Lobster de Mayo With My Ladies & Cooking Tips From Katie Lee

This Saturday in NYC was the first annual Lobster De Mayo, which is basically my dining dream come true. The event featured 18 of the city's best restaurants creating lobster dishes for tasting as well as Patron tequila cocktails and pairings. My roommates and I were in culinary and cocktail heaven sampling all of the deliciousness during the fest at Capitale.

My favorite dishes were the poached lobster from Betony, the mini lobster rolls and lobster mac and cheese from Catch and the truffled lobster and salmon sushi from The General. 

Foodie supermodel Chrissy Teigen attended the event, which was hosted by The Food Network's Katie Lee, who shared some of her summer cooking tips. While many of the dishes there were super elaborate, when it comes to cooking crustaceans yourself, she says to keep it simple. 

"I usually just steam them and I'll put down a bunch of newspaper on the table and let everyone have at it. We always eat outside and have corn on the cob, potatoes and cole slaw," she said.  If lobster's not necessarily your thing, Katie suggests summer salads when entertaining at cookouts. "If I'm having people for a barbecue, I make all my salads ahead of time and then all I have to do is grill the meat," Katie says. 

But salad doesn't have to mean strictly lettuce as a base. "I do a lot of grain salads, like quinoa or farro, and I'll put some fresh veggies in there with some light vinaigrette," she explains. If you're clueless about what to marinate your meat in, Katie recommends chili powder, lime juice, garlic and olive oil. "If it's chicken, let it marinate at least an hour," she suggests. "And don't be afraid to salt your meat!"

Katie also said she'll be spending a lot of her summer in the Hamptons, and so will I. Our Montauk house starts Memorial Day weekend and I'll be doing some freelancing out there for Hamptons publications, so it should be a great summer. What's your favorite summer go to dish to make (or eat)?

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