[2] No matter the original color of the lobster shell, it will cook up bright red (photo courtesy Sydney Fish Market).

[3] Dining alfresco at Cliff House in Maine (photo courtesy Destination Hotels).

(Does anyone ever have his or her fill of lobster?)

We’ve previously written about how to buy a lobster from the tank, if you’re taking it home to cook.

If you’re planning to enjoy a lobster dinner at a restaurant, here are tips from a restaurant chef who specializes in lobster.

When we first heard about Chef Shell, we thought it was a nickname complimenting his expertise with shellfish.

However, he actually is Executive Chef Rick Shell, who oversees all culinary operations at Cliff House in Maine.

If you’ve ever sprung for a pricey restaurant lobster, only to have it not live up to your expectations—not sweet, not tender—here is his advice.

Lobster can evoke both casual and sophisticated dining memories. You can be at a picnic table, cracking lobster claws while sipping a cold microbrew; or at the most expensive restaurant in town, dining on lobster risotto with shaved black truffles.

“There is no right or wrong way to enjoy this gift from the ocean,” says Chef Shell.

But there are ways to ensure your lobster is memorable when you dine at a restaurant, he advises:

Weight. Always choose 1-pound lobsters. The meat is the sweetest. Do not venture past the 1.5-pound mark. It’s better to have two smaller lobsters than a larger one. And those big lobsters, that look so impressive and portend a great experience? The least sweet, with the toughest meat.

Preparation. Chef Shell boils the lobster, then places it on a wood fire to roast in the shell. Ask your server how the lobsters are prepared to compare techniques at different establishments.

Chewiness. Lobster should be like velvet, not chewy or tough. Chef shell advises that the usual culprit is overcooking. You can’t tell if the lobster is overcooked until you take a bite, so tell your server to relay that the kitchen should err on the side of undercooking instead of overcooking. In other words: You want soft, succulent meat.

Venue. Pick a place that sells a lot of lobsters: a good seafood restaurant. Even a steak house may be iffy. Look around: If you don’t see lobsters at many tables, it isn’t a fast-mover. It is more likely to be overcooked if the kitchen doesn’t turn them out in numbers; and if it’s a lobster tail instead of a whole lobster, it may come from the freezer.

HOW TO EAT A WHOLE LOBSTER

More tips from Chef Shell:

 
Voilà!

WINE & BEER PAIRINGS

From beverage manager Caitlin Hula:

 
NIBBLE TIP: Viognier (vee-ohn-YAY), from the Rhône Valley of France, is becoming much better known in white wine circles. It is now grown in California, Argentina and Chile, Australia and New Zealand. It is delicious with all fish and shellfish, including sushi.

Cliff House is a luxury oceanfront destination that looks out over the southern coast of Maine, just over an hour north of Boston and minutes from the famed sandy beaches of Ogunquit.

It welcomed its first guests in 1872, long before there was a need for garages for automobiles. The property stretches across 70 oceanfront acres atop Bald Head Cliff, overlooking the ocean’s edge and Nubble Lighthouse.

The beauty and serenity of the location offer a get-away-from-it-all escape. And then there’s the food.

The Tiller restaurant is suspended above the ocean. With panoramic views, spectacular sunrises, romantic sunsets, and the Atlantic horizon, it offers the perfect Maine oceanfront dining experience.

With lots of lobster, of course.

[5] Cliff House in Maine, just an hour and a few minutes north of Boston (photo courtesy Destination Hotels).
  

August is National Sandwich Month.

We love sandwiches so much, we created a glossary with the different types of sandwiches.

It is true that the Earl of Sandwich was inadvertently responsible for creating the modern English sandwich. But what we recognize as a sandwich—bread and filling—likely dates to around 9000 B.C.E., when permanent settlements were established in the Middle East.

The hunter-gatherers began to plant and harvest grain, which was turned into the first breads: unleavened flatbreads that were baked over an open fire. They were also “edible plates,” holding roasted meat or fish on the journey from pot to mouth.

People would eat “bread and cheese” or “bread and meat”; they just didn’t call it by a formal name. Check out the (sandwich history).

Since the original sandwich was Middle Eastern, put a spin on your favorite sandwich today.

 
 
GREEK-INSPIRED TUNA SALAD

This recipe (photo #1) takes the chief ingredients of the popular Greek salad (horiatiki) and adds tuna, creating “Greek tuna salad.”

We adapted the recipe from one featured by Put On Your Cake Pants.

Since local tomatoes are at peak now*, enjoy hefty slices on each sandwich.

Ingredients For 2 Single-Decker Sandwiches

 
For The Dressing

 
_________________
*When tomatoes are not in season, substitute 1-1/2 tablespoons chopped sun-dried tomatoes, mixed into the salad.

†For a dairy-free sandwich, eliminate the feta and use a red wine vinaigrette dressing.
 
 
Preparation

1. COMBINE the tuna, cucumber, feta, and dried dill in a bowl.

2. MIX the dressing in a separate bowl: Greek yogurt, milk and salad dressing. Add to the tuna mixture and still until combined.

