Clare's Kitchen: With time-tested kitchen strategy, beach week is a breeze

When the catalog of rental cottages comes bounding through the mail slot (always on the dreariest day of winter), my heart leaps up. I start leafing through it immediately to find this year's repository of all my summer dreams and hopes.

Though it might not have the cache of a jaunt to Europe, or the excitement of a sojourn on a dude ranch out West, as far as I'm concerned, a trip to the beach has got 'em beat when it comes to hassle-free pleasure surrounded by all your favorite people.

In order for you to achieve beach nirvana, however, certain things are going to have to be reckoned with. Your loved ones are going to want to eat, and they're going to want to eat lots and constantly. Your rental kitchen likely won't be as well-equipped as the one at home, but you'll be asked to produce more meals for more people than at any other time of the year. Without a bit of careful planning, this can be a recipe for disaster.

I've dealt with this conundrum by devising a number of nifty strategies over the years. I know to bring along a few basic utensils and ingredients without which I can't cope. A chunk of good Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese will find its way into my cooler, and my beloved Microplane grater and a good knife will hitch a ride, too.

I shop annually from the same grocery list for the same recipes tweaked through the years. After all, it's my vacation, too, and I certainly don't plan to spend every waking moment in the grocery store or in the kitchen. If ever there was a time to simplify, this is it. And being surrounded by summer's bounty of fresh fruits, vegetables, local fish and seafood makes it painless.

My method is to take some things with me that are prepared at home — like lots of homemade cookies — and buy things easy to prepare at the beach. No reason to re-create the wheel every year. Figure out some simple beachy things that your gang likes to eat, and make traditions out of them. Certain dishes will become synonymous with happy summer fun, and everyone will look forward to their annual oceanside appearance.

Upon arrival, I leave everyone else to organize the home front while I sally forth to the grocery store with my list. Breakfasts are fruit and cereal along with my blueberry muffins, which have become a beach tradition for us. I whip them up when I come in from my walk and enjoy a leisurely perusal of the newspaper as they bake. And concerned lest your teenager waste the day in bed? I've found that their sweet aroma is a galvanizing wake-up call to even the most hard-core adolescent sleepyhead.

Lunches are inevitably self-service sandwiches, created from a variety of interesting breads, and out-of-the-ordinary fixings and condiments. Baby carrots, pretzel sticks and the aforementioned cookies round out our daytime beach consumption, so with those in hand, I'm ready for wheels-up fun.

In order to get in the spirit of being at the beach right from the start, I find that linguine with white clam sauce nicely fills the bill for the first night. Very quick to come together with ingredients found at even the most bare-bones grocery store, the garlicky clam sauce sets the stage for local seafood feasts to come.

Later on during the week, I like to make a great steamed-shrimp feast with local corn and a big marinated cucumber salad. With a bit of fancy footwork, I double the steamed shrimp and set aside half for a tasty shrimp salad the next night. Wrap it in crunchy iceberg lettuce leaves and, voila, you're halfway through the week without even breaking a sweat.

And since it's everyone's vacation, after all, let me make the case for a couple of dinners out. I find that after I've partaken of sinfully delicious scallops down at the seafood shack, I'm happy as a proverbial clam. I've also found that my requisite pistachio ice-cream cone and a stroll along the boardwalk do wonders for my Skee-ball game.

Goodness, is it just me, or is that sand between my toes?

Kitchen list

Be sure to pack these for your week at the beach:

A good knife

Microplane grater

Measuring cups and spoons

Muffin tin

Coffee filters, coffee grinder and your preferred roast

Recipes

Homemade cookies

Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

Olive oil and red-wine vinegar

Vanilla and cinnamon

Salt and pepper

Red-pepper flakes

Dijon mustard

 

Blueberry Muffins

The best, easiest blueberry muffins ever! Resist over-mixing them to keep them from getting tough.

Makes 12 muffins.

½ cup unsalted butter, softened

¾ cup sugar

1 extra-large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup milk

2½ cups all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 pint blueberries

Additional sugar and cinnamon for sprinkling over muffins

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Line a 12-hole muffin pan with paper liners.

In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Add egg and vanilla and mix well. Add milk and barely mix together. Add flour, salt and baking powder and mix just to combine. Add blueberries and mix just to combine.

Place batter in muffin cups and sprinkle additional sugar (about a tablespoon all together) and cinnamon over each one to create a crunchy top.

Bake in oven for about 40 minutes, until crunchy and brown on top.

Adapted from “Good Enough to Eat: Bountiful Home Cooking” by Carrie Levin and Ann Nickinson, Simon & Schuster Inc.
 

Linguine with White Clam Sauce

A quick and easy beach treat made with canned clams and bottled clam juice.

Makes 8 servings.

2 tablespoons olive oil

6 shallots, chopped

4 garlic cloves, minced

4 Italian plum tomatoes, chopped

4 scallions, chopped

1 8-ounce bottled clam juice

Zest and juice from 2 lemons

Pinch of red-pepper flakes

2 10-ounce cans of baby clams, undrained

1 pound linguine

1 cup flat-leaf parsley, chopped

1 cup finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

Bring a large pot of water to boil for the pasta.

Put the olive oil in a large skillet and sauté shallots and garlic over medium heat for about 5 minutes. Add chopped tomatoes and scallions and, stirring, continue to sauté for another 5 minutes. Add clam juice, lemon zest and juice, red-pepper flakes and the clams and their liquid and continue to cook for 10 minutes as you cook the pasta.

Cook the pasta according to package instructions. Drain and add to the clam sauce. Add the parsley and stir to coat, about 5 minutes. Serve with Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese.

Dilled Shrimp Salad

A delicious easy dinner dish, perfect after a day on the beach.

Makes 6 servings.

1½ pounds shrimp, steamed in their shells, peeled and cooled

¾ cup mayonnaise

Zest and juice of 1 lemon

3 ribs celery, chopped

 1 red bell pepper, chopped

1 shallot, peeled and finely chopped

½ cup shredded carrots

½ cup fresh dill, washed and finely chopped

1 head iceberg lettuce, leaves separated

Place shrimp in a large bowl. Add mayonnaise, lemon zest and juice, celery, pepper, shallot, carrots and dill. Mix well and chill for at least 2 hours for the ingredients to meld together.

Serve with lettuce leaves to wrap portions of the shrimp salad.