Moveable Feast

>> From the editors of relish.com, we bring you Moveable Feast.

With host, Alex Thomopoulos.

>> ALEX: We're here in Jamestown, Rhode Island, in the heart of Narragansett Bay.

Known for its abundance of seafood and bounties of farm fresh produce, the culinary scene here is rich in flavor and history.

Two local chefs who are committed to making the most of the sustainable seafood and seasonal produce here are critically acclaimed chefs Eli Dunn and Andrew McQuesten.

>> Yeah, with that butter, that miso, that sweet, sweet corn that make these oysters sing, you know?

>> ALEX: Both chefs' innovative cooking styles are not only a celebration of the land, but a commitment to the future of sustainability.

>> So I like to say that my food philosophy is source responsibly, cook with love, share with others, and that was what my mom was... >> ALEX: Love that.

With oysters being the number one aquaculture product in the state, it's only fitting that we go get some of the best.

We're headed to Walrus and Carpenter Oysters, a sustainable oyster hatchery and farm located on 14 acres of New England's pristine waters.

Then we're off to a local favorite, Moonrose Farm.

Owned by a former chef and her wife, these two passionate farmers grow some of the richest produce the region has to offer.

After stocking up on the bounty of Rhode Island's land and sea, we'll set sail to Clingstone, the famous house on the rock in the Dumpling Islands for a feast that is as local and sustainable as it is delicious.

That's all happening right now on Moveable Feast with Relish.

>> Major funding provided by: >> Oh, hey, it's the Donovans.

You know, legend has it, the Donovans had a barbecue that fed half a town.

You know what I heard?

They drove cross country just to walk their dog.

>> Welcome to the National Kennel Show!

>> Apparently, they climbed a mountain to save some wild horses.

(lightning strikes, thunder rumbles) (whinnies) That's what they say.

>> That's what they say.

>> Additional funding provided by: >> La Panzanella, bakers of Italian-inspired crackers.

Simple ingredients and non-GMO.

>> ALEX: Good morning!

>> Hey, good morning.

Alex?

>> ALEX: Yeah!

Andrew?

>> Andrew.

>> ALEX: Nice to meet you.

>> Nice to meet you, yeah.

>> ALEX: What is this place?

Where are we going?

>> (chuckles) So, uh, this is Walrus and Carpenter Oyster Farm.

We're here in Jamestown.

This is where the oysters are grown.

They're grown right here in Dutch Harbor.

>> ALEX: How long have you been a chef here in Rhode Island?

>> I've been cooking here professionally for about nine years.

>> ALEX: Amazing, well, I would love to meet the crew and go get some oysters for today's feast.

>> Yeah, absolutely.

Where we're getting the oysters from is out there.

>> ALEX: With all this wind, we're going out there?

It looks like there may be a storm coming, so I think we better go get some oysters.

>> Let's go get them quick.

>> ALEX: Wish me luck.

>> (laughs) >> ALEX: Ahoy!

>> Ahoy, welcome.

>> ALEX: Hey, what's going?

Alex.

>> Nice to meet you, I'm Maddy.

>> ALEX: Nice to meet you.

>> I'm Dylan.

>> ALEX: Dylan, Maddie, nice to meet you.

>> These guys are the experts here, and they're going to take us out to the field so that way we can get some oysters for tonight's feast.

>> ALEX: Can I grab your hand?

>> Yeah.

>> ALEX: All right, thank you!

>> Welcome aboard.

>> ALEX: Let's go get some oysters.

>> Let's go.

>> ALEX: So what was it like growing up, like, in Rhode Island, New England, in terms of seafood culture, food culture?

>> Everybody takes seafood, like, really seriously around here.

Like, I mean, why not eat fresh seafood when you're living on, like, Narragansett Bay and, like, support local fishermen and fisherwomen?

>> Before New England was colonized, there was a huge population of wild oyster reefs.

Oyster farming is a way to basically reintroduce that part of the ecosystem.

Oysters are filter feeders, so they're filtering 50 gallons a day, is what passes through a single oyster.

>> ALEX: It's like a delicious housekeeper.

>> Yeah, absolutely.

>> Yeah, that's a good way to put it.

>> ALEX: So are we here?

>> Oh yeah.

>> ALEX: We're at the oyster farm, baby!

