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Spencer Huey

@spencercooks

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Cook at Chez Panisse
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Tomato club 🍅
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Learn to make these crispy chicken thighs with Meyer lemon salsa verde with one of our cooks, Spencer Huey. He’s created a Youtube Cooking Channel to bring people together through food and cooking.

Click the link in Spencer’s bio to watch the video or search for “Spencer Cooks” on YouTube. by @spencercooks

Monterey Bay squid pasta with opal basil, hot pepper and Sungold tomatoes

Happy Halloween! 🦑 by @spencercooks

Pithivier au canard: Sonoma County duck and pork wrapped in puff pastry with tomato confit, wild mushrooms, and mesclun salad.

A pithivier is a French pastry with a filling enclosed between two layers of puff pastry. They can be sweet or savory. For ours, we made a farce of duck, pork, chanterelle mushrooms, garlic, herbs, and spices. Then it’s pleated, brushed with egg yolk, chilled, brushed again with egg yolk and cream and then baked until golden brown and crisp. The pastry gets nice and flaky while the filling stays juicy and flavorful.

My friend Juliet made the vegetables to go with the pithivier. And @acmebreadcompany made the puff pastry. by @spencercooks

Potato tomato gratin

Potato gratins are usually made with cream, but this one is a little lighter and very special. The potatoes cook in olive oil and the juices released by the tomatoes. It’s a version Amy Dencler taught me at Chez Panisse.

Peel Yukon Gold potatoes and slice them about ⅛ inch thick using a mandoline—be careful with those fingers. Use a serrated knife to slice the tomatoes a little thinner than ¼ inch. Add a good amount of olive oil to a baking dish, then layer the potatoes and tomatoes, starting and ending with potatoes (Potato, tomato, potato, tomato, potato on top). Let the potato slices overlap slightly and season each layer with a little salt and olive oil, along with black pepper and thyme.

Cover and bake at 400°F until the potatoes are completely tender and there’s no resistance when you slide in a knife, about 45–60 minutes. Uncover and continue baking until the top is lightly golden. Let it rest for about 10 minutes before cutting. It should be soft and juicy inside, with golden potatoes around the edges.

We served the gratin with Guinea hen cooked in the hearth, chanterelle mushrooms, and wilted spinach.

Potatoes from @riverdogfarm, tomatoes from @seven_moons_farm 🥔🍅 by @spencercooks

Charentais melon and cucumber salad with crème fraîche, anise hyssop, and prosciutto

Melons from @full_belly_farm ; lemon cucumbers, mint and anise hyssop from @seven_moons_farm by @spencercooks

Corn soup with summer chanterelles and crème fraîche

Corn soup is always a hit and pretty easy to make at home. Sweat 2 sliced yellow onions with olive oil and salt in a large pot until very tender. Add about 1 cup of Sungold tomatoes—or any other sweet orange tomatoes. Shuck 10–12 ears of sweet corn and cut the kernels from the cobs (use the back of your knife to scrape the cob). Add the kernels to the onions with just enough water to cover, about 5–6 cups, along with a few of the scrapped cobs (“corn bones”)for extra flavor.

Simmer for 30–40 minutes, until the corn is tender. Remove the cobs, blend the soup in a Vitamix, and pass it through a strainer. Season with salt, olive oil, and a splash of sherry vinegar to balance everything out. It’s better to start with less water and thin the soup at the end as needed. It should taste deeply of corn—sweet, but still savory.

We served the soup with roasted chanterelles, a drizzle of seasoned crème fraîche, and fresh cilantro blossoms.

Corn, tomatoes and onions from @seven_moons_farm by @spencercooks

My passionfruit harvest

The vines have completely taken over and are producing a ton of fruit. The passionfruit (Passiflora edulis ‘Frederick’) turn purple and drop from the vine when they’re ripe. I let them sit until they get wrinkly, then they’re ready to eat.

They’re tropical, tart, and really tasty spooned over yogurt or added to smoothies (I like the crunchy seeds). If I get enough, I’ll make passionfruit curd.

Passionfruit Curd
75g sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
90g strained passionfruit juice (about 7–9 fruits)
28g butter
Pinch of salt

Whisk the sugar, eggs, and egg yolks together in a heatproof bowl. Set the bowl over a pot of simmering water. I scoop out the passionfruit pulp into a strainer and press to collect the juice (save some seeds if you want). Whisk in the passionfruit juice, melted butter, and a pinch of salt. Continue whisking over the simmering water until thickened, about 8-12 minutes, or until it reaches 165–175°F. Feel free to fold in some of the seeds if you want some crunchy texture. Store in the refrigerator

What else should I make with them? by @spencercooks

Tomato gazpacho with lemon cucumbers and fried shrimp

I made the gazpacho by cutting up ripe New Girl tomatoes and macerating them for a few hours with salt, crushed garlic, and basil stems. Then I passed everything through a food mill and balanced it with olive oil, sherry vinegar, and more salt.

