A Jubilant July Picnic at Coastal Maine’s Mead Meadow

Part 2: Seafood Appetizers

Photos by Michael Marquand

Recipes by Marilinda Hodgdon

Welcome to Part 2 of our Southern Maine picnic, inspired by the glorious fresh bounty of July by the sea. In the last post I presented the Red, White and Blue Sparkling Prosecco and Lambrusco Sangrias to sip with our seafood appetizers. In this post I present the appetizers: my versions of oysters on the half shell with mignonette sauce and lobster claw and pea puree crostini.

The fresh oysters on the half shell are adorned with a colorful mignonette sauce, made of freshly snipped chives from Mead Meadow’s herb garden, minced mini cucumbers, crushed pink peppercorns and Moscatel wine vinegar.

The sourdough crostini slices are loaded with a pureè of shallot and fresh English peas. The freshly caught local lobster claws nestle into the pea pureè . The claws are draped with lemony Amontillado Hollandaise sauce and are garnished with fresh pea tendrils. The local seafood vender graciously sold us just the claws we wanted by simply putting our order in a couple of days ahead. Some shops carry fresh containers of just claws, since they also sell just the tails. Because we ordered ahead of time, we were able to ask them to be careful to keep the claws as intact as possible for our aesthetic purposes. Some were a little ripped or separated, but I made due by covering those spots with the sauce. Angela of Mead Meadow grew the peas herself, on my request, to make sure we would have the pods and tendrils for our shoot. In spring and early summer they are plentiful in most markets these days.

Recipes

 Maine Oysters on the Half Shell with Mignonette of Chives, Minced Cucumbers and Crushed Pink Peppercorns

 Ingredients

·      24 small Maine Oysters

·      1 Lb. Coarse Sea Salt for presentation

Mignonette Sauce

·      1 cup of Moscatel or Sherry Wine Vinegar

·      Small Bunch of Chives

·      1 Tablespoon of Pink Peppercorns

·      One small Persian Cucumber

·      3 Medium Lemons to Make 24 Lemon Wedges

Directions

1.     Sort oysters to discard any dead.

2.     Wash oysters of any sand.

3.     Finely chop Chives.

4.     Finely mince Persian cucumbers, keeping the skin

5.     Crush the Pink Peppercorns

6.     Mix the Chives, Cucumbers and Crushed Pink Peppercorns with the Vinegar

7.     Open Oysters, reserving all liquid.

8.     Lay oysters on a bed of course salt and add the oyster liquid to the oysters.

9.     Spoon a small amount of the Mignonette sauce onto each oyster shell

 Serve immediately while cold with sparkling sangrias.

Lobster Claw Crostini with Fresh Pea Pureè and Lemony Hollandaise Sauce

 Freshly Purchased

 ·      20 Small Fresh Maine Lobster Claws

·      1-2 Sourdough Baguettes Sliced into ½ inch Diagonals

Pea Puree

Ingredients

• 1 Pound of Fresh English Peas

• 1 Quart of Water, Vegetable or Seafood Broth, or a mix of your choice

• 2 Medium Shallots

• ¼ cup of Amontillado Sherry

• 1 Tablespoon Sea Salt

• ½ Teaspoon Ground White Pepper

Directions

1. Thinly slice the shallots.

2. Sort the peas for any withered items.

3. Wash the peas.

4. In a medium large pot, bring the water and salt to a boil.

5. Add the shallots and peas.

6. When the peas are tender and still bright green, remove them & shallots to cold water to stop the cooking and preserve the color. Reserve a cup of the cooking liquid in a measuring cup.

7. With a slotted spoon or spider add the cooled peas back into the cooled empty pot with the sherry and pepper.

8. With an immersion blender pureè the peas, shallots and sherry, adding in cooking liquid as needed, until smooth.

9. Season with additional sea salt & white pepper to taste, being very careful to allow for salt in the lobster and hollandaise.

Marilinda’s Hollandaise Sauce

 Ingredients

• 4 free range organic egg yolks

• ½ cup or more of plu gras (European Style) unsalted butter

• ½ freshly squeezed lemon juice, or more to taste

• 1 Tbs. Amontillado Sherry

• 1/8 tsp of ground cayenne pepper

• Pinch of sea salt to taste

Directions

1. Beat egg yolks, lemon juice, cayenne pepper and salt together.

2. Melt butter in a small pan over very low heat.

3. Slowly whisk the butter into the egg yolk mixture until it is all incorporated.

4. Keep whisking constantly until the egg yolks thicken the sauce to the desired consistency.

5. Briskly whisk in warm sherry to flavor the sauce.

6. Use the warm sauce immediately.

Tip: To thin and reheat congealed sauce, whisk in a tiny bit of warm water. Garnish             with fresh pea shoots and tendrils.

 To Assemble Crostini

1. Slice the baguettes.

2. Spread each slice with about 1-2 tablespoons of pea puree, depending on their size.

3. Add one claw to each pureè topped slice.

4. Spoon hollandaise over each of the claws

5. Garnish with peas shoots and/or tendrils.

Stay tuned for my next post, Part 3 of our Picnic at Coastal Maine’s Mead Meadow. It will feature the main course of cheesy portobello burgers crowned by pickled red onions, avocado mash and baby arugula. The grilled vegetable sides are asparagus, fennel and leeks, accompanied by Moroccan spiced, grilled in their husks, corn on the cob.

