Out of the City: Grilled Lobsters

Remember last year when I went to New Hampshire with Melanie to stay with her mother and aunt? No? Well, it happened. Mel's mom Donna made an incredible brisket, and I made a couple salads from How to Cook Everything, and it was just one of the most relaxing weekends and delicious meals of my life. Last weekend we returned, and on Saturday night Donna turned the kitchen, and the grill, over to the kids.

So we drove from Londonderry, where Melanie's mom's place is, just over the Maine border to Chauncey's, a lobster pound and seafood shack straight out of my dreams. While we were there, we stopped for a dozen oysters, some steamers, clam chowder and steamed mussels. An ideal snack. Everything was beyond delicious. The picnic tables are BYOB, as well as BYO Whatever Else You Might Want. Seriously. As long as they don't sell it at Chauncey's you can bring it in. People had cheese plates, wine, you name it. One table had a tablecloth and candles (it was pretty classy). Everything we ate was incredible, magical even. Nothing makes me happier than a big bowl of steamers, and these were phenomenal. On the way out, we grabbed five little lobsters for dinner. Chauncey's food porn:


Now, Grilled Lobster is in How to Cook Everything, but Bittman doesn't sound to jazzed on the idea. "As for other cooking methods, grilling, stir-frying, roasting and broiling are all good options (but you have to be bored with steaming or broiling to bother)." Thanks Negative Nancy. We were grill happy, and damn if we weren't going to grill those suckers.

Basically, you just kill them and throw them on the grill. They take about 10 minutes, turned once, and they're good to go. Grilling gives a nice flavor, but I see Bittman's point: boiling is pretty foolproof, and the grilling didn't add so much flavor that I was completely blown away (which is not to say these suckers weren't some of the best lobster I've ever had, because really, they were). It's not much more impressive, though it can be more fun. We also feasted on Bittman's No Mayo Cole Slaw (which I made for the first time in NH last year), a smoked country sausage that I acquired on my recent trip to New Orleans at Butcher, Donald Link's butcher shop (there are no words for how incredible this sausage tastes, NO WORDS), grilled corn, a green salad, and hot dogs from Flying Pigs Farm, which while not eclipsing Hebrew National as my One True Hot Dog, come pretty damn close. It was a memorable meal to say the least.

Then we roasted marshmallows.

Then we drank a ton of these. They're delicious.

Then we had to go home. Thanks Donna and Lynne for being such gracious hosts, and letting me go wild in your kitchen. I hope I don't have to wait another year to do it again!

Barbecue in the Woods: Spicy No-Mayo Cole Slaw, Carrot Salad with Cumin

Last weekend, my friend and coworker Melanie invited me and some other friends to her mother Donna's house in New Hampshire for a barbecue and weekend of relaxation.

Obviously I was going to take this chance to work in a real kitchen (I'd refer to my own kitchen as "fun size") for all it was worth, but Donna had things covered with plans for smoked brisket (pictured above), chicken, and fish. So I brought some veggies to grill with the idea of making some Five Minute Drizzle Sauce, and decided I'd put myself on salad duty. It's often hard at a BBQ to get your fill of veggies, but I always want to. You can only pack your body full of so much delicious meat before you want some salad or a nice grilled zucchini. I settled on the Spicy No-Mayo Cole Slaw and Carrot Salad with Cumin, in addition to some really nice summer squash I got at the greenmarket that would act as the vehicle for the Herbed Five-Minute Drizzle Sauce, as suggested in the chart on page 250 ("How to Grill Vegetables").

The kitchen was a dream come true. Check out Donna's easy access spice drawer:

OK, on to the cooking.

The Carrot Salad with Cumin is a real ace in the hole; you're basically just grating a bunch of carrots, then tossing with cumin, lemon juice, orange juice, and olive oil, plus salt and pepper. The result is sweet and tangy and the cumin lends it a nice complexity.

If you have a food processor, it should take all of ten minutes including cleanup. The flavors intensify the longer you let it sit.

The Spicy No Mayo Cole Slaw should definitely be made ahead of time--it tasted way better the next day, even. I like this recipe; it's not the kind of cole slaw I'm used to, swimming in sugary mayonnaise, but resembles something closer to an actual salad. I wouldn't put it on my hot dog, but for a side at a barbecue it's light and fresh and just what I wanted.

The dressing is mustard and sherry vingegar plus garlic, chile, and olive oil. That goes on top of a lot of cabbage, some scallions (I used a leek instead, as there were no scallions at the farm) and bell pepper. Like I said, this was a delicious salad, but it got a lot better in the fridge overnight. Cabbage is so underrated. Just saying.

Finally, the summer squash (and some onions!) and drizzle sauce. Grilling the veggies was just a matter of a quick brush with olive oil and bit of salt and pepper, then throwing them on the grill til they were sufficiently charred (for me, this is bordering on totally black).

The drizzle sauce is just olive oil, heated up, with shallot and lemon juice and herbs mixed in. It takes, as the recipe states, all of five minutes, and is another one of Bittman's endlessly variable recipes (sub peanut oil or sesame oil for the olive oil, ginger or onion or garlic for the onion, soy sauce or vinegar for the lemon, etc.).

All in all, this was one of the most delicious meals, and relaxing weekends, of my life. Donna's smoking technique, which invlolved getting up at 7am to light the coals, and nearly 12 straight hours of sauna time for the meat, is world class, to say nothing of her homemade barbecue sauce. Many thanks to Donna and Mel's Aunt Lynne. We all had a great time eating, relaxing, and enjoying your beautiful home. Hope we can do it again!