Weekends with Yankee

NARRATOR: This week on Weekends With Yankee, Amy heads to Maine to board the Lindsey Marie and visit PenBay Scallops.

Everything we have is just live.

They don't get any fresher than live.

NARRATOR: And then cooks with chef Devin Finigan at Aragosta.

I'm cooking with my heart.

TRAVERSO: Mm-hmm.

I'm literally putting my heart on a plate.

NARRATOR: Richard explores the heart of New Hampshire's Lakes Region, trying out eFoiling on Lake Winnipesaukee.

WIESE: (shouts) NARRATOR: And visits Moulton Farm to make tasty whoopie pies.

WIESE: I mean, let's just face it, they're delicious.

NARRATOR: Finally, we visit several restaurants in Kennebunkport, a food lover's destination, where we sample the town's culinary diversity.

There are so many amazing restaurants that it becomes the event of the evening.

NARRATOR: So come along with us for a once-in-a-lifetime journey through New England as you've never experienced it before, a true insider's guide from the editors of Yankee magazine.

Join explorer and adventurer Richard Wiese and Yankee senior food editor Amy Traverso for behind-the-scenes access to the unique attractions that define this region.

It's the ultimate travel guide from the people who know it best.

Weekends With Yankee.

Major funding provided by... Massachusetts is home to a lot of firsts-- the first public park in America; the first fried clams; the first university in America; the first basketball game.

What's first for you?

Grady-White, crafting offshore sport fishing boats for over 60 years.

The Barn Yard, builders of timber-frame barns and garages.

And by American Cruise Lines, exploring the historic shores of New England.

TRAVERSO: I am so happy today because I'm about to have the ultimate Maine day.

First, I'm going to be going out in a boat with Bob and Marsden Brewer.

Now, they are farming sea scallops in the most sustainable way, and I'm going to get to learn about that.

Then I'll be meeting up with chef Devin Finigan of Aragosta, which is probably Maine's most beautiful restaurant, with food to match.

NARRATOR: Chef Devin joins Amy on Penobscot Bay to meet Captain Marsden.

He's a third-generation fisherman whose boat, the Lindsey Marie, is named after his daughter.

Marsden is known as a pioneer for farmed scallops, and is helping to lead Maine into sustainable scallop aquaculture.

TRAVERSO: Hi, I'm Amy.

Hi, Amy, I'm Marsden.

TRAVERSO: Nice to meet you, Marsden.

NARRATOR: Penobscot Bay has been inhabited by the Penobscot Indian Nation for generations.

It was one of Maine's first lobster grounds, and a hub for the fishing industry.

TRAVERSO: Captain, my only experience with scalloping has always been, you know, wild kind of dredging, harvesting of scallops, going out on the boat, whether it's bay scallops or sea scallops.

So, how did you come to farm them?

Well, I've been fishing all my life.

TRAVERSO: Right.

With management, it just, nothing ever seemed sustainable.

You know, we used to have a groundfish fleet, we used to have a scallop fleet that would go down the Cape in the summertime... TRAVERSO: Mm-hmm.

...up here in the winter.

It just, over time, everything shrunk down.

NARRATOR: In 2016, Marsden and his son Robert traveled to Japan, a world leader in successful scallop aquaculture.

They discovered that farming scallops could be a sustainable alternative to traditional dredging.

The Japanese took the scallop industry that was in the toilet like ours was ten years ago... TRAVERSO: Mm-hmm.

And turned it into something that dwarfed our lobster fishery at the best of it.

NARRATOR: Marsden's son, Robert, grew up on these waters, working alongside his father.

It's a lot of work but-- TRAVERSO: Yeah.

Yeah.

It's enjoyable, to be on the water.

You don't have to be out in the middle of the ocean getting thrashed around every day.

NARRATOR: Farming scallops is a complex process that starts with raising larvae, all the way to the final harvest, two to three years later.

TRAVERSO: So, how long from that larval stage to having a scallop that is ready to harvest?

How long does that take?

Yeah, we harvest our Princess scallops just about two years.

TRAVERSO: Okay.

And then, our target focus is a medium scallop.

TRAVERSO: Uh-huh.

And they're about a three-year-old scallop.

TRAVERSO: Wow.

What we're doing here is taking a look on this line to check to see how much the scallops have grown.

All these nets have got to come in, and all the product be dumped out of them.

That's the kelp that'll be growing on them, the sea squirts.

Scallops will go through the grader here and the washer.

These are our floats, this is where we work on our scallops.

They grow out on the lines.

TRAVERSO: Right.

