Shark Week Dinner
My husband and I are big fans of all the real and imagined cinematic horrors the ocean has to offer: pirates, jellyfish blooms, colossal squids, kraken, sharktopuses, mermaids, megalodons - You name it, we are here for it. So when Shark Week comes around, things get a little festive around here. Last year I wanted to celebrate the first night of Shark Week with a fun meal, and after surfing Pinterest for inspiration, here is what I came up with:
Shipwreck Pizza
- Pizza dough
- Red sauce
- Mozzarella cheese, grated
- Yellow bell pepper
- Sausage
- Fresh mozzarella in a log
Roll out the dough and cover in red sauce. Cut yellow peppers into quarters lengthwise to include one side curving up, then slice widthwise to make “waves” and place all around the pizza in little groups. Sprinkle the grated mozzarella cheese around lightly for some “froth.” Next, slice sausage into coins, then into fins by cutting two swoops into a triangle top and add to the pizza. To make “bodies,” slice the fresh mozzarella into flat sheets, then freehand people shapes and hack off a few limbs—set those aside. Bake the pizza according to your dough recipe or package directions minus the mozzarella, then let it cool slightly before adding the “bodies.” Serve immediately because as soon as the cheese hits the warm pizza, it starts softening and melting.
Beach Invasion Cupcakes
- Cupcakes
- Vanilla Icing
- Graham Cracker crumbs
- Blue sugar sprinkles
- Swedish fish
You can go as lazy or inventive as you wish on the cupcake base, but I simply bought buttercream-iced cupcakes from the bakery. Sprinkle one side of the iced cupcakes with Graham cracker crumbs to make the “beach,” and the other half with blue sugar sprinkles for the “ocean.” Next cut a fin out of a sacrificial Swedish fish, dab the fin bottom lightly with a touch of water, and attach it to the top of a whole Swedish fish. After it sets for a few minutes, push your shark into the water half and up into the beach part. Look out, sunbathers! A drink umbrella on the beach side would be funny, too.
Shark Week Cocktail
- 2 cups ice
- 1 1/2 oz rum
- 3/4 oz Grand Marnier
- 1 1/2 oz Martini Gold Wildberry Martini Mixer**
- 6 oz pineapple juice
- Swedish fish sharks
Blend everything except the sharks together and pour in glasses. For these Swedish fish sharks, you can cut the fin out of the center bottom of the fish and attach it to the top with a dab of water. After it sets, balance the fish in the cut portion on the rim of the glass.
**I wanted to make something like a Blue Lagoon, but vodka and I are not friends. Then I found an option with rum, Grand Marnier, and Blue Curacao, but the latter two ingredients are basically the same thing with blue coloring. So I used the blue Wildberry mixer, and that was delicious, but any fruity blue mixer or liqueur will do.
To start planning your own Shark Week meal, visit our Pinterest board full of Shark Week food, drink, and party ideas, including a Shark Week drinking game. While you’re there, check out and follow our other fandom boards!
