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

♪ ♪ >> ALEX: Today, we're in St. Augustine, the oldest non-Native city in the United States.

Founded by Spanish explorers in 1565, the city is rich in history, but there's nothing old fashioned about its culinary scene.

Two of St. Augustine's most innovative chefs will take us on an adventure on both land and sea.

First up, we'll set sail with chef Barry Honan on the historic San Sebastian River for some of Florida's famous wild-caught shrimp.

>> These are going to be very sweet.

Once we're done cooking them, they're going to be infused with this wonderful bacon fat.

And then we have our miso butter at the end, so there's going to be a lot of different flavors going on.

>> ALEX: Next, we'll spice things up with chef Genie McNally at a pepper farm, where they're growing a pepper that's the taste of St. Augustine.

>> Andrea is obviously very invested in and has a lot of passion for what she does.

That comes through to like the very base of the ingredients that we're going to start cooking with in the restaurant, which I think just leads to a better end product.

>> ALEX: After that, I'm headed out to Blue Sky Farm to pick some edible royalty-- the Violet Queen, purple sweet potato.

>> This is the Violet Queen here, and the color is just awesome on these.

>> ALEX: Oh, these are my favorite.

And once we've gathered all of our ingredients, we'll sit down to a feast at Villa Zorayda for a feast 450 years in the making.

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.

♪ ♪ >> Florida farmers and Fresh from Florida.

Our name is on it because we stand behind it.

Local farms, local produce, local flavor.

Fresh from Florida, a proud sponsor of Moveable Feast.

>> There's a reason people call Myrtle Beach "The Beach."

There are 60 miles of wide, sandy beaches along South Carolina's Grand Strand coast.

This vacation destination has golf courses, attractions, food, wine, and southern sun.

♪ ♪ >> ALEX: What's going on, chef?

>> Hey, how are you?

>> ALEX: How are you?

>> Doing good.

>> ALEX: We got the memo apparently.

>> A little cold today, yes.

>> ALEX: I'd love to know a little bit more about you.

>> I've been cooking for probably about 25 years.

My last job was working in New York City at Le Bernardin.

There I was mentored by chef Eric Ripert for about four years.

I moved back to St. Augustine, and now I'm trying to open my own concept, which is Lotus Noodle Bar, which is an elevated ramen concept that integrates modern Japanese and French techniques.

>> ALEX: Wow.

So where have you brought us today?

>> So we're here at the San Sebastian Inlet.

And we're going to go see my friend Captain Corey.

He has got a boat down here on the dock, and he's going to take us for a little ride, and then hopefully supply us with some fresh local shrimp.

>> ALEX: Love it.

I love a boat ride.

Let's go.

Hello, Captain.

>> How you doing?

>> ALEX: Good.

>> Hey, Cap, how you doing?

>> Nice.

Nice to meet you.

>> Thank you for having us today.

>> My pleasure.

>> ALEX: Thank you for having us.

>> My pleasure.

>> ALEX: So tell me a little bit about this boat, being a fisherman here in St. Augustine.

>> It's a job I love.

I've been doing it for all my life.

I'm a fourth generation fisherman.

>> ALEX: Fishing runs in your blood?

>> Absolutely.

>> ALEX: What's the shrimping community here like?

>> There used to be a fish house over there.

There used to be a fish house over there.

There used to be like 40 boats, I would say in here.

And then the last ten years or so, we started getting these, what I call shrimp ships, and they catch a lot of shrimp.

They stir the bottom up and they drag a lot faster.

And it's hard for me, a small vessel, to compete around them guys, but, you know, it's, it's a business.

>> ALEX: Yeah.

Do you ever see yourself doing anything else?

>> No.

I've had a few other jobs, you know, during the offseason, but if I don't get on the ocean, if I'm away from the ocean too long, it's like I start getting cranky, you know?

It's like I got a saying, "I got to have that salt air in my hair," you know.

Wouldn't trade it for anything.

