Cook's Country

-"Cook's Country" is about more than just getting dinner on the table.

We're also fascinated by the people and stories behind the dishes.

We go inside kitchens in every corner of the country to learn how real people cook.

And we look back through time to see how history influences the way we eat today.

We bring that inspiration back to our test kitchen so we can share it with you.

This is "Cook's Country."

Today on "Cook's Country," Bryan heads to the Oregon coast and then makes grilled mussels for Julia, I tell the story of the Texas Shrimp Diva, and Lawman makes one-pot shrimp piccata pasta.

That's all right here on "Cook's Country."

-Funding for this program has been provided by the following.

-Monument Grills -- made for everyone, from the backyard master to the weekend host and the beginner just starting out.

Monument brings people together.

Monument Grills.

The everybody everywhere grill.

-Teakhaus.

Inspired by a passion for cooking and respect for our planet.

Each board is handcrafted from sustainably sourced wood, designed for every step, from food prep to presentation.

Teakhaus.

-Along the picturesque Oregon coast, every bite of the region's cuisine tells a story of tide and tradition.

Shaped by the rhythm of the ocean and the resilient spirit of the coast, this is a place where the flavors of the local cuisine are forged by salt and smoke.

Mona Johnson and Jaret Foster are two Oregon cooks who've created a livelihood honoring this cuisine by hosting farm-to-fire dining experiences.

They craft immersive outdoor feasts that celebrate local ingredients and elemental cooking techniques.

-In our cooking, I think we really just try to source really well, find beautiful vegetables, lay them over the coals, treat them with salt, and smoke, and a little time.

-We travel to places a lot of times that have no amenities, so we're creating both the kitchen and the dining room from scratch wherever we show up.

-Today's cookout is for family and friends, and it's being staged at Jacobsen Salt Company, a purveyor of locally-harvested sea salt in Netarts Bay.

Today's meal consists of fire-roasted lamb, grilled vegetables, and a new take on a traditional French mussel dish.

-In France, they call it eclade de moules, and they have a different way of doing it, which is very kind of, like, ritualistic.

They take the mussels and they place them, like, in a very specific pattern, in concentric circles.

They mound dried, like, pine needles on top and light it on fire.

So, then, the heat from the fire and the smoke imbues into the mussels, and then they open and you eat them that way.

So, we thought, like, how are we going to do our version of it?

So, the way we do it is to collect fresh pine boughs.

This one is cedar that we harvested here from the property.

And we usually put those right on the hot coals right before we put the grate full of mussels down.

We're also going to add a little bit of rosemary, just because it sort of echoes that sort of same sort of piney, citrusy flavor.

-Like most of the food Mona and Jaret use, these mussels were sourced locally.

But before the mussels meet the fire, we go through the routine of sorting through our haul.

-So, if it's cracked, or if it's gaping open, then we'll get rid of it.

But really, we're just going to put these in a single layer along the grate so we can make sure that, like, the fire kisses all of them.

[ Mussels rattling ] Now that we have all the mussels in one layer, I usually just like to take a little bit of the pine and the rosemary, place a little bit on top.

So, now, let's head to the fire.

-Okay.

With the mussels prepped, Mona and I bring our bounty to the roaring fire.

-Alright.

-You're dropping cedar on?

-I'm gonna drop cedar, and then... have you drop... -Rosemary.

-Drop it right here.

[ Fire crackling ] You can immediately hear it crackling, all those oils.

-You can smell that pineyness, the cedar, the rosemary kicking in, and you can see the mussels almost immediately begin to pop open.

-All your senses are engaged, for sure.

Like, the smell is amazing.

Makes you want to eat it already, doesn't it?

-It's, like, by far one of the coolest and also one of the most simple things I've ever seen done on an open fire.

-This is something you could do at home so easily.

-After just a few minutes on the fire, most of the mussels have opened and it's almost time to taste.

-This would be a great time for sampling one.

So, this is going to be really hot.

-Oh, it is?

