How a Fine-Dining-Trained Chef Feeds His Kid

No lying, no hiding.

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Coastal, the new cookbook by chef Scott Clark and longtime food writer Betsy Andrews, is really not a book about feeding kids.

The book packs years of California road trips into its light-dappled pages. You’ll visit coastal farmers and eat panzanella bursting with candy-sweet Jimmy Nardello peppers. You’ll go fishing and foraging, have lunch among the vines on a Central Coast vineyard, and grill oysters and eggplant over a campfire on the beach. Each recipe applies professional-kitchen-honed technique to the bounty of the west coast.

But when Scott came on the show recently, his thoughts on cooking for his daughter stuck in my mind.

He says he tends to serve really simple proteins and rice, plus broccoli or salad—or set out DIY hand-rolls with homemade fish sticks (scroll down for the recipe). There’s no pressure to finish it all, but everything gets a try.

He never wants the dinner table to become a battleground: “I’m not going to second guess your palate. I’m not going to say like, are you sure you don't like that?”

And he tries to play fair. “In not hiding, or not, like, lying, for example, about what something is, it makes it easier to then have trust between me and my daughter. And then when we’ve established that trust, then we can start to push things.”

Try an oyster. Try a little kimchi in the mayo on your handroll.

“I just, like, established that space of trust, and then kind of push up and up as we go.”

Listen to the full episode for Scott’s advice on cooking while camping this summer, his tips for organizing a small kitchen, and the way to punch up the toasty spin on classic cereal-marshmallow treats (scroll all the way down for the recipe) even further.

Scott’s cookbook favorites:

Rebekah Peppler: Le Sud (Bookshop here) especially the cold poached fish with potatoes and the hiking sandwich

Ori Menashe and Genevieve Gurgis: Bestia (Bookshop here) especially grilled whole branzino with herb confetti

Maggie mentioned:

Eat This Cantaloupe Dessert and Have a Ball by Joe Sevier (Epicurious)
From the ad break: Get 10% off Made In’s carbon steel griddle or other cookware by using code DINNERPLAN.

Win a copy of Coastal

Thanks to Chronicle Books, I have a copy of Coastal to give to one of you!

To enter to win, be sure you’re signed up as a paid subscriber by end of day Monday, June 9, 2025.

There’s nothing else you need to do. But I do appreciate your clicking on the ❤️ at the bottom of the page and leaving a comment to help bring this newsletter to the attention of new readers.

Book giveaway winner will be alerted by Substack DM and email—be sure to check your messages! If there’s no answer within 48 hours, we will move on to another winner. U.S. addresses only, 18+. Giveaway not sponsored or administered by Substack. Ends June 9, 2025.

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Jimmy Nardello Panzanella

Excerpted with permission from Coastal: 130 Recipes from a California Road Trip by Scott Clark with Betsy Andrews, © 2025. Published by Chronicle Books.

There’s not much to a panzanella but fresh veg, a dressing, and beautiful, oily, crunchy-boy bread. It’s all about marinating the veg before you add the croutons and serve it. Probiotic marinades knock the socks off vinegar-based ones. You get deep flavor and nice heat, and everything stays alive. The tomatoes start to bleed. The croutons crackle and then soak up the salad’s velvety juices.

But the real heroes of this salad are the Jimmy Nardellos. I like a pepper that has a first and last name. The story goes that they’re named after the son of the couple who brought the seeds with them when they emigrated from Italy. They look like willowy, red witches’ fingers, and they get deeper and sweeter when you roast them. In California, their appearance tells you spring is here. If you can’t find them, any long, sweet variety—Hungarian wax peppers, Cubanelles— will work. I also like a mix of different basils in this salad. Go for whatever two types are blasting you with aroma at the market. Just don’t use Thai basil; it’s too lemongrassy for this salad.

And here’s an idea: Try blitzing any leftover salad, along with the croutons, in the blender, and drink it like gazpacho.