>> You can grab underneath like me, but on the other side, and then we're just going to lift and it's pretty heavy.

Just like that.

>> ALEX: How old are these oysters?

>> So these oysters were hatched in May, so... >> ALEX: Wow, ya baby!

>> Three or four months.

>> ALEX: And then are you shaping the oysters at this young of an age?

>> We're trying to keep them happy and eating as much as they can.

>> ALEX (kisses oyster): Happy, yay.

Babies are very cool, but we'd love to see some mature oysters that we can actually snack on.

And then a few for our feast tonight.

Wow!

>> That's a good looking bag of oysters right there.

>> ALEX: Oh my goodness!

>> So you're looking for the hinge there in the bottom and the knife slides in and you can feel kind of a point where you're able to twist it and there it opened up.

And so then you want to slide the knife along the top shell, which should come off clean like that.

And then on the inside you've got one more muscle and, >> ALEX: Look how beautiful that is.

>> That's a shucked oyster.

>> ALEX: Mm... that is unbelievable.

>> (chuckles) That's a good oyster.

I mean, that was sweet, that was delicious.

I think that's going to go really good with some corn.

>> ALEX: I do too.

>> Yeah.

>> ALEX: Well, those oysters are amazing.

I think we'll take what, three dozen, for our feast tonight?

>> Yeah, I think three dozen should work.

>> All right, three dozen oysters.

>> Awesome, thank you so much, these look great.

>> ALEX: Yeah, thank you!

>> You're welcome.

>> ALEX: Let's head back to the dock, because we got a feast to do for tonight.

So we're on our way right now to Moonrose Farm to meet Chef Eli and source some produce for tonight's feast.

Now, I'm particularly excited about meeting Jordan and Melissa because they're two former chefs.

And any time that you get chefs planting their own food, you know that they're going to be focusing not only on seasonality, but on flavor.

And I just feel like this produce is really going to make for a fantastic feast.

(crickets chirping) >> Hey Alex.

>> ALEX: What's going on?

>> Nice to meet you, I'm a hugger.

>> ALEX: Me too!

>> (laughs) >> ALEX: Nice to meet you.

>> Welcome to Moonrose Farm.

>> ALEX: This place is sensational.

>> It's beautiful.

>> ALEX: Tell me about this place, what your connection is to this farm.

>> Sure, Jordan worked for me at my restaurant and she was one of my favorite chefs to work with, an incredible chef in her own right.

And she decided to leave the industry to open a farm with her partner, Melissa, and... >> ALEX: Who I hear is an amazing pastry chef.

>> Who is also an amazing pastry chef in Providence for years.

>> ALEX: Wow.

>> So the two of them are a powerhouse couple combined just as chefs and now they're farming, and the produce here is incredible, so.

>> ALEX: All right, well I'm excited to go meet Jordan and Melissa.

>> Let's go meet them.

I think they're probably out there in the field, so.

>> ALEX: Amazing.

>> Let's do it.

>> ALEX: Hi!

>> Hey, welcome.

>> ALEX: I'm Alex.

>> Nice to meet you.

I'm Jordan.

>> ALEX: Nice to meet you.

>> Melissa.

>> Hi Melissa.

>> It's good to see you!

>> ALEX: Hello, baby!

>> This is Violet.

>> ALEX: Hi, Violet.

Thank you so much for having us on your farm today.

This place is extraordinary.

>> Thank you so much.

>> ALEX: When did you start this farm?

>> We started our farm in 2016 and we moved here in 2019, growing on about an acre and a half to two acres of vegetables.

And we have a flock of around 120 or 130 laying hens.

>> ALEX: Well, I'd love to know what you're growing right now, because we're here to source some produce for our feast tonight.

>> Yeah, absolutely.

We have lots of summer crops, they're just sort of on the tail end.

And we're starting with some of our fall crops like potatoes and onions and all that.

>> ALEX: Amazing.

So Eli, what kind of produce do you like to source here from Moonrose Farm, and what are you thinking for tonight's feast?

>> So I usually come for, like, eggs and honey and flowers for events and different things like that.

But I want to make a chowder tonight.

So how about some onions, some potatoes, some fresh herbs, sound good?

>> Definitely, we've got all of that in the fields.

>> Awesome.

>> ALEX: Wonderful.

