- One of the things I love about Charleston is all the fresh local seafood.

We're here at Crosby's Fish and Shrimp Company, and I'm Lauren Furey.

"Now We're Cookin'."

(upbeat music) (ocean lapping) (bright music) I'm so happy you're here, Carlo.

- Ah, thank you.

I'm thrilled to be here.

- You came all the way down from Philadelphia.

- Yep.

Just to play with you in the kitchen.

- Yeah.

You traded your apron for the polo today, and we're gonna do some home cooking today.

- Oh, nice.

- And I'm so excited to show you this preserved lemon dressing.

Carlo is my mentor, my first mentor from Philadelphia.

And I was his intern at a restaurant.

And Carlo welcomed me in when I was just learning.

- I remember the day you walked in, and you had your little clipboard and your notepad.

And you and I sat down and I was about to interview you, you took over and interviewed me.

I'm like, "This girl's ridiculous.

She's on the staff."

And it's been 12 or 13 years.

And you've blossomed from being a little girl shorter than me to a beautiful woman that's now five feet and taller than me, so.

- So this preserved lemon dressing, I was so excited to show you.

Because you always taught me to use what you have around and to make it look very nice.

And so I think that scallops are an ingredient that can look very nice with a good sear on them with a nice dressing.

So we wanna use the zest of this lemon, which has all the essential oils.

- Right, it has all the essential oils, exactly.

And it also doesn't have all the acid.

So if we were to use this in a marinade, it's, you know, it's preferable because it's lighter, it's got a strong flavor impact.

And it doesn't have all the sour acid.

- And you know what I love about lemon zest?

Is it makes your whole kitchen smell like heaven.

- Yeah, it does.

- And if you have company coming over, you make this dressing right beforehand, your kitchen will smell, it'll make everybody so hungry and wondering what you're cooking.

- You're right.

It's amazing.

- So, yes.

- And look at all that.

We got probably a good tablespoon and a half of zest.

- Yeah.

That was so fast, Carlo.

So in order to get the lemon juice out, if you wanna be real fancy and wow your friends, even your chef friends, you can roll the lemon on the cutting board.

- Nice.

- And so, we'll slice right through.

You can use your hands or you can use your fancy lemon squeezer.

- And this is fancy.

- All right.

So when life gives you lemons, you gotta make.

- [Both] Lemon vinegarette.

- Hey!

- Now we're cooking!

- Sure.

(Lauren laughing) - Okay, so we have the lemon zest, lemon juice.

Now we are going on to the preserved lemon.

And here in the South, preserving, pickling, and making the most out of what we have available is really important.

I'm gonna cut this into two quarters and first halves to show what the inside of this lemon looks like.

And so now Carlo's gonna show us how to break apart these preserved lemons.

- So we'll cut them into quarters.

So with the fleshy side up, I will slowly carve it away.

- Wow.

You've done this before, huh?

- Yeah.

A few times.

- You must be a chef.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

- His nickname is Chef Man after all, isn't it?

- Well, that's what my kids used to call me.

I'd come home from work in my apron and they'd be like, "Chef Man!"

- Aw.

- It was like a superhero.

And it stuck.

And actually for my birthday, I got a Chef man license plate for my car, which is a lot of fun.

- Tell us about this red Italian car that you drive.

- Well, being a five foot tall Italian guy, you know, and I wanna be a cool chef, I've gotta get the Alfa.

So I have an Alfa Romeo Spider, which was a gift for my 60th birthday.

- Wow!

- And I absolutely love it.

- Now, so Carlo is smashing the garlic clove, and we're using one peeled garlic clove.

Now we're gonna add wholegrain Dijon.

And so I like wholegrain Dijon because it has a little bit of a pop when you bite into it.

- Yeah, you get those little seeds.

- Yes.

- Yeah.

I like that texture.

- Now a pinch of salt.

And we don't need a ton because the preserved lemons are preserved in salt water.

And that's how we did it this time.

- And it's like anchovies or capers.

They give you that salt and just interesting flavor.

- The olive oil that we're using today is an extra virgin olive.

So it's super flavorful and it has a bite to it.

We're in the South, so we gotta add a little sweet in that dressing.

Gotta bounce the Philly with a little bit of South Carolina, you know what I mean?

Yeah.

(laughs) - Holy honey.

That looks good.

- All right.

- And I'll blend her up.

Here we go.

(blender whirring) This is a great little machine, Lauren.

- Now we're cooking.

- I like this.

- Yeah!

Small and mighty like us.

(laughs) - Okay, this dressing has come together beautifully because of the lecithin that is a component within all mustards.

So you can see it's nice and creamy and not broken, so.

- And let's give that a little taste.

Here you go, Chef.

- Oh, thank you.

- Tasting spoon.

Just like our restaurant days.

- Mm.

- Mm!

- Right on.

- Yum!

- Good job.

- Delicious.

Good job, Chef.

- [Carlo] Voila.

The dressing is ready.

- Now that we're finished with the dressing, we're gonna move on to searing our scallops.