>> ALEX: All right.

Well, I would love to get on the water and take a little tour of the port.

>> All right.

Well, we'll get underway.

>> ALEX: All right.

>> Very nice.

>> ALEX: Thank you.

♪ ♪ >> The white shrimp normally stay within around three miles offshore, from one mile to three miles.

Just when we think we get them figured out, they do something different.

And my dad told me a long time ago, he said, "Son, they have a head and a tail.

"They do what they want to do.

(laughter) And not necessarily what they're supposed to do."

>> ALEX: And chef, what are the different flavor profiles between a Florida-caught shrimp, and say, an imported shrimp?

What makes Florida shrimp special?

>> I feel like the Florida shrimp are sweeter.

Wouldn't you say?

>> Yes, absolutely.

The imported shrimp are raised in fresh water, so they're not in their natural habitat and they don't have that shrimp taste that shrimp have.

>> Sure.

♪ ♪ >> Oh, I hope you enjoyed it.

>> ALEX: We did very much.

>> And here is some fresh shrimp for your feast.

>> ALEX: Thank you.

>> Thank you.

>> Absolutely.

>> ALEX: We'll see you tonight.

>> Yes.

>> ALEX: Thanks again, Captain.

>> You're very welcome.

>> Appreciate it.

>> Yes, sir.

Thank you.

♪ ♪ >> ALEX: Hi, Danny.

>> Hey, Alex.

>> ALEX: How are you?

>> Good.

Good to meet you.

>> ALEX: Very nice to meet you.

Thank you for having us.

>> Absolutely.

Welcome to Blue Sky Farms.

>> ALEX: I hear you're growing some amazing product here.

>> Some beautiful Violet Queen sweet potatoes.

>> ALEX: Well, that's what I came here for is the purple sweet potato because I have a very famous purple sweet potato... >> Hoo!

>> ALEX: ...pie recipe.

So I was very excited to hear that you're growing them.

And I would love to know a little bit more about Blue Sky Farms, how you got started, and what sort of products you're growing here.

>> Actually, I'm a fourth generation potato farm.

My great-grandfather started here.

This is actually our centennial year, 100 years in Hastings.

But the sweet potato is a new thing we started about five years ago, trying to branch into it, and get that established.

High in anthocyanin and is good for you.

Good and healthy too.

>> ALEX: I'd love to see where these Violet Queens are growing.

Can we go out to the field and check them out?

>> Awesome.

I would love to show you.

>> ALEX: All right, let's go.

>> Excellent.

So these are the Violet Queens here.

They're starting to yellow down.

We're going to start harvest on them in a couple of weeks.

And they are a vine.

There's a-- >> ALEX: Oh!

>> That, that look like a sweet potato pie to you?

>> ALEX: Yes!

>> Nice.

>> ALEX: That is just wild that this is all growing under this sand.

>> Interesting about Florida is it is beach sand.

So we're planting a cover crop every year to put organics back in the soil again.

And we just chop it back in the soil to keep some texture to the soil.

>> ALEX: And then planting these three to four months later, you get these gorgeous sweet potatoes.

>> If everything goes right, the creek don't rise, and hurricanes don't come.

But this is the Violet Queen here and the color is just awesome on these, so.

>> ALEX: Oh, these are my favorite.

Not only are these beautiful, but they are delicious to eat as well.

I would love to get a bag of these because I need to head to the feast.

Are you joining us tonight?

>> I would love to.

I know just a place to find some too.

>> ALEX: All righty, let's go.

>> Excellent.

♪ ♪ >> ALEX: Now we're off to meet chef Genie where we'll source a very special pepper that's grown only here in St. Augustine.

♪ ♪ Howdy.

>> Hi.

>> ALEX: How are you?

>> Good, how are you?

>> ALEX: Good.

So nice to meet you.

>> So nice to meet you as well.

>> ALEX: I've heard so much about you.

You have quite the reputation here in St. Augustine, but I'd love to know a little bit more about you.

