♪ ♪ >> From the editors of Relish.com, we bring you Moveable Feast, with host Alex Thomopoulos.

>> ALEX THOMOPOULOS: So we're gonna be doing something a little differently today.

We're off to meet two of Boston's most innovative chefs, James Beard Award-winning chef Jamie Bissonnette... >> This is gonna be wicked good, kid.

>> ALEX: ...and rising star chef David Bazirgan.

>> We're gonna actually poach some eggs in there.

>> ALEX: Wow.

They're gonna help us source some of Boston's more unusual ingredients.

Lookout Farms is our first stop, where we'll be harvesting a fruit that was once solely reserved for nobility, the elegant and sweet Asian pear.

And let's be honest, being in Boston without any seafood is like being in Paris without any bread.

But instead of hitting up a local seafood market, we're off to Boston Smoked Fish, pioneers in this seafood-crazed city.

And once we gathered all of our ingredients for our feast, we're off to Chef Bazirgan's critically acclaimed restaurant, Bambara.

We're planning on getting creative in the kitchen and dishing up a one-of-a-kind, mouthwatering courtyard brunch for very hungry friends.

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

♪ ♪ >> Coming up next on Moveable Feast with Relish.

>> Major funding provided by: >> Ladies and gentlemen, your attention, please.

(gecko clears throat, feedback squeals) >> GEICO would like to take a moment to say thank you to our military service members at home and abroad for all their hard work and sacrifice.

We all sleep easier knowing you're out there keeping us safe.

And on a personal note... (jet engines roar, gecko's speech muffled) (crowd cheering) (exhales) Just needed to get that off my chest.

Thank you.

>> GEICO-- proudly supporting the military for over 75 years.

>> We can't just take from nature, so we collaborate.

Ocean Spray works with nature every day to farm in a sustainable way.

♪ ♪ >> Ocean Spray is a proud sponsor of Moveable Feast.

>> At Pure Leaf, the most important ingredient in making tea is saying no.

We're committed to saying no to artificial flavors and sweeteners in our brewed iced teas.

♪ ♪ >> I am Errico Auricchio, the founder of BelGioioso Cheese.

I came in 1979 from Italy with my family and the memory of Italian cheese.

>> Ripe coconut with no added sugar and low sodium.

>> Welcome to Boston.

>> Welcome to Boston.

>> ALEX: Thank you.

>> It's so good to see you.

>> ALEX: It's so good to see you too, bud.

>> Yeah.

>> ALEX: I'm like...

I'm really excited to be shown around the city by you two chefs because you really have pushed the envelope of the culinary scene in this city.

>> I mean, Boston is so unique and this area we're in right now is very innovative.

If you look around, none of these buildings were here ten years ago.

This was pretty flat.

There was nothing except for the fish pier.

It was no man's land.

The industry here has gotten a lot more progressive.

There's a lot more influence from other cuisines.

It used to just be Italian and French and, like, New England American.

Now you'll see things from everywhere.

It's really great to see how Boston is stepping into the culinary stage a little bit more in the last 15 years than it had 20 years ago.

>> ALEX: So can you talk to me a little bit about the spirit of Boston?

>> I think people are very open, very blunt here.

You know, I think sometimes they get a reputation of kind of being a little too aggressive, but people here are actually pretty friendly.

>> Come on!

(laughter) What are you talking about?

>> ALEX: So we definitely know this city has a lot of spirit in it.

What about the food, the ingredients, the farming here?

>> I mean, there's some of the oldest operating farms in the United States in New England, some just outside of Boston.

It's wild.

>> Yeah, right now, it's the perfect time of the year for apples.

It's a huge, huge product here.

>> And there's some newer companies that are working down here on the fish pier that are doing a lot of innovative stuff, doing like smoked fish, which is what we're gonna go to check out today.

You're gonna love it.

>> ALEX: Well, this is the first kind of brunch that we're doing here on the show.

>> I love cooking brunch.

I can't wait to cook brunch with you.

>> ALEX: Well, I feel really lucky to be shown around the city by you two.

I know for a fact we're gonna come across some pretty awesome ingredients.

>> You will never know what to expect when you're with us.

