Spoon & Shutter

View from water line

The new entrances

Construction

From Susan: Before the deluge, we had a terrific weekend on Long Beach Island with our friends Kevin and Connie Colby, who came down for a much-needed break from spring in Maine (aka Mud Season) to enjoy the warm sunshine and greenery of New Jersey. Of course we took them to all of our favorite places: Kubel’s in Barnegat Light for burgers – and excellent crab cakes (who knew?), Uncle Will’s Pancake House in Beach Haven for breakfast and Neptune Market in Harvey Cedars for Nooney Burgers.

It was our first look at the rebuilt beaches in Harvey Cedars, where Ted’s mom has an ocean-front home … to say that the beach is different would be a massive understatement. Where the waves once broke is now the top of a huge new dune that will be eventually planted with dune grass; the beach on the other side will be accessed via a fenced-in path. From the end of the dune to what is now the shoreline is about the length of two football fields – no longer will we be able to sprint quickly down to the water for a quick dip! The waves are much smaller and the jetties are gone, which means Harvey Cedars is no longer a great beach for surfing. But in the long run, the multi-million dollar project, most of which is being funded by the federal government, is a good thing for LBI (and will hopefully keep the house from tumbling into the ocean, which was a real possibility this winter …).

Ted and Kevin loved watching the impressive, 24/7 engineering operation: sand is dredged up from the ocean floor onto a barge about 3/4 mile off shore; the barge then offloads the sand into a pumping platform closer to the beach, which pumps it through a large pipe under the water to the shore – the pipe makes a turn where it comes out of the water and we could see the sand shooting out of the open end several streets down the beach. A fleet of giant Tonka trucks then moves the sand into place.

While “the boys” watched all this in fascination, Connie and I did some serious beach-combing (the new sand is full of shells!) and shopping – I introduced her to my favorite LBI boutique, How To Live. Following all of this serious activity, the four of us put a major dent in the giant bottle of Hendrick’s Gin they picked up at the New Hampshire liquor store, via my new favorite cocktail – the Cucumber Cosmopolitan. I discovered it at Plantation restaurant on our last trip to LBI  and figured out how to make them!

The star of the drink

Cheers

Cucumber Cosmopolitan

In a cocktail shaker 3/4 filled with ice, pour

3 oz. Hendrick’s Gin

1 1/2 oz Cointreau

Fill with white cranberry juice and top with juice of 1/2 lime

Shake well and strain into martini glasses. Garnish with a slice of cucumber. (None of the little groceries open at this time of year on LBI had cucumbers, so we used lime!)

For dinner on Friday night, Ted made his famous seared scallops (in Maine they say “scollops”) using local ones, of course, with wild mushroom risotto (thank you, Fortunato Nicotra) and sauteed asparagus. Dessert was blueberry pie from Emery’s, a farm stand we often stop into on the way down to the beach.

(Sorry, no food photos … too much gin perhaps …?)

Seared Sea Scallops

Serves 4

1 3/4 lbs. fresh sea scallops

2 large cloves garlic, sliced

juice of one lemon

1/4 cup white wine (optional)

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Season scallops on both sides with salt and pepper. Heat some olive oil in a cast-iron skillet or other heavy pan until quite hot. Add scallops and garlic; saute until scallops browned on one side (just a few minutes, be careful not to overcook them) then turn them over and saute on the other side, stirring the garlic at the same time to make sure it doesn’t burn. Just before scallops are done, add lemon juice and stir to combine flavors. (Add white wine if you want more of a sauce.) Remove from heat and serve on top of risotto, drizzled with a little of the juices in the bottom of the pan.

Wild Mushroom Risotto (adapted from a recipe by our friend Fortunato Nicotra, chef at Felidia in Manhattan)

Serves 4

3 tbsp. olive oil

1 cup sliced onion or leek

2 cups Canaroli or Arborio rice

6 cups hot chicken stock

1 oz. dried porcini or mixed dried mushrooms, soaked in hot water to cover (I do this in a 1 cup glass measuring cup, filling the cup with the hot water)

1/2 tsp. salt

4 tbs. butter, cut into pieces

1 tsp. espresso coffee

2/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Heat olive oil in a heavy pot (Le Cruset or similar pot is idea).  Add onions or leeks and saute until softened and just beginning to caramelize. Add rice and stir to coat with oil. Add 1/2 the stock and cook for about 5 mins, stirring constantly, until all liquid has been absorbed. Remove the mushrooms from the water and chop, add them and the water to the pot, along with the rest of the stock. Cover the pan and cook over low until until liquid is almost completely absorbed. Stir in butter and cheese. Serve topped with scallops.