From the Fyr 7.23.2026

Farm Forecast

There is a very specific point in the farming season when abundance starts to feel slightly unhinged.

We have reached that point.

This is the time of year when the kitchen is taking in armfuls of tomatoes, zucchini, herbs, and everything else coming out of the fields and figuring out not only what to put on a plate, but what to roast, pickle, preserve, blend, marinate, and turn into something entirely different before the next pile arrives.

I have tremendous respect for the kitchen crew this time of year because I know there comes a point when they close their eyes at night and just see tomatoes. Endless tomatoes. Perhaps a zucchini chasing them through a field. These are the glamorous realities of true farm-to-table cooking.

But as someone on the eating side of this equation, this is the moment we’ve been waiting for.

And apparently, you guys are equally excited to be eating on the farm because Wood-Fyred Fridays are filling up!

This Friday is officially sold out, as is our August 7th dinner, but we still have spots available for August 21st, which is one of our last Wood Fyr Fridays of the summer season. It physically pains me to even type that sentence because I am absolutely not emotionally prepared to start using the words “last” and “summer” in the same sentence yet. But here we are.

If you’ve been meaning to come experience one of these evenings, don’t wait until August 20th and suddenly remember you meant to book. Put it on the calendar now. Come hungry, settle in for the evening, eat your way through whatever the kitchen and farm have dreamed up, and soak in one of those late-summer nights that somehow always feel like they’re over before we’ve fully appreciated them.

Book it. Save the date. Give your future August self something really good to look forward to.

Chef Dan (with the best smile in our kichen) showing off the turkey bacon! Can you tell he's proud?!

Café Highlights

All year long, we lean heavily into what we can source directly from the farm and the incredible producers around us. Our own meats and eggs. Housemade sourdough using NYS flour. Products from small farms and makers we believe in.

But right now, so many of those pieces are colliding on the same plate that the café menu basically reads like a map of what’s happening around us in July.

And this week, there’s something completely new coming out of the smoker:

Turkey bacon.

The farm recently processed a few particularly large turkeys, and rather than treating all of that meat as separate cuts, the kitchen ground it together, seasoned and whipped it, formed it into bricks, and put it into the smoker to create our own housemade turkey bacon.

This makes me especially excited because Zack has alpha-gal and can’t eat mammalian meat, which means he’s had to sit on the sidelines for many of the porkier versions of our beloved egg sandwich.

FINALLY, ZACK GETS AN EGG SAMMIE! (And I know he's not the only one on the North Fork who can celebrate this win!)

Turkey is also naturally leaner than pork and generally lower in saturated fat, so it can be a great option for anyone looking to vary their protein sources or cut back a little on saturated fat. But honestly, the coolest part to me is the ingenuity behind it. This is exactly what I love about watching a farm kitchen work: you use what you have, you use it well, and you figure out how to turn it into something people are going to be very excited to eat.

This week that turkey bacon is getting piled onto the egg sandwich with cheddar, roasted tomato mayo, pickled onion, potato, and herbs. And because this came from a finite batch of farm turkeys, we’re running it until it’s gone.

I know I say this about food approximately seventeen times a week, but LOOK AT THIS MENU.

The ratatouille alone.

All of those vegetables we're currently drowning in, cooked down into one of the greatest examples of what happens when summer produce is allowed to be summer produce, then topped with a freaking duck egg, goat cheese, and served with our sourdough.

I mean, come on.

Then there's the caprese sandwich with heirloom tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella from Connecticut, basil, balsamic, and herb aioli. This is why I refuse to get particularly excited about tomatoes in February. A tomato sandwich in July and a tomato sandwich in February are simply not the same species of food.

And I'm calling my order now: ham and Havarti with zucchini relish and chili mayo.

Last week I went on and on about zucchini relish, and apparently I'm not done eating it yet. I'm not going to give you another zucchini dissertation. You can go back and read last week's blog for that, but putting that sweet, tangy relish against salty ham, creamy Havarti, and spicy mayo is precisely the kind of flavor math I enjoy.

There's also something I really appreciate about seeing roasted tomato mayo on the egg sandwich. When produce is coming in this quickly, using it well requires imagination. The tomato doesn't always have to remain a tomato. Roast it down. Concentrate it. Blend it into mayo. Suddenly something that might have had a very short window of usefulness has an entirely new job.

That's what cooking with a farm actually looks like.

It isn't simply putting local vegetables on a menu and calling something farm-to-table. It's constantly asking, "What do we have right now, and what the hell are we going to do with all of it?"