(laughter) Let's head down this way.

>> ALEX: I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing.

♪ ♪ >> So we're down here on the historic Boston fish pier.

As you can tell, this is a working pier.

It's about 110 years old, and at one point there were four deep back here on both sides of the pier.

In the last 15 years there's been a really renaissance on the fish pier of new, younger companies coming on.

And it's great being here because we're surrounded by all of our suppliers.

So we're getting really some of the freshest fish that New England has to offer.

>> ALEX: What sort of fish are you smoking at Boston Smoked Fish?

>> We do primarily salmon.

We do a beautiful Norwegian salmon.

We also do a wonderful Alaskan salmon when it's in season.

>> Tell me a little bit more about the brining process.

>> Sure.

So the brine really depends on what species you're working with.

We start with a wet brine, and we have various ingredients that we'll see once we go inside what those are.

>> ALEX: Well, I'd love to actually see that process and get to taste some fish.

>> That sounds great to me.

Let's go.

>> All right.

>> Thanks.

♪ ♪ >> All right, we're inside now, and we're joined by my business partner, Chris, who has been with me since day one.

>> Hi, everyone.

>> Where we are right now is in the raw brine area, and this is kind of where everything begins here.

It's the building blocks of our flavor profile that you're gonna get in the final product.

And every ingredient here plays a special role.

First and foremost with making a brine, you have two basic building blocks-- salt, of course, to cure it, and brown sugar.

Our freshly minced garlic.

All of our products are gluten free, so we use a tamari soy sauce.

And then we've got our ball of bay leaves.

A little bit warm water right now, just kind of help melt down, break up that brown sugar, any clumps that might be in the salt.

>> Okay.

>> It already smells awesome.

>> Yeah, smells amazing.

>> Very, very strong, pronounced smell.

>> ALEX: So after it sits in the wet brine, what's the next process?

>> Then we're gonna put it on trays and we're gonna put it in our drying room, depending on the species, anywhere from 24 hours to 48 hours.

>> ALEX: Can I add the bay leaves?

>> Yes, you can add the bay leaves.

>> Nice.

>> Now is the proper time.

In the bath.

About 2.5-pound to three-pound sides of Atlantic salmon.

♪ ♪ >> ALEX: So, after the salmon is brined, it goes into your drying room and then it goes to the smoker.

>> Correct.

Okay, now that this is in the brine, let's go see something that we brined.

♪ ♪ So here's some salmon.

And if you could tell the difference from what we just put in the brine, this kind of has almost like a plasticky look to it.

It's got firm edges.

>> Oh, wow.

>> ALEX: Oh, yeah.

>> It stiffened up a little bit.

And that's exactly what we're looking for.

That's perfect for smoking right now.

>> ALEX: Awesome.

Well, let's go over to the smoker and see how we finish this fish off.

>> Let's go to the smoker.

Okay.

>> Let's do it.

>> I'm going to say it again, but when do we get to eat?

(laughter) ♪ ♪ >> Looks... really what we're looking for is that nice golden brown.

And I think we could take a look inside.

>> Oh, look at that.

>> ALEX: Wow.

>> There we go.

That's beautiful.

That's a beautiful color of smoke.

So this is our salmon bacon, which, which is coming along nicely here.

>> ALEX: And what type of wood are you using to smoke the salmon bacon?

This is a cherry and pecan blend.

>> ALEX: Cherry and pecan?

>> Oh man.

Smell it.

>> ALEX: It smells incredible.

>> You can smell the cherry.

>> Yeah, totally.

>> You can see that nice... that nice golden color.

>> ALEX: Wow!

>> And just that beautiful marbling.

You can eat that, that's as fresh as it gets.

>> Oh!

>> ALEX: Oh!

>> Really intense in flavor, but still, but still a nice balance.

>> The fattiness of it just... crispy texture outside, and then it just melts.

>> Exactly.

>> ALEX: It literally melts in your mouth.

So, what do you guys think you're gonna use for our feast today?

>> I got super excited about the salmon bacon, so I was thinking of maybe doing like a potato roesti cake.

Kind of like a hash brown with salmon bacon on top, maybe with a poached egg or something like that.