Time: 25 minutes active; 4 to 24 hours total
Yield: 2 to 4 servings

Ingredients:

4 Tbsp [60 ml] extra-virgin olive oil
8 oz [230 g] Jimmy Nardello or other long, sweet peppers, stemmed and cut into ¼ in [6 mm] thick rings
1 lb [455 g] Sungold cherry tomatoes, halved
1 Persian cucumber, quartered lengthwise and cut into ¼ in [6 mm] thick slices
1 large shallot, very thinly sliced
¼ cup [60 g] chopped kimchi
¼ cup [60 ml] kimchi brine
Juice of 1 lemon, preferably Meyer
5 or 6 cranks black pepper
Pinch of kosher salt
1 garlic clove, peeled
4 oz [115 g] sourdough bread, cut into ¼ by ½ in [6 by 13 mm] batons
1 Tbsp torn fresh lemon basil leaves
1 cup [40 g] torn fresh Opal or Genovese basil leaves
Toasted pumpkin seeds, for garnish

Instructions:

1. In a 9 in [23 cm] cast-iron pan over high heat, heat 2 tablespoons of the oil until it’s smoking. Throw in the peppers and let them hard-sear until nicely charred on one side, 3 to 4 minutes. Put them in a bowl, then add the tomatoes, cucumber, shallot, kimchi, kimchi brine, lemon juice, pepper, and salt. Mix well to coat and blend the veg. Cover the salad and stow in the fridge for at least 3 hours and up to overnight to marry the flavors.

2. In a small sauté pan over medium-high heat, heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil, then add the garlic, and when it’s brown on one side, discard it and add the bread, tossing to coat it in the oil. Toast it on one side until golden, 30 seconds to 1 minute, then flip it and toast the other side, 30 seconds to 1 minute. Add the lemon basil, and toast it for 15 seconds. Put the croutons and toasted lemon basil in a bowl to cool, 2 to 3 minutes, then add them to the salad, along with the Opal basil, and give the salad a big stir. Let the croutons soak up the flavors for 5 minutes, then dig in. If you think you are going to have leftover salad, don’t add all the croutons at once. The salad keeps, in an airtight container in the fridge, overnight. Add the remaining croutons to it the next day.

Photo: Cheyenne Ellis

Fish Stick Hand Roll Bar

Excerpted with permission from Coastal: 130 Recipes from a California Road Trip by Scott Clark with Betsy Andrews, © 2025. Published by Chronicle Books.

On a lake-flat day, I paddled a good mile and a half out to the halibut grounds. I was the only idiot in a kayak, fishing amid huge boats. Fishermen are notoriously competitive, but I could talk to folks, because you can only do so much damage in a kayak. When a fellow fisherman saw I wasn’t catching anything, he yelled, “Do you have live squid?” He heaved a bag of seawater and squid at me, and with that, I started knocking ’em dead. There’s nothing like pulling up a twenty-eight-inch halibut and knocking it out with a baseball bat while it’s thrashing in your lap on a kayak. When I got back to shore, I dreamed up this DIY party platter for me and the kid and some friends. The key is to have your nori and all your garnishes prepped before you fry, so the fish is hot when folks build their bites.

Time: 1 hours 15 minutes
Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients:

Kimchi Mayo
1 cup [220 g] The Best Mayonnaise (see below) or Kewpie
¼ cup [60 g] hand-squeezed, chopped kimchi

Marinated Cucumber
½ cup [120 ml] seasoned rice vinegar
¼ cup [60 ml] white soy sauce
2 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp toasted sesame oil
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 English cucumbers

Fish Sticks
1½ lb [680 g] boneless, skinless halibut, cod, or haddock fillets
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper 1 cup [120 g]
Wondra flour
4 large eggs, beaten
2 cups [160 g] panko
Canola oil, for frying

Hand Rolls
12 seasoned, roasted nori sheets
3 cups [540 g] cooked short grain rice
2 bunches green onions, thinly sliced, for garnish
Everything Seasoning (see below for a homemade version), for garnish

Instructions:

1. To make the kimchi mayo: In a small bowl, mix the mayonnaise and kimchi. It keeps, in the fridge in an airtight container, for up to 3 days.