>> I own The Floridian restaurant in St. Augustine downtown.

We focus on what we call innovative southern fare.

So we take kind of traditional southern food, we update it with kind of more newer, relevant ingredients.

We try to get as much as we can sourced locally and bring it into this century.

>> ALEX: Where have you brought us today?

>> I have brought you to my friend Andrea's Datil Farm.

>> ALEX: What's a datil?

>> Datil is the indigenous pepper for this region.

So it's a tiny little, tart, flavor-packed super-spicy pepper.

(Genie laughing) >> ALEX: I love super spicy.

Is it really, really hot?

>> It is.

>> ALEX: I'd love to taste the pepper and go meet Andrea.

>> Awesome.

>> ALEX: All right.

Let's go.

>> All right, Alex, I want to introduce you to my friend Andrea.

This is her pepper farm.

>> ALEX: Hi, Andrea.

>> Hey, it's nice to meet you.

>> ALEX: Nice to meet you as well.

Thank you for having us today.

>> Oh, you're welcome.

>> ALEX: So I hear so much about this datil pepper.

How did you start growing this pepper and why?

>> So during the pandemic, I needed a reset.

So my father-in-law approached me and asked me if I wanted to start growing datil peppers.

My brother-in-law had recently started a hot sauce company.

We wanted to become the first organic datil sauce company.

So I became organic certified.

>> ALEX: That is so cool.

>> And I think I am the only organic certified datil pepper farmer in America.

Pepper enthusiasts really love peppers.

And I started to taste, taste everybody's hot sauces, and the differences, and the nuances in each one.

And I realized that it is such a unique pepper.

When I call them my girls, they're all like my babies.

>> You can tell that Andrea is obviously very invested in and has a lot of passion for what she does.

That comes through to like the very base of the ingredients that we're going to start cooking with in the restaurant, which I think just leads to a better end product in general.

>> ALEX: I really would love to try this pepper.

I love spicy.

>> Okay.

>> ALEX: Am I going to hurt myself?

>> Take like a little nibble.

>> ALEX: Okay.

>> The seeds are where the heat is.

>> Yeah.

>> ALEX: Okay.

>> And you may be a pro.

I mean, it may be nothing for you.

>> ALEX: Mm... Oh, that's delicious.

>> It's good, isn't it?

It's very unique.

>> ALEX: It's a very unique flavor, but I like it.

It does have all of the qualities of a habanero, just a little bit more acidic.

>> Mm-hmm.

>> ALEX: And that's so nice to have an ingredient that grows specific to the region because chefs can make dishes that are uniquely the area's.

>> Yeah.

You're only going to find it here.

>> ALEX: This dish is from St. Augustine.

>> Right.

>> ALEX: So we should grab a bunch of datils because you're going to use them for tonight's feast?

>> Yeah, absolutely.

♪ ♪ >> ALEX: We are here with chef Genie at her restaurant, The Floridian, in the heart of St. Augustine.

We just got these gorgeous datil peppers from Andrea's farm, and chef, what are you going to do with them today?

>> We're going to do a datil-brined eggplant.

I do kind of cut that heat from the datil with either buttermilk or a kefir.

We're also going to incorporate some of that datil pepper back into our marinade for our cucumber and cherry tomatoes.

And I'm going to be serving it alongside some really nice skirt steak we get from one of our local cattle farmers, so.

>> ALEX: I love skirt steak, it's one of my favorite cuts.

>> Awesome.

I have started them fresh here, so you can see how we're going to break them down to actually cook with them.

We dehydrate them to get them to this nice kind of crispy consistency.

>> ALEX: Ooh... >> You can grind them down in a spice mill.

So we are going to start with marinating those cucumbers and cherry tomatoes.

>> ALEX: Okay.

>> The brine for that marinade is actually going to be used to help us cook and do the sauté for the eggplant here.

>> ALEX: And what is in this brine?

>> That is just going to be olive oil.

