The first session of our summer program has ended and we accomplished quite a bit.

One of the students’ objectives was to develop a product from scratch. They were required to find the recipe, packaging, labeling and make a product ready to sell. To say they knocked it out of the park is an understatement — not only have they accomplished that but soon you will find our products at Fiddleheads, local farmers markets and some local restaurants. They started out with our garlic and rosemary focaccia, which is delicious!

Our second objective of maintaining our garden and starting new plants is also going well. It’s hard to believe that in a little less than a year our garden has changed from an overgrown field to what it is today, a functional farm recognized by the state Department of Agriculture. The collaboration between New London High School and the Science & Technology Magnet High School is going strong! You will also start to see us out next week selling our produce at the farmers market, so come on out and say hello.

As you know, we are really into the farm-to-school movement and are excited to be a large part of the movement in New London. We are also teaching our students about boat-to-school concepts, and last week we took a group of our students out deep-sea fishing with the crew of the MiJoy out of Waterford. Getting the students there at 5:30 a.m. was no easy task, but once aboard we all had a great time fishing. Our trip lasted from 6 a.m. to 1 p.m. and we all caught a lot of fish. Once we returned to the school I taught the group how to gut, scale and prepare the fish for eating. When that was done, we took the fish and cooked it several ways. One of my favorite ways to cook the fish is to cook it whole in a salt crust. The students had never seen this technique but once they had a taste they loved it!

This past Friday the Whaler Café hosted a fun-filled challenge. We taught Chinese exchange students, hosted by the magnet school, how to make pizza. We fired up our pizza oven in the amphitheater, and several of my star students did the demonstrations, including Renlson Michel, Jovan Aimetti, Mayah Brown and Jacky Kral. Our next session starts July 18 and goes to July 29, and our last session goes from Aug. 1 to Aug. 19. If your student is interested in participating the program, send me an email at johnsont@newlondon.org. 

SALT CRUSTED STRIPED SEA BASS

Serves 1 

6 egg whites

4 cups kosher salt

1 striped sea bass, gutted, scaled (about 1 to 1¼pound)

2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

2 sprigs thyme 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place the egg whites into a bowl and whisk until stiff peaks form. Add the salt and mix well; this should feel like wet sand. Put aside for later use. Take a sheet pan and cover it with foil. Take the bass and place the garlic and thyme into the belly. Put a thin layer of the salt/egg mixture onto the sheet pan. This layer should be a little bigger than the fish. Place the fish on top of the egg/salt mixture. Cover the fish with about one inch of the remaining egg/salt mixture leaving the head and tail exposed. You may have some left over. Place in oven for about 20 minutes. The salt should be lightly browned. Remove from the oven. For service cut the salt crust down the middle the long way. You want to cut into it just enough to remove the crust. Do not cut into the fish. Once the top layer of salt is removed take the skin off of the fish, remove the filets and serve.

Garnish: I normally serve this with a light tasting extra virgin olive oil and potatoes.

"From the Whaler Cafe" presents recipes used in the culinary arts program at New London High School and classroom updates. The program is helmed by chef instructor Thomas Johnson, who welcomes questions from readers at JohnsonT@newlondon.org.