My Mother's Lemon Meringue Pie, Creamy Goodness at Food52, and Another Page One (Luscious Lamb!) at The New York Times

Where has the last month gone, I keep asking myself. I don't think it even happened, but then I realize I've done all this work, and so it must have. 

This fantastic lemon meringue pie, an on-rotation favorite dessert from my mom, is this month's feature at Anthology.

Are you craving pie by now? Head over to Anthology for the full scoop, including the delicious recipe. You'll be quite happy you did, as you will no doubt delight in the slices of this bright, rich (but not too rich), perfect dessert.

This recipe is particularly well-timed, as I just returned from a lengthy trip back home, where I cooked and cared for my folks. 

Wouldn't it be nice to be able to do that for our parents in a more regular way? To have our schedules cleared, virtually suspended (mine was, even though the piles waited for me upon my return), and help family out in times of need. 

All this to say I would have loved to share the following stories with you sooner, and I blame them for being so tied up…..

In my Halfway to Dinner column at Food52, I created five fab recipes incorporating heavy cream. Some, just a little, and others, the whole nine yards. Up to you which you'll prefer….there is something for everyone. 

Because, they are all delicious.

a Julia Child-inspired chicken liver mousse

the delightful cracked sugar "glass" of crême brulée

chicken legs with shallots and apples, dressed in a cider cream sauce

my favorite: garlicky creamed wild onions

the gorgeous wild onions destined for creaming...

horseradish cream sauce with dipping accompaniments

Then there was the glorious NYTimes Page One story, the second I had in just as many weeks. I love it when that happens! 

This feature was geared for Easter and Passover and it delivered big. Four recipes (one, two, three, four) including a glorious leg of lamb, a grand meal to feed the whole neighborhood.

Any of these recipes could easily double for Mother's Day, which by now is right around the corner. These preparations are a feast for the eyes, made with love, and so tasty. Your Ma will no doubt appreciate it.

If you do choose one from any of these features, let me know. It gives me great pleasure to know others are eating well.

I'll be at the farmers market this weekend, refilling my refrigerator with peppery greens, juicy veg, orangey-yolk eggs, and a few surprise bits - usually whatever hits me as I roam.

A spare rib barbecue is in the works, as well as some pickle experiments I'm having fun with. Who knows, maybe a fruit and biscuit idea will make a splash... another story I've been chewing on….

Have a beautiful weekend. Hold these first few days of May close, as the rest will fly just as quickly as all of April did. xxx

A Late-Winter Strata, Sour Cherry Hand Pies, and More: Soothing Delights to Remedy the Chill

There is something about the last days of winter - agonizing about *still* wearing all those layers, looking forward to any break showing signs of spring - where we snatch ourselves away from the persistent cold, and the most soothing meals are prepared (and eagerly gobbled up). It is with this in mind that I have gathered a few hearty favorites.....

They are quite easy to prepare and totally delicious, and will likely bring you to want more.

Scroll to bottom for recipes...

 

All that is required in the case of the strata is a bit of chopping and sautéing, followed by layer-layer-layer and then *bake!* with the result being a delightful cheesy crust atop savory bread pudding, spiced meat, and seasoned veg. Dig in. 

This quiche is the most custardy creation I have come across. You will swear up and down exclaiming how good the combination of egg-pumpkin-speck is, their textures and flavor notes riffing off each another. Again with just a little sautéing, mixing, and pouring into the crust to bake (which itself is not rocket science, and so nice, adding a delicate crumb). The finished product is a pretty simple creation - and HUGELY satisfying - to keep you warm and fed.

For those lentils, they may not look like much and that is okay. Not every meal is a knock-down drag-out over-the-top creation. In this case I literally only had a few leftover jars of things in the refrigerator, and in a stroke of genius for lunch recently, pulled them out as I put a pot of French lentils on the stove to cook. Adding a spoonful here and there from each resulted in a nourishing, richly flavorsome dish, one that I'd be proud to serve to others (and certainly to feed my own body again).

And oh the golden pies.......... my mother gave me a jar of Michigan sour cherries (thanks, mama!) which ended up sitting for some time in my pantry. Short on time to make a *wow* dessert for some friends with a new baby, I pulled from my coffers to make these outstanding cherry, dried apricot, and orange zest puff pastry hand pies. And how. Sometimes it is the simplest foods that bring such rewards. And also brought said friends to ask for the recipe so that they can wow their friends (here you go, guys!). This is the spirit of each of these creations, and after making them to fill your own bellies, I hope you will get a knock at your door to share, and then share some more.

 

 

I used a new rolling pin on the dough for those heavenly pies, a lovely one from the Vermont Rolling Pin Company. Hand turned beautiful wood (mine is walnut), they prodcue different rolling pins for different purposes and personalities. See for yourself. And the pâte brisée for the quiche? Same rolling pin, same great results. 