I use a lemon vinegar.

You can use >> ALEX: Lemon?

I've never heard of that.

>> Yeah, it's got a little bit of heat to it as well.

I'm trying not to over-spice everything for us.

Salt and pepper and then a little bit of our datil dust in there.

After we've let our cucumbers and tomatoes marinate, I go ahead and separate out some of that brine.

So you can see we've got our little spices on the bottom, the oil is on the top, and I'm going to just scoop a little bit of that in here to cook.

And then for my eggplant here, I've had this marinating in that buttermilk and datil.

I also add a little bit of nutmeg, some coriander, lemon zest.

>> ALEX: So full of flavor.

>> And some sumac... Yeah.

Just to give it a little balance there.

And then get these in and get them browned on both sides.

>> ALEX: How did you come up with this dish?

>> I checked with some of my farmers to find out what we had in season.

And at this point in Florida, the answer is not much, but they had a boatload of eggplant.

(Genie laughing) >> ALEX: Oh, okay.

>> She had eggplant and peppers.

So I said, all right, bring me everything you've got.

And this is, this is where we landed.

>> ALEX: I think that's the way that we should be cooking, is talking to our local farmers, figuring out what's in season, and then drawing inspiration from around the world.

>> From everywhere.

Right.

>> ALEX: And the flavors that we love to eat.

So I'm very, very excited to try this dish.

>> Yeah, it's fun to be able to take locally sourced ingredients, but just by using spices, seasoning, that sort of thing, be able to put this kind of different spin on it.

So I get us a handful of our red onion, a handful of these mixed peppers, a little bit of our minced garlic and ginger.

And then I'm going to add a little additional of that seasoning that we brined the eggplant in.

All right.

>> ALEX: So chef, how do you finish this dish?

>> So I like to reserve, again, a bit of the buttermilk brine that we started with here.

I'm going to add in a handful of our mint and parsley.

And this is essentially making like a dressing that you can drizzle over the top.

I do the same thing.

I've got some toasted peanuts.

I'm going to add, again, those herbs to that.

I may add a little pinch of our datil dust to that as well, just to give the peanuts a little bit of spice.

We'll top it with a little drizzle of this, essentially, dressing that we've made here.

And then the crushed peanuts to finish.

>> ALEX: Mm.

Well, it looks like you've got quite a bit of eggplant to cook off.

I'm going to let you finish this.

Get your skirt steak ready.

I'm going to go check on chef Barry.

And then we are almost ready to feast.

♪ ♪ As I mentioned before, one of my favorite varieties of potato is the purple sweet potato.

It has such a unique flavor to it.

Not too sweet and it is absolutely gorgeous to look at.

I make the sweet potato pie a couple times a year during the fall and it is always a showstopper.

Best part is no refined sugar, gluten-free, so happy, happy.

Everybody is going to be happy and love it.

We start with some purple sweet potato.

These are the Violet Queen purple sweet potato from Blue Sky Farms boiled.

And to that, I'm going to add some maple syrup, full-fat canned coconut milk.

You don't want to use the stuff in the box.

You want to use the canned coconut milk because you want that richness.

A teaspoon of vanilla extract.

A teaspoon of salt.

Some cinnamon.

And to thicken it, a little bit of tapioca starch.

And what I love so much about this pie recipe is that you could throw everything in a blender or a food processor.

So turn that on.

That color is just sensational.

And I've par baked a little almond and coconut pie crust.

And to that, I will add the sweet potato mixture.

I'm going to let you in on a little secret.

I don't bake.

I don't like baking.

This recipe is foolproof.

But I'm not stopping there.

We're making two desserts today.

I stopped on the way here at Wish Farms in Plant City because they have been growing strawberries here in Florida for almost a hundred years.

They're very famous for their strawberries, so I could not miss it.

And I wanted to just showcase these strawberries in a way that was really simple and made the flavors of these strawberries shine.