2. To make the marinated cucumber: In a medium bowl, whisk together the vinegar, white soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, and pepper until the sugar is dissolved. Peel half the skin from the cukes in stripes, then use a mandoline to cut them into paper-thin slices right into the bowl. Stir to coat them in the marinade, then stow them in the fridge to marinate for 45 minutes.

3. To make the fish sticks: Set a wire rack inside a sheet pan. Cut the fillets crosswise into 1 in [2.5 cm] wide fish sticks. Season them generously with salt and pepper, then lay them on the wire rack and put them in the fridge to chill for 30 minutes.

4. Place the Wondra flour in one bowl, the eggs in a second bowl, and half the panko in a third bowl. Working with two fish sticks at time, dredge all the fish sticks in the flour, shaking them off and placing them back on the wire rack. Working with two fish sticks at a time, dredge half the fish sticks in the egg, letting the excess egg drip off, then dredge them in the panko, and return them to the wire rack. Add the remaining panko to its bowl, and dredge the remainder of the fish in the egg and panko.

5. Set another wire rack in a sheet pan, and put it beside the stove. In a medium Dutch oven or a heavy-walled pot with a candy thermometer attached, heat 3 in [7.5 cm] of canola oil to 375°F [190°C]. Using a spider or slotted spoon, carefully lower three or four fish sticks into the oil and fry them, moving them around and flipping them at least once, until they’re golden brown and opaque all the way through, about 2 minutes. Put them on the clean rack and repeat with the remaining fish sticks.

6. Show your people how to make a roll: Rip a sheet of nori in half along a perforation, then spread rice crosswise over one-quarter of it. Spread the kimchi mayo on the rice, lay a fish stick on top of the mayo, and garnish it with some cukes pulled right out of their marinade. Sprinkle on green onions and everything seasoning and wrap the nori on the bias like an ice cream cone to eat the roll out of hand. Let your guests build the rest of the hand rolls themselves with the remaining nori and filling.

The Best Mayonnaise

Excerpted with permission from Coastal: 130 Recipes from a California Road Trip by Scott Clark with Betsy Andrews, © 2025. Published by Chronicle Books.

There’s no reason to fight about it: Kewpie is the best mayonnaise. That’s just how it is. It has an impeccable, high-fat mouthfeel. The salinity is perfect. The sweetness is perfect. We love some Kewpie around here. This is the homemade version.

Time: 10 minutes
Yield: About 3 cups [650 g]

Ingredients:
2 large whole eggs
2 egg yolks
4 tsp seasoned rice vinegar
4 tsp sugar
2 tsp Dijon mustard
2 tsp fresh lemon juice, preferably Meyer
2 tsp kosher salt
2 ½ cups Umami Oil (see below)

Instructions:

1. In a food processor or blender, in a medium bowl with a whisk, or with an immersion blender in a container just a bit wider than the blender, blend together all the ingredients except the umami oil. While blending constantly, slowly stream in the oil until the mayo comes together and is smooth and thick. It keeps, in the fridge, for up to 4 weeks.

Umami Oil

Excerpted with permission from Coastal: 130 Recipes from a California Road Trip by Scott Clark with Betsy Andrews, © 2025. Published by Chronicle Books.

California olive oil is a beautiful thing. But it isn’t always the answer. When you beat it into an emulsion, its polyphenols can make your dressing taste bitter. Avocado and grapeseed oils don’t have that problem. I blend them fifty-fifty to balance their thick and thin textures. Then I infuse the blend with a boatload of umami boosters. Confit meat and veg in it, blend it into vinaigrettes, and use it anywhere else you want that earthy, funky vibe. After you’ve infused your oil, the shiitakes are awesome chopped into eggs, stir-fries, or salads.

Note: Packaged, dried shiitakes are more subtle than the super-aromatic ones in Chinatown bulk bins. If you score the latter, use half as much in the recipe.

