A Time to Grill

Susan Feniger is chopping, knife moving faster than Zatoichi’s sword, all the while laughing and schmoozing and greeting new arrivals at her Brentwood home. Friends perch on stools around the kitchen’s center island, mojitos in hand, anticipating the dinner to come. Others, standing on the deck just outside the kitchen, take in the Santa Monica Bay views and play with Feniger’s mop-like Goldendoodles, Augie and Chewie. As the party progresses, guests drift down the brick stairs to the pool area, where occasional cries from the pingpong players are heard above the Latin rhythms of the Buena Vista Social Club. It’s a typical Feniger party, as casual and comfortable as the food for which she is known.

With longtime business partner Mary Sue Milliken, Feniger owns three restaurants: Ciudad in downtown L.A., Border Grill Santa Monica and Border Grill at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. The pair have coauthored five cookbooks, hosted nearly 400 episodes of their cooking shows on the Food Network and developed a line of pepper mills and prepared foods. Currently they’re hosting a weekly two-hour radio program, “In the KFI Kitchen with Mary Sue and Susan.”

Add in dozens of cross-country trips to food and wine festivals, lectures, cooking demonstrations and charity benefits--Feniger cooks for the Scleroderma Research Foundation’s annual fundraising event, Cool Comedy-Hot Cuisine--and you have an idea of her schedule. Oh, and she teaches cooking classes and works in the Border Grill booth at the Santa Monica farmers market.

In her scant spare time, Feniger loves to entertain. “Just about any excuse for a party will do,” she says. “All the holidays, of course--Thanksgiving, New Year’s Day--then there’s the Emmys and the Oscars, sometimes it’s just a Laker game, whatever.”

On Oscars weekend, for example, she attended the Miami South Beach Wine and Food Festival, where she cooked for 1,000 people, caught a red-eye back to L.A. in time to host her 9 a.m. Sunday radio show, then rushed home to prepare dinner for 20 or so friends who were dropping by for “a little Oscars party.” The key to her entertaining success is her cooking (no small thing, that) and her laid-back style. “I keep it simple,” Feniger says, “so I have a good time too.”

This Saturday’s outdoor barbecue party celebrates her life partner Liz Lachman’s directorial debut, “Getting to Know You,” which recently won an Out Far! Lesbian & Gay Film Festival short-subject award. Some of the cast are invited, and a few other friends will drop by as well. Feniger is not exactly sure how many. “Our parties just sort of grow,” she says.

The menu--an updated version of surf ‘n’ turf with boiled shrimp and grilled seeded lamb chops--is pure Feniger, with lots of comfort and finger foods. She cooks the shrimp with whole artichokes and piles them high on a newspaper-covered table. “I put out a few dipping sauces and napkins, then everyone digs in and eats with their hands,” she says. Likewise, the lime and cayenne-buttered corn on the cob are grilled in their husks, which are pulled down and used as handles to hold the hot corn. A big bowl of large strawberries, with creme fraiche and brown sugar for dipping, is another easy favorite. Down-to-earth s’mores--recalling Girl Scout campfires and roasted marshmallows--end the meal. “They’re gooey and a little messy,” says Feniger, “but delicious.”

Although Feniger prefers to do the cooking herself, she is not above picking up marinated steaks and romaine and croutons from Border Grill if she gets into a time crunch: “There is a real luxury in having your own restaurant.”

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Menu

Seeded lamb chops with yellow tomato coulis

Aztec shrimp boil with tomatillo-avocado sauce and spicy cocktail sauce

Grilled vegetable salad

Grilled corn on the cob with cayenne and lime butter

Strawberries with brown sugar and creme fraiche

S’mores

Pomegranate lemonade

Minty lime cooler

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SEEDED LAMB CHOPS WITH YELLOW TOMATO COULIS

Serves 4

1 1/2 tablespoons cracked black pepper

3 tablespoons sesame seeds

3 tablespoons cumin seeds

1 tablespoon celery seeds

8 4-ounce lamb chops

Salt

Olive oil

Preheat the grill to medium-high heat. Mix together the cracked pepper, sesame, cumin and celery seeds in a small shallow bowl. Season the lamb chops with salt. Firmly press each chop into the seed mixture to coat completely. Lightly drizzle the chops with olive oil and place on the hot grill. Cook until marked, about 3 to 4 minutes per side. Then move the chops to a cooler part of the grill and cook for an additional 4 to 6 more minutes, depending on their thickness. To serve, pour the yellow tomato coulis on each of four plates and top with two lamb chops.

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YELLOW TOMATO COULIS

Makes 3 cups

7 medium, ripe yellow tomatoes

2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Core the tomatoes, cut in half horizontally and remove seeds. Puree half the tomatoes in a blender until liquefied, then add the olive oil, salt and pepper. Add the rest of the tomatoes and puree until smooth. (Thin with a few tablespoons of water if the sauce seems thick.) Strain to remove seeds and chill until serving time. Can be made a day in advance, but whisk before serving.