-Yep.

[ Laughs ] Be prepared.

Ooh, that looks nice and firm.

-Nice and juicy looking.

Mmm!

Wow.

That smokiness is like... unlike any intense smokiness I've ever had on a mussel like that.

-It really comes through.

It's almost, yeah, like smoked seafood.

-It's not just like one flat note of smoke.

It's got that brininess of the mussel, it really changes throughout the bite.

That's amazing.

-Briny, piney, smoky, sweet.

[ Both laugh ] -I have that bumper sticker on my car.

-[ Laughing ] Okay.

Ready?

-Yep.

Wow.

All that's left to do is drizzle on some olive oil... -Make it rain.

-...sprinkle them with Jacobsen sea salt... and dig in.

-Are you ready?

-Yeah.

-Alright.

-Alright.

Cheers.

-Cheers!

-So, this one's got a nice little pool of olive oil.

-Lucky you.

My God.

The best!

-So simple but so complex.

That smokiness, the pineyness, really, the sweetness of the mussel comes through.

-It really does.

I don't know, something about it just brings out its best qualities, I feel like.

-It's like it's pure mussel.

-So, are you hooked?

-Mm.

-You gonna go and make these for your family and friends?

-I mean... I'll start off making them for myself, you know?

I feel like I could eat this whole tray.

-Let's try it.

-[ Laughs ] Okay.

We're gonna need some wine over here.

I've always been drawn to outdoor cooking, especially over a fire, where local ingredients truly shine.

The smoke infuses everything with its essence, and the salt brings out the best in the Pacific Northwest bounty.

Thanks to Mona, Jaret, and our friends who've joined us around the table, I've tasted something far richer than food -- the spirit of the land and sea.

Cheers, guys.

Thank you so much.

-Thanks for coming.

-Thank you for hosting.

-Thank you.

-So great.

-Thank you.

-Chef.

-Cheers!

-Cheers, guys.

-Bryan, I eat mussels all the time, but I have to say I've never grilled them.

And I've definitely never made a massive fire like that!

-Yeah.

This really changed my entire perspective on how to cook mussels.

I think a lot of people would say, "What about all the juice that comes out of the mussels?"

You don't miss it at all.

-Really?

-The mussels still retain a lot of juice, but they also get this nice charred smokiness to them.

It's really an incredible go-to summer dish.

It's going to start with this beautiful garlic butter.

-Mm-hmm.

-Okay?

So, we have a stick of butter melting over here over medium heat.

-Mm-hmm.

-Our butter is finally melted.

We can just kill the heat on that.

And to that, we're going to add four minced garlic cloves and 2 tablespoons of fresh dill.

Then, we're going to add a tablespoon of lemon juice... 1 teaspoon of table salt... and we have 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper, and 1/2 teaspoon of red chili flakes.

-Ooh, a little kick.

-Yeah, a little kick.

Just kind of give it a swirl, and that's gonna sit off heat.

And that's gonna come in at the end after we're done grilling the mussels.

-Okay.

-Alright.

And nothing's better with grilled mussels than grilled bread.

So, typically, you see grilled bread brushed with olive oil, and that's it.

But what we found is that you could add a little bit of moisture to it in the form of vinegar to echo the sourdough flavor, but also so as it grills, it doesn't just char, it sort of steams.

So, you get this nice juxtaposition of crunchy and soft interior.

So, we have 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, and to that, we're going to add 1 tablespoon of red wine vinegar, 1/2 teaspoon of table salt... and 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper.

And we're just going to whisk that together until it's combined.

And once it's emulsified like that, we can pull our bread up to the board.

We want to just brush it on both sides.

You could do it out at the grill, but you know, sometimes, with a really nice sourdough, you have these pockets in here.

-Yeah.

-And that traps a little bit of the oil, it doesn't have time to absorb into the bread.

When you put it on the grill, it could cause a flare-up.

So, you get that kind of char, smokiness on the bread that you don't really want.

