The first Monday of November is a day I usually look forward to, but this hasn’t always been the case. The Atlantic bay scallop season in New York state begins on that day and over the years it has been a rollercoaster ride of harvests and availability. The lives of bay scallops in the Peconic estuary have always been linked directly to the presence of eelgrass beds in the area. In the 1930s, a “wasting disease” affected the eelgrass and then again, in 1985, brown tide blooms essentially destroyed the eelgrass and, therefore, the scallops.

The beginning of the 2019 season appears to be one of the years that we would like to forget. The first day of scalloping brought with it many reports suggesting a “die-off” of some sort happened over the summer. The previous two seasons, in 2017 and 2018, saw about 108,000 pounds harvested each year. It appears that 2019 will yield a fraction of those years.

When I first came out to the east end to cook, in 1992 at Della Femina restaurant in East Hampton, we generally had reliable harvests of bay scallops but they were never as big as those from the years before 1985. Through most of the later 1990s, the harvests continued to dwindle and by the early 2000s, there were very few scallops coming to market.

Addressing the Problems

In 2005, Cornell Cooperative Extension and their partners began a project to restore the eelgrass and bay scallop populations in the Peconic estuary and by 2009 we began to once again see notable harvests. During the 2014-15 scallop season, we finally noticed a sustained availability and the 2015-16 season looked pretty good, too. Only time will tell how it plays out, but it is nice to have such a delicious local and seasonal resource available again.

The real beauty of these scallops is their sweet, saline flavor. My favorite preparations include sliced raw and served with ponzu and other pan-Asian flavors or lightly warmed in brown butter with lemon and sage. I have seared them and served them with quickly seared foie gras and porcini mushrooms and I have also served them as ceviche with a variety of citrus components. Versatility is another of their strengths.

Let’s hope that next year the Peconic Bay scallop harvest bounces back to the levels seen in 2017 and 2018. Life is more delicious with local bay scallops.

Copyright 2020 Kevin Penner

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The first Monday of November is a day I always look forward to, but this hasn’t always been the case. The Atlantic bay scallop season in New York state begins on that day and over the years it has been a rollercoaster ride of harvests and availability. The lives of bay scallops in the Peconic estuary are linked directly with the presence of eelgrass beds in the area. In the 1930s, a “wasting disease” affected the eelgrass and then again, in 1985, brown tide blooms essentially destroyed the eelgrass and, therefore, the scallops.

When I first came out to the east end to cook, in 1992 at Della Femina restaurant in East Hampton, we generally had reliable harvests of bay scallops but they were never as big as those from the years before 1985. Through most of the latter 1990s, the harvests continued to dwindle and by the early 2000s, there were very few scallops coming to market. If we wanted to cook with bay scallops we were forced to buy the Nantucket scallops which, while very good, were not as tasty or as sweet as the local scallops.

In 2005, Cornell Cooperative Extension and their partners began a project to restore the eelgrass and bay scallop populations in the Peconic estuary and by 2009 we began to once again see notable harvests. During the 2014-15 scallop season, we finally noticed a sustained availability and the 2015-16 season looked pretty good, too. Only time will tell how it plays out, but it is nice to have such a delicious local and seasonal resource available again.

The real beauty of these scallops is their sweet, saline flavor. They can be prepared raw, lightly pickled or cured, and fully cooked and they are delicious in all of these ways. My favorite preparations include sliced raw and served with ponzu and other pan-Asian flavors or lightly warmed in brown butter with lemon and sage. I have seared them and served them with quickly seared foie gras and porcini mushrooms and I have also served them as a ceviche with a variety of citrus components. Versatility is another of their strengths.

If you happen to live on Long Island or in the tri-state area, you should indulge yourself this season with some bay scallops. You can prepare them at home or eat them in a restaurant. You will be glad that you did.

Copyright 2015-2018 Kevin Penner

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Malloreddus alla Campidanese

Malloreddus alla Campidanese is a pasta dish that comes from Sardegna. It’s basically a sausage and tomato ragu with saffron and onions that is finished with pecorino cheese. Malloreddus is a short pasta that looks a little like cavatelli and is usually made with semolina flour, water, and saffron. Some alternative pasta shapes that would work well in this dish include gnocchi, cavatelli, fusilli, penne rigate, rigatoni, and pappardelle.