>> That sounds awesome.

Well, if you're gonna take the salmon bacon, then can I snag some of that haddock you were talking about?

I think you said it was still in the smoker.

>> Absolutely, yeah.

I'll send some over to you so you can use that and turn it into something great.

>> Oh, man, I'm gonna love that.

That's great, thank you.

>> ALEX: Awesome.

So, are we gonna see you guys later for our brunch feast?

>> Absolutely.

>> Wouldn't miss it.

>> ALEX: Great.

Well, we've got a lot of work to do.

Got ahead to Lookout Farms, let's go.

Thanks, guys, appreciate it.

>> Thank you very much for coming by.

♪ ♪ Hi!

>> Hey, guys.

Welcome to Lookout Farm.

>> ALEX: Thank you.

Thank you for having us.

>> Our pleasure.

Can you tell us a little bit about Lookout Farms and what you grow here?

>> I sure can.

So Lookout Farm is one of the oldest continuously operating farms in the country-- it was founded in 1651.

It's 180 acres of property and we've got 56,000 trees under cultivation here.

>> ALEX: And what sort of fruits do you grow here?

>> Just collectively here we have two types of apples, happen to be here.

So macouns, which are these right here.

And then we have honeycrisp.

So, generally speaking, macouns are really a baking apple, a bit more on the tart side.

I do like to eat them.

But, really, I think a premier eating apple is the honeycrisp.

It just has that sweet crunchiness, which is really particular for a nice flavor for apples.

>> ALEX: Can I eat these?

>> You sure can.

>> ALEX: Okay, great.

These are good.

Want an apple?

>> I had one earlier.

>> I had one in my pocket already.

>> Yeah.

>> ALEX: You want picking in the field already?

>> Yeah, I mean, the acidity on those are so great.

I cannot wait to see what I'm gonna do with them today.

And I love the tartness, but it's so interesting to think about them as the acidity in a dish and to use them as something to refresh a richer thing.

>> Still has a great texture to it just eating it raw as, you know, sometimes a cooking apple can break down a little bit too fast.

But it's really good.

>> ALEX: Aside from apples, what else do you grow here?

>> Actually, one of our specialty crops are Asian pears.

We grow the shinseiki and the hosui Asian pear.

>> ALEX: Do you think we can try some?

>> You sure can.

In fact, Amy has some right here.

>> Which ones are these?

>> So these were actually all hosui.

Want to take one, you can see.

So you can really tell the one that you have in particular is more ripe.

You can actually tell if you turn it over and you look around this area here, you can see a little bit of darkness.

You'll start to see some stretch marks almost.

>> Awesome.

>> ALEX: I don't know about you, chefs, but I don't think I've had an Asian pear with so much flavor and complexity before.

>> A lot of times I find Asian pears, the skin can be a little bit bitter, but this... this is just... it's so pleasant.

Wicked good.

>> ALEX: It's wicked charming.

>> I like that, it's wicked good.

>> What sort of items do you sell here at Lookout Farms?

Do you use the apples in cider or baked goods?

>> We do, yeah.

We grow seven varieties of heirloom apples, many of those of which make it into our ciders now.

>> ALEX: Well, what do you think you guys are gonna use for the feast today?

>> I want to make a salad with some of these macoun apples.

I have to.

>> ALEX: What about you, chef?

>> Since we're cooking brunch, I had this idea to actually poach eggs in the cider from here.

>> ALEX: Ooh, that sounds interesting.

>> You got to use the pears, then.

>> ALEX: I'm def... no, that's not even a question.

I've got to use these pears in something.

I think I'm going to do some sort of dessert.

These are so sweet and delicious, I want to really highlight the flavor of this.

So I think it's good.

I think we'll pack up some Asian pears.

Excellent.

Some apples and maybe some cider.

>> For sure.

>> Sounds great.

>> ALEX: Thank you so much.

>> My pleasure.

♪ ♪ >> All right, chef, walk me through how to make this potato roesti.

>> Key is to have a star... somewhat starchy potato.

This here is a Kennebec potato.

You know, you can go right onto a plate, into a bowl.

Doesn't really matter.

You just want to kinda catch the potato as it grates down.