And then when they're at a size we want to sell, we'll put them in bags and put them here to sell for the week.

TRAVERSO: What makes a beautiful sea scallop so good?

The freshness.

TRAVERSO: Mm-hmm.

With us, everything we harvest is live.

TRAVERSO: Yeah.

So when the customer gets it, they don't get any fresher than live.

TRAVERSO: What's your primary market for these gorgeous scallops?

Some of the finest chefs in the country, like Devin at Aragosta.

And we send the rest down to Steve.

TRAVERSO: It's a short distance from Stonington Harbor to Aragosta, and this last stretch is where you really feel like you're entering something magical.

I'm going through these spruce forests, and the ground is blanketed with moss, and I feel like chef Devin, who trained as an artist before she became a chef, must have had this in mind as the kind of initial experience for people visiting the restaurant.

NARRATOR: The restaurant and guest suites are called Aragosta, which is the Italian word for lobster.

Inspired by the seasonal flavors of this pristine coast, Vermont native Devin Finigan creates the ultimate Down East Maine experience in fine dining and hospitality.

I grew up in the kitchen with my dad, who's a retired chef, and then I just moved to Maine, and I don't think I could ever live away from here.

TRAVERSO: Wow.

The ocean is, you know... That salt air, it gets in your blood.

TRAVERSO: Yes, yes.

I love to entertain.

TRAVERSO: Right.

And I love people to feel love through food.

TRAVERSO: So, tell me actually about where we are, because the view here could not be more beautiful.

Yes.

We're at Aragosta at Goose Cove in Deer Isle, Maine.

So, we're on an island off the coast of Maine, up near Bar Harbor.

TRAVERSO: Mm-hmm.

This property is 21.9 acres.

TRAVERSO: Wow.

Abutting a natural preserve.

It's fairyland, it's magical here.

NARRATOR: Devin studied photography, and is a master gardener, but she is also a James Beard nominee.

On the menu today, PenBay scallops and her signature tagliatelle with lobster and beurre blanc.

Back in the day, it used to be a lobster ravioli.

TRAVERSO: Okay.

Today, we're going to make a tagliatelle, and do, kind of like, a tossed pasta.

TRAVERSO: Ooh!

Great.

Oh, perfect.

And I'm going to have you help with making the filling.

We need to mince some garlic.

TRAVERSO: Love to do that.

Great.

So, the one thing I love about making pasta is the feel, and some people would do it in the food processor, which is fine.

TRAVERSO: Right.

I like to feel it.

TRAVERSO: I feel that way about pie crust, too.

I just like to make it in my hands.

Yeah, totally.

When I started this dish, the lobster pasta, I had no intention of it ever being my signature recipe.

TRAVERSO: Really?

I was catering... (both chuckle) ...and they wanted me to make a lobster dish, and I made lobster ravioli.

But then, I realized when I was cooking, I didn't have a sauce.

It's white wine that we're going to bring down.

We're going to add a little lemon and shallot into that.

TRAVERSO: Mm-hmm.

And then we're going to add a touch of cream.

Love cream.

TRAVERSO: Love cream.

We're going to add a little bit of butter, and then it's just going to thicken.

And that is the ingredients that I had with me that day.

TRAVERSO: Nice.

Whoo!

(both laugh) TRAVERSO: It's a big part of your ethos to be doing everything from scratch, like the pasta.

What else do you make from scratch?

We make everything in-house.

TRAVERSO: Yeah.

We make sorbet, ice cream, bread, butter.

TRAVERSO: Wow, butter.

We ferment things, we, you know, make stocks, we make limoncellos, pretty much anything we can do.

NARRATOR: Aragosta's tasting menu is a dream come true for Devin in this place she calls home, working with local farmers and fishermen.

I like to cook, like, with Mediterranean flavors, TRAVERSO: Mm-hmm.

So like capers, herbs, lemons... TRAVERSO: Right.

But then bring the New England twist into it, right?

TRAVERSO: Yeah, yeah.

I don't want to forget where we live.

TRAVERSO: So we're cooking with lobster right now, but I know you also have something up your sleeve for the scallops that we harvested today?

Yes.

TRAVERSO: Okay.

We are going to do two preparations of scallops.

We're going to do a raw... TRAVERSO: Ooh!

...with a little grapefruit aguachile, and some finger limes and fresh herbs.

And we're going to make the sauce, and top it and fire them in the oven.

TRAVERSO: Ooh, gorgeous.

Okay.

These are PenBay scallops, we were just at the farm.

These are medium-sized.