So, I like to give it a minute or so to soak it up.

Alright, let's hop down and check out some mussels.

We have 4 pounds of mussels here.

And you see they have these gnarly beards.

-Well, sometimes, they do, sometimes, they don't.

Sometimes, they come off pretty clean.

But this guy -- this guy needs a little beard trim.

-So, you can get these off pretty easily.

We're just giving them a wiggle and kind of working them out of the mussel.

And we'll go through this 4 pounds and these have already been scrubbed.

I like to just submerge them quickly in water to kind of get any surface sand off of them.

-These actually look pretty clean.

-We don't have to be so particular here.

But these, like you said, are pretty clean.

Okay, so we're going to take these mussels out to the grill, take the bread out to the grill, and we'll get cooking.

-Alright.

-Alright, Julia, we have 6 quarts of charcoal here, and we're going to pour it evenly over the grill grate.

Once we put those down, we're going to just spread them into an even layer there.

Then, we can grab our grate, throw it right on top.

Okay.

We're going to let the grill heat up for a good 5 minutes to get that grate nice and hot.

The top and the bottom vents are fully open.

Okay, the grill is nice and hot.

-Smokin'!

-Yeah.

We're going to clean it with our wire brush here.

And then, a little oil on a paper towel so it's nice and slick.

Okay.

Now, we're going to start by grilling the bread.

It's really going to benefit from that really intense heat.

And the trick here is you want to kind of monitor the bread as it goes.

It goes very quickly from perfect to burnt.

-Boy, I can smell the vinegar on the bread.

-Yeah, it really bumps up that sourdough kind of flavor, doesn't it?

So, this takes about no more than 3 minutes, usually, start to finish, especially on a very hot grill like this.

And this is a good form of active grilling.

If some of that oil drips down under the bread, under the coals, and causes a flare-up, you want to move the bread out of the way.

So, this is a good way to practice kind of just being an attentive griller, and a passionate griller.

-[ Laughs ] -Don't be afraid to flip it over, take a look at it.

Each one of these regions of the grill is going to be a little bit different in, you know, the amount of heat it carries.

So, you can tell, like, that one... -Found a hot spot.

Yeah.

-That's a hot spot right there.

And so is this back area.

So, up front, it's a little bit cooler.

So, we'll swap those out really quick.

So, as these pieces get finished cooking, we'll go ahead and just drop them back onto our sheet pan.

It's typically about a minute per side, give or take.

-Okay.

So, there's six pieces of bread there.

Don't be surprised if there's five by the time we get back inside!

-[ Laughs ] I know, I absolutely love grilled bread.

Alright, so, now, it's time for our mussels.

We're going to put about half of these mussels on, and again, we're using this colander.

You see how much liquid has drained off of those mussels?

We don't want to add that to the grill and start to extinguish the coals.

-That makes sense.

-We'll just kind of shake a little bit of these mussels on top here.

Do about half the mussels.

We're going to let this cook for 5 minutes.

We're going to cover the grill to trap some of that heat.

And during that time, the mussels will then begin to pop open and we'll pull them right off.

-Okay.

-Alright, it's been 5 minutes.

You can really start to smell them, too.

-Yeah.

-And boom.

So, we can just drop these into a bowl here.

You can look at them, they're, like, just boiling in their own juices.

-Yeah!

-That's one of the things.

Like, people say, "Oh, you're gonna lose all those beautiful juices," but they stay on those mussels.

And when they sit in the bowl for a little while, all that juice is going to drip in the bottom of the bowl and we're gonna eat all of that.

-Oh, good.

Now I see why you only did half a batch of mussels at a time.

If you did them all, by the time you got the last one off, the first one would be overdone.

-Alright.

So, we'll let that sit there and we'll drop the remaining mussels onto the grill.

Cover the grill and let it go for another 5 minutes.

-Alright!

-Alright, our second batch should be done.

So, we're just going to drop all these into the bowl with the first batch.

Alright, and last mussel.

-Nicely done.

