Hello, foodies…
The MidAtlantic Wine and Food Festival (MAWFF) is underway and I’ll be heading to Wilmington on Saturday morning for my presentation at the Doubletree Hotel at 9:30am ET. Do you have plans Saturday morning? Can you join me and the ITKWD team? Tickets are still available on MAWFF.com AND if you enter QVC in the “promo code” area at checkout, you get a 5% discount!
There are literally hundreds of talented chefs, foodies, and wine makers coming to this event and presenting on topics near and dear to their hearts. I already introduced you Chef Yara Castro Roberts from Brazil and today I’d like you to meet Matt Haley—a chef who’s making serious waves in Delaware in the food world and beyond.
In addition to owning several restaurants and a catering company in Delaware, Haley is president, acting board member, and advocate of multiple non-profit organizations including Global Delaware, which supports at-risk children who live here in the United States and around the world. He was also just awarded the James Beard Foundation’s 2014 Humanitarian of the Year Award for his work with Nepali disadvantaged youth.
Amy, senior copywriter on the In the Kitchen with David team had the pleasure of interviewing Chef Haley and here’s what they talked about:
AL: I read that you're a middle child of five...tell me a little about that, and how it guided you into a culinary career.
MH: Well, yes—I started helping in the kitchen as a kid—my single mom was working 15 hour days, so I started cooking and learned a little about it. It made me feel like I was a part of something.
AL: What were you cooking then?
MH: Oh, classic stuff...pot roast; spaghetti with Ragu—all in the crock pot and you never cooked the pasta; sauerkraut and pork chops; burnt meatloaf made from ground beef, eggs, and ketchup.
AL: So back to your culinary career—what happened after mom’s kitchen?
MH: Then I got into some crazy stuff and I got locked up in early 30s. I got pointed in the right direction when I got to the rehab center after I got out. In the vocational school, they taught me to pick a career I liked and it felt good to better my life. When I was in aftercare, I got the opportunity to work at a catering business doing new American foods like flank steak and lobster chowder. The instructor took time to teach me; I kept learning and learning and he taught me everything he could. Then encouraged me to get out on my own.
AL: Was it difficult to find work after you got out?
MH: Oh yes...I looked for a while—I had $50 to buy a chefs coat and knife. I applied 16-20 places before I landed a job in the food world. I was looking for anything because I needed to work; I applied to about 20 jobs and got 3 calls back. But, I did get in and I’ve been forever indebted to the food world—it never turned its back on me.
AL: Your restaurants are right near the ocean, Chef, so seafood is obviously your specialty. Do you like fishing, crabbing, and clamming as much as you like cooking the food?
MH: I love it--clamming is my favorite because nobody does it; everybody fishes, crabs, what have you…but I love to clam and then take the fresh clams and make steamed pasta or deviled clams. And really, we do do seafood, but we’re a little of everything now—I say it’s all about what’s here now, whether it’s growing, swimming, or walking down the street—less is more. The best food isn’t over-complicated.
AL: Is there a secret to cooking great seafood? Do you have to be a chef to get it right?
MH: I think my secret is you cannot cook seafood until it’s cooked. You have to cook it 60-75% of the way because it continues to cook. Especially shellfish…never cook it through in a pan. And, when you cook it, make sure you use as little ingredients as possible…olive oil or butter, lime or lemon, and a little sea salt. Sometimes chili seasoning. We also set seafood on vegetable sets and you never want the flavors in veggies to compete with the flavors in the dish. Don’t do two bold favors—it’s almost like dessert. You’d never put super sweet whipped cream on a sweet dessert…you can almost use a savory whipped cream on something like that. It’s all about balance.
AL: You've opened eight restaurants, you employ over 450 people, you're active in your community, and you won the Humanitarian of the Year Award from the Beard Foundation. Chef, where does your energy come from? When do you relax and what do you do in your "spare" time?
MH: I work with the greatest team—people think I’m incredibly busy, but I say I work two hours a week, twice a month. The rest of the time, I’m on a motorcycle in Nepal, Italy, Germany, or Tibet. I also produce movies on the side—a few about motorcycle riding. I also love to clam, as I said. Soon we’ll be making our own canned chowders and bisques. It’s been quite a ride…at the age of 34 I took a bus to work and was making $5 an hour. We’ll do $50 million this year.
AL: David is all about comfort food. Can you tell us what your all-time favorite comfort food is?
MH: I can’t narrow it down to one dish, but I will say I love to tweak old-school recipes to make comfort on another level—instead of shepherd’s pie, we make lobster pie. We’ll also do a ham & cheddar croquet madam top with fried lobster tail—tons of stuff. Everything back in the day we do now. Instead of Sunday supper with classic fried chicken, we serve barbecue chicken thighs wrapped in bacon with green bean potato salad. We also do lobster potato salad and lobster mash.
Foodies, Chef Haley was kind enough to share his recipe for Lobster Biscuits and Gravy. ENJOY!
Lobster Biscuits and Gravy
Biscuits:
Ingredients:
- 2 cups flour
- 1 Tbsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 6 Tbsp cold butter
- 1 cup buttermilk
Directions:
- Pulse the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a food processor until combined. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles sand. Add the buttermilk.
- Form a dough ball on a floured surface and press down with your fingers until the dough is 1” thick. Use a cutter and cut biscuits. Bake for 10 min at 375°F.
Lobster Gravy:
Ingredients:
- 1 stick + 1 Tbsp butter
- 1 lb lobster meat, roughly chopped
- 1 large onion, shaved or sliced thin
- 1/2 cup sherry
- 1 quart heavy cream
- 1 quart whole milk
- 1 Tbsp lobster base
- 1/4 cup flour
- Fresh thyme
- Salt
- White pepper
Directions:
- Sweat onions in a tablespoon of good unsalted butter and cook until they are translucent. Add the sherry and deglaze pan. Add the cream, milk, and base and whisk until you have lobster gravy. Heat to a simmer.
- In a separate pot, melt the butter. Then, stir the flour into the butter to make a roux. Cook it until you start to smell a nutty aroma and then and remove the pan from the heat. Whisk the roux into the simmering gravy and allow it to thicken before turning the heat off. Season with fresh thyme, salt, pepper, and taste it.
Don’t miss Chef Haley on Saturday from 2-3pm ET at the Doubletree—he’s doing a seminar on homemade sodas and he promised our girl Amy a strawberry basil chili soda, lemon berry soda, and even clementine and mint option. Again, you can get your tickets at MAWFF.com.
I’ll see you on Saturday, foodies!
—David