Luckily, these guys are very good at answering that question.

Prepping the pork enchiladas.

Market Highlights

The market has some serious dinner problem-solvers this week.

Pork enchiladas, pork fried rice, shepherd's pie, Southwest chicken salad, baba ganoush, caponata, hummus, potato salad, and gazpacho are all waiting for whatever kind of week you're having.

And before anyone eats that pork fried rice straight from the container, I need to remind you that we have already conducted extensive scientific research on this subject.

By scientific research, I mean I once took a container home and proceeded to add so many things to it that I practically created a new food group.

Go back and find my old Kitchen Spark on stretching the fried rice because that container can GO. Add extra vegetables, lentils, kimchi, eggs, leftover protein, herbs, whatever you've got. It remains one of my favorite examples of buying something prepared and then using it as a jumping-off point rather than necessarily treating it as the entire meal.

But this week, I'm coming for the Southwest chicken salad.

Because my current summer cooking technique can best be described as:

Put things in bowl.

Add sauce.

Add crunch.

Eat.

And frankly, it's working beautifully.

This was literally 2 minutes of work. Romaine base, leftover chopped sweet potatoes, cilantro, pickled onions and our chicken salad. The only thing I missed was avocado because I was out.

Kitchen Spark

"We all find ourselves in food ruts, so here's a little spark to light the fyr in your kitchen."

The Fridge Trash Bowl

First, I would like to clarify that "trash" refers to the complete lack of planning involved, not the quality of the food. A fridge trash bowl is what happens when I open the refrigerator, pull out six unrelated things that need to be eaten, put them over something green, add a sauce and something crunchy, and somehow end up with a meal I'd happily pay $24 for somewhere.

This is very much how I'm eating right now.

I don't want an elaborate recipe. I want to come home from the beach, open the fridge, and be eating something delicious ten minutes later.

The trick is having a few staples around that can make random food taste intentional. In my house, that's almost always Greek yogurt, fresh lemons, Parmesan, feta, pickled things, salt, and pepper.

Give me those and I can figure out the rest.

This Week's Fridge Trash Bowl

You'll Need:

• Southwest chicken salad from the market

• A giant pile of fresh greens from the farm stand

• Tortilla chips from the market

• Whatever fresh vegetables you have around

• Pickled vegetables. And yes, I consider these mandatory

• Feta, if you're feeling it

• Fresh herbs

• Avocado, corn, tomatoes, cucumbers, or anything else currently threatening to take over your refrigerator

For the Hot Honey Yogurt Ranch-ish Situation:

• Greek yogurt

• Fresh lime juice

• A drizzle of hot honey

• Salt and pepper

• A splash of water to thin

Mix everything together until it's drizzly enough to pour liberally over your bowl. Taste it. Need more acid? Add lime. More heat? Hot honey. More salt? You know what to do. We are adults. We do not need to measure salad dressing.

How I Do It

1. Start with way more greens than you think you need and pile them into a giant bowl.

2. Add a generous scoop of Southwest chicken salad. This is already bringing protein, flavor, texture, and plenty of personality, so half your work is done.

3. Raid the refrigerator. Leftover roasted zucchini? In. Tomatoes? Obviously. Corn from two nights ago? Absolutely. Half an avocado? Its time has come.

4. Add something pickled for acidity and something crunchy. This is where those tallow tortilla chips enter the chat. Crush them right over the top.

5. Add feta and fresh herbs if you've got them, then drizzle the whole glorious mess with your hot honey yogurt dressing.

6. Take one bite and congratulate yourself on "cooking."

Stretch It

This isn't really about this particular bowl. It's a formula you can use all summer:

Greens + something prepared + leftover vegetables + protein + something pickled + something crunchy + a really good sauce.

Use the pork fried rice instead of chicken salad.

Use leftover meatballs.

Add farro or rice when you want something heartier.

Skip the greens entirely and turn the whole thing into a wrap.

Scoop it up with tortilla chips and call it nachos.

Put a jammy egg on top because a jammy egg has never made anything worse.

There are no rules here. That's the entire point.

One More Very Important Summer PSA

If you're invited somewhere this weekend and have absolutely no idea what to bring, I have your answer.

Pie and custard.

Wickham's strawberry rhubarb pie has been one of my favorite things since I was a teeny little girl, and I still don't think there are many desserts better than a juicy, tart summer fruit pie with something cold and creamy melting into it.

Grab a local pie. Grab Fyr & Salt frozen vanilla custard. Walk into the party carrying both.

Become everyone's favorite guest. Sometimes you really don't need to complicate things.