Witchy Kitchen

Tag: summer food

  • Amity Island Shrimp Boats

    Amity Island Shrimp Boats

    This year marks the 45th anniversary of Jaws, the sharky summer blockbuster that terrified would-be beachgoers in theaters in 1975. Based on the novel by Peter Benchley and directed by Stephen Spielberg (who was only 27 at the time!), the film with its iconic soundtrack and clever editing became an instant classic.

    There’s been some biting comparisons drawn between the plot of Jaws and this particular Pandemic Summer. Much like police chief Martin Brody does of mayor Larry Vaughn, we question the wisdom of opening the beach. However, if you’re avoiding the beach from either fear of sickness or shark attack, you can still eat like you’re there! Here’s a summery seafood dish, the type you’d be served at a beachfront cafe, ready to be devoured.

    While Jaws takes place in the fictional town of Amity Island, New York, the movie was filmed in Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. The summer colony provided just the atmosphere they were looking for – a charming vacation town whose tourist industry could be believably destroyed by a shark.

    Martha’s Vineyard is also known for its food, including fresh seafood dishes and even a signature salad. Shrimp and lobster rolls are popular in New England so were the inspiration for this recipe. While those are served on hot dog style buns, this is tweaked for the movie and served, of course, in a bread boat. The bread boats are filled with a lovely shrimp salad. It’s a classic New England style shrimp salad but the seasoning combination of sherry, lemon and tarragon make it extra elegant.

    The recipe serves 4, but can easily be doubled. After all, if you’re really hungry, you’re going to need a bigger boat.

    Amity Island Shrimp Boats

    • 1 pound shrimp, peeled
    • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
    • 1 tablespoon sherry
    • ½ cup celery, finely diced
    • 2 tablespoons shallot, finely diced
    • Zest of one lemon
    • 1 teaspoon dried tarragon
    • 2 heaping tablespoons mayonnaise
    • Olive oil
    • Two baby baguettes hollowed out (you could also do a French loaf. Save the bread scraps for bread crumbs)
    • Melted butter for brushing
    • Spinach leaves

    Marinate the shrimp in lemon juice and sherry. Let sit in the fridge for at least half an hour. In a large bowl, combine celery, shallot, tarragon, lemon zest and mayonnaise. Set aside. Heat a little olive oil in a frying pan on medium and cook shrimp with marinade, stirring and flipping, until pink, about 2-3 minutes. Cook thoroughly but be careful not to overcook, shrimp easily gets rubbery! Remove to a clean bowl and allow to cool. With a slotted spoon, fold shrimp into to the mayonnaise mixture. Add a teaspoon or two of the leftover cooked marinade liquid for flavor, and to thin the mayonnaise mixture a little so that it lightly coats the shrimp.

    Heat oven to 400°. Brush baguette boats with melted butter and toast in the oven until golden. Allow to cool slightly. Line the inside with spinach leaves and scoop full of the shrimp salad. Slice in halves or thirds to serve.


  • Linguine with Clam Sauce

    Linguine with Clam Sauce

    You are in my blood. I cant help it. We can’t be anywhere except together.

    Weetzie Bat by Francesca Lia Block is a glittery glam fairy tale, full of enchanting characters living deliciously on a sparkling sun-soaked LA backdrop. Though it views the world through neon pink colored glasses, it sensitively takes on some very real issues. I loved this and the rest of the Dangerous Angels books as a young adult, and adored revisiting it for our podcast.

    Illustration by Jill Lydon

    Weetzie, her boyfriend Secret Agent Lover Man, her best friend Dirk and his partner Duck, and babies Cherokee and Witch Baby, make a beautiful if unconventional family. Toward the end of the novel, after ups and downs and all being said and done, there is a lovely dinner scene with everyone around a table, with Weetzie feeling perfectly content with her chosen family.

    And what’s the dish? Linguine with Clam Sauce, a classic family dinner. I believe on the podcast I said old school, because it feels like in the days before carb aversion and when Italian was “exotic,” everyone’s idea of a fancy dinner was pasta. (But isn’t classic a classier way to say that?) It’s elegantly simple, exactly the type of thing My Secret Agent Lover Man would be making. It’s the type of food that makes you feel warm and safe, surrounded by the people you love, comfort food with style – because Weetzie never does anything without style.

    Linguine with Clam Sauce

    Adapted from Anne Burrell’s Linguine with White Clam Sauce

    • 1 pound clams (I used steamer, next time will probably use littleneck)
    • 1 pound linguini
    • sea salt or kosher salt
    • 3 tablespoons olive oil
    • 5 cloves garlic, sliced
    • Good pinch red chili flakes
    • 1/2 cup dry white wine
    • 2 tablespoons butter
    • handful finely chopped parsley, grated parmesan, olive oil and lemon wedges for garnish

    Clean your clams well. I have heard if you soak them in a bowl in the fridge with a couple spoonfuls of flour it will help get all the grit out – I don’t think this is true? But I tried it anyway.

    Heat a pot of well-salted water, and cook your linguine to even less than al dente (it will finish in the sauce). If you are some sort of time wizard, you can try to coordinate finishing cooking your linguini with finishing your sauce, so you can directly transfer it to the pot, but I just reserve a mugful of the starchy cooking liquid before draining the pasta. Don’t rinse, the starch will help the sauce stick to the pasta.

    Meanwhile, rinse your clams and have them ready. In a pot with a cover (or a wok, as I did), heat olive oil on medium high and add garlic. Cook for a few minutes, stirring, until garlic is golden (being careful not to burn). Add white wine and another half cup of water and bring to a boil. Throw in your clams and cover the pot or wok.

    After two minutes they should be steamed open – remove clams and reduce liquid to more than half. Reduce heat to medium and add in the butter and stir to make a silky sauce. Using tongs or forks, toss your pasta in the sauce, adding some of the reserved cooking liquid if necessary. When the linguine is thoroughly coated and cooked, transfer to a large plate, arrange the clams around the edge, and top with finely chopped parsley, grated parmesan, and drizzles of olive oil. Serve with lemon wedges.

    Recipe for Fiction Kitchen Episode 15: WEETZIE BAT in which Diana and Carrie discuss the slinkster cool world of Weetzie Bat by Francesca Lia Block, including classic LA eateries, ubiquitous avocados, “fancy” family meals, questionable burrito contents, and strawberry sundaes with marshmallow topping.