>> ALEX: What's the difference between a potato pancake and a roesti?

>> A roesti potato cake comes from Switzerland.

It's a grated potato that goes into a pan, it's uniform and typically round and cooked in some some form of fat.

Today I'm using duck fat, because potatoes and duck fat, you know... >> ALEX: Go very, very well together.

♪ ♪ >> So I'm squeezing out that liquid.

You notice that there's, like, all this excess juice.

>> ALEX: Right.

>> Whereas if I didn't squeeze it out, it's going to limit the potato from getting as crispy as I want it, and the crispiness and the edges is really key to a good roesti.

>> ALEX: So while we're getting this potato roesti going in the pan, can you tell me a little bit about your background, a little bit about Bambara and how you ended up the chef here?

>> My dad's side's Armenian and my mom is German and English.

So a lot of the cooking I do at Bambara, I pull from the eastern Mediterranean influences, but I also love Italian cooking and French cooking.

Menu is kind of all over the map, because that's just the way I like to cook.

♪ ♪ So next I have some of that beautiful cider we got at the farm.

>> ALEX: It smells amazing.

>> We're gonna actually poach some eggs in there.

>> ALEX: Wow.

I've never had a cider-poached egg.

Have you, Jamie?

>> No, I'm actually... as he's talking about it thinking about how I'm gonna rip this off and use it at one of my restaurants.

(laughter) No, it's true.

When I moved to Boston, Baz was the chef de cuisine of a restaurant that I would go eat at.

I didn't know him yet, and I've always looked up to him.

You know, Baz is, you know, he's a legend.

>> ALEX: That's so nice.

>> Very kind words from one of the best chefs in Boston.

I appreciate that, Jamie.

>> ALEX: I like this dynamic.

This is a fun episode.

♪ ♪ >> Hollandaise sauce.

My rule of thumb is here I have four egg yolks.

So we're going to a pound of butter.

One stick is a quarter pound.

>> ALEX: It's a feast.

>> Start by whisking the egg yolks in a large bowl, a couple tablespoons of water.

>> So why did you decide you wanted to make this dish with these ingredients?

>> Well, I know for sure Hollandaise works with eggs because of eggs Benedict.

I love the harissa because it has a little bit of heat to it, and I wanted this dish to have a lot of balance and flavor.

The saltiness of the smoked fish, the sweetness of the poached eggs, the salty earthiness of the potato, and then the rich egg with a little bit of heat is gonna round everything off.

♪ ♪ So this has about tripled almost four times in volume.

All right, so basically... >> ALEX: Great.

>> Do you want to whisk?

>> ALEX: Yeah, I'll whisk.

>> All right, cool.

Gonna add the butter in a stream to start.

All right, not too much.

If you pour in the butter too fast, it's gonna separate on you.

>> ALEX: Right, eggs are very temperamental.

>> Correct.

>> ALEX: Like me.

>> (chuckles) And then from here, we're gonna season with lemon juice.

A couple spoonfuls, some of this awesome harissa, Some fresh ground pepper.

>> ALEX: Okay, I'm gonna leave you here to make us some more roestis, poach more eggs.

>> Okay.

>> ALEX: Got the Hollandaise going.

Jamie, I'm coming over to you.

Because we're... You made a lot of papaya slaw.

What are you doing over here?

>> We're gonna take some of these awesome smoked haddock chunks and we're gonna make a kind of a New England version of a Thai vinaigrette using some apples from Lookout Farm and some cider, and then we're gonna make a green papaya and apple salad to go with it with some hard-cooked eggs.

We're gonna start off with a couple cloves of garlic and a little bit of salt, and we're gonna smash it.

And you don't want to be shy on the garlic because the garlic, and having a lot of garlic in there, is what's gonna make it a little bit more interesting.

So we have some, we have some makrut lime leaves.

I'm just going to put one in there.

The oils from it are gonna add some great flavors to this.

>> ALEX: So you've got a couple restaurants here in Boston, actually all over the world, and the breadth of your cuisine ranges from Italian to Thai.

What is your tie to Thai food?

>> My partner, Ken, who's also my mentor, he and I have a restaurant in Bangkok.