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AZTEC SHRIMP BOIL

Serves 6 to 8

8 quarts water

1 onion, peeled and sliced

1 stalk celery, roughly cut into chunks

1 bunch cilantro, roughly chopped

2 bags seafood boil (such as Zatarain’s)

1/3 cup coarse salt

2 tablespoons cayenne pepper

6 whole, dried chipotle peppers

1 head garlic, halved

3 bay leaves

2 tablespoons whole black peppercorns

Juice of 3 limes

6 whole artichokes, trimmed and steamed until three-fourths cooked

5 pounds shrimp (16-20 per pound), in the shell

Bring the water to a boil in a large pot and add all of the ingredients except the artichokes and shrimp. Simmer about 10 minutes. Add the artichokes and simmer for another 10 minutes. Add the shrimp and return to a boil, cover and turn off the heat. Let stand 5 minutes, then drain well.

Cover a table with a thick layer of newspaper and dump the artichokes and shrimp into the middle. Serve with dipping sauces. Eat with your hands.

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SPICY COCKTAIL SAUCE

Makes 1 cup

3/4 cup ketchup

1 to 2 serrano chiles, finely chopped with seeds

3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves

3 tablespoons finely chopped red onion

1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Tabasco to taste

Mix ingredients together in a bowl.

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TOMATILLO-AVOCADO SAUCE

Makes 2 quarts

1 pound tomatillos, husked, washed and cut into quarters

2 to 4 large jalapeno chiles, stemmed, seeded if desired, and roughly chopped

1 cup cold water

1/2 medium onion, roughly chopped

2 bunches cilantro, with stems and leaves

2 1/2 teaspoons salt

3 large avocados, halved, seeded and peeled

Place the tomatillos, jalapenos and water in a food processor fitted with a metal blade. Puree until chunky. Then add the remaining ingredients and puree until smooth, about 2 more minutes.

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S’MORES

Makes 8

1 good-quality milk chocolate bar (such as Scharffen Berger or Valrhona)

16 graham cracker squares

1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter

1 banana, sliced

8 jumbo marshmallows or Plush Puffs

Preheat the grill to medium. Divide chocolate bar into 8 equal pieces. Spread 8 graham cracker squares with a layer of peanut butter and top with banana slices and 1 piece of chocolate. Place on the grill’s warming rack until the chocolate begins to soften.

Meanwhile, place marshmallows on skewers, being careful to space them far enough apart so that they won’t melt together. Cook, turning as necessary, until the marshmallows are golden brown. Carefully remove marshmallows from the skewers and place on top of the chocolate pieces. Top with the remaining graham crackers.

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POMEGRANATE LEMONADE

Makes about 1 1/2 gallons

1 gallon water

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 1/2 cups freshly squeezed lemon juice (about 8 lemons)

8 ounces pomegranate paste (available in Persian markets)

1/4 teaspoon salt

Tequila (optional)

Mix water, sugar and lemon juice until the sugar is dissolved. Add the pomegranate paste and mix until dissolved. Stir in salt, taste, and adjust flavorings as necessary. Serve in tall glasses over ice with a shot of tequila, if desired.

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MINTY LIME COOLER

Serves 8

2 cups freshly squeezed lime juice (about 16 limes)

1 1/3 cups sugar

2 cups packed mint leaves

4 12-ounce bottles cold sparkling water

Lime slices and mint sprigs for garnish

Combine the lime juice, sugar and mint in a blender. Puree until smooth. Fill two tall glasses half full with ice cubes. Pour half of the lime juice concentrate in each. Top with sparkling water, garnish with lime and mint and serve.

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MOJITO

Pour 1 ounce of white rum into a tall glass with ice, and top with Minty Lime Cooler.

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RESOURCE GUIDE

Lotus 15-inch melamine platter in orange, $16; Ona pitcher, $25; Citron salad plates, $22 for four; Melange napkin, $4, and table runner, $20, all at Crate & Barrel, www.crateandbarrel.com. Great White serving platter, $30, at www.potterybarn.com. Quinn double old-fashioned, $7; Ona pitcher, $25; Pick-Up Sticks tall glass, $2.50; and maple tray, $25, all at www.crateandbarrel.com. Sadie dish towel, $4, at www.crateandbarrel.com. Century earthenware serving bowl, $43, at www.crateandbarrel.com. Portland striped dinner napkin, $42 for six, at www.potterybarn.com. Maple wood veneer barbecue platter, $10, at select Crate & Barrel stores. Plush Puffs gourmet marshmallows at Bel-Air Foods, Los Angeles, (310) 472-5010, and Pane Dolce, Sherman Oaks, (818) 783-1384.