Labor Day – the last weekend of summer on Martha’s Vineyard, the last opportunity to host weekend guests and the very last weekend to dine with good friends before the “great pack up and go”! (Labor Day for locals – on the other hand is the last weekend of putting up with us and our crowded beaches, crowded streets and crowded restaurants. Their anticipation of reclaiming this beautiful Island is palpable!)
I am now in the process of doing all the end of season encore meals we love so, and even the thought of having a “last” lobster leaves me blue, so that planning menus carries with it the bittersweet joy of considering all the other wondrous local specialties that will soon no longer be ours on demand: awesome Katama oysters, muscles, clams, smoked blue fish, cod, striped bass, sweet white corn from Morning Glory Farm, tri-color potatoes from the Saturday morning farmers market, and (sob!) our own farm fresh eggs… sigh. We live on the Vineyard Sound facing Cape Cod and the Elizabeth Islands on property that once was a large farm. Our small community has continued to maintain a modest version of the farm, and now with our fab farmer and his lovely wife, we have been designated an officially organic farm!
We have, besides the usual produce, two goats and a few cows about, lots of hunt and peck chickens (and one very happy, proud rooster) laying wondrous tasting eggs, and once a week, folks come over from the Cape to process a few chickens for our kitchens. Do I need compare these birds to those that we face in supermarkets? Nah! Why rub it in. Our luggage will contain as many eggs as I can safely bring back to New York. (I’ll pass on dragging back the chickens themselves.) Our houseguests will enjoy our eggs for breakfast but it is the waters around our Island that I turn to when we dine.
A full scale old-fashioned New England Clam Bake is always fabulous, but a simple steamed lobster is just as special for off-Islanders used to a city diet. One way we do it in the Vineyard is to take a bottle of fine wine, drive to Mememsha Harbor, stop by The Bite for a bag of Fried Oysters, order lobsters steamed for you at Larson’s Fish Market, pull up a few crate boxes strewn on the pier and watch the fishing boats return as the sun sets over the port.
If you want a sense of this particular bliss, YouTube Carly Simon’s “Nobody Does It Better” filmed for her 1987 Live From Martha’s Vineyard Concert. Like the Vineyard itself, it speaks to another more relaxed time and place.
Or, how about going clamming around the Island’s coastal coves, sand bars and tidal mud flats (the best time - an hour before low tide and don’t forget to obtain a permit) and then making New England Clam Chowder or the perfect Linguini Alle Vongole. It takes about 30 Quahogs or about two hours of clamming to make chowder. Right!
It takes about five minutes to pick them up from Sandy at John’s Fish Market. Buy the Quahogs if you are doing chowder, but pick the more delicate Cherrystones for the Vongole. And, don’t forget steamers served simply with melted butter… (Oh, memories of stopping by clam shacks and ordering lobster rolls and steamers on the way to the Hamptons)
Whatever we decide for the weekend, it will be designed to leave our houseguests just as blue by the end of summer nostalgia that grips me now. Perhaps I will serve Bill’s favorite, the aforementioned Linguini Alle Vongole or perhaps Lobster Pot Pie...
Ah! ... An old fashioned New England Lobster Pot Pie with lots of cream. One recipe I found called for an added cup of chopped ham, which sounds quite tasty, but I am offering a simple recipe with one added variation - Lobster Bisque Pot Pie. Doesn’t that sound good, as summer should!
LOBSTER POT PIE
Whether you choose individual ramekins or create a large pie, this recipe is meant to be general in its directions. Since I have no pastry skills, I will choose what seems the simplest way to make the pastry. Surely you will do better left to your own cleverness.
Ingredients:
1 lb cooked lobster meat, cooked and cut into small chunks
¼ pound unsalted butter
1- 1 ½ cup chopped onions
½ cup chopped celery
½ cup all purpose flour
1-cup sweet peas (frozen)
I cup diced carrots, blanched
(Pearl onions or mushrooms could be added to taste… I prefer a simpler palette)
1-2 cups diced potatoes, partially cooked
Sea salt and white and/or black pepper to taste
2 cups lobster stock (clam or chicken broth can be substituted)
½ cup heavy cream
1/3-cup fresh parsley
A touch of hot sauce
Pastry:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoon salt
1teaspoon baking powder
8 tablespoons cold fresh lard (diced… ¼ pound)
½ to 2/3-cup ice water
1 egg beaten with 1-tablespoon water or heavy cream
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375°F. Grease ramekins or pie dish and set aside.
In a large sauté pan, melt the butter and the onions and celery and sauté until the onions are translucent. Add the flour and cook on a low heat for about 3 minutes stirring occasionally. Slowly add the stock. Season with salt and pepper and simmer for about 5 minutes. Add heavy cream and splash of hot sauce. Put lobster, peas, carrots, potatoes and parsley into a bowl. Pour the sauce mixture over the lobster and add any other seasoning. Set aside.
For the crust, put into a food processor the flour, salt and baking powder. Add the lard butter and pulse until the fat is the size of peas – about ten pulses. Dump the dough onto a floured surface and knead into a ball. Chill for 30 minutes.
If you are making a single pie, divide the dough in half and roll out each half to fit a 9 or 9 ½ inch x 2 inch high ovenproof baking dish. Place one crust in the dish and fill with lobster mixture and top with the second crust. Crimp the crusts together and brush with the egg mixture. Slash about 4-6 slashes on top and bake for 1 hour or so until the top is golden brown and the filling bubbling hot.
As a variation add cognac and sherry with a tablespoon of tomato paste for a Lobster Bisque Pot Pie.
WILL HOLTHAM’S QUAHOG CHOWDER
From The Martha’s Vineyard Cookbook
20 large quahogs, steamed open in 1 qt water (save the broth)
¼ pound butter
¾ cup chopped onions
1 stalk celery
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill
½ teaspoon dried thyme
3 pinches of black pepper
1 dash Tabasco sauce
2 dashes Worcestershire sauce
3 tablespoons flour
2 pints chopped sea clams from a fish market (defrost if frozen)
4-5 large potatoes, peeled and diced
1-quart light cream
Chop quahogs after removing them from their shells. Melt butter in a heavy soup kettle or Dutch oven. Add onions, celery, garlic, herbs and seasoning and sauté ingredients 5-6 minutes. Add flour and continue cooking for another 5-6 minutes over low heat stirring occasionally. Add sea clams, chopped quahogs, and the saved broth, bringing to a boil. Add potatoes and boil on medium heat until they are tender. Warm light cream and add to chowder. (Makes 10 portions)
Nancy Ellison, award winning photojournalist and celebrity portraitist, has authored fourteen books of photographs, including "Romeo and Juliet: The Love Story in Dance" and "Starlet". Her latest book, "Wagner's Eternal Ring" was published in September 2010 by Rizzoli.