A Shore Weekend Primer

To paraphrase an old nursery rhyme, when I am good, I am very, very good, and when I am bad I am horrid.

That was the general theme of this weekend's Shore excursion - at least from a culinary perspective. My "moderation and portion control" mantra went flying out the window.

My parents and sisters, G-d bless them, are on vacation in Greece and I am working and taking care of the new puppy. On the bright side, I get the summer house in St. Michaels all to my self until they get back. Thus, I had about 8 people out to the Shore this weekend - a mix of law school folks and former co-workers. It was a great group and I think everyone had fun (people? fun?).

I fall into the category of host(esse)s who are always afraid of running out of food. This means that, when planning for 8, I cook for 12 (what if someone brings a friend? or three?). And when I say 12, what I mean is 12, if 4 of them played tackle in the NFL. Needless to say, I had a lot of leftovers, though not as many as I could have. My friends took one for the team and ate lots. Thanks friends!

On the menu: the caprese pasta salad in my last post; various baked goods; grilled meats/veggie burgers; and an excellent Shabbat-friendly berry tiramisu (recipe below). Lesson learned: do not assume that the grocery store carries ladyfingers (kosher or otherwise).

We'll be repeating this endeavor in a couple weeks, so we'll have to see if additional experimentations yields similar positive results.

Berry Tiramisu
1/2 pint fresh blueberries
1 pints fresh raspberries
2 8 oz tubs mascarpone cheese at room temperature
1 pint heavy whipping cream, chilled
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1 box Nilla wafers (told you I couldn't find lady fingers)
1 jar Bon Maman red raspeberry preserves (hechshered)
1/2 c. sugar, divided
1 10-oz bag frozen red raspberries, thawed
1 tsp. lemon juice

1. Wash the berries and set them aside.
2. In a large bowl, beat the whipping cream (by hand, in my case) and 1/4 c. sugar, until soft peaks form. Fold in the cinnamon and vanilla, then gradually fold in the mascarpone.
3. Combine the preserves, previously frozen raspberries, lemon juice and sugar and stir until well-blended.
4. In a shallow 9 x 13 baking dish, spoon a thin layer of the preserve mixture to coat the bottom. Place wafers in a single layer on top of the preserves (I found that it took about 8 rows of 5 cookies each to cover the bottom.
5. Carefully spoon 1/3 of the cream/cheese mixture in small drops over the wafers. Using your clean fingers, gently spread the cream/cheese mixture over the wafers until even. Sprinkle with half of fresh berries.
6. Repeat steps 4 and 5.
7. Utilize the last 1/3 of the cream/cheese mixture and spread over the last fresh berries/preserve layer.
8. Take the cookie pieces/crumbs at the bottom of the wafer box and crush them into crumbs, then sprinkle the crumbs on top.
9. Chill overnight and serve cold (you can sprinkle with fresh berries immediately before serving, should you be so inclined).

Enjoy. :-)