Time: 40 minutes active; 1 hour 40 minutes total
Yield: About 4 cups [960 ml]

Ingredients:
2 cups [475 ml] avocado oil
2 cups [475 ml] grapeseed oil
1 oz [30 g] dried shiitake mushrooms (see Note above)
10 garlic cloves, peeled
4 by 2 in [10 by 5 cm] piece kombu
2 tsp peppercorns
1 bay leaf
1 cup [5 g] bonito flakes
1 cup [50 g] fresh parsley sprigs

Instructions:

1. In a medium pot with a candy thermometer attached, heat the avocado and grapeseed oils, mushrooms, garlic, kombu, peppercorns, and bay leaf over medium-low heat until the temperature hits 300°F [150°C], about 20 minutes.

2. Kill the heat and let the oil drop down to 250°F [120°C], about 10 minutes. Put the pot in your sink to catch any splattering, then carefully add the bonito flakes and parsley and give it a stir. Let the oil sit, uncovered, for 1 hour.

3. Fold a piece of cheesecloth lengthwise, then crosswise, making sure it’s big enough to overlap the sides of your fine-mesh strainer. Arrange the cheesecloth in the strainer, and strain the oil into a clean container. It keeps, at room temperature, for up to 1 month.

Everything Seasoning

Excerpted with permission from Coastal: 130 Recipes from a California Road Trip by Scott Clark with Betsy Andrews, © 2025. Published by Chronicle Books.

There are brands of this seasoning on the market, but when you make it yourself with fresh seeds and spices, you guarantee its potency, and its flavor is just dynamite.

Time: 5 minutes
Yield: 9 Tbsp [72 g]

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp toasted white sesame seeds
2 Tbsp poppy seeds
2 Tbsp dried minced garlic
1 Tbsp dried minced onion
1 Tbsp black sesame seeds
1 Tbsp flaky salt, such as Maldon

Instructions:

1. In a small bowl, mix all the ingredients, breaking up the salt a bit with your fingers, until the seasoning is fully combined. It keeps, at room temperature in an airtight container, for up to 2 weeks.

Pretzel Crispies

Excerpted with permission from Coastal: 130 Recipes from a California Road Trip by Scott Clark with Betsy Andrews, © 2025. Published by Chronicle Books.

Hide these from yourself, your significant other, your children, your neighbors, and the general world, because they’re horrifying. We were having a riff in the restaurant, and we decided to come up with the most mega-stoner snack imaginable. How do you make a one-stop shop of sweet, salty, crunchy, sticky, and chewy? That’s Rice Krispies, but then you also need savory. I thought: What can you break down to the size of Rice Krispies and cook similarly? Pretzels won out. Eat the whole tray in your underwear watching Netflix, or lying on the deck of a boat as it rolls on its anchors, watching stars shoot across the nighttime sky. There’s no culinary genius behind it. Pretzels, butter, and marshmallows, baby. That’s it.

Notes: No food processor? Stab a couple holes in the pretzel bag to deflate it and pound the heck out of it with your fists. No rolling pin? Use the pan spray can as a rolling pin, or just push it toward the edges with your fingers.

Time: 20 minutes
Yield: Feeds a dozen

Ingredients:

Pan spray, if needed
1 lb [455 g] thin salted pretzels
1 cup [226 g] unsalted butter
12 oz [340 g] marshmallows
Pinch of kosher salt

Instructions:

1. Line a sheet pan with a silicone mat or parchment paper; if using parchment, lightly coat it with pan spray.

2. Working in batches as needed, in a food processor, pulse the pretzels ten to twenty times until they’re crumbs with a few larger chunks, wabi-sabi style.

3. In a medium Dutch oven over medium-high heat, melt the butter. When it stops frothing, knock the heat down to medium, add the marshmallows, and stir with a rubber spatula until they’re melted, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the pretzels and stir until they’re well coated. Spread the mixture on the prepared sheet pan. Lay another silicone mat or another piece of parchment coated with pan spray upside down on top of the crispies and use a rolling pin to roll it out to about ⅛ in [3 mm] thick. Peel the parchment off the top, finish it with a pinch of salt, and let it cool before slicing and eating it, or just scarf it up warm from the pan.