-We're ready to walk back inside and toss them in some butter.

-Alright!

-Julia, I cn just smell that aroma of smoked seafood coming up and hitting me in the face.

Alright, to that, we're going to add 1/4 cup of our nicely potent garlic butter.

-Mm-hmm.

1... 2... 3... 4 tablespoons.

And now, we're just going to toss it in the bowl.

A few tosses just to make sure everything's combined.

-That looks so good.

-You can smell it, right?

-Mm-hmm!

-And then, we're gonna dump our mussels onto the platter.

You should notice, all that juice, it's still coming out of the mussels.

-Yeah!

-So, you don't lose it on the grill.

And now, we'll cut up a couple of pieces of our grilled bread.

Just big chunks.

Give you a few pieces there.

-Thank you.

-And, then I could serve you a few mussels.

-Oh, you really can smell the grill.

You can give me more than a few.

-[ Chuckles ] -Feel free to load it up.

Alright, going in for my first one.

-Oh, what is this little pincer move you got?

-The shell itself, the mussel shell, is the perfect way to go in there and get a mussel out because it's curved, it goes right in there, and it's like a built-in tweezer.

-Mmm!

-Mmm.

-They're still super moist.

-A little smoky.

-And that garlic butter.

I'm just gonna double check this garlic butter with a piece of bread here.

-Goodness!

Yeah.

-Mmm!

-Mmm.

That bread is really good.

I mean, I know it's just grilled bread, which always tastes good, but that little bit of vinegar, I couldn't pick it out, but it does reinforce the sourdough.

A little bit of tang, which is lovely with the mussels, and the butter, and all that richness.

-And I think that's what makes an absolutely clever recipe.

When you think there's nothing more that can be done, you do a little something, and it just sends it over the top.

-Yep.

Bryan, this is spectacular.

Thank you.

-You're very welcome.

-If you'd like to give grilled mussels a try, start by making a garlic and herb butter, drain the mussels in a colander before grilling them, and toss them with garlic butter and serve with grilled bread.

From "Cook's Country," with special thanks to Jaret and Mona from Tournant, a really cool recipe for grilled mussels.

And killer bread.

-And butter.

-And butter.

-In 2018, Nikki Johnson-Kunz had dinner with her 85-year-old father-in-law, Jerome Kunz, who had spent his day doing what he'd done almost all his life -- shrimping.

During dinner, Nikki noticed that her Pops, as she calls him, had injured himself while at sea.

It made her nervous to send him back out alone, so she offered to join him a few days a week to keep him company.

It didn't take long for those few days a week to turn into a full-time job.

Nikki began documenting her experience through social media, where she leaned into her self-proclaimed Shrimp Diva persona.

Nikki shrimps along the Texas coast, decked out in pink with a full face of makeup, working a winch and hauling in nets.

Along with posting fun, lighthearted videos, Nikki also uses her platform to advocate for the local shrimping community, encouraging her followers to support fishermen like Pops.

And today, at "Cook's Country," we honor the American shrimping community with our recipe for one-pot shrimp piccata pasta.

-Once in a while, you come across a dish and you just know it's going to be a surefire hit.

Well, that's what we've got on the books today because Lawman's here and he's going to show me a great pasta dish that's really a mash-up of two classics.

-That's right, Bridget, imagine a shrimp pasta dish that's a combination of a garlicky scampi and a lemony piccata.

-Gorgeous.

-Then, you add a creamy sauce, and you're cooking it in one pot for those of us that don't like to dirty a lot of dishes.

-I love it even more.

-That dish does exist and we're going to cook it today.

I have extra-large shrimp, 1 pound, 21 to 25 shrimp per pound.

We prefer the shrimp that has the shells on it.

And you want to get shrimp that, in the ingredient list, it just says "shrimp."

-Mm-hmm.

-You don't want preservatives or additives or any kind of salt or anything.

So, we're going to peel, devein, and cut the tails right off.

I like using the seafood shears.