And then I was thinking for my dish, maybe some summer squash, eggplant, do you have any still available?

>> Absolutely.

>> ALEX: I see some potatoes.

>> Yeah, so here's the potatoes we have left to harvest today.

I can show you how to dig some here if you'd like.

>> ALEX: Yeah, that'd be awesome.

>> So this stem right here is the died back potato plant.

So once you pull that up, you're going to see some potatoes.

>> Whoa!

>> ALEX: Whoa!

Check it out!

>> ALEX: This is the best treasure hunt ever!

>> So we harvest all the potatoes by hand and that's one of our crew's favorite things to do because it really is just like an Easter egg hunt.

>> ALEX: Yeah, you feel like a kid digging in the dirt.

>> Right, you just found treasure.

>> ALEX: Yeah, and when Violet's old enough, she's going to be out here with you guys.

>> Definitely.

>> ALEX: Great, we'll take some of these red potatoes, maybe get some white potatoes for your chowder.

Then I'd love to grab some summer squash, eggplants and some herbs for your chowder.

>> Sounds good, let's go.

>> Cool.

>> So Alex, there's a pretty nice summer squash down here if you wanted to cut this one.

>> ALEX: Beautiful, thank you.

>> You can just use this knife and cut the stem.

>> What are you doing with the squash?

>> ALEX: I think what I'm going to do is just grill them, maybe with a little bit of the eggplant.

Do a Tahini dressing and a nice herb salad.

>> Oh God, that sounds amazing.

>> ALEX: Oh wow!

That is beautiful.

>> This basil is incredible.

(chuckles) >> The best way to harvest basil is actually to cut right above these two sets of leaves here.

That way each of these leaves will become a whole new stem by next week.

>> ALEX: This is when you know you've had a good day, when your hands are covered in dirt and your basket is filled with vegetables.

We've got our oysters and our produce and now it's time to feast.

We got to head to the dock before it starts to rain.

>> Welcome.

>> ALEX: Hello, hi.

>> You're Alex?

>> ALEX: Yes!

>> Hi, very nice to meet you.

>> ALEX: Nice to meet you as well, thank you so much.

>> Come on, we'll get you on the board.

We'll keep you out of the water hopefully.

>> ALEX: Thank you, thank you.

We're headed out there, are we?

>> We're headed right out there, that is Clingstone.

That is our family's house.

>> ALEX: So tell me a little bit about Clingstone, the history of the house and how long your family has owned it.

>> So the house was built in 1904 by a crazy person in the Wharton family of the Wharton School of Business.

And he had a house on shore, and the government took his house when they expanded a coastal defense fort.

And he said, "I'm going where they're never going to take my house again!"

And he built the house out here.

So the house was basically empty from 1938 until when my parents bought it in 1961.

And we've been slowly keeping it from falling into the ocean ever since then.

It's a big, crazy, wonderful house, but it just feels so much more alive when people are in it.

>> ALEX: Well, it sounds like the perfect place for our feast.

Oh, there's Eli and Andrew.

Hi, chefs!

This is amazing!

>> Careful on the gangway.

>> ALEX: Oh my God, hey!

>> Good to see you again.

>> ALEX: Nice to see you too!

>> Welcome to Clingstone.

>> ALEX: Thank you!

So I hear there's a family tie.

>> Yes, this is my brother-in-law, Josh, best brother-in-law ever.

>> This is my brother-in-law, Eli, best brother-in-law ever.

>> ALEX: Wow, I love that.

We didn't rehearse that.

(laughing) >> ALEX: How's the kitchen here?

>> It's amazing.

Want to check it out?

>> ALEX: Yeah, absolutely.

>> All right.

>> ALEX: All right, Chef Eli, we're back in the kitchen at Clingstone.

What are we making today?

>> Alex, so I'm doing my clam chowder with a twist.

So this is Rhode Island meets Sao Miguel clam chowder.

>> ALEX: So we have our herbs from Moonrose Farm.

We've got the onions, the garlic, potato.

>> So these are some locally dug quahogs.

>> ALEX: And what's the difference between, like, a quahog and say a littleneck?

>> So a quahog is just a larger littleneck, right?

>> ALEX: Okay.

>> So a littleneck you can eat on the half shell, but a quahog is a little bit bigger.

>> ALEX: Give us like a nice meaty texture to this chowder.

