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Favorite honey

From the spring bloom. It’s the soft, delicate end of honey. Crystal clear.

Personality traits necessary for beekeeping

You have to be really calm. You can’t go in with residual feelings from someplace else because the bees will pick up on it. They can smell if you’re upset.

Best part of living in Big Sur

To be able to be familiar with the local community. A lot of times people come through and take what they can get and then leave. So it’s nice to be able to add to it.

Best part of beekeeping

Communicating with nature. If you can keep the hive happy and the queen happy, they reward you.

Recipes

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Grilled Sardines with Frisée and Whole-Grain Mustard Dressing

Our sardines come right out of Monterey Bay and are a real gift with their sweet, rich taste and flavorful skin. Only problem is, they take a long time to clean. A few lucky guests get to eat these, but usually once Phil has finished the tedious task of cleaning them, he asks, “Should we cook some up?” Soon after, our bellies are full—and the sardines never make it to the menu. It’s not that often that you see sardines at fish markets, but they’re worth searching out. We also love to bake sardines in a cast-iron skillet in the wood-fired oven with a ladleful of tomato sauce and a drizzle of olive oil. Then we put them over toast—they make great open-face sandwiches.

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INGREDIENTS

FOR THE FRISÉE:

1 head frisée

2 tablespoons minced chives

2 tablespoons minced flat-leaf parsley

2 tablespoons minced shallots

FOR THE WHOLE-GRAIN MUSTARD DRESSING:

1 tablespoon whole-grain mustard

¼ cup golden (or white) balsamic vinegar

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

½ cup rice bran oil or canola oil

FOR THE SARDINES:

12 fresh sardines, cleaned and butterflied (see sidebar)

¼ cup rice bran oil or canola oil

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

3 tablespoons minced flat-leaf parsley

Serves 4

Start a fire in your grill 30 minutes in advance, burning the wood down until you have a red-hot coal base. You don’t want flames touching the fish. (See backmatter for preparing a wood-fired grill.)

Wash the frisée and snip the green tips off the leaves, leaving behind only the white and yellow part of the head. Cut off and discard the core. Tear the remaining leaves into medium pieces. Place the frisée in a bowl, toss in the herbs and shallots, and set it aside, undressed, until ready to serve.

In a medium bowl, whisk the mustard and vinegar with a pinch of salt and pepper until combined. Add the oil in a slow, steady stream until the dressing is thick and emulsified—it should come together pretty quickly. Check the seasoning and add more salt and pepper if necessary. Set the dressing aside.

Brush the sardines on both sides with the oil, season with salt and pepper, and sprinkle with the parsley. Place the fish on the hot grill, skin side down, and cook until their flesh turns opaque, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove the fish from the grill and set them aside on a plate with the skin side up.

Toss the frisée salad lightly with the dressing, add salt and pepper to taste, and arrange the salad on a platter. Place the sardines on top, skin side up.

Cleaning Sardines

Using a sharp knife, slice open the belly of each fish and remove its innards. Cut off the head, open the fish with your fingers, and pull out its spine (this should remove most of the bones, though there may be a few stragglers). Keep the fish butterflied for grilling.

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Roasted Leg of Lamb with Pesto

Roasting works well on meat that’s attached to the bone because the exterior will caramelize to a crispy crust while the bone will keep the meat moist and red on the inside. To keep the meat as juicy as possible, let it rest for several minutes after taking it out of the oven. How you carve it is also important—always make sure to slice across the grain.

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INGREDIENTS

FOR THE LAMB:

2 cups kosher salt

2 tablespoons sugar

3 bay