Girls' Sleepover with Crabmeat Quiche

What's more fun than dinner with a teenager? Dinner with FOUR teenagers. But only when they appreciate food. Liza and her friends love the Crabmeat Quiche recipe from Linda and Martha Greenlaw's cookbook, Recipes from a Very Small Island, which I make all the time here. Really, everyone with a mouth likes this easy recipe. I was worried the one quiche wouldn't stretch to feed five of us, so I had to work with what I had in the fridge and pantry. The cute little potatoes caught my eye for their filling potential (these girls did water-aerobics, sailing and tennis all day). Here is what ensued:

"Flat Fries"
Boil the little potatoes just until tender. Drain and place on a cutting board. Using a spatula, gently flatten them a bit until the skin just bursts, but the potato stays intact. In a large fry pan, heat oil (half veg, half olive) until medium-high (fryable) and fry the little flatties until they are crisp on one side; flip and crisp the other side, too. Drain on paper towels and sprinkle with course sea salt or Kosher salt. Stand away from the plate as you set them before people or you may lose a finger or an entire arm.

Crabmeat Quiche
serves 4
1 cup grated mild cheddar cheese
1 unbaked 9" pie shell
8 oz. crabmeat, picked over to remove shells
1 medium onion, grated or chopped finely
4 eggs
1 1/3 c. light cream
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
1 Tbsp. chopped parsley

1. Preheat oven to 325.
2. Sprinkle cheese into the bottom of the pie shell and top with crabmeat and chopped onions.
3. Mix eggs, cream, salt, and mustard in a bowl. Pour over the crabmeat mixture and sprinkle with parsley.
4. Bake about 50 minutes until just set, and knife inserted in the center comes out clean.
5. Cool 15 minutes before serving.

Here is all that was left over:

Quick Dinner Salad for Summer

Life is simpler in the summer, or maybe it's being in Maine, or this smaller house, or it could certainly be the sunshine and the milder weather, no school stresses on my teenager, or the promise of family visitors. My daughter and I arrived last weekend, and even though we have been working our behinds off opening up the house, cleaning, gardening, etc., our moods are light.

Summer food is always simpler, too, right? I only have a couple cookbooks here and a notebook of summer-easy recipes and Maine-related cuisine (read:lobster!). I can't run to Wegmans to pick up a weird ingredient.

Yesterday, Liza and I were active from 7 a.m. right up until dinner time, playing tennis, sailing, filling pots with bright flowers and herbs. (It wasn't all glamorous: Liza swept and cleaned the entire spidery basement, and I shopped for deck-garb and scrubbed the bejesus out of the mildewed and lichen-crusted deck.)

I had planned on making barbecued chicken for dinner when lo and behold it was 7 p.m. Plan B ensued as Liza had after-dinner sports plans (excuuuuse me, sorry to hold you up, dear). So into the pantry I forged. I cooked half a bag of orecchiette, rinsed it cool, and tossed it with half a can of rinsed cannellini beans, one can of Italian tuna in olive oil (undrained), a handful of cherry tomatoes (halved), a bunch of baby romaine lettuces, slivered basil from the new herb pots!, the juice of 1/2 lemon, and a few swirls of olive oil. Served with a bit of sea salt and pepper, we devored it.

Was it delicious, or were we just starved from exertion and fresh Maine air? We will never know.