>> Yeah, exactly.

>> ALEX: Okay.

>> ALEX: What is a Rhode Island chowder as opposed to a New England chowder?

Is there something specific about Rhode Island?

>> So Rhode Island style chowder is just made with primarily clam juice versus cream or milk, which would be more of a New England style chowder.

>> ALEX: Okay.

>> So it's a little bit brinier, little more of an ocean forward flavor.

The meets Sao Miguel is the twist.

So my fiance is Portuguese and I've been, you know, introduced to Portuguese cuisine and culture.

So in place of salt pork or bacon, which is traditionally in chowder, it is chourio, which is a locally made pork sausage.

This was made in Fall River by a Portugalia marketplace.

And then I'm putting a little bit of anise liqueur, which is another sort of traditional Portuguese ingredient at the end to give it a little bit of that fennel flavor at the end.

>> ALEX: Yum.

>> So this is just a bit of a fusion, a play on a dish that I've made a bunch of times.

So first ingredient, butter.

>> ALEX: Butter.

>> Yeah.

And I'm going to save, >> ALEX: Mo' butter, mo' better!

>> I'm going to save a little bit of this for a brown butter that I drizzle in the very end, which is another kind of just, like, twist.

>> ALEX: Oh, you're killing me!

>> Everybody loves brown butter.

And I'm actually going to fry the chourio.

So this is just going to go right in there, and I'm just gonna brown the chourio in the butter.

>> ALEX: I'm curious to know how New England has influenced your style of cooking.

>> My mother owned a seafood restaurant called Phoebe's Fish and Chips for 30 years.

So I was legitimately born with a midwife above the restaurant, so.

>> ALEX: Wow, so it's in your blood!

>> It's in my blood.

She was sourcing locally and seasonally in the '70s and '80s before, you know, it was trendy.

>> ALEX: Your mother seems like the type of person that was really ahead of her time, growing her own food, sourcing locally.

Has that influenced your cooking style at all, or your food philosophy?

>> So I like to say that my food philosophy is source responsibly, cook with love, share with others.

and that was what my mom was doing.

>> ALEX: I love that.

>> Right, so I'm going to add some onions here to the dish.

Right, so I've got my chourio browned.

>> ALEX: It smells... >> Amazing, right?

So I'm just going to add some fresh garlic, little bit of thyme.

>> ALEX: You can tell this was freshly picked.

>> I mean, look at it.

>> ALEX: Because it's so green.

>> I do a little bit of a roux, which helps give some texture and mouth feel to the soup.

So it's not just clam broth.

>> ALEX: Basically to get the quahog juice, you just throw it in a pot, cover it, let it-- >> No, no, no, no.

>> ALEX: No?

So you're just shucking these fresh?

>> Yeah, so I just, you know, you just go in here, right?

And then this is the juice.

>> ALEX: You make that look easy.

>> So, you know, get that juice in there and then the quahog is the chopped clam, right?

>> ALEX: So that's simmering, what's next?

>> So these potatoes are from Moonrose Farm.

They're going to be added to the dish and then the very last thing you add is the fresh quahogs because you don't want to overcook them.

>> ALEX: Yeah.

>> I mean I honestly turned off the heat and throw it in there and just the residual heat in the pan will cook the quahogs.

I'm actually going to add a little splash of fennel liqueur to get that little bit of fennel flavor which is really great with seafood.

>> ALEX: All right, so I'm going to let you finish your chowder here, I'm going to go see Andrew and then it's almost time to feast.

>> Yum.

>> ALEX: Chef Andrew.

>> (chuckles) Yeah?

>> ALEX: We're here, we've got these gorgeous dutchies that we just got from Walrus and Carpenter.

>> Yep.

>> ALEX: Talk to me about what you want to do for today's feast.

>> We're going to have some grilled oysters with corn and paprika pepper relish, and some toasted breadcrumbs on top.

>> ALEX: Great, now what are the flavor profiles that you're playing with today?

>> Have some white miso, which isn't as fermented as other misos.

so it has still that, like, fresher, sweet soybean taste.

>> ALEX: Yeah.

>> A sake, which is naturally a little bit on the sweeter side, and then corn, obviously, yes.

>> ALEX: A sweet corn.

Especially this time of year in New England.

A little bit of heat, just a touch.