This pasta is delicious and it all comes together in about 30 minutes.

4 servings

2 T. extra virgin olive oil
15 g. garlic, thinly sliced
200 g. red onions, diced
285 g. sweet Italian sausage (roughly two links, removed from the casing)
1–28 ounce can of San Marzano tomatoes (passed through a food mill, pureed, or crushed by hand)
.5 g. saffron threads bloomed in 3 T. hot water
228 g. dried malloreddus or other pasta cooked per instructions on the package–drained and cooled
2 t. kosher salt
1 t. freshly ground black pepper
12 leaves of fresh basil
1 c. grated pecorino cheese (more or less to your liking)

1. Film a saucepan with the olive oil and add the garlic and onions. Sweat until they are tender–a little color is fine.

2. Add the sausage and cook, stirring often to keep breaking the sausage up until most of the pink color is gone.

3. Add the saffron and the soaking water along with the canned tomatoes.

4. Add the salt and pepper and bring the contents of the pan to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until it has reduced by 25% and has thickened.

5. Add the pasta to the sauce and allow the pasta to heat through and absorb a little of the sauce.

6. Add the basil leaves and stir to combine.

7. Spoon equal amounts of the pasta and sauce into 4 bowls, drizzle with a little extra-virgin olive oil and top with pecorino cheese.

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Two weeks ago I had the great good fortune to shoot some television with my friends Steve Haweeli, from Wordhampton PR, and Chef Michael Rozzi from the 1770 House in East Hampton, NY. I’ve known both of these guys for over 20 years and they’re both NY Yankees fans. As a Chicago Cubs fan, this was a good year for all of us to catch up. Steve currently hosts a show called “foodTalk” on LTV in East Hampton and this is where we shot the show.

Most of our conversation focused on cooking and farming on the east end of Long Island. It is one of the few places in the United States where farming, fishing, winemaking, and more, happens in one place. There are also a lot of food entrepreneurs, coffee roasters, makers of spirits, and textiles in the area. It’s a great place to cook because of these close relationships. 

We also covered olive oil, gardening, golf, eggs, ramen, and life in general on the east end. It is a fun 27 or so minutes that goes by in a flash, with no edits just to keep it edgy.

Here is a link to the video of the discussion. Check it out and feel free to share it all over the place. 

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Over the years a lot of my cooking has focused on a “locavore” approach in the kitchen. I don’t think that will change, but I also want to add options for additional cuisines from around the world (Japan, Korea, India, Thailand and all of their regionally based cuisines for example). 

I have also added vendors for additional products from around the world. So, in addition to locally sourced fish, shellfish, fruits, and vegetables I am also offering fish and shellfish from Japan, Hawaii, and from different parts of the Mediterranean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean. I also have access to beef from Japan and pork from Spain as well as fruits and vegetables from all of these areas.  

I also have different meal formats available, such as pig roasts and other large format animal-based meals (primal cuts of sheep, goats, beef, and pork). I am also offering more options for diners who are interested in tasting menus (of pretty much any length and theme).  

The most important thing is that all of this is customized to give my clients the experience that they want to provide for themselves, their friends and loved ones. And it’s a lot of fun.

Take a look around. I have added some new photographs of recent dishes (below) and thousands of more are available.  As always, please feel free to contact me with any questions about my services. 

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Ripe beefsteak tomatoes have finally arrived on the east end of Long Island. They are about a week or two behind local cherry tomatoes and it’s great to have the whole tomato family around to cook (and not cook) with for the remainder of the summer.

My approach to using tomatoes during the summer has been more or less the same for the last 20+ years. I use cherries and beefsteaks more or less interchangeably in salads, chilled soups, cocktails, and vinaigrettes. I use paste and plum tomatoes mainly for making tomato paste and canning for future uses such as tomato sauce, hot soups and other sauces that might require a hit of tomato sweetness. I don’t use paste or plum tomatoes raw. They don’t offer enough flavor and they generally lack the juicy, pulpy deliciousness that I crave in cold preparations.

