Sitting by the Dock of the Bay (while Dancing in the Moonlight)

By Jason
Recipes: Wine Poached Scallops with Peaches & Steamed Clams with Hot Italian Sausage

It’s confession time.

I am afraid of the ocean.

Every time I dip a toe in the water I am convinced that will be eaten by sharks, attacked by a rogue colony of crabs, or caught in a rip current and swept out of sight.

My oceanic fears were exposed on a recent weekend trip to the Hamptons. Adrienne laughed as I jumped at every shadow and limited my swimming to the waist-deep bay water.

Thankfully, my love of eating marine wildlife is not affected by these fears. I eat clam chowder for breakfast when hungover, slurp oysters by the dozen for a snack, and cook scallops weekly for dinner. Nothing beats sipping a beer and enjoying the clean, salty brine clams hold hostage in their shells. And as there is no better place to be eating seafood than by the ocean, I fell in love with the cottage on Bittersweet Lane, a house Adrienne shared with friends this summer.

As Adrienne has already said, Bittersweet is the perfect beach house. Outside of a few necessary repairs (no door handle to the outside, decades old wooden beach chairs with broken springs, etc), the cottage is a welcome respite to the well-documented drama of the Hamptons. For both Adrienne and me, cooking is relaxing. So naturally, when we’re relaxed, we cook. This weekend was all about sitting back, reading at a leisurely pace, and eating from first light until the sun set over the bay horizon.

Here’s hoping that everyone remembered the food, and not my yelping after being maliciously attacked by the biggest, my ferocious crab in the history of crabs.

Wine Poached Scallops with Peaches


1lb sea scallops, rinsed and cleaned
1 bottle white wine (anything with citrus or mineral notes preferred), at room temperature
6 sprigs fresh thyme, a few leaves reserved
Juice of 2 lemons, in separate bowls
2 ripe fresh peaches, peeled (the softer the peach the better)
Sea salt
Fresh Pepper
Extra Virgin Olive Oil

In a high-sided sauté pan combine the white wine, thyme, and juice from 1 lemon. Heat over medium until it comes to a bowl and lower to a simmer. Poach scallops (meaning they should be almost, if not completely, submersed in the simmering wine) until cooked through. About 2 minutes per side depending on the size of the scallops. Remove the scallops from the pan, cover with plastic wrap, and place in the fridge until completely cool – at least 1 hour.

Remove scallops from the fridge and slice into thin rounds. Thinly slice the peaches (I use a mandoline). Plate the dish by building a circle on the plate, alternating scallop and peach slices. Sprinkle with sea salt and fresh pepper, and drizzle with olive oil and the remaining lemon juice. Garnish with a few leaves of thyme.

Steamed Clams with Hot Italian Sausage


4 dozen littleneck clams, scrubbed clean
8 hot italian sausages
4 bottles of beer (I use Moretti), at room temperature
3 large shallots, finely chopped
4 large cloves garlic, finely chopped
4 tbsp Dijon mustard
2 tsp saffron threads
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
1 ½ cups fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped
2 tsp fresh ground pepper
Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Cook sausages in 1 beer in a sauté pan with high sides over medium low heat. I never split or puncture sausages because the liquid inside the casing helps cook the meat and keeps it moist when eating. When the beer has evaporated, add in olive oil and raise heat to medium. This will brown the sausage casing. Once cooked through (about 15 minutes in total), set the sausages aside until cool enough to cut into rounds.

Coat the bottom of a large pot with olive oil over medium-low heat. Saute the shallots and garlic until soft and fragrant, about 5 minutes. Pour in the beer and let settle. Wisk in the mustard, saffron, lemon juice, zest, and pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil and then lower to a simmer. Cook for about 15 minutes until slightly reduced. Bring the mixture back up to boiling and add the clams. Cover and cook until clams are opened. You can remove clams as they open so that the others have room.

When all of the clams have opened (those that do not open are dead – just throw these out) place them in a large serving bowl along with the sausage and chopped parsley. Pour over the broth and serve with slices of crusty bread.