You excited, Chef?

- Yeah.

I love cooking.

- AlL right, let's do this thing.

(ocean lapping) Carlo, let's talk through the scallops and the parts of it that we need to take off, because it's really important for people to know.

- Yes, Lauren, it is.

When you eat scallops, the scallop itself is a muscle, and then attached to that is a separate muscle.

This particular animal, it sits like this in the shell, and it is what opens and closes the shell.

So what we do is take this little guy off, which is just chewy, and you don't wanna eat it.

But then you end up with this gorgeous little nugget of love, which we are gonna put here.

And we'll take these off.

And all the muscles have been removed, they're dry, which is a very important part.

Just get any excess moisture off.

And then we're gonna season them.

- I love scallops with a little sear.

And so we're adding salt, we're using kosher salt and black pepper.

And we've got our cast iron pan, which retains heat very well.

So in addition, we're gonna chop these toasted hazelnuts.

- Instead of chopping them with the actual blade, I use the side of the knife.

'Cause they're... You can smell them already.

You smell that?

- Oh yeah.

That smells really good.

- Really fragrant.

Will go in a bowl.

- Yes.

See, I'm still learning from Carlo.

Little did I know, you can chop crush them with the side of the knife.

- Yeah, sure.

You can do something like that.

Or a pan.

A pan would work if you're feeling wild.

- Oh yeah.

Always.

All right, so let's go back to the stove.

- Come on back.

- Our pan is literally smoking hot, just like it should be.

We're adding our vegetable oil.

And now it's scallop time.

- It is scallop time.

- All right.

(pan sizzling) - Oh yeah.

And if you see the smoke, don't fret, you're doing it right.

The scallops need that heat, right?

To get that crust going, so.

- Yeah.

And we don't wanna move them, we're just gonna leave them, let them do their thing.

But, you know, you'll see them start to crack a little bit, and then you'll know that it's just about time.

Take a little peek here real quick.

Look how nice that is.

- Now we're cooking!

- And it doesn't stick, you know, because it has created that little crust.

It's almost slippery.

It's very nice.

Very nice.

- If Carlo's saying, "Very nice," we are on point.

- I think these are about ready, 'cause they will continue to cook.

And then these guys will go right here.

- I love how Carlo says, "These guys," like they're his little friends.

- These guys are my friends.

- (laughs) So- - Okay.

- We've got our crushed hazelnuts.

And we're gonna get those going.

- [Carlo] Put a little bit of oil and a little bit of our vinegarette.

- And Carlo, so you're now a full-time private chef?

- I am.

Well, I sold my restaurant of 22 years.

I sold it last year, (pan sizzling) and now I work for a family and do their corporate cooking and their family cooking.

So it's a lot of fun.

There's definitely a little stress involved.

Because you've got five kids and mom and dad.

But it's a fun job and it's very rewarding.

- Aw.

- Hey Lauren, could you throw a little bit of that spinach in there?

- Absolutely.

- And maybe a little bit of those winter greens.

- This is the healthiest.

It's full of protein, nutrients, and most of all, it tastes delicious.

- Yeah, and it's funny how much calcium you'd be surprised arugula has.

- Oh yes.

- So it's really one of those greens that is a wonder food.

This is done.

We are ready to rock here.

- Oh boy.

- Look at those greens.

- Wow!

- Nicely wilted.

More digestible.

- Yes.

- You wanna grab your plate?

- Absolutely.

- I think we should do this.

- Let's go, Chef.

- All right.

Let me plate this up for you.

- Show me how it's done, just like the old days.

(upbeat music) - [Carlo] What do you say we put a little color in there?

I've got these great little marigolds, I'm gonna just do that.

Look at that color.

Huh?

How nice does that look?

Boom.

- It looks like a party on a plate.

- It does.

- Shall we add this watermelon radish?

Just a couple?

- Sure, 'cause I know how much you love watermelon radish.

- All right.

That's it.

- It looks pretty good.

- Well, now we'll have to eat it.

Wanna just split one?

- Yeah.

- Just like the old days.

- Cheers.

- Cheers.

- Happy cooking, my friend.

- Carlo, thank you so much for coming.

Oh my gosh.

- Ah, it's been great.

- Yes.

- Mm!

- I've been so excited to see you.

Yeah.

- Me too.

- All right, so- - All right this is- - Here we go, the ultimate- - Proof's in the pudding.

Let's see.

- Let's see.

Oh, and get it all in one bite.

- Mm.

Mm.

- Mm!

- Very nice.

Well done.

Bon appetit.

- That is delicious.

With that dressing and the peppery greens, and that sear on the scalp is slightly sweet.

Mm.

- It's a perfect balance.

We've got bitterness, we've got sweetness, you've got that salty, you've got the scallops, which is so buttery and delicious.

- Cheers to Carlo.

- Thanks, buddy.

- Mm-hmm.

Until next time.

- Until next time.

Right on.

- Thank you so much for watching.

I'm Lauren Furey and you're watching "Now We're Cookin'."

(upbeat music) (ocean lapping)