TRAVERSO: Wow.

So these, I think, are probably three years old?

TRAVERSO: Gorgeous.

Those big ones.

So, when you're shucking... ...there's a flat part and a round part.

You want that flat part.

TRAVERSO: Right.

You can kind of look up in there.

And Marsden had a scallop shucking knife, this is an oyster shucking knife.

TRAVERSO: Okay.

So, you're going to want to put it in, and hold the pressure, and you go right around the top, and you're adhering the nub off.

TRAVERSO: Okay.

Okay.

And then, you can just take and pull everything off.

(sizzling) I hear those scallops sizzle.

TRAVERSO: Oh my gosh, that sound.

Yeah.

TRAVERSO: That beautiful sound.

NARRATOR: Devin puts the finishing touches on the meal, where each exquisite plate reflects her surroundings, from local ingredients to moss and flowers.

TRAVERSO: This is so delicious.

Oh!

(laughs) TRAVERSO: I love... You've got this wonderful buttery richness from the butter and the cream, but the brightness of the lemon, and the herbs just like dances at the top, and then the sweet lobster.

It's just perfect.

When I plate each dish in the restaurant, and I finish each dish and put a flower on it or whatever, I'm cooking with my heart.

TRAVERSO: Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

I'm like literally putting my heart on a plate.

And I feel like people can taste that.

TRAVERSO: You know, I've admired you from a distance for a long time, so it's so nice to meet you... Oh, thank you.

And it was so fun, and I'm so happy to have a little prep cook next to me and teach you some techniques.

(Amy laughs) Anytime you want to come back.

TRAVERSO: Thank you.

We're always recruiting!

TRAVERSO: And how often do you get to sit down and eat your food, right?

Not often.

Not often.

But it's nice to be able to do it, so thank you.

TRAVERSO: Oh, thank you.

Well, cheers.

Well, cheers.

TRAVERSO: To Maine.

To Maine.

(glasses clink) WIESE: Good morning from Lake Winnipesaukee.

The Abenaki people call this "the smile from the Great Spirit."

It's also the largest lake in New Hampshire.

And today, I'm about to learn how to eFoil.

Richard, welcome to Birch Island.

WIESE: Oh, I love this place.

Is this your summer place?

This is.

This old camp was built in the early 1890s.

NARRATOR: Pete and Ann Fagan are the owner-operators of eFoil New Hampshire.

An eFoil is an electric motorized surfboard with a hydrofoil wing underneath.

You're flying over the water and... It's quiet, and you're just in a Zen mode.

It's all Zen.

WIESE: If you look at the long history of Lake Winnipesaukee, you had the Abenaki Nation here.

You know, certainly, they were in canoes.

And then you've had wooden boats here from Europeans, and then, you know, motorboats.

But, an eFoil seems like just something out of Back to the Future.

Yeah.

It really is.

It's called eFoiling because it's got a hydrofoil underneath it, and it's run by an electric battery.

When it's nice and calm out, there's nothing like it.

There's nothing like flying over the water.

NARRATOR: Surf's up!

Richard is about to hang ten without waves or wind on an eFoil.

The first thing is you're going to get on your stomach, and you're going to get used to gliding on the water on your stomach.

WIESE: Right.

And that can be fun by itself.

And then, turn...

Exactly.

And then you're going to turn left and right.

We'll make you do a circle.

Then, we'll get you to your knees.

WIESE: Getting me to my knees just to pray, right?

(laughs) The eFoil gods will help you stand up.

WIESE: I'm hoping that Winnipesaukee, the smile of the Great Spirit, will be upon me on this one.

Well, I'm sure she will be.

The hard part is actually getting used to the throttle, because you control your own speed.

You're not at the mercy of a boat.

If you pull your shoulders back and sit back, you'll come up on the wing!

Richard's doing really well.

This is pretty typical of how someone learns, and if he could just get his weight more forward on the board, he'd be rocking it.

WIESE: I'm so frustrated.

(chuckles) WIESE: Just that last moment of balance.

Although I'm not doing very well, I'm not necessarily discouraged, because I know I can do it.

I know I can do it, I know I can do it, I know I can do it!

So, I'm going to do it.

You have to totally be in the moment, because if you let your mind wander too much, you might get too high, you might breach.

So, my mind is just like right in the present moment, and it just feels awesome.

(water splashing) WIESE: (shouts) All right, Richard!

(clapping) Woo-hoo!

(water splashing) WIESE: Ann, thank you so much.

You are so welcome.

You did a really good job.