I wasted no time in putting the fruit to use in my kitchen this week and one of my favorite things to make is a chilled tomato soup. It’s similar to gazpacho but it takes a few extra liberties. This summer I am growing Purple Cherokee, Black Krim and Aunt Ruby’s German green tomatoes for beefsteaks and my cherry tomatoes are Matt’s Wild Cherry. I also have some San Marzano plants for my paste tomato needs. The key to making a great tasting chilled tomato soup is to use tomatoes that have great flavor, and the beefsteaks and cherries I planted are known for that quality.

Here is how I make my soup:  (Note: I use a Vitamix blender for a super smooth soup and I don’t strain it)

2.5 pounds ripe tomatoes, cut into 2″ pieces

1 Kirby cucumber seeded, peeled and cut into 2″ pieces

1 jalapeno pepper, split with stem and seeds removed

1 large garlic clove

1 tablespoon shio koji (it’s optional but it’s good)

1 tablespoon white verjus or white wine vinegar

1/4 c. Sicilian extra-virgin olive oil (any good olive oil will work fine)

Salt to taste

Place everything except the salt and olive oil into the blender and blend on high until it is extremely smooth. Reduce the speed to medium and add the olive oil and salt to taste. Add enough salt so that the soup is almost too salty. Once it is chilled the seasoning will be perfect because cold food requires more seasoning than room temperature or hot food.

Chill the soup until you are ready to serve it. When you do serve it you can garnish the soup with a drizzle of olive oil, some small basil leaves scattered about and a grind of black pepper. I like to use Thai basil because the slight anise flavor seems to compliment the flavor of the soup nicely.

If you don’t use a Vitamix blender, I recommend straining the soup.

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This is my 25th season of cooking in the Hamptons during the summer. The first 23 seasons were spent in restaurant kitchens (The 1770 House, Della Femina, and cittanuova for the most part) and the last two have been in a private setting.  I could write many posts about how the worlds of private and public cooking differ, but I will save those for a book.

Here are some photos of dishes that I have been working on this summer. At some point, I will post some recipes as well. I will also note that I love cooking from the garden and, as a backup, hitting the local farmstands. The local fish are and have always been, really amazing. I will continue to showcase the local fish that we get to work with on the east end of Long Island.

I will update this post soon.

2016, Kevin Penner, All Rights Reserved

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This season finds me, once again, cooking privately in Bridgehampton on Sagaponack Pond. Over the years, I have always supported local farmers and people who fish and hunt on the east end of Long Island. This year is no different. Food artisans and other food-related businesses all find places on my menus and now I am involved with growing a lot of the vegetables that I use in the kitchen.

I have been cooking from the garden for several weeks and I thought I would share a few photos of what I have been doing in the kitchen. Take a look, grow some stuff and cook it. Summer is here!

2016, Kevin Penner, All Rights Reserved

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I still cook in restaurants at times, as a part of my consulting work. But these days, even more than cooking in restaurants, the chef cooks at home and in the homes of other people. The techniques and methods involved are not radically different. In both settings, I spend my time creating new recipes or adapting older ones.

Cooking at Home

This past weekend I cooked a couple of things that seemed suitable for the weather and the people I was feeding. It seems like the right thing to share them here.

First up is a variation on macaroni and cheese. Most versions of this classic are based on bechamel sauce, which basically holds the dairy-based components together and prevents them from “breaking” and turning into an oily mess. My version is a variation that uses only milk, cheese and a little sodium citrate (a sour salt) that accomplishes the same objective (this is a technique I picked up from Modernist Cuisine, which was the first time I saw macaroni and cheese made in this manner). I also use one of the great cheeses of France, Cantal, which comes from Auvergne. It is frequently used in fondue and in “Aligot“, which is a puree of potatoes combined with the cheese. It’s heady stuff.

Macaroni and Cantal
(This should serve 4 to 6 as a side dish)

Sauce
480 g. whole milk
20 g. sodium citrate
580 g. Cantal cheese grated

Place the milk and sodium citrate into a saucepan and bring it to a strong simmer. Add the grated cheese and whisk continuously over low heat until the cheese has melted and the sauce is smooth. Taste it for seasoning. Set it aside in a warm place.