So I just took some fresh cream, whipped it up, then I took some of the strawberries, whipped that up in a food processor with just a touch of sugar and lemon zest.

Pour that into the whipped cream.

And I like to serve this on the side of my purple sweet potato pie.

I'm going to bake this off in the oven and then it's time to feast.

♪ ♪ We are now here with chef Barry, ready to cook up some of these fresh, wild-caught Florida shrimp that we got this morning from Captain Corey.

And chef, how are you going to prepare this?

>> So today we're going to do sautéed shrimp with miso butter, pork belly bacon, and Japanese mushrooms.

>> ALEX: Sounds great.

How do we get it started?

>> Render our bacon.

>> ALEX: And when you render bacon, you want to start it almost in a cold pan, like super, super low.

And then that fat will slowly render out and you'll get these nice lardons at the end.

>> Absolutely.

>> ALEX: Right?

Yeah.

>> These are going to be very sweet.

Once we're done cooking them, they're going to be infused with this wonderful bacon fat.

And then we have our miso butter at the end, so there's going to be a lot of different flavors going on.

You got the smokiness of the bacon, the sweetness of the shrimp, the umami and fermented funk of that miso paste.

>> I'm going to bring the heat up just a touch.

We're going to add some of our bacon fat in.

We'll season our pink shrimp that we got from Captain Corey.

A little bit of togarashi.

>> ALEX: What is in togarashi?

We've got seaweed, sesame, a little... >> And chili flake.

>> ALEX: Chili flake.

>> For me, I love cooking with it.

It adds a lot of depth to whatever you're doing.

It adds umami, spice.

>> ALEX: Yeah.

>> Right up my alley.

>> ALEX: What drew you to Japanese cuisine in the first place?

>> At a younger age, I worked at a restaurant where I rolled sushi.

I learned a lot about Japanese cooking.

My time in New York, I think I picked up a lot from Le Bernardin.

There's a heavy influence of Japanese ingredients there.

So at this point, we're starting to get our shrimp to where they're becoming non-translucent.

I think it's a good time to go ahead and add in some of our beautiful mushrooms we have here.

We have some kikurage.

We have some shiitake.

We have white and brown shimejis.

So we can go ahead and add those in.

>> ALEX: Do you want me to chiffonade or just throw them in?

>> Just throw them right in there, yeah.

We're going to go for a little rustic feel here.

>> ALEX: And mushrooms act like a little sponge.

They're going to soak up all of that shrimp flavor and the bacon.

>> ALEX: Definitely.

>> ALEX: I love cooking with mushrooms.

>> I'm just going to do a little bit of olive oil over the top.

Touch of salt, a touch of togarashi.

So we're going to bring the heat up.

So, at this point, I'm going to add in my bacon bits.

Our mushrooms are starting to cook.

Everything is starting to marry.

The flavors are blending.

>> ALEX: You've got the oceanic essence of that shrimp that goes so well with the woodiness of those mushrooms.

And then the smokiness of the bacon-- come on, people!

Delicious!

>> Everything is cooked here, I lowered the heat.

Now we can add our miso butter.

>> ALEX: And that is just butter and miso, nothing else?

>> That's it.

Red miso paste.

Now we're going to add in our fried garlic, sesame seeds, and a little toss.

You can smell the miso.

>> ALEX: Really does smell good.

Yeah.

>> Very fragrant.

>> ALEX: That's very good.

>> It's good?

Very nice.

>> ALEX: Right away you get the miso.

Then that smokiness of the bacon comes in and the shrimp are nice and sweet.

It's perfect.

>> Thank you.

>> ALEX: Before I eat this entire pan, I'm going to let you finish cooking all this up.

We'll head over to the museum and then we are ready to feast.

♪ ♪ Hello, hello, everybody.

>> Hey, how is it going, guys?

>> ALEX: Welcome, welcome!

Oh, you're going to like this pie.

That one's for you.

(laughter, indistinct chatter) >> How are we doing?

>> Oh, my goodness.

