Prosciutto Wrapped Grouper “Chowder”

Yield: 1 serving

INGREDIENTS

1 ea. 6 oz. Fresh Grouper

1 ea. Thin Slice Prosciutto

5-6 ea. Littleneck Clams

5-6 ea. Medium Russet Potato, poached gently until cooked

3-4 ea. Peeled Grape Tomatoes, blanched, shocked, peeled

2 ea. Shitake Mushrooms, julienned

Directions

Grouper

½ c. Clam Juice

½ c. Heavy Cream

Pinch Celery Seed

Pinch Kosher Salt

Small Pinch Black Pepper

1 dash Tabasco

4-5 ea. Leaves Fresh Tarragon

1 tbs. Olive Oil

1 tbs. Whole Butter

1 ea. Fresh Thyme Sprig

1. Season the grouper with salt and pepper, then wrap with a slice of prosciutto, and set aside.

2. Heat small sauté pan to medium-high heat; add olive oil.

3. Gently place grouper in pan, and sear on all sides.

4. Add fresh thyme and whole butter, and allow to finish in a 400-degree oven, about 5-8 minutes.

5. Baste with butter a couple times during the process.

6. Remove from oven, and allow to rest on a paper towel.

Sauce

1. Place a small saucepan over a medium heat.

2. Add clams, clam juice, mushrooms, cream, celery seed, salt, pepper, tarragon, and Tabasco.

3. Cook until clams open and sauce is reduced by half, it should thicken slightly.

4. If sauce is not at desired thickness, remove clams and continue to reduce. You do not want to overcook clams.

5. Add potatoes at the end to heat through.

To Plate

Place cooked grouper in a bowl, place clams and potatoes around grouper, and pour sauce around. Garnish with peeled tomatoes. Garnish, shown in picture are fried leeks and micro greens.

Landfall has a few different dining venues. What’s the vibe at each one?

There are two restaurants in the main clubhouse. 800 Prime is the upscale steakhouse. It’s got all the classics as well as a “Chef’s Creations” page of the menu that changes every week.

Jack’s Bar & Grille is our casual dining area, so you’ve got your fan favorites like club sandwiches and French dips— but we also do lots of fresh catches, briskets, and pork. We try to please the masses there more or less.

What inspires you when you’re writing menus? Cookbooks? Food television? Travel?

I do have a lot of cookbooks, of course, but nowadays, I love to hop online or on social media and pull up menus. I look at everything from nice restaurants in culinary hot spots to gastropubs and everything in between.

I also have a network of club chefs, maybe 15 of us, who I’ve been in a text chain with for many years. Through this pandemic especially, we’ve been talking about what everybody’s doing with takeout and marketplace meals. You've got to stay in touch and stay on, or you’ll fall behind.

How has COVID-19 affected the club’s ability to feed the members?

We shut down the in-house dining like everybody else, but we went straight, hard takeout and actually started a marketplace where people could do their grocery shopping.

I have at least a hundred items on this list from produce to toiletries to hand sanitizer. We’ve been able to do same-day pick up six days a week.

We’re making at least 10 varieties of casseroles that we’ll do frozen or hot, and we’ve been doing family meals as well. At one point, we were doing over 200 meals, even lobster! We cooked them, cut them in half, cracked the claws, and sent them out with butter and bread ready to go!

Luckily, the clubhouse is big enough to where—now at 50% capacity—we’ve still been able to do over one hundred covers a night. And on top of that with all the to-go orders, we’ve been serving plenty of food to all these people trapped inside the Landfall gates!

What are you most looking forward to when some normalcy returns?

As far as normalcy goes, we’re planning on bringing back brunch soon. It’ll be interesting to see what our new normal is. Once we reopen the steakhouse, get our banquets back, and keep that crew busy, things will start to feel more normal. It’s just filling the downtime that we have now.

Landfall’s Wine Club has always been a fun benefit for members. Did those have to come to a halt during the pandemic?

Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to do them, but we do have one on the calendar in a few weeks, and we’re ready for it! That’s when I get to play with food. We do them every month, and I’ve been here for four years, so I definitely refer back to old menus to make sure I don’t repeat!

When it comes to the wine dinners where you really get to flex your culinary creativity, what’s your process for coming up with menus that are different and exciting each time?

I usually get the wine two to three weeks in advance and taste them first. I take about a week to slowly write the menu, update it, and tweak it. I know my audience, and I like to give the groups new ideas, but I know not to go too extreme.

For example, they’re not into scallop carpaccio or anything too gamey, and a lot of the same people come back. They’re not shy to tell me what they didn’t like, and that all goes back to the relationships here. They’re honest with their feedback, and I have thick skin! I’ve been doing this for a long time. I take what they say and run with it.

What advice do you have for home cooks who aren’t very comfortable in the kitchen but want to entertain and improve their skills?

Keep it simple, and don’t try to do too much. I think one of the biggest struggles for a home cook is timing. They get caught up cooking one thing too soon and then have to wait for something else to finish.

Working on timing, and having everything ready at the same time is important.