WIESE: Once you're up on that foil, and you're just getting a vista of the lake, it's so different than anything you've ever done.

If I were to describe it as three words, a magic carpet.

Not far from Lake Winnipesaukee is Moulton Farms.

This has been family-owned since 1891, and it's a top destination for those of us who want an authentic farm experience.

NARRATOR: John Moulton is a former school teacher who has run the farm for over 20 years.

Moulton Farm is a beloved part of the community, with good reason.

The fall is the greatest time of year here at the farm, because we have families that will come hang out for the whole day.

They'll spend time in the corn maze, they'll have a cider donut.

They'll come out and do their own family games in one of our fields.

They'll take a ride on the tractor to the pumpkin patch.

It becomes a low-key relaxing event for the family.

WIESE: Give me a little history about this farm.

When my great-grandparents came here, they ran it as a, a farm that was sustainable for the family.

My dad, at some point, had decided that he needed to have a college fund.

First college fund was gained by, at eight years of age, sitting me out beside Route 25 selling pumpkins out of the back of a truck.

You can't take the farmer out of a boy.

Once you accept it as a job or a lifestyle, you never want to leave it.

NARRATOR: Over the years, the farm has changed with the times, from dairy operation to growing crops, like potatoes and pumpkins.

WIESE: People like to see where their food comes from, right?

We guarantee that if they're looking at vegetable plants, these are the very same vegetable varieties that we grow on the farm, greens and lettuces and tomatoes from our greenhouses.

I am never ceased to be amazed by our community members.

They have the feeling that this is the right thing to do, is to support local food production.

NARRATOR: Kyle Lacasse is the farm's production manager.

He oversees 70 acres of farming, including the greenhouses.

Today, he shares tips on creating an herb planter.

WIESE: How can people put a nice array of things that will be useful in the kitchen, that will look decorative, and also be useful?

What I like about the herb planter is that it'll be really pretty, but it's also functional.

You can go out and pick out of it and eat the stuff out of your garden.

We sell a lot of herbs in six packs and four packs.

But a real easy thing for a home gardener or a savvy gardener is to get the four packs or the six packs, get a container, and get a little potting soil.

And we want to keep our herbs green and healthy and growing strong through the summer.

NARRATOR: One of the keys to success with herbs is keeping the soil full of nutrients.

So, do you want to grab a little bit of that and mix it?

WIESE: Yeah.

Mix it on in this?

WIESE: Nothing like the fresh smell of manure in your hands.

(chuckles) Yeah.

Mix it in, kind of get it blended nicely.

And now we're... time to pick our varieties and what we want to plant into it.

WIESE: Okay.

What you enjoy.

WIESE: All right.

I have a little bit of basil here.

I would say a really common mistake for a lot of home gardeners, whether it's in your garden or in a container, would be overcrowding.

WIESE: Yeah.

Because these-- WIESE: You always try to max out the space.

You want to get as much as you can in there, right?

NARRATOR: Richard and Kyle add mint and chives around the edge, while continuing to mix in other herbs as needed.

WIESE: I love the smell of rosemary.

This is my favorite herb, so... WIESE: Yeah.

So, I'm glad you chose the rosemary.

NARRATOR: Kyle finishes by adding lettuce to the center of the herbs.

Even have maybe an added salad as well.

It's super simple, something that you can throw together and have great success with.

WIESE: All right, Kyle.

It's a good starting point.

WIESE: Thank you very much.

You're welcome.

Thank you.

NARRATOR: No trip to Moulton Farm would be complete without sampling its famous whoopie pies.

WIESE: One of the things that people love, besides fresh vegetables, is the dessert whoopie pie.

Mm-hmm.

WIESE: How do you construct one of these, and what is that secret sauce?

All right, so we take our shell.

So we're going to take the chocolate, which is our chocolate base, and then we take our fluff mixture.

WIESE: Which is?

Fluff, butter, and sugar.

WIESE: Okay, so this is a low cal... Delicious.

Very low-calorie, obviously.

WIESE: Low-calorie.

WIESE: And that's it.

And that's it.

WIESE: We were going to do a taste test of the two different chocolates.

Uh-huh.

NARRATOR: Can Richard tell the difference between a regular chocolate pie versus one made with premium Ghirardelli dark chocolate?

(drum roll) WIESE: Ghirardelli.

(drum roll) You got it.

WIESE: You know, it's been generations of my family since they came from Europe.

You still know the taste.

WIESE: We're sort of like truffle pigs.

We've been... you know, our senses are alive on this.

No, these are really good.

To be honest, either one was really good.