Thank you.

>> Absolutely.

My pleasure.

>> ALEX: Welcome, everybody, to our St. Augustine feast here at the historic Villa Zorayda.

Chef Genie, chef Barry, and I have worked all day sourcing ingredients from the St. Augustine area, and chefs, would you please tell everybody what you made tonight?

>> So we got to go do some datil picking at Andrea's Datil Farm.

This is going to be our datil buttermilk-brined eggplant topped with some datil spiced peanuts.

And then we'll be serving those with the marinated cucumber and cherry tomatoes.

>> ALEX: And chef Barry?

>> So I did sautéed local pink shrimp, Japanese mushrooms, bacon lardons, toasted sesame seeds, fried garlic, and a little bit of miso butter.

We got the fresh shrimp from Captain Corey this morning on the shrimp boat, and he's one of the best shrimpers in St. Augustine.

>> ALEX: And to round out this meal, Danny over at Blue Sky Farms is growing the most incredible Violet Queen purple sweet potato.

So I made my very famous purple sweet potato pie for everybody to enjoy.

Dig in, feast, and enjoy.

Cheers.

>> ALL: Cheers.

>> To great food.

♪ ♪ >> Ah, this looks delicious, chef.

>> I have the eggplant here.

(laughter) >> Thank you so much.

>> ALEX: You're so welcome.

Enjoy.

Those cucumbers are so good.

>> Oh, my goodness.

These shrimp are unreal.

>> You can taste the sweetness of the datil come out, the peanuts with datil dust on them.

♪ ♪ >> ALEX: Jim and Marsha, I would love to know a little bit more about where we are.

>> You are sitting in beautiful Villa Zorayda, built in 1883 by a wealthy Bostonian, Franklin W. Smith.

He traveled the world extensively viewing beautiful architecture and his inspiration for his winter home here in St. Augustine was the Alhambra in Granada, Spain, built by the Moors in the 12th and the 13th centuries.

>> ALEX: We also have two special guests here tonight, Will and Rick from St. Augustine Distillery.

Guys, do you want to tell us a little bit about the bourbon you brought?

>> In the spirit of drinking local, we brought kind of a local collaboration that we produce.

This one is really special to us.

We're using 60% Florida corn, 22% malted barley, and 18% Florida wheat.

So highlighting that local agriculture wherever we can.

>> ALEX: Is everybody ready for dessert?

>> ALL: Yes!

>> ALEX: Wonderful.

Well, I stopped at Wish Farms to get some fresh strawberries, so I made a strawberry fool-- whipped cream and fresh strawberries-- very clean, very simple, and really highlights the beautiful flavors of these Florida-grown strawberries.

I hope I've done all of your hard work growing these potatoes justice, and I hope everybody enjoys it.

>> Looks awesome.

>> All right.

>> Strawberries.

>> very nice.

>> Nicely done, Alex.

>> ALEX: Thank you.

If you'd like any of these recipes from today's episode, make sure to go to moveablefeast.relish.com.

I want to thank chef Genie and chef Barry for sharing your talents and your time with us today.

Thank you to everybody here at the table who has provided wonderful ingredients for tonight's feast.

We've had an absolutely wonderful time here in St. Augustine, and who knows, maybe next time we'll be feasting in your city.

Cheers, everyone!

>> ALL: Cheers.

(cheering) ♪ ♪ >> 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: >> 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.

♪ ♪ >> Florida farmers and Fresh from Florida.

Our name is on it because we stand behind it.

Local farms, local produce, local flavor.

Fresh from Florida, a proud sponsor of Moveable Feast.

>> There's a reason people call Myrtle Beach "The Beach."

There are 60 miles of wide, sandy beaches along South Carolina's Grand Strand coast.

This vacation destination has golf courses, attractions, food, wine, and southern sun.

>> Closed captioning made possible by: ♪ ♪ Gazing, to grazing, to getting away.

You can claim your escape at VisitArizona.com.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