Simply Seafood®

Summer Seafood Splash!

Pineapple Splash with Balls You start getting THE FEELING when the temperatures begin to climb and the days start to lengthen. It’s an antsy feeling, filled with longing for sun, fun and a few days off—and an itch to fire up the old barbeque.

This year, don’t celebrate summer with the same old fare. Grilling doesn’t have to be all burgers and hot dogs. People are eating healthier now (and healthful food can be full of flavor). So how about trying a few new approaches—like juicy salmon burgers on lemon dill buns piled high with summer slaw or a terrific twist on the Caesar salad? Large shrimp and hearty French bread cubes are skewered, rubbed with garlic oil, grilled up, then placed atop crisp romaine leaves that have been tossed with homemade lime Caesar dressing. The whole thing is topped with dollops of snappy salsa. BBQ Salmon Burger

For a delightful warm-weather refresher, you can dive into the season with quick and easy grilled scallops with tropical salsa. Just marinate them the night before, then, while your grill is heating, whip together a quick batch of tropical salsa and set your rice cooker “asteaming” with fragrant basmati scented with a single Thai kaffir lime leaf or a piece of fresh ginger.

Grilled Swordfish Forget the big beef steaks for a while and try a new kind of steak….moist, juicy swordfish with Mediterranean-influenced Double Tomato-Olive Relish—the perfect new way to use those super-ripe tomatoes with fresh basil just bursting with flavor that screams summer is here in full force!

And summer always gets to my party spirit! There’s nothing better to do—after a warm summer day at the lake, an exhilarating day in the garden or a lucky day fishing—than to call your friends over for an impromptu backyard barbecue.

The ultimate summer grilling party should offer a wide variety of fish and shellfish; an interesting assortment of skewers, herb branches and sticks from edible (be sure!) woody plants such as apple tree twigs (soak sticks in water before grilling with them); and a cornucopia of marinades, relishes and other grilling goodies from our lists of salsas, rubs, bastes and other fun stuff for grilling fish. Then all you have to do is have the grill hot. The party becomes a “build your own” adventure of participatory food—all the rage these days.

The ultimate summer grilling party should offer a wide variety of fish and shellfish; an interesting assortment of skewers, herb branches and sticks from edible (be sure!) woody plants ...

And don’t limit your guests to plain old charcoal briquettes for grilling over, be adventurous! For aromatic smokiness, try soaking chips from woods such as apple, peach, pecan or mesquite, then throwing them on the hot coals just before you place your seafood on the grill. If you’re lucky enough to have to fruit trees growing in your backyard, save and dry your prunings to stoke the barbecue fire. For a different type of flavor infusion, save trimmings from garden herbs or grapevines to toss on the embers. They’ll give your grilled seafood a unique perfume. Tie sprigs of rosemary, sage and thyme into a basting mop or onto the end of a pastry brush, to tickle your fish with an herbal essence.

Participatory food not only is fun but also ensures that your guests will find something that they like! It gives people a chance to try new things. Seafood lends itself to cutting in small pieces—so there’s a great opportunity to try new and different flavors together.

Pineapple Rings Sm Having your guests do the work means you can have fun during your party! Urge them to try mixtures or combinations of items such as teriyaki-marinated lingcod pieces with fresh pineapple, red pepper and onions topped with pineapple salsa. Or how about marlin sprinkled with Southwest Chili Rub and skewered with purple onion pieces and served with sweet pepper and corn relish and warm corn tortillas?

So start sharpening your apple sticks and whipping up a few relishes, marinades and salsas; and when those long sunny days hit, you’ll be ready to splash into summer seafood grilling!

Grilling with Flair: Skewers, Brushes, Basters and Such

White Shrimp Firm-Fleshed Fish & Shellfish

It’s important to stick with firm seafood for grilling, as delicate fish or thin fillets fall apart on the grill quite easily. This list isn’t definitive, but it is a good starting point:

Shrimp – Sea Scallops – Salmon – Tuna – Halibut – Shark – Mahi Mahi – Chilean Sea Bass – Swordfish – Rockfish

In the Shell

Crab – Clams – Oysters – Mussels – Lobster

Skewers

Natural skewers, whether bamboo, herb or tree, will give an added smokiness to the food. If you are making your own skewers, be sure that they are not toxic, and trim and rinse them well. Natural skewers should be soaked in water for a couple of hours before grilling to help prevent them from burning. To keep foods from spinning and slipping on the skewer, consider double-skewering as shown in our Grilled Scallops with Tropical Fruit Salsa recipe.

Bamboo – Rosemary branches – Grand Fir branches – Quince or apple branches – Ornamental metal

Brushes & Basters

Basting Brush Flavorful oils, sauces and marinades can be brushed on fish before and during cooking to help keep the fish moist and add flavor. An everyday pastry brush, spoon or even a handful of paper towels can do the trick, but we prefer basting with an herb mop. Not only is it a fun, natural alternative, but the herb will help boost the flavor of the fish.

To make an herb mop: tie fresh herbs onto the end of a stick or pastry brush. Our favorite are thyme, rosemary and sage, but parsley, coriander, dill, chives or any number of other herbs can also be used.

The Fire

Wood chips are commonly available and add delightful flavor to grilled foods. Tossed dry on the glowing coals, they will add a subtle smokiness to seafood as it cooks. Or soak the chips first in a bowl of water, then drain and scatter the damp chips over the fire. This technique will surround the food with smoke and infuse more flavor into the food.

Mesquite chips – Alder chips – Apple chip – Hickory chips – Apple tree trimmings – Other fruit tree trimmings

Fruits & Vegetables

Veggies Fruit Remember that delicate fruits and vegetables will fall apart on the grill, so take care to choose firm, sturdy items.

Mushrooms: domestic & wild (NOTE: morels should be blanched before roasting on barbecue) – Zucchini – Yellow squash – Red onions, pickled – Yellow or white onions – Cherry or plum tomatoes – Asparagus – Red, yellow and green bell peppers – Hot variety peppers – Green onions – Pineapple – Pears – Apples – Bananas – Limes – Lemons – Oranges

Recipes

The following recipes will give you an idea of how grilling can be simple and delicious.