A healthy appetite was called for at the Oyster Bay-East Norwich Public Library last Monday as Simply Creative Chef Rob Scott put together scrumptious dishes for hungry patrons.
Asian orzo chicken salad and grilled zucchini rolls were on the menu, topped off with a mouth-watering chocolate panini with almond for dessert. The event was titled “Wild About Spring Thyme” and it was part of one of many adult programs held at the library.
It was the first time at the library for Scott, who comes from Suffolk County and has been preparing dishes in libraries all over Long Island. In fact, it is his full-time job after having worked as a head chef at Barrister’s in Hampton Bays for 35 years and as personal chef for the founder of the Yellow Book.
“After he passed away, I wasn’t sure what I was going to do, and that’s when I received a call from the program director at the Hampton Bays Library asking me to do a cooking program for them,” said Scott. “That was followed up by calls from the Sayville Library and Bayport/Blue Point Library and from there I was receiving call after call to do cooking programs at libraries all over Long Island. The whole thing just kind of took off.”
Scott does a program every day at a different library for children, teens and adults. His programs consist of a two-hour tutorial in which he shows patrons how to put together different dishes. Some programs allow patrons to make their own dishes as the chef watches and assesses their progress.
The dishes and the ingredients he has for each cooking demonstration are wide and varied and many of them are based on the season.
“Now that we’re coming into spring time, I’ll do a lot of spring type dishes. A lot of different types of salads and such,” said Scott. “For fall I’ll put together a lot of Italian dishes and do stuff like sweet potato, pumpkin pies and chocolate and pumpkin cranberry workshops.”
He said that January is his most popular month, when he does a lot of Super Bowl-themed programs. For those programs he focuses on hors d’oeuvre type of foods, such as sliders and balsamic chicken wings.
Some other popular programs include the Watermelon Eating Contest, the Macho Nacho Contest and make your own guacamole and the Jumbo Speed Stacking Cup Competition with healthy snacks and drinks.
Scott said that he knew he wanted to be in chef in third grade.
“One day I came home and made a buttermilk chicken for my mom using all my own ingredients,” Scott said. “She said it tasted incredible, but then again it was my mom,” he joked.
After graduating from high school in Hampton Bays, he attended BOCES Culinary School and began working a lunch job at Barrister’s Restaurant in Southampton. He worked his way up to the position of head chef, and stayed at the restaurant for 35 years before they closed.
“I always want to be very creative in my dishes. It is not only my goal to put together tasty dishes, but constantly add to ingredients and see what works and what doesn’t,” said Scott.
To get more information about Scott’s programs, contact him at 631-921-5533.
