The captain, apparently, has got it knocked. Elkhorn Slough Safari Captain Yohn Gideon’s wife Melanie is an eager and consummate cook: As manager- welcoming committee-chef for their storybook Moss Landing Inn Bed & Breakfast, she constantly whips up a wide selection of hearty and heartfelt dishes for the captain and their visitors – many of whom, not coincidentally, are return guests.

“They call and say, ‘Are you cooking scones this weekend?’ ” Melanie says as she prepares a batch of apple crunch in her colonial-feeling kitchen. “ ‘Good,’ They say then, ‘Any rooms left?’ ”

Such enthusiastic guests have made a habit of asking her for recipes. After scribbling down endless food formulas, Gideon decided to do something a little more ambitious – hence, the recently released Cooking for the Captain: A Family Recipe Collection, an 80-page trove of 115 favorites that goes for $13.50. Like the Inn itself, it is blue and white, simple and classic, with delicious food and a familial feel throughout.

On a midweek morning visit to the sunny spot along Moss Landing Road, I see what keeps bringing people back – beyond the charming rooms with views of the Moss Landing marshes and Pacific Ocean. The entryway living room, which holds old nautical equipment, a warm fireplace and a volume of visitor comments on local restaurants, leads to a dining area full of inviting wooden tables covered in lacy tablecloths and mild sunlight falling through a wall of latticed windows.

The adjoining kitchen, where Gideon happily bustles, pumps the historically preserved house full of smells.

Gideon promptly introduces me to a pair of serial guests from San Clemente and sets me up with a cup of fresh Kona coffee (“Take a saucer – bed and breakfast decorum,” she says). Moments later a celebrated scone, lemon edition, lands in front of me flanked by sliced mango and strawberry and a wine glass of celery- tomato-carrot juice. I can tell why people ask for this scone – nestled perfectly someplace between heavy and light, the triangle is worthy of worship when parlayed with whipped cream and fresh mango.

Between bites, I flip through a lifetime of recipes – organized into soups and salads, vegetables and fruits, breads and noodles, main dishes, desserts, and this and thats. Corn and cheese chowder and quick salmon bisque jump out early, yellow squash bake and cream of wheat dumplings later. “Breads and noodles” proffer some intriguing and tasty sounding options like poppyseed almond muffins, spinach nadal and a pasta platter called “cheesy smoked albacore.”

I’m into the main dishes – a section swollen like Gideon’s pecan-and- peaches-stuffed French toast with recipes for things like crab pie and pork ribs and sauerkraut – by the time she brings out her signature “messy spinach eggs.” The scramble thrives on the fresh local leaves of spinach, sweet yellow onion and grated Monterey Jack, which she pairs with a sliced pork German sausage.

By the dessert section, the motherly influence is resoundingly clear, both in the Germanic influence and the spirit with which endnotes are scribed. The traditional family recipes include the halupsy, a cabbage packed with ground beef, chopped onion and much more, and, amongst the sweets, “kase kuchen.” This one, which translates from German as “cheese pastry,” the note indicates, is a secret-recipe dish over which Gideon says relatives would base their travel plans. The decision to publish it emerged only after an extended conversation between Gideon and her mom – and Gideon can’t resist revealing how much she reveres it. “The cookbook is worth it,” she says, “just for the kase kuchen.” The recipe itself is shockingly simple, as secret recipes go.

As we slip towards the end of the book, the conversation alights upon different dishes and the family and friends with which they come attached.

“Food keeps you connected,” Gideon smiles, “with people you care about.”

I find myself connected to the apple crunch she has produced from the heavy-duty, old-school oven. Its light brown sugary crust sweetens without muffling the natural exultation of fresh granny smith apples. Gideon has shared its nice, sweet and easy recipe with the readers of the Weekly along with another equally emblematic of her use of fresh local ingredients: stuffed squid. To order the cookbook, call Captain’s Inn or visit its website.

Moss Landing Inn

8122 Moss Landing Rd., Moss Landing • 633-5550 or captainsinn.com.