon
1 ½ cups raspberries
Zest of lemon
2 cups of Champagne of choice
2 tablespoons Chambord liqueur
Layer the watermelon and raspberries in 4 wine or parfait glasses. Top with the lemon zest. In a glass pitcher, combine the Champagne and Chamord, stir, then quickly pour over the watermelon parfaits. Serve immediately.
Tina Miller is a highly trained chef and former owner of two successful island restaurants. She is now the general manager at Plum TV, where she has her own cooking segments sharing her delicious recipes and cooking techniques. Tina lives in West Tisbury with her husband Steve and their two sons. These recipes and many other are available in Tina's book, Vineyard Harvest. Available at Bunch of Grapes and Edgartown Book Store. Also available at Off Main Home Store offmainonline.com
Recipes first published in 2005 by Broadway Books, a division of Random House, Inc.
Submit your own Inspirational article, exercise, recipe, photo, poem, etc "For Your Body" dept.send your submissions to editor@islandinspirationmag.com check out our Writer's Guidelines.