>> ALEX: I have never, ever, ever had a grilled oyster.

>> Well, I'm very glad, >> ALEX: This is gonna be my first one, so there's a lot of pressure on you!

>> Butter's going to go in first.

It's going to be about two tablespoons there.

I'm going to add about the same amount of miso here.

>> ALEX: I love cooking with miso.

>> So do I, so we're just going to get that kind of mixed together.

Then we're going to add our sake, about a quarter of a cup of this.

So just kind of eyeball that.

So now that we have our miso mostly busted up, then we're going to add a little bit of our lemon juice.

>> ALEX: What I love so much about Asian cuisine, whether it's Japanese, Chinese, Southeast Asian, is the flavors that come through in the dishes.

I was really excited to hear that you are cooking with miso, and lemon, and sake because it's all, and chilis, and fresh herbs because it's all of the flavors that I really love to eat.

>> So I'm just going to pull this off the heat for now, let that kind of cool down.

>> ALEX: That looks delicious.

Miso butter's done.

>> So we're going to take our corn and we're going to add it to our bowl.

>> ALEX: Fresh, not boiled, nothing.

>> This is straight off the ear.

>> ALEX: This is when the corn is the sweetest.

It's right at the end of summer.

>> Oh man, I'm going to add my red onion and then I'm going to take my paprika pepper.

You want to try a little piece?

>> ALEX: Yeah.

>> Yeah, yeah, yeah, get in there.

It's going to be nice and sweet to start and then it's going to hit you with that spice.

Yep, right about there.

(chuckles) That's when it's gonna hit you.

>> ALEX: That's good.

>> Yeah, right?

>> ALEX: That's delicious.

Definitely is a very unique- tasting pepper.

>> No, absolutely.

And now that this is mostly cool, I'm just going to take this and dress my corn with it.

>> ALEX: I'm curious to know a little bit about your culinary journey.

>> I didn't really cook that much.

I wasn't, I didn't grow up in, like, a really heavy cooking household.

>> ALEX: So when was that point that you became interested in food?

>> So I moved to L.A., it, like, blew my mind.

I lived in Koreatown, I would go to, like, Little Tokyo.

I would head into Chinatown, like, and all these places, just blowing my mind with flavors and stuff, and I was like, "I can't believe I've never had this before."

When I came back to Rhode Island, that's when I started getting involved in culinary, crazy flavors and, like, trying to, like, pair things up and like, just, like, sourcing the nicest things from around here.

It's all right?

>> ALEX: That fresh corn is so fresh and so sweet.

That bite from the red onion is just amazing.

I can't wait to taste some on the oysters.

>> Yeah, so I'm going to throw just a couple of these on to start.

Once we see that they're starting to cook a little bit, that's when we're going to get a little bit of that relish in each one of them.

>> ALEX: Yum!

>> Yeah, that butter, that miso, that sweet, sweet corn, that's all going to be in there, make these oysters sing, you know?

And so this is, like, half-grilled, half-butter poached.

So yeah, best of both worlds kind of.

>> ALEX: Yum.

>> You can see once they start to, like, plump up and they curl on the edges like that, that's when you can tell that they're starting to get done.

But these are toasted breadcrumbs that are done with olive oil, sesame oil, salt, pepper and some shiso out of my garden, with some lemon zest that was from the lemons that we juiced.

>> ALEX: It's dishes like this that make me, and I hope viewers at home feel really inspired because I don't think I've ever seen this done with this flavor profile and I'm so excited, I'm so excited.

Which camera am I even looking at?

I'm so excited to eat this!

>> (laughing) >> ALEX: Are we going to finish this with some basil?

>> Absolutely, feel free to use some of the flowers too.

I like the flavor of basil flowers a lot.

>> ALEX: So do I-- wow, these oysters are incredible, I think our guests are going to love them.

>> Yeah, thank you.

>> ALEX: We harvested some beautiful summer squash and eggplant and I thought, what better way to showcase this produce than do a gorgeous vegetable side dish for today's feast?

I've grilled off some summer squash here, and then when I grill my eggplants, I love to cook them whole.

I char them on the grill on all sides for about 20 minutes just to get that skin nice and charred.

Look how easy it comes off.

And I like to serve these vegetables on top of a beautiful Tahini dressing.