Served very cold with a salad of lemon cucumbers, Corno di Toro peppers, torpedo onions, and Sungold tomatoes and fried shrimp on top.

Tomatoes and summer produce from @seven_moons_farm and shrimp from @montereyfishmarket

Perfect for this hot weather 🥵 by @spencercooks

Spaghetti alla chitarra with Sungold tomatoes, basil, and bottarga

The chitarra, which means guitar, is a traditional pasta-cutting tool strung with wires. Sheets of egg dough are rolled over the top and pressed through the wires to make long, square-edged strands with plenty of texture for catching sauce.

Tossed with a simple tomato sauce, and topped with Sungold tomato confit, basil and lots of grated bottarga - cured mullet roe with a deeply savory flavor.

Made with @seven_moons_farm farms tomatoes and basil as well as @riverdogfarm eggs

Trying something new with these reels😬 by @spencercooks

Here’s the recipe for those who came and want to make it at home, or for those who didn’t make it.

We served this at our tomato pop-up, along with @alessandrogiannatempo tomato doughnuts and Valencia tomato watermelon agua fresca (Valencia tomatoes, orange watermelon, water, lemon, sugar, and salt). It’s a dish I make at home all the time, so it was really special getting to cook it for everyone.

For the pop up, I used 60 lbs of New Girl, Valencia, and Sungold tomatoes from @seven_moons_farm farm , which made 7 gallons of sauce. I cooked down the tomatoes with salt, sugar, and Shaoxing wine, then added a sizzle of green onions, ginger, and garlic, followed by corn and Sungolds. I scrambled the eggs separately and folded them in at the end. We served it over rice with a roasted Jimmy Nardello pepper.

We sold out, and I only had about a quart of sauce left, which was perfect for my dinner. Thanks to everyone who came out and celebrated tomato season with us! Thanks @fava_onvine for hosting!

Sungold tomato egg with corn

This Chinese homestyle dish is tasty, affordable, and comes together in 10 minutes. It’s one of those meals that’s greater than the sum of its parts, and I find myself making it multiple times a week when I don’t know what else to cook. Here, I added corn and Sungold tomatoes for a little extra summer sweetness.

3 eggs
3 large tomatoes, roughly chopped
handful of Sungold tomatoes
2 green onions, sliced
1 ear of corn, kernels cut from the cob
Salt
Sugar
Water
Neutral oil
Steamed rice

Whisk the eggs with a little salt. Heat a pan over medium-high heat with oil and scramble the eggs until about 80% cooked. Remove and set aside.

Add a little more oil to the same pan and sizzle the green onion bottoms, followed by the tomatoes, a pinch of salt, and sugar to taste. Cook until the tomatoes break down and get saucy, adding a splash of water if needed. Add the corn and Sungolds and cook briefly, then fold the eggs back in. The eggs will help thicken the sauce. Finish with the remaining green onions and serve over rice.

A few variations: Add garlic, ginger, or onion at the beginning; deglaze the pan with a splash of Shaoxing wine by @spencercooks

Tomato connoisseurs and chefs Spencer and Alessandro are joining forces for a fun summer pop-up this Sunday, August 16, at @fava_onvine in Berkeley! We’ve been friends for a while and have wanted to create something together—so naturally, it had to be tomato-themed.

We’ll be serving tomato doughnuts (sugared and glazed) and Cantonese tomato egg over rice with corn and Sungold tomatoes.

Takeaway only

11:30am–1:30pm, or until sold out

No preorders; payment via Venmo

We’re so excited to see you Sunday! 🍅🍅🍅

Thank you @fava_onvine for hosting us and we encourage you to follow and support them by @spencercooks

Sooooo… I’m in The New York Times!!

My friend @ericjoonho was writing his annual tomato column and recipe and asked if I’d share a few thoughts about tomatoes. We ended up talking about the 50 varieties I’m growing this year, the 5th annual tomato plant sale, and Tomato Club—our tomato-centric Substack community. 🍅🥹

I’m always happy to talk about tomatoes. Thanks Eric for including me in your article, and everyone should make his delicious Steakhouse Tomato-Onion recipe.

By a wild coincidence, I was actually in The New York Times twice in the past week. They also published a review of Chez Panisse, and I happened to be in one of the photos.

Life is wild. I’m incredibly grateful for all the opportunities!🍅🍅 by @spencercooks