Now for the recipes - 

Hearty Vegetable and Meat Strata

Serves 8-10

2 large bunches chard or 1 bunch collards, spines cut-out and chopped, separated from leaves, also roughly chopped

1/2 lb slab bacon, ground pork, or sausage, cut into 1/2-inch dice

1 large onion or several shallots, finely chopped

1 loaf brioche or seeded bread, sliced 1/2-inch thick

7 eggs

butter to grease the pan 

good olive oil to sear the veg and meat

1/2 cup parmesan, shredded

3/4 cup gruyere, grated

1/2 cup ricotta

2 cups milk

1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper

sea salt to taste

Heat a large cast iron skillet over medium heat. Add a good glug of olive oil and swirl around to edges. When the oil smiles, cook in batches the onion or shallots, the sausage or bacon, and then the greens. Season onions with s+p, and once they begin to soften, about 3 minutes or so, transfer them to a bowl and set aside. Add the meat and more cracked pepper, sautéing for 5 minutes or until browned on all sides. Transfer to another bowl and set aside. Lastly, add the chopped spines of the chard or collards, season with nutmeg and s+p, and after a few minutes - stirring occasionally - add the chopped leaves. The fat in the pan leftover from the meat should season the greens nicely. They should only take a couple minutes to sauté once the leafy parts have been added. Remove pan from heat.

Place bread slices in a single layer on the bottom of a buttered roasting pan. Scatter half the meat around, followed by the greens and onions. Add in half of the ricotta and a third of the gruyere and parmesan. Follow this with another layer of bread, then the last of the meat, onions, and greens, topped with the remaining ricotta and another third of the gruyere and parmesan. Prick the remaining bread with a fork - this is for the liquid which follows to absorb better - and add slices on top in a single layer. In a bowl, whisk together 5 eggs and 1 cup milk. Pour carefully and evenly over the bread. Using a sheet of parchment laid over the surface, lightly press down to compress the layers slightly, which also aids in absorbing the egg mixture. Cover parchment with foil and refrigerate for at least 6 hours, up to a couple days.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F). Bring roasting pan out from the fridge, uncover foil and peel parchment away, and allow to sit for a half-hour. Whisk the remaining eggs and one cup milk together and season with a little sea salt. Pour over bread, again carefully and evenly. Sprinkle remaining cheeses on top, place on a baking tray, and bake in the oven for 30-45 minutes, or until golden in places. Allow to cool for 15 minutes before serving.

Harissa-kissed Lentils with Walnut Pesto and Crème fraîche

1 1/2 cups French lentils, picked through and rinsed 

2 tbsp (to your liking) harissa paste

3 sprigs fresh thyme

1 bay leaf

1/2 cup walnut pesto

a dollop of crème fraîche

freshly cracked black pepper and sea salt to taste

for the pesto - adapted from Chef Jody Williams

1 cup walnuts - roasted in a dry skillet until fragrant

2 cloves garlic, crushed 

3-5 sundried tomatoes - try to find them packaged without preservatives (not as red in color as a result, but still as flavorful)

1 tsp fresh thyme leaves

1/2 tsp sea salt

1 tsp sherry vinegar

good extra virgin olive oil

Pulse all ingredients except olive oil in the bowl of a food processor. Add olive oil in a stream while pulsing the mixture to create the texture of your liking. Stop and taste if need be. Store in ceramic or glass, covered and refrigerated. Good for up to one month.

Place lentils in a saucepan and cover with water, about an inch above the lentils. Add thyme sprigs and bay leaf. Bring to a boil and cover. Lower heat and simmer for 20 minutes or until water is absorbed and lentils are tender (check after 15 minutes to see if more water is needed). Keep covered until done. Mix in harissa and walnut pesto to taste, and perhaps a last drizzle of olive oil. Add a dollop of crème fraîche once served into dishes. 

Pumpkin & Speck Quiche

Serves 4-6

for the filling-

4 eggs

3 egg yolks

1 1/2 cups kabocha or other pumpkin squash, peeled and chopped

1 cup speck, coarsely chopped

1 cup heavy cream

1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

2 sprigs fresh thyme

sea salt and freshly cracked pepper to taste

for the dough -

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp kosher salt 

2 sticks cold butter, cut into small cubes

1/4 cup cold water, plus more if needed

Mix flour and salt together in the bowl of a food processor. Add the butter and pulse until pea-sized bits remain, about 10 seconds. Drizzle water in a thin stream while pulsing the food processor until dough just comes together, no more than 30 seconds. The dough should not be wet or sticky. Empty dough out onto cellophane laid on a work surface and separate into two piles. Form each into a ball and flatten into disks, then wrap each separately, somewhat loosely.  Use a rolling pin, roll from center outwards, turning dough 1/4 turn as you go so each side gets its share. Dough will likely have pushed to limit of cellophane at this point. Refrigerate for an hour to allow the gluten to relax - second disk is yours for another use (once you make this quiche you'll use it quickly for another), and can be frozen for up to one month. 