-Nice, little curved line makes it easier.

-Yes, it does.

You'll notice that we're collecting these shells.

We're going to use the shells later on in the recipe.

-Okay.

-They're very important.

-Do not throw these away.

-No.

This is the fun part, getting that vein out of the back.

So, next, we're going to cut the shrimp into thirds crosswise.

It makes nice bite-size pieces, and the shrimp is going to cook quicker.

You could use smaller shrimp, but smaller shrimp is going to be more shrimp per pound, which means a lot more shrimp to prep.

So, now, we're going to add 1/2 teaspoon of table salt.

So, we're just going to let the salt season the shrimp.

And now, I'm just going to wash my hands.

So, I have six cloves of garlic.

We're just going to smash these.

-Jurassic-sized cloves of garlic.

-Yes.

-So, is this the scampi part here?

-This is the scampi part.

-Yeah.

Yes.

-Now that we've smashed our six cloves of garlic, I have a large Dutch oven over here with 1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil.

We haven't turned it on yet.

The shrimp shells that we saved, we're going to use that to make a shrimp stock.

It's a great way to add a lot of shrimp flavor to the dish without worry of overcooking the shrimp.

-There's tons of flavor in the shells.

-And I found out that our digital subscribers have been dumbfounded by the fact that you can make shrimp stock.

It's so easy.

It's delicious.

It adds a lot of flavor to our dishes.

-Yeah, and you basically have already bought the shrimp, so the shells are just extra, right?

-Yeah.

-So, it's like free stock.

-Next, you're going to add six cloves of smashed garlic.

And then, we're going to add two anchovy fillets.

Now, the anchovy fillets are going to add some depth of flavor and some umami.

So, we're going to put the heat on medium, and we're going to cook this, stirring occasionally, until the shells are spotty brown.

-Okay.

-So, Bridget, it's been 5 minutes.

The shrimp is spotty brown.

[ Sizzling ] You can smell all that aroma.

-Mm-hmm!

No doubt.

-Now, we're going to add 1/2 cup of dry white wine.

We're going to cook the wine until the liquid is almost evaporated.

It's going to take about 2 minutes, and then, it's going to leave that nice, bright, flavorful base to add to our broth.

Bridget, you can see that most of the wine has cooked off.

-Sure has.

-So, now, we're going to add 4 cups of water.

And 1 teaspoon of table salt.

So, now, we're going to increase the heat to high, bring it to a boil, and then reduce the heat to medium-low, cover, and cook for about 5 minutes.

That's just enough time to coax all that great flavor out of the shells and into the liquid and make a great broth.

-And this is one of those times you don't want to cook longer because the longer you cook shrimp shells beyond 5 minutes, it starts to really lose a lot of its flavor.

-Exactly.

So, the stock should be ready.

It's been 5 minutes.

-Mmm!

Mmm!

Oh, even better.

-Smells great.

-Smells fantastic.

-So, I'm going to use a slotted spoon, or you could use a spider skimmer.

We're going to take the shells out.

And it's fine if some of the garlic comes out with it.

So, because some of the broth gets trapped in the shells, we're just going to... pour the stuff that's collected right back in the bowl.

We don't want to waste any of that.

-Thank you.

-So, here, I have 12 ounces of orecchiette pasta, in Italian, it means "little ears."

We're going to add this right to the broth.

The great thing about this is we're using one pot, so we're not going to dirty up a separate dish for cooking the pasta, a separate colander for straining the pasta, and once it releases its starches, it's going to help thicken the broth, and it's going to absorb all this great flavor that we've created in the stock.

-You're selling me on every aspect.

-If you don't have orecchiette, you can use a small shell pasta.

So, we want to bring this to a simmer.

And then, we're going to cover it and cook it for 10 to 14 minutes until it's al dente, stirring occasionally.

-Okay, great.

-While the pasta is still cooking, we're going to chop some parsley.

-Okay.

-So, I'm going to chop 1/3 cup of parsley.