Part 4, the finale to the feast, is homemade Maine blueberry cheesecake ice cream popsicles with a do-it-yourself dark chocolate magic shell coating.

Mead Meadow Boat House

A special heartfelt thanks to Angela Olsen Matthews and her husband, Peter Matthews, at Mead Meadow for their thoughtful and gracious generosity and hard work in hosting our scrumptious and serene summer picnic. You can visit Angela’s Instagram page @MeadMeadow

About Mead Meadow

We were invited to historic Mead Meadow, in picturesque Kittery Maine, to shoot our delightful summer outdoor meal. This water front paradise is a restored 140 year old farmstead, originally a 20 acre estate, was called Mead Summer House. Included: the main house, a horse and buggy carriage house, which is now a guest cottage, a boat house and the original well. The lovingly restored buildings are now nestled on 4 acres of manicured grass surrounded by wild and cultivated flowers, raspberry bush stands

Paella Pizzazz

Photo by David Bishop

The first time I had a really great paella was in Majorca Spain, where every kind of seafood available could be obtained freshly caught, having never been frozen. The flavor and texture is incomparable to our once frozen varieties. The shrimp and baby squid quite literally melted in my mouth. My Uncle Nick had an apartment there in town over looking the marina. Two friends of mine and I were visiting with him for the Christmas and New Year’s holidays. He prepared the most incredible paella, taking no short cuts, making his stock from scratch.

In my version, seen above, I did my best to recreate the flavors and textures I remembered from Spain. I did take a tiny short cut in buying organic free range chicken stock and clam juice, which I enhanced by boiling it down with chicken wings, a lobster head, shrimp shells, a whole carrot, onion and celery stalk, a couple of bay leaves, a few sprigs of thyme, and a pinch of saffron.

Photo by David Bishop

While researching paella to write and shoot this recipe, my photographer friend, David, and I went to a Spanish Restaurant in NYC, El Charro Español, which specializes in paella. I wanted some tips to help me come up with my recipe. I ordered the seafood paella and David ordered the Paella Valenciana, which also included seafood and featured chicken and chorizo, a smoky, spicy sausage. I usually don’t eat pork products due to the high Triglyceride levels, but when I tasted what a difference it made in the flavor of David’s rice compared to mine, I was sold on chorizo in paella as a must. Luis, the owner of the restaurant, generously lent us a paella pan. I am told that the pan can make all the difference, but that the most important thing is the proportion of the broth to the rice, and of course the flavor of the broth.

Paella Valenciana

Pre-heat the oven to 450ºF and place a shelf close to the bottom of the oven

Meat and Seafood Ingredients

• 1 small live lobster (Remove the head and small legs for the stock; Cut the tail into 1 inch pieces, leaving the shell on, for use in the paella pan.)
• 4 chicken wings, browned on both sides in plenty of olive (Use 2 wings for the stock.)
• 12 tiny clams, scrubbed and sorted to ensure that they are alive (I prefer Cockles. They are ridged and have a green tint.)
• 1/2 pound medium shrimp (Remove the shells and heads for making the stock) 
• 1/4 pound small mussels, scrubbed and sorted
• 1/4 pound sea scallops, cut into quarters
• 1  8 inch chorizo sausage, sautéed in the same pan with the chicken, then cut into 3/4″-inch thick rounds.

Prepare the seafood. Refrigerate until you are ready to put them into the paella pan along with the cooked chicken and chorizo.

Broth:

• 1 quart of organic free-range chicken stock
• 1 pint of clam juice
• 1 cup of dry white wine
• 1   8 ounce can of crushed San Marzano tomatoes
• 2  chicken wings, browned on both sides
• 1 lobster head
• shrimp shells and heads
• 1 large onion, washed and quartered, no need to peel the flavorful skin
• 1 whole carrot, scrubbed
• 1 celery stalk, scrubbed
• 3 bay leaves
• 3 sprigs of thyme
• 1 teaspoon crushed saffron fibers

Boil the broth ingredients until it reduces to about half of the volume, or until you need to use it. Strain out the bits and discard them.

Vegetable & Rice ingredients:

• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1/2 cup chopped, roasted Piquillo peppers or Italian roasted red peppers
• 1 minced shallot
• 1 teaspoon hot, smoked Hungarian Paprika
• 1 teaspoon crushed Saffron threads
• 1 teaspoon sea salt

In a paella pan, sauté the above ingredients in olive oil over medium heat until the onions and shallots are soft and translucent. Then add in:

• 1 cup short grain rice such as Arborio or Bomba
• 1/2 cup cherry or grape tomatoes, cut into halves
• 1/2 cup of canned butter beans, drained
• 1/2 cup blanched haricot vert, cut into one inch lengths

Stir together thoroughy, then add in:

• 2- 2 1/2 cups of hot broth

Continue cooking the rice blend for about 5 minutes, stirring all the while. As the rice gets a bit thicker, start adding in the proteins from the largest to the smallest, nestling them into the rice mixture. Place the paella pan on the bottom shelf of the oven. Bake for about 20-30 minutes until most of the broth is absorbed, and the rice is just bit al dente. Cover and let rest for about 10- 30 minutes before serving. Having a crusty bottom is considered a good thing. It adds flavor and depth to the dish.

Serve with lemon wedges and white or red sangria.