[2] Croque madame from France: grilled jambon de Paris and gruyère cheese, dipped into beaten egg and sautéed in butter, with a fried egg on top (photo courtesy Eggs Fresh Simple).

[3] Pulled pork arepa (here’s the recipe from Serious Eats).

[4] Banh mi, a Vietnamese sandwich inspired by French baguettes (photo courtesy Good Eggs).

[1] Basic watermelon iced tea, recipe below (photo courtesy Republic Of Tea).

[2] Watermelon-pomegranate green iced tea. Here’s the recipe from Watermelon.org.

[3] Fresh herbs and watermelon are a delightful pair. Here’s a recipe for Watermelon Basil Iced Tea from The Candid Appetite.

It’s a magical August day here: lower-than-average temperature, low humidity. It’s the rare type of August day when we—a member of the We Hate The Heat Club—are happy to be outdoors. We’ve made some watermelon iced tea to bring with us

To make your own batch, here are tips and a recipe.

 
 
ADDING HERBS TO ICED TEA

If you have fresh herbs, by all means use them.

 
 
RECIPE #1: BASIC WATERMELON ICED TEA

This recipe is from the Republic Of Tea, which originally created it as a decaf drink for kids, using a fruit-flavored decaf tea (they sell decaffeinated flavors such as Blackberry Sage, Ginger Peach, Hibiscus, Mango Ceylon, Mint and Vanilla Almond).

Ingredients For 4 Six-Ounce Servings

 
Preparation

1. PLACE the watermelon cubes on a piece of wax paper and freeze.

2. BOIL 3 cups of water and pour over tea bags into an infuser in a heat-resistant pitcher. Allow to infuse for 5 minutes. Remove the tea bags and stir in agave nectar. Let the tea cool to room temperature and chill.

3. SERVE the tea with frozen watermelon cubes or frozen tea ice cues, and serve
 
 
MORE ICED TEA

Have An Iced Tea Party

The History Of Iced Tea

How To Brew Perfect Iced Tea

How To Dissolve Sugar In Cold Drinks

Properly, the drink is iced tea: tea that has been chilled with ice. It is spelled this way in primers on editing and by the line editors* of quality publications.

But, as more and more Americans care less and less about the rules of English, ice tea—tea with added ice—has been making inroads, even among some editors.

There is precedent: Ice water was originally, properly, “iced water.” We presume that editors in that era of transition were equally chagrinned.

____________
*A line editor is responsible for reviewing each sentence for consistency, grammar, punctuation, spelling and word usage prior to publication. Here’s more.
  

Cold noodles have been a standard in Asia since…the creation of pasta? That was around 1700 B.C.E. in China (here’s the the history of pasta).

The recipes that follow were developed by the corporate chefs at Melissa’s, the largest distributor of specialty produce in the U.S. With more than 1000 items available at any given time, Melissa’s sells both domestic products and exotic fresh fruits and vegetables from around the world.

These are Asian flair, but western tomato sauces and olive oil-based sauces work as well on any cold pasta preparation you want to put together. A plate of angel hair with chilled vodka sauce or linguine with fresh (uncooked) tomato sauce—fresh basil on both—is just right on a hot day.

You can substitute conventional wheat pasta for the buckwheat (soba) and rice noodles, as well as gluten-free pasta made from legumes and other vegetables.

The chefs at Melissa’s are always whipping up something new. Even if you aren’t purchasing produce, take a look at them for inspiration.

There are four cold noodle recipes below:

 
 
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PASTA & NOODLES

Pasta is Italian for “paste,” which refers to the paste of flour and water that is turned into ribbon noodles and short cuts (bowties, corkscrews, etc.).

Noodles, from the German word “nudel,” refer to paste made with an egg.

 
First up is pancit, a Filipino dish. Pancit is the Filipino (Tagalog) word for noodles, derived from a Hokkien word for “convenient food.”

Noodles were introduced by immigrants from China or East Asia, and readily adopted into local cuisine, with each region creating its own combination of noodles and other ingredients (just as in Italy).

According to the food lore handed down by the Chinese, noodles should be eaten on one’s birthday for long life and good health. Chinese restaurants in the Philippines often have “birthday noodles” on their menus. These are long noodles: it wouldn’t do to serve short cuts when you seek a long life [source].
 
 
RECIPE #1: SHRIMP PANCIT

This recipe, from Melissa’s corporate chef Miki Hackney, has been taken down a notch in fat. “Pancit is usually pretty high in saturated fats,” says Chef Miki. “I have made a ‘lighter’ version by omitting the traditional frying of noodles in rendered chicken fat, then including the fried skin in the dish.”
 
Ingredients For 8 Servings

For The Dressing

 
For The Pancit

 
For The Garnish

[2] Mmm, shrimp (photo courtesy I Love Blue Sea).

[3] Grilled chicken with soba, buckwheat noodles (photo courtesy Melissa’s).

[4] Raw chicken breasts (photo courtesy Provisioner Online).