-Parsley stems can be quite bitter, so while something like cilantro has those nice, little tender stems that have a lot of flavor, it's best to do what Lawman's doing here.

Pick off the leaves and get rid of any thicker stems.

-And we also want 1/2 teaspoon of lemon zest.

And we want a tablespoon of lemon juice.

Now, the pasta should be ready.

-Alright.

-The great thing about this pasta is the little cup shapes traps all that broth.

So, now, we're going to add our shrimp.

And we want to cook this for about 2 minutes so the shrimp gently poaches in the liquid, until it's opaque.

-Okay, great.

-So, you want to stir this often.

By agitating the pasta, it's going to release some of that starch and it's going to help thicken the sauce.

And it's also going to make sure that the shrimp cooks evenly.

All it took was 2 minutes for the shrimp to cook.

It's done.

Turn the heat off.

And we're going to piccata it.

-Okay.

Great.

-I'm going to add 1/3 cup of chopped parsley, 2 tablespoons of rinsed capers.

-Oh, yeah.

That's the law.

If there's piccata, you gotta have capers.

-1/2 teaspoon of lemon zest, one minced garlic clove... 1/2 teaspoon of red pepper flake... ...and about a tablespoon of lemon juice.

I like lemon juice, so I'm going to add a little extra for good measure.

Stir all this in there for about 1 minute, vigorously.

It's going to release a lot of that starch in the pasta.

It's going to thicken the sauce.

Now, we're ready to eat.

-That looks so good.

It smells even better.

-How hungry are you?

-Well, I've seen everything that's gone in that pot, so I'm really hungry.

-And we're going to finish with some Parmesan.

-[ Chuckles ] Awesome.

Alright, this looks gorgeous, but... proof of the pudding is in the eating.

The orecchiette -- genius.

Because you are getting a huge hit of that sauce cupped in that little bit of pasta.

But the pasta actually tastes like the sauce.

-And the shrimp is nice and tender.

-Yeah.

-But you're still getting all that shrimp flavor.

-And you only cooked the shrimp for 2 minutes, but you drew out all the flavors from the shells.

So, they did all the hard work, didn't have to worry about the shrimp itself overcooking.

-And the sauce is creamy without adding any cream.

-It's got a lemony bite to it.

This is shrimp scamp-iccata.

[ Both laugh ] Scamp-iccata.

That's what we have to call it from now on.

We're beyond wonder -- this is a one pot hit.

So, thank you so much, Lawman.

-You're welcome.

-So, if you want to try your hand at making this fabulous scamp-iccata, why not?

It starts by creating a flavorful shrimp broth using the shells, anchovies, and white wine.

Cook orecchiette right in that shrimp broth and then add the shrimp and cook for just 2 minutes before finishing with lemon and capers.

So, from "Cook's Country," a very shrimpy, a very bright one-pot shrimp piccata pasta.

You can get this fabulous recipe and all the recipes from this season, along with product reviews and select episodes, and those are all on our website, CooksCountry.com/TV.

Alright.

Now, when's the chicken going in?

-Let us help with dinner tonight.

Visit our website anytime for the newest season's rigorously-tested recipes, full episodes, ingredient advice, and equipment reviews.

CooksCountry.com/TV.

-"The Complete Cook's Country TV Show Cookbook" brings together every recipe, tasting, and test from 18 seasons of the beloved TV show.

With trusted equipment recommendations and insights from the entire cast, this book is your guide to the very best in regional cooking.

The cost is $24.99, $15 off the cover price of $40.

To order, head to our online shop at CooksCountry.com/book.

-Funding for this program has been provided by the following.

-Monument Grills -- made for everyone, from the backyard master to the weekend host and the beginner just starting out.

Monument brings people together.

Monument Grills.

The everybody everywhere grill.

-Teakhaus.

Inspired by a passion for cooking and respect for our planet.

Each board is handcrafted from sustainably sourced wood, designed for every step, from food prep to presentation.

Teakhaus.