Eating My Way Through The Hamptons

....off-season rocks....

One of the best chicken pot pies I have ever had is available on Wednesday nights at the Highway Restaurant in East Hampton. This is a stunner, big and hearty with a crust that melts in your mouth, while below lies chef Anand Sastry’s masterful take on the classic you expect. It is almost all roast chicken meat, held together with a bit of chicken fat. Yes, chicken fat. It’s brilliant and amazing and it works.

I have yet to try their Thursday Asian night, or their Friday Night Family Dinners. I have gone on other nights and was equally excited about a simple Eggplant Parm.

Excuse me? Isn’t this supposed to be heavy or a bit greasy? Not this one. It was light and airy and crunchy on top with a fabulously deep tomato sauce.

I’m so glad they are open year round!!!!

The Highway Restaurant, 290 Montauk Highway, East Hampton

My girlfriend Phoebe and I recently decided to go all in for truffles. They are in season and she loves them. No, she adores them. So we headed to one of my favorite restaurants in the Hamptons: Bistro Ete in Water Mill. We chose to sit at the bar where owner/chef Arie Pavlou presides over the cocktail shaker. Phoebe ordered a truffle martini, which he very liberally laced with truffle ribbons. I had a sip and it really was divine.

Phoebe also ordered homemade spatzle with shaved truffles over the top. It was over the top. Watch!

What better way to finish this extraordinary meal? Truffle ice cream. It was a surprise to me how much I liked the flavor of truffles in what I think was a vanilla ice cream base. Addictive. Going back, for sure.

Also for their Charcoal Grilled Chickens they do on Fridays. Yummmmmmm.

Bistro Ete Restaurant, 760 Montauk Highway, Water Mill

I can’t believe that for years I have heard about the lobster club sandwich at the American Hotel in Sag Harbor and had yet to try it. But then I did. And now I understand why it is so beloved.

You can order it for dinner now. It’s chock full of sweet meat. Luscious. You have to try it. We also ordered local bay scallops that came with a perfect sauce, served with lime wedges, brussels sprouts and silky mashed potatoes, causing us to look at each other and admit that the American Hotel dining room is going to be a regular on our list now. It’s really that good. Plus you can’t beat the ambiance of sitting by a wood fire and candle light.

The American Hotel, 49 Main Street, Sag Harbor

And because I am a cookbook author, over the holidays I made one of my favorite dishes that’s in my cookbook, The Hamptons Kitchen. I cooked lobsters from The Seafood Shop in Wainscott….

and made it into my recipe for Lobster and Corn Chowder.

Lobster and Corn Chowder

Serves 4

Ingredients:

6 ears fresh corn, shucked

two 1/2 pound lobsters, cooked

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

3 medium shallots, finely diced

5 tablespoons flour

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon ground tumeric

2 ears fresh corn

2 large potatoes, cooked, diced into chunks

1 medium orange bell pepper, finely diced

1/2 teaspoon paprika

3/4 cup minced fresh parsley

Directions:

Shave the raw corn kernels off 3 ears of corn into a food processor. Add 3 cups water and process until milky. The mixture will still have some texture from the corn kernels. Pour into a large bowl. Repeat with the remaining 3 ears of corn and additional 3 cups water.

Remove the claws from the lobster and reserve. Remove the lobster tail meat and slice each tail in half vertically so that you have four slices of lobster tail, one for each bowl. Reserve. Take any other meat and lobster juice out of the lobsters and reserve.

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium low heat. Add the shallots and cook until they are soft, about 4 minutes. Sift in the flour evenly over the top and stir until well coated. Add the corn milk, bring to a boil, and simmer while whisking until the soup thickens, about 3 to 5 minutes. Add the salt and turmeric and stir to blend.

Shave the kernels off 2 ears of corn and stir them into the soup. Add the chunks of cooked potato, bell pepper, paprika and 1/2 cup of the parsley. Add any reserved lobster liquid and all lobster meat except the four claws. Stir to combine.

To serve, divide the chowder between 4 bowls. Add one claw to the center of each bowl. Garnish each bowl with the remaining minced parsley and serve.

See you next week! Hillary