Martha's Vineyard Seafood
Happy as a clam
Sara,
Those dishes in Greece looked so fresh and delicious! And it’s so nice to have ideas on how to bring those flavors home, until I make it there myself. Sweeter preparations of a savory cheese, like with honey and sesame, are so slept on.
Clare and I got back from Martha’s Vineyard over a week ago, but I’m still dreaming about the abundant fresh seafood there. To celebrate the near end of summer and my undying love for seafood, I wanted to share some of my favorite bites:
Cod with Tomato Herb Butter
We have a really nice tradition on this yearly trip where each night a different person is responsible for making dinner for the group. I was about to get some fresh cod that I prepared for the group using one of my favorite recipes. Clare was an excellent sous-chef and prepped all the fish solo. It’s such a good recipe and comes out basically perfect every time. And that sauce would also go well on just about any protein.
Katama Oysters
I got the cod at Larsen’s Fish Market. It’s a legendary spot on island right on Menemsha Harbor. They have a beautiful assortment of just about everything and so fresh, you have a view of where they’re getting all the goodies from. My favorite bite here was definitely the Katama Oysters, fresh from a bay right on the island. They’re plump and very briney with a sweet and clean finish. They were so good they didn’t need any sort of topping.
Lobster Cobb
I love a lobster roll… this is no secret. I even got a sweatshirt to show my love (below). But my favorite lobster dish I ate this time was the MV Salad’s Lobster Cobb. It was so well balanced with the tomatoes, creamy avocado, a light tarragon dressing, and big chunks of lobster. All their salads come with a free corn muffin which is was such a good addition.
Clams Two Ways
Saving the best for last! It’s become a tradition that Clare’s brother, Peter, his wife, Aimee, and our close family friend/very cool mom, Danielle, go clamming one of the days. Each year, they get somewhere between 100-200 clams (!!) and go through the whole process of letting them purge, cleaning each one, then making a feast.
Danielle has been going to Martha’s Vineyard for years and found the perfect spot for clamming. Aimée is an amazing home cook originally from New Orleans. And Peter is the co-owner of a Southern seafood restaurant here in Brooklyn, Cafe Camellia. So this dinner is in great hands. The bigger clams tend to be less flavor dense so needed a little jazzing. Aimée opted to make Clams Rockefeller which were so special.
She used the Emeril recipe originally for oysters, but without bacon for our pescatarians. I’ve typically had Rockefeller with some cheese or cream component, but these had neither and didn’t need them one bit. Next, they made linguini and clams with lots of garlic, lemon, and wine. The best was the pop of fresh parsley and the spicy breadcrumbs on top, inspired by this Alison Roman recipe. As you can see below, it was a spectacular amount of food.
Already counting the days till next year’s clam feast! And hopefully some inspiration here for recipes you can make when you’re home in Louisiana.
A running letter between long distance friends who love to eat
Do you miss your best friend? Are really hungry you right now? If the answer to either of these is yes, you know what to do.