I mean, let's just face it, they're delicious.

Well, thank you.

WIESE: Thank you so much.

Thank you very much.

NARRATOR: Kennebunkport sits just 90 minutes north of Boston, and has long been a popular tourist destination.

The beautiful views and trinket shops have remained, but the expanding food scene is now a notable part of the experience.

Nunan's Lobster Hut represents the quintessential Maine summer fare.

My mother was Bertha Nunan.

She was very outgoing, she had nicknames for everybody that come in.

It was a family thing, and everybody that come in was family, whether she met them once, or year after year.

And she ran it up until... ...it was '94, she turned everything over to my brother and I.

It just grew over the years to what it is.

People love to go out and eat, they really do.

And they don't mind spending the money on a good product.

And we're able to keep our price down, because we're buying it direct from our own boats.

NARRATOR: Keith's brother, Richard, better known as "Yogi," and his nephew bring in the freshly caught lobsters each day.

Their dock is only a few miles from the restaurant.

It is hard to find lobster more fresh than here.

Just like my mother said, if it's not dripping off your elbows, it's no fun.

We have customers that watched me grow up.

I've watched little kids grow up.

It's a good community of restaurants that are in this town, there are a lot of good restaurants.

Back in the day, when my mother was doing this, there weren't as many, so the pie was smaller.

So, now the pie is bigger.

It's like any other business, you've got to keep it on point, and it takes all of you to do it.

NARRATOR: After a taste of the sea, visitors to this region can head to Earth at Hidden Pond.

Tucked into the coastal forest, this unique restaurant offers a farm-to-fork menu.

We're situated on a little more than 60 acres, and we have cabins and cottages in different parts of the property, so everything is kind of spaced out.

And it's really an amazing disconnect, where you can get back in tune with nature, you can go on little walks on the property, you can get on a bike and go to the beach.

Everything is pretty accessible, yet you still feel like you're in another world.

The experience that we're trying to create for our diners is rustic elegance.

People can come and enjoy a fine meal, but in a casual setting that's comfortable and relaxed, but also refined.

Here in Maine, we're incredibly blessed and fortunate to have so many resources to rely on.

Whether it's people foraging in the woods, or doing wild Maine blueberries, all the different things that we can incorporate into our cuisine.

We don't have a large enough garden where we can rely solely on our own production.

So we have to think of creative and unique ways to incorporate the things that we do grow into our menu, to try to just, you know, make sure that we're utilizing it and adding an extra layer of freshness to our food.

When I first arrived to town in 2003, people viewed dinner as sustenance, you know?

Whereas now, there's so many amazing restaurants, that it becomes the event of the evening.

NARRATOR: Rosella KPT may be a newcomer to the culinary scene here, but its successful menu, focusing on ethically farmed sushi, was born in New York City.

I never went to culinary school, I didn't work in a restaurant before I started making sushi, save for delivering pizzas, at, you know, a place called Fralo's when I was in high school.

If you would've asked me, even in college, you know, like, if I was going to be a sushi chef, I don't think that that would've even, like, been in the realm of possibility for me.

It was something that I kind of just fell into.

But once I kind of got my foot in the door there, I think it, it lit a fire in me.

Sushi specifically has this, sort of, infinite learning curve that just sucks you in, and makes it easy to just kind of pour yourself into it.

And once I started doing it, I just kind of couldn't stop.

(chuckles) Being able to see the product from the whole animal, down to, you know, the finished product of a piece of nigiri, or roll, or whatever it is, I think absolutely sort of instills an appreciation for the animal itself, and, and for the ingredients that you're using.

Sustainability should be obvious, and inherent, and should go without saying.

And so with Rosella, I think it was largely a marked effort to use the fish that were sort of locally available, and to focus on what was kind of abundant.

And I think that that, more than anything else, sort of dictates the ethos of how we make sushi here at Rosella.

NARRATOR: For exclusive videos, recipes, travel ideas, tips from the editors, and access to the Weekends With Yankee digital magazine, go to weekendswithyankee.com and follow us on social media, @yankeemagazine.

Yankee magazine, the inspiration for the television series, provides recipes, feature articles, and the best of New England from the people who know it best.

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Call 1-800-221-8154. Credit cards accepted.

Major funding provided by... Massachusetts is home to a lot of firsts-- the first public park in America; the first fried clams; the first university in America; the first basketball game.

What's first for you?

Grady-White, crafting offshore sportfishing boats for over 60 years.

The Barn Yard, builders of timber-frame barns and garages.

And by American Cruise Lines, exploring the historic shores of New England.