Last week was a long busy week.  So the weather being perfect on Friday we decided to chill out on the patio with no real plans.  I was on my way to the patio when my mother-in-law and niece stopped over for a minute; yeah right!  I opened a bottle of wine and that was it. When my son got out of the shower he came out; when my husband got home he did not even go into the house, just walked right over sat right down work clothes and all.  After a couple of glasses they called my father-in-law to see if he wanted to walk over; they live next door. It was obvious we were all going nowhere fast.

Now to feed everyone without spending time doing it!  I had no intention of “making” dinner remember we were chilling out tonight. I decided this was a great opportunity to get rid of some of the fruit that was going to go bad if not eaten soon.  It amazes me that fresh strawberries can be in plain sight when you open the fridge but my guys won’t eat them.  Same goes for all fruit that requires effort in my house, as soon as I peel, slice, wash etc. they can’t get enough of them but until I do, they sit! I grabbed a platter and a bunch of small bowls and washed and cleaned, grapes, cherry’s, strawberries and blueberries.  The bowls all came back empty except for the blueberries, not a lot of flavor.

Our patio guests were still sticking around so for the next round I brought out caprese salad, I used up the last of my tomatoes, some leftover mozzarella and luckily I had a leftover French baguette so I crisped up some crostini’s.  Still outside and another bottle of wine opened. I brought out various cheese, some leftover ham slices and crackers.  The mosquitos (NH’s state bird) finally drove us inside around 7:30.  I believe another bottle of wine was opened.  I had some leftover salsa and a half eaten bag of chips.  Had is the optimum word.  Everything I brought out they ate.  Last but not least I had made up and froze some lobster cakes a week or so ago from leftover lobster, yes we had lobsters we could not eat. I heated up the oven threw them in a bit and made a quick dipping sauce from mayo, sweet relish and Frank’s hot sauce.  My in-laws kept commenting that my fridge has a better variety of stuff versus theirs.

They all wanted to know when I would be cleaning out my fridge again so they could all come and sit for a spell. 

Lobster Cakes

2 fresh Maine lobster meat cut up in nice size pieces

1 large egg

¼ cup mayo

1½ tsp Dijon mustard

1½ tsp Old Bay seasoning

1 tsp fresh lemon juice

½ tsp Worcestershire sauce

Kosher Salt

1¼ cups fresh breadcrumbs from white bread

1 Tbs chopped fresh parsley

1 Tbs unsalted butter

Place lobster in a medium bowl and set aside

In a small bowl whisk the egg, mayo, mustard, old bay, lemon juice, Worcestershire and ¼ tsp salt. Scrape mixture over the lobster and mix gently, do not over mix.

Sprinkle the breadcrumbs and the parsley over the mixture and mix them thoroughly but gently, you don’t want to turn this into mash it should be loose.  Cover and refrigerate for 1 to 3 hours.

Shape the mixture into 7 to 9 cakes about 1 inch thick. In 12 inch skillet heat the butter and a little olive oil over medium heat. When the butter is frothy, add the cakes to the pan.

Cook until dark golden brown about 4 minutes. Flip the cakes, reduce the heat to medium low and continue cooking until the other side is well browned. 4-5 minutes.

Serve with salsa or another condiment. Again I made a quick mayo, relish, hot sauce that was a huge hit; remember they ate all of the salsa earlier.