[5] Grated ginger photos courtesy (photo courtesy Luxury Thailand Travel).

1. COMBINE the dressing ingredients in a small saucepan and heat to dissolve the sugar. Adjust the seasonings to taste. The dressing should have a slight tart taste. Set aside.

2. PLACE the chicken breast in a saucepan and cover by 1 inch with water. Add salt and bring to a boil; reduce to a simmer and cover. Simmer until the chicken is cooked through, about 20 minutes.

3. REMOVE the chicken from the liquid and place it on a plate to cool. When cool enough to handle, use two forks and pull apart the breast into rough shreds. Set aside and lightly cook the shrimp.

4. HEAT the yakisoba noodles by warming in a microwave or soaking in boiling water, loosening the bunches as they heat. Toss all the ingredients but the shrimp and plate. Garnish with the shrimp and cilantro, with the lime wedge on the side.
 
 
RECIPE #2: GRILLED CHICKEN & SOBA NOODLE SALAD

This and the remaining recipes are by Melissa’s corporate Chef Tom Fraker.

Ingredients For 6-8 Servings

For The Chicken

 
For The Dressing

 
Plus

 
Preparation

1. PREPARE a hot grill. Season the chicken with the salt, pepper and red pepper. Spray the chicken with the cooking spray and place it on the grill.

2. COOK both sides until you reach an internal temperature of 165°F. Let the chicken rest for 5-6 minutes, then cut into bite-size pieces.

3. PREPARE the dressing: Place all of the ingredients in a mixing bowl and whisk to combine. Set aside.

4. PREPARE the noodles according to the package instructions, then rinse them with cold water and drain.

5. COMBINE all ingredients except the chicken in a bowl, add the dressing and toss. Place on a serving platter and top with the chicken.
 

[7] Thai beef noodle salad.

[8] Yakisoba noodles (all photos courtesy Melissa’s).

RECIPE #3: THAI BEEF SUMMER YAKISOBA NOODLE SALAD

Ingredients For 4-6 Servings

 
For The Dressing

 
Preparation

1. PLACE the marinade ingredients into a sealable plastic bag and add the meat. Massage the meat and place in the refrigerator. Marinate the meat for 2 hours or overnight, agitating it every so often.

2. PREPARE a hot grill and grill the steak to your desired doneness. Let it rest for 5-6 minutes, then slice.

3. COMBINE all of the dressing ingredients and set it aside.

4. PREPARE the noodles according to the package directions (without the flavor packet) and then rinse under cold water. Drain.

5. ASSEMBLE: Combine the steak, noodles, cucumbers, carrots, tomato and onion in a bowl. Add the dressing and mix well to combine.

Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. PREPARE a hot grill. Season the shrimp with the salt and pepper and place on the grill. Cook on both sides until the shrimp is opaque, about 2 minutes per side. Remove the shrimp and squeeze the juice from the lime over them. Set aside.

2. SPRAY the bell peppers and onion with the cooking spray and place on the grill. Cook until you get nice grill marks on both sides and then remove from the grill. Once cooled, slice the bell peppers and dice the onion.

3. PREPARE the soba noodles according to the package directions, then cool them under cold water. Drain.

4. ASSEMBLE: Combine the noodles, bell peppers, onions, pear and basil in a bowl. Place the salad on a serving platter, top with the shrimp and serve with the dressing. Makes about 4-6 servings.
 
 

Could August 4th be our favorite day of the year? It’s National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day.

If you love chocolate chip cookies but not the calories, try this alternative from Good Eggs: chocolate-flecked meringue cookies. They have about 15 calories apiece.

With only three ingredients, you can have them in the oven with just 10 minutes of preparation time.

The quality of the chocolate makes a big difference in this recipe, so don’t skimp. You’ll really appreciate the fine chocolate flavor that melts into your palate.

RECIPE: CHOCOLATE FLAKE MERINGUE COOKIES

Ingredients For 26 Meringues

 
Preparation

1. PREHEAT the oven to 250°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

2. SLICE the chocolate very thin, using a box grater or a vegetable peeler. You may need to start and stop this a few times because your warm hands will begin to melt the chocolate bar, making the grating or peeling difficult. Set the chocolate aside.

3. BEAT the egg whites on low speed until frothy in the clean, dry bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment (alternatively in a large bowl using a hand mixer fitted with whisk beaters) Increase the speed to medium-high and beat until stiff peaks form when you lift the beaters, 4 to 6 minutes.

[2] Use a semisweet chocolate bar—about 65% cacao—or bittersweet if you prefer. This bar is Guittard Fair Trade chocolate, 64% cacao (photos and recipe courtesy Good Eggs | San Francisco.

5. GENTLY FOLD in the chocolate using a rubber spatula, being careful not to overmix or the meringue will collapse.

6. DROP the meringues by small teaspoonfuls onto the prepared baking sheets. Bake for 50 minutes, or until you can lift a meringue off the parchment with a spatula and it doesn’t stick. Let the meringues cool completely on the baking sheet.

7. STORE in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.