>> Is the food that you serve there all Thai, or do you have a little bit of fusion?

>> No, the food there is kind of similar to what we do.

It's a Little Donkey, so it's very unique, um, like that.

But we do a little bit of Japanese.

It's, you know, fun drinking food.

I'm gonna throw a couple of Thai bird chilies in here now, and I'm gonna use the tip closer to the point where it's less spicy, and then we'll taste it.

And if it's not spicy enough, we'll slice that up and add that to it later.

But we do that so we can control the heat, because I'm not sure you can take it.

>> ALEX: Oh, I can take some heat.

♪ ♪ >> Can I have a couple pieces of fish?

>> ALEX: So you're gonna use the fish, actually, in the dressing.

>> I want to use the fish to give more of the fish flavor and dress it with itself.

>> ALEX: So what goes in after that?

>> So we are now going to add a little bit of the tamarind, like half of that.

Yeah, that's great.

This is a beautiful palm sugar.

>> ALEX: And that's traditional in Thai cooking.

>> Yeah, let's grab a little bit of that cider.

>> ALEX: Oh, awesome.

>> And just put in a little bit of cider.

So sometimes I use water with the sugar to break it down.

That's great.

Uh, now we have some lime juice and fish sauce.

>> ALEX: What I love so much about Thai cuisine is that there's a beautiful balance of flavor.

You get too salty and sweet and spicy.

>> There's always texture.

There's something spicy, there's something sweet, there's something tangy, there's something acidic, something salty.

>> ALEX: Yeah.

>> But texture is such a big part of it, too.

So can you keep mixing that up?

>> ALEX: Yep.

And I'm going to start working on the sauce for the green papaya and apple salad.

So this one we're gonna start off the same way.

I'm gonna show you how I cut the green papaya.

I use my thumb as a guide so I don't go too deep and cut myself.

Hey, chef, what are you doing over there?

>> Hey, what you making, man?

>> We're making some, like, New England-style Thai food.

I don't even know what to call it, man.

>> Nice.

>> Hey, can you do me a favor?

>> Yeah, what do you need?

>> I've got some dried shrimp that we soaked in hot water.

Can you take it out of the water and just toast it in a pan till they're dry again and bring it back over?

>> Sure.

>> Thanks a lot.

♪ ♪ >> ALEX: You kind of grew up here in Boston and the hardcore punk scene, right?

And that's how you two chefs met?

Yeah, Baz and I met at a hardcore show.

>> ALEX: How do you find the similarities between, like, music and cooking?

>> I mean, I always say a recipe is like a song.

Anybody can write a song, but anybody else can make that song theirs by playing it and doing it their own way.

>> Chef, what do you think?

>> Those are great.

Can you throw, like, four of them in.

>> ALEX: They're beautiful.

>> Just four?

>> Four or five.

Actually, you know what?

I'm just gonna throw a whole bunch in.

>> Just throw a few more in there.

>> I'm adding a little bit more of that tamarind pulp from before.

Some more of the cider.

And now fish sauce and lime juice.

>> ALEX: All right, So we've added the apples.

We're gonna mix it up a little bit, and we're going to add the vinaigrette.

I'm just gonna dump it right over.

>> ALEX: Oh, my God, that looks so good.

>> Yeah, it's gonna be great.

So the last thing we did is we took peanuts, some green beans, and some cherry tomatoes, and we bash that up in the residual juice in the bottom.

We're gonna add that to it for texture.

We've got a dynamic, like, variety of cuisines, but all tied together with New England ingredients.

I'm super psyched.

>> ALEX: I'm super pumped too.

It's fun.

>> You know what?

Repeat after me.

This is gonna be... >> ALEX: This is gonna be... >> Wicked good, kid.

>> ALEX: Wicked good, kid.

♪ ♪ So, for dessert today, I wanted to make an Asian pear clafoutis with a little bit of cranberry.

It's in between a cake and a custard and I thought it would be great to end our brunch-style feast.

So to get started, I have a blender here, and I'm gonna add some flour.

I'm gonna use some warm spices-- cinnamon, cloves, star anise to really bring this meal home.

Pulse that together.

(blender whirring) And I'm gonna add some ricotta.