Pasta
200 g. pasta (you can use any shape–I used Rummo Tubetti Rigati No. 72)
1 L. water
2 t. salt

Place the water and salt in a deep saucepan and bring to a boil. Add the pasta and stir it occasionally, cooking it as per package directions. Drain the pasta (don’t rinse it-we want to keep the starch intact to some degree) and add it to the warm sauce, stirring to combine it well. If you want it hotter, return the pan to low heat and warm the sauce and pasta, stirring continuously. Serve it as is, or top with some bread crumbs that have been toasted in olive oil and a copious amount of chopped fresh chives.

The Steak Narrative

Next, we cooked a steak. More specifically we cooked a two-pound prime, dry-aged rib steak. And, for the most part, we cooked it in water. No, we didn’t poach it. We seasoned it about an hour earlier with salt and pepper and then placed it in a Ziploc bag with a little olive oil, crushed garlic, and thyme. We set up a large pot with about two gallons of water and heated it to 129 degrees Fahrenheit with an immersion circulator. We slipped the bag into the water and cooked it for two and a half hours and then we plunged the bag into a large ice water bath to quickly chill it. We removed it from the bag and patted it dry and then added some additional salt and pepper to the surface. We heated a large cast iron pan over high heat with some olive oil and began to sear the meat on all surfaces. After about four minutes we started adding butter (about a quarter cup or so), crushed garlic cloves (5) and thyme (2 sprigs) and basted the steak with the browning butter for another three or four minutes. We removed it to a plate and bathed it in the brown butter and let it rest for about 8 minutes. And then we ate it.  And it was good.

2016, Kevin Penner, All Rights Reserved

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This past Friday, February 19, Netflix added a four-part documentary to its programming line-up. It is called “Cooked” and it is based on a book of the same name by noted food journalist and accomplished home cook Michael Pollan.

Cooked on Netflix

Each of the four parts examines issues about cooking based on the elements of “Fire”, “Water”, “Air”, and “Earth” and the overarching theme relates to Pollan’s belief that cooking needs to return to people’s homes. Pollan notes that since the end of World War II, corporations have been playing an increasingly larger role in cooking in the US and he suggests that it might be playing a role in rising levels of obesity and type-2 diabetes in the US. His belief is that by returning to cooking at home, Americans can have more control over the foods they eat and how they are prepared. He suggests that leaving the cooking to corporate America is risky because they most likely put profits ahead of cooking healthful food (This isn’t a tough sell–large corporations are happy to mislead consumers with dodgy labelling and false health claims–all while being enabled by our government who relies on their lobbying money and campaign contributions. My two cents.).

Visually the series is pretty stunning. Some of the scenes were shot on location in western Australia, Mumbai, Morocco, eastern North Carolina and in other parts of the US. Many of the scenes emphasize cultures and subcultures that cook at home and how some of them are under assault by the processed food industry to lure them out of their traditional ways of preparing food. He follows a group of Martu people who return to their original lands and practice traditional hunting and cooking as a means of relief from their lives in contemporary Australian society. It is suggested that some of the group, who tend to suffer the afflictions of diabetes and other ailments often associated with modern, western diets, see an improvement in their overall health after embracing their traditional lifestyles. It is interesting stuff, indeed.

At one point Pollan says he wants to “lure people back into their kitchens” instead of lecturing them. He makes a compelling case by showing how enjoyable cooking at home can be and how entertaining at home is capable of bringing people together and encouraging human interaction with friends and family. His backyard pig roast and his dinner party of braised meat and other dishes certainly look like a good time to me.

He also attempts to demystify the act of cooking by providing some thoughtful insights from people who cook for a living and by explaining some food science in layman’s terms. In the final episode, he explores the often overlooked process of fermentation and how important it is to many cultures in many different ways.

I think that, on the whole, Pollan’s objectives are realized in the series. The stories are engaging and important, the visuals are compelling and the message is clear and easy to follow. I certainly felt compelled to cook after watching it, even though I may not be as hard to convince as others.

Copyright 2016 Kevin Penner

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