The Little Bait Girl

Sometimes, certain moments that do not have characteristics of being fancy or expensive, evolve into the most precious of memories! I find that my fondest memories are those stemming from the big, yearly family vacation at the Jersey Shore!

Every year, my family hunted for the perfect little bungalow existing on the bay side of one of the private beaches in Jersey. If I dig into my memory bank, I must say the amenities were slim to none! The tiny rental cottage of our choice never had a TV or a phone. In fact, sometimes there weren't enough bedrooms, so my brother had to sleep on the pullout couch! Oddly, we didn't seem to care. Spending very little time indoors, we were busy enjoying the beach and the activities surrounding it.

On those precious sunny days, beach time included digging five foot holes in the sand, basking in the sun, and body surfing with our rafts in the Atlantic. Evenings were spent go-carting, playing miniature golf, or walking the magnificent seaside boardwalk! There were always wonderful smells permeating the air...sea salt, suntan lotion, cotton candy, or fried calamari! In the distance, you could hear the buzzing swirl of the lucky wheels, making some happy child walk away with an enormous stuffed animal!

The highlight of the vacation occurred either at the crack of dawn, or in the dead of night. Let's start with night...Gathering our gear, we ventured off to the fishing dock, determined to bring back a big bucket of crabs! These crustaceans would not be babies...they were big, blue-claw crabs, stuffed with sweet, white meat! All you needed was a long net, and a high-powered flashlight. What a thrill walking along the wooden slats of the dock , with the bay water lapping below, and carefully choosing the ideal spot to crab! It took a little patience, but after shining the flashlight onto the pitch black water, the crabs would begin to surface. One by one, we would skillfully scoop them into the net, decide if they passed the size inspection, and plop the big ones into the bucket. As hard has they tried, there was no escape!

Some mornings began especially early, when our alarm clocks would be set to hop Uncle Jim's boat! Soon we would be swept out into the middle of the bay, drop anchor, and carefully submerge our triangular crab traps into the water below. My role was extremely important during this excursion. I was the Little Bait Girl...constantly casting my fishing rod, to catch the bait for the crab traps! Each time I reeled one in, we would tie it to the trap, and drop it down to entice some more blue claws! And they just kept coming! Our successful teamwork would undoubtedly come to an end at the first wave of hunger...or seasickness! But, our bucket would always be full!

Back at the bungalow, Mama Melisi would boil up the crabs, melt a little butter, and we would all indulge in cracking open that fresh crab meat! As delicious as they were, it was quite the guilty meal...I could never stand watching the crabs boil up till they were red, dead, and delicious! What a fate!

I feel a lot less guilty making lobster tail...buying them frozen eases the conscience! Follow this simple recipe for lobster tails from Mama Melisi...it's a special dinner for a special occasion!

As usual, we offer it to you with love,

From Mama Melisi and Me

Ingredients:

4 frozen lobster tails (4 or 5 ounce in size)
4 large cloves of fresh garlic
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup white wine of your choice
1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian leaf parsley
black pepper

Preparation:

Place frozen lobster tails in a large bowl filled with cold water. This helps to defrost.
Remove tails from shell (I find this easier to handle in the cooking process.)
Use shears to cut off the cellophane-like covering on the belly part of the tail along side the rough pinchers
Once this is removed, you gently use your fingers to pull meat from the top of the shell
Just ease the tail from the shell, and it will stay intact
Rinse the lobster tails and make sure the waste sack is already removed (black sack)
Dry with paper toweling
Now you are ready to cook this luscious seafood

Cooking Directions:

Heat the olive oil in a saute pan and then add the garlic
Saute the garlic until golden in color
Add the lobster tails, and sprinkle with black pepper
Keep turning the tails until all sides have been sauteed.
Raise the heat a bit and add the white wine
Cover and cook for about 5 minutes
Make sure the fish is opaque in color
Shut off the heat
Sprinkle with fresh parsley and cover again until ready to serve

* I choose the smaller (4-5 oz) tails because they seem to be more moist and easy to work with. The super markets or fish markets sell these lobster tails in the frozen department. It is very helpful having seafood shears. Naturally you can increase the quantity used, but also increase all the other ingredients. Also, overcooking lobster tails makes the meat chewy and tough. I like to prepare this about a half hour or more before dinner. You can then gently reheat this before serving...it's truly simple but very delicious!