After you walk the beach.

I wrote a post a while back about harvesting shellfish and cooking it on the spot.
Since the 4th of July is coming up, you may want to go to your local beaches and do just that. You can eat the shellfish raw, with a splash of lemon juice or hot sauce, or cook it on hot coals.

Before you do:
1. call to see if there are any advisories on the health of the local shellfish.
2. prepare a picnic basket with crudites, lemons, snacks and beverages.
3. carry a bucket, a knife and glove, and a fishing licence. (Your local hardware might sell the license.)
4. if you plan on cooking your shellfish, pack fire-making supplies and tongues.

Mussels and clams BBQ
Wash your seafood in sea water to remove all visible sand and dirt
Wrap your small shells in foil and place on hot coals for ten minutes.
Open the wrap carefully and eat the open shells only.

Note: there is usually a limit on the amount of shellfish you can harvest with each licence. Do follow the rules, or your picnic may cost you a bundle.

Know your roots.

Unless you lived everywhere in the world, and have mastered the cuisine of every part of the globe, you owe your particular tastes to the place you spent your childhood.

Putting together a meal for me takes me back to Italy, this scene, for instance. An outdoor place, with big tables, many people, wine pouring freely, children running around and a few people in the kitchen or by the outdoor oven/grill searing the meat, and bringing platters of charred lamb riblets to the table.

What goes with grilled lamb riblets? Pasta with fava and artichokes and mint, and an assortment of crudites like fennel bulbs, radishes, carrots, etc...  and fresh bread with good olive oil for dipping.

Ingredients for the Vignarola sauce:

1 lb of fava beans, shelled and blanched (use peas if fava not available)
5 small artichockes cleaned, blanched and cut into small pieces
1 bunch of mint, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1/2 C olive oil
1/2 C pasta water
salt and pepper to taste

Saute' the onion in the olive oil. Add the fava and and artichokes, lower the heat and simmer until the pasta is ready. Add 1/2 C or more of pasta water to make a light sauce. Add mint at the last minute.

Serve over pasta with pecorino cheese.