I start with some Greek yogurt, Tahini, which is just some ground sesame seeds.

And to balance that savoriness, I'm going to add a little bit of lemon juice.

I like adding a little bit of lemon zest, pinch of salt, some black pepper.

And this is a bit thick.

So what I like to do is add some water to thin it out.

This is a consistency that I like.

And how I serve this is I serve the dressing on the bottom, and I'll just make a big beautiful pile.

And then I take the back of my spoon, get it all over.

It just makes for a better presentation.

If I were to put the dressing on top, you would miss all of the beautiful colors from this produce, from Moonrose Farm.

Those women are my heroes.

They're doing what they love, and you can definitely taste it.

I like to serve this with an herb salad on top.

I think it really compliments the smokiness of the grilled vegetables.

So I've got some fresh herbs and I'm going to simply dress it with a little bit of lemon juice, some salt, pepper, olive oil, Just lightly toss that.

And to that I'm going to add a little bit of sliced radish, not only for texture, but for color.

And then lay all of these gorgeous herbs on top.

So add some bread.

This is a really simple showstopping side dish for any feast.

Hello, everybody!

It's feast time!

Thank you all so much for coming tonight!

>> It looks so good.

>> Look at all this beautiful food.

>> ALEX: Thank you both so much for having us at Moonrose Farm.

A lot of the produce that is featured in tonight's feast comes from your gorgeous farm and also from Walrus and Carpenter Oyster Farm.

And here we're feasting at your beautiful family home.

Thank you so much for having us here at Clingstone.

Chef Eli, why don't you take us through what you made today?

>> I call it Rhode Island meets Sao Miguel clam chowder.

So it's a Rhode Island style clear chowder with a little bit of a Portuguese twist.

So it's got some chourio and a little anise liqueur.

And I'm just garnishing with a little drizzle of brown butter and some chopped fresh dill from Jordan and Melissa's farm.

>> ALEX: And Chef Andrew, what did you make tonight?

>> So I made grilled oysters with miso butter and corn relish and some seasoned breadcrumbs on top.

>> They're delicious.

>> ALEX: And after harvesting all of the beautiful produce for Moonrose Farm, I wanted to do a charred whole eggplant with some summer squash, a little tahini dressing.

>> I made an heirloom tomato and melon salad here, with some chilis, shallots, husk cherries, and a fish sauce vinaigrette.

>> ALEX: Really fit for a feast, so enjoy, everybody.

>> Sounds amazing.

> I will.

I'll take some of that for sure.

>> And guys, there's some nice Portuguese papo-seco bread here to dip in the chowder as well.

>> Oh, thank you.

>> Mm, Eli, chowder's very good.

>> Thank you very much.

>> This food is so delicious, guys.

This oyster's amazing.

>> I mean, there were no oysters when I was a kid.

>> Yeah.

>> And then people started having oyster farms and growing oysters, and just incredible cleaning of the bay and it's regenerating and keeping going.

>> Yeah.

>> Especially over here.

The water is so crystal clear off this island, it's amazing.

>> Delicious.

>> Incredible.

>> ALEX: Well, don't get too full because you brought an amazing pie.

What kind of pie did you bring for everybody?

>> Yeah, tell us about it, Mom.

>> We have a blackberry peach (speaks French).

>> ALEX: Amazing.

Wow, that is really good.

If you'd like any of these recipes, make sure to go to movablefeast.relish.com.

Also follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok.

Thank you so much for having us today here in Rhode Island.

I had an absolute blast, and who knows?

Maybe next episode we'll be feasting in your backyard.

>> For more information about this episode, recipes, and behind the scenes fun, make sure you go to relish.com.

Follow us @moveablefeast_tv on Instagram, and like us on Facebook.

See you next time on A Movable Feast with Relish.

>> Major funding provided by: >> Oh, hey, it's the Donovans.

You know, legend has it, the Donovans had a barbecue that fed half a town.

>> You know what I heard?

They drove cross country just to walk their dog.

>> Welcome to the National Kennel Show!

>> Apparently, they climbed a mountain to save some wild horses.

(lightning strikes, thunder rumbles) (whinnies) That's what they say.

>> That's what they say.

>> Additional funding provided by: >> La Panzanella, bakers of Italian-inspired crackers.

Simple ingredients and non-GMO.