Nautical Summer Dinner Party {Poolside Surf & Turf Meal}

A beautiful summer dinner party poolside with delicious food, cold drinks, and a nautical theme.

One of my favorite things to do during the summertime is to entertain family and friends.

I love to play hostess and put together dinner parties and get togethers.

I have so much fun picking out the perfect dishes and dinnerware, decorations, and food for the party!

Recently I made a delicious surf and turf summer dinner party for my family and parents.

I used lots of fresh, natural ingredients, many of them freshly picked from the garden.

I knew I wanted the dinner to have a nautical theme, so I found the perfect dinnerware and entertaining pieces to use!

You might already know I have a slight obsession with anchors (and anything nautical, really).

The anchor and crab plates (pictured above) screamed out my name, so I bought a set of 8,

I couldn’t resist buying three of the matching anchor and crab platters.

One of my favorite little nautical details was this seahorse spreader.

Of course I had to have the matching seahorse servers to serve with the Caesar salad.

You might also recognize the lagoon dinnerware from my Coconut Macadamia Mango Crusted Mahi Mahi recipe.

I used the large platter for serving the garlic bread, then the large bowl to hold the Caesar Salad.

I love the light aqua color.

It almost looks like sea glass… just beautiful!

Since no party is complete without World Market’s delicious Italian sodas, I picked up five different flavors for our dinner.

So refreshing!

Lemon water was also served ice cold in a large glass drink dispenser.

To add to the nautical theme of my surf and turf dinner party, I added a net on the table and used it as a runner.

On top of that, I used my DIY American Flag Garland that I made out of burlap and some spray paint.

Love the nautical Americana feel it gave to the dinner table.

For our surf and turf dinner, I decided to go with shrimp, lobster tail, and top sirloin steak. Yummmm!!

We grilled the shrimp and steak, then boiled the lobster tail.

The meat and seafood tasted absolutely perfect!

To go with main dishes, my mom and I made some delicious salads.

I made a Caesar salad while my mom went out to the garden and picked fresh tomatoes, basil, cucumbers, and dill.

We made a delicious tomato basil salad and a cucumber onion salad.

The salads tasted so fresh since the ingredients came straight from the garden!

One of my favorite side dishes I created for this meal were the rosemary potatoes with a creamy caper and dill dipping sauce.

I love that I can smother my potatoes in a tangy, creamy dipping sauce.

There was no guilt involved, since the sauce is made with as Greek yogurt base (instead of heavy mayo) and various herbs and spices.

The many different flavors in the sauce all magically fuse together.

This yummy sauce tasted amazing with the potatoes, but can also be used as a sauce for the shrimp, lobster, or steak.

Here is the recipe so you can make your own!

Rosemary Potatoes with a Creamy Caper & Dill Dipping Sauce:

For the potatoes:

Red potatoes
Olive oil
Fresh rosemary, chopped
Sea salt
Pepper
Diced onions (optional)

For the dipping sauce:

1 cup plain Greek yogurt (I used Fage)
1 Tbsp. capers, chopped (I used canned)
1/4 tsp. white pepper
1 garlic clove, minced
2 Tbsp. fresh dill, chopped
1/8 cup fresh lemon juice
2-3 Tbsp. red onion, chopped
Sea salt, to taste

Mix up the dipping sauce first so that the flavors can meld together while the potatoes are cooking.

If you aren’t familiar with capers, they are a small round edible flower bud used in pickling and flavoring fish, seafood, salads, etc.

The white pepper was the perfect color to blend right into the creamy caper and dill yogurt dipping sauce.

Add all of the ingredients to the Greek yogurt, and stir well to mix in all of the ingredients thoroughly.

Place in the fridge until ready to serve.

Now on to the potatoes!

Wash and slice each potato to about a 1/4″ thickness.

Place in baking pan and drizzle with 1/4 cup olive oil.

Add the chopped rosemary, sea salt, pepper, and diced onions (if using), and stir to mix.

Bake in a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes.

Halfway through cooking, carefully add another 1/4 cup of olive oil to the potatoes.

After 20 minutes, pull out a potato slice with a fork, and test for doneness. If the potato is cooked, then you may either:

1. Remove the potatoes from the oven (and keep warm until ready to serve) or

2. Place them in a grilling basket for about 10 minutes away from direct heat on your grill. This will allow the potatoes to have a slightly smoky, grilled flavor. If you do the grilling option, make sure that the potatoes are away from direct heat, and be sure to check them regularly! We also added a few large sprigs of rosemary and some large slices of red onion for extra flavor and color.

To serve the dipping sauce, I used these lovely large natural baking shells that I bought from World Market.

They come all clean and ready for food to be placed, or even baked, inside of them.

The shells were the perfect size for individual portions of the sauce, and fit in perfectly with my nautical theme!

Good food, a loving family, great weather, and World Market!!

The perfect combination for an amazing summer dinner party!

Oh, and a few books and someone to read them to you is crucial, too.

Just ask my daughter… 😉

About Laura