And then I'm adding a little bit of creme de coco.

So I got a beautiful vanilla bean.

You can totally use vanilla extract.

And I'm gonna add that to the blender And I'm gonna add some milk.

(blender whirring) And while this is blending, I'm going to slowly add some eggs.

I've got my entire batter blended here.

Pour it into a greased pan.

It smells amazing.

So I'm gonna take these pears.

And what I love about a clafoutis is that you can use seasonal fruit.

In the summer, I love using strawberries and raspberries.

And because we're in New England and it's fall, I decided I was gonna have some cranberries as well.

And a traditional clafoutis has cherries in it.

So this was just kind of a nice little New England spin on that.

This is gonna go in the oven, it's gonna puff up and be absolutely beautiful.

And while this is baking, I'm gonna get started on my cocktail, and then we're ready to feast.

♪ ♪ Our guests have arrived, and it's time to make a cocktail.

I'm gonna do a chamomile raspberry cocktail.

So I've got some chamomile and raspberry tea, and I'm gonna add some vodka, because what's brunch without a little cocktail?

I'm gonna add some lime juice.

And this cocktail is gonna have some fresh raspberry puree in it.

And I like to finish my brunch cocktails with a little bit of seltzer.

Just kind of make it a little spritz.

And I'll garnish this with some fresh mint and some fresh raspberries on top.

And that is a great way to start a brunch.

♪ ♪ >> ...weekends ago when it was, like 75... >> ALEX: Hello!

How's it going?

>> How are you?

>> ALEX: Good.

I just want to say thank you for joining us today here at Bambara for our courtyard brunch feast.

We wanted to take some of the best ingredients that Boston has to offer and kind of play around with them in unusual ways.

And what better chefs to do that than these two misfits right next to me.

(laughter) Chef Dave, what did you make today?

>> So I did a play on hash browns and eggs.

Got this amazing smoked salmon belly from Boston Smoked Fish.

I also poached eggs in some cider that we got it at Lookout Farm, and finished it with some salmon eggs and harissa Hollandaise.

>> ALEX: And Chef Jamie?

>> When I tasted the smoked haddock chunks from Boston Smoked Fish, I knew I needed to do some sort of play on a Thai salad.

It just... it needed to happen.

So I did like a play on a Thai salad with the smoked haddock and some apples from Lookout Farm and a little bit of cider in the vinaigrette.

Hope you guys like it.

>> ALEX: And for something sweet, I did a clafoutis with some Asian pears from Lookout Farms as well.

I think it's time to feast, so please enjoy.

♪ ♪ (people chattering, laughing) ♪ ♪ I want to thank everybody for joining us here today at Bambara for a courtyard brunch.

Thank you to Lookout Farms and Boston Smoked Fish for providing some truly unique ingredients to play around with.

I hope you enjoyed the meal as much as we did creating it for you.

And if you want any of these recipes from today's episode, make sure to go to moveablefeast.relish.com.

Make sure to follow us on Instagram and like us on Facebook.

And who knows?

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

Cheers, everybody.

>> Cheers!

♪ ♪ >> 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 Moveable Feast with Relish.

>> Major funding provided by: >> Ladies and gentlemen, your attention, please.

(gecko clears throat, feedback squeals) >> GEICO would like to take a moment to say thank you to our military service members at home and abroad for all their hard work and sacrifice.

We all sleep easier knowing you're out there keeping us safe.

And on a personal note... (jet engines roar, gecko's speech muffled) (crowd cheering) (exhales) Just needed to get that off my chest.

Thank you.

>> GEICO-- proudly supporting the military for over 75 years.

>> We can't just take from nature, so we collaborate.

Ocean Spray works with nature every day to farm in a sustainable way.

♪ ♪ >> Ocean Spray is a proud sponsor of Moveable Feast.

>> At Pure Leaf, the most important ingredient in making tea is saying no.

We're committed to saying no to artificial flavors and sweeteners in our brewed iced teas.

♪ ♪ >> I am Errico Auricchio, the founder of BelGioioso Cheese.

I came in 1979 from Italy with my family and the memory of Italian cheese.

>> Ripe coconut with no added sugar and low sodium.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