Bring disk out of fridge and remove plastic. On a lightly floured work surface, roll the dough  to 1/4-inch thick, turning to for evenness. Drape into an 8-inch springform pan, gently freeing dough from edge while pressing it down with the back of your finger flush to base of pan. Trim evenly around top edge (you can use a paring knife or kitchen shears), using any leftovers to patch thin areas or mend cracks. Prick all over with a fork and chill in the refrigerator.

Meanwhile, in a cast iron skillet over medium heat, pan fry speck until golden, about 5 minutes per side. Place onto absorbent paper to cool and sear squash in fat until browned on all sides, about 7 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly. (This can be done a day or two in advance.) 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees (F). Place a sheet of parchment over dough and weight with baking weights, beans, or rice. Blind bake for 12-15 minutes. Remove weights and paper, and bake for a further 10 minutes or until crust is golden. Remove from oven, and scatter speck around base of pastry. Lower oven to 300 degrees.

Whisk together eggs, cream, nutmeg, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Add the kabocha and pour mixture into pastry. Top with thyme leaves and another grind or two of pepper, and bake for 30 minutes, or until custard has set. Allow to cool for 10 minutes and then release spring collar from around pastry. Use two spatulas or palette knives to transfer quiche to a serving platter. Serve with a shaved brussels sprouts or mixed green salad. 

Sour Cherry Hand Pies

Makes 4

1 package store-bought puff pastry (Dufour makes a great version)

1 1/2 cups sour cherries (can substitute currant jam or other similar tart preserves)

5 dried apricots, cut into small dice

zest and juice from one orange

grated fresh nutmeg, if you like

1 egg and a drop of heavy cream, for pastry wash

dusting or cane sugar, for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F). Roll out puff pastry to 1/8-inch thickness on a lightly floured surface. Using a small plate or teacup, trace four 5-inch rounds. Save scraps for another use. With another plate/cup of a slightly larger dimension, cut out four additional rounds (the tops). Chill on parchment-lined baking sheets in the refrigerator.

Mix cherries, apricots, zest, juice, and nutmeg together in a bowl. Spoon mixture into the centers of pastry disks, leaving a 1/2-inch border all around. Paint edges with water, place pastry lids on top, and press to seal. Using the tines of a fork, press around the border and score the center for steam vents. Lightly scramble the egg with the cream, and using a pastry brush paint the pie surfaces all over. Sprinkle sugar on top and bake for 15 minutes or until puffed and golden. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Simplicity (and to-die-for yummy) personified - enjoy!

Luminary Series, Ryan Tate: Dine, Don't Just Eat

I had the pleasure recently of interviewing a friend who has been a chef on the restaurant scene for a number of years. Ryan Tate spent the last 4 years as chef-de-cuisine at the well-known Soho restaurant, Savoy, creating the menu, helping to source the ingredients with owner Peter Hoffman, and cooking the food so beautifully for customers on a nightly basis. Savoy has since been revamped, and now Ryan as a chef is looking to find his own niche in New York City. I hope you enjoy the interview, and that you see the adventure in his food.

What is one of the most important things to you right now in the world of food, whether an issue, an ingredient, a philosophy?

I guess I don't necessarily have a food philosophy that I feel is important, other than extracting purity of ingredients. As far as the locavore sensibility goes, I don't personally follow that at all times. I just want to get the best ingredients that I can, and make them taste as good as possible. So, locavorism, farm-to-table - they are great things and work really well, but for me, why wouldn't you just get the best stuff you can serve, no matter where it's from? The planes are going to fly from Scotland anyway. Put my langoustines on the plane! The plane is coming anyway. That's the world we live in. We can prevent doing more damage, but a it seems unrealistic in many ways.

Being yourself as a chef is my biggest sticking point. I want to be someplace where I can perform as the chef I want to be. I didn't get into this business to work at a concept restaurant "homestyle" or many of the other catchy terms out there now. That's my philosophy, what is most important to me at the moment.

Duck breast, chiogga beets, scallions, rhubarb, anise hyssop, olive bread

Do you want to talk about the chef you want to be? 

There are a couple people in the city that are getting it right: Wylie Dufresne, the guys at Roberta's, even the Do or Dine guys down the street. They're doing what they want to do. I want to cook the food the way I want to cook it, I want to make well thought-out dishes, well composed menus. I don't want to replace somebody's Tuesday night meal because they don't feel like cooking. I want dinner to be an experience for people. The landscape of the dining scene, especially in New York, is moving more towards replacing cooking in their own homes, rather than seeking a unique experience. Not that those places don't need to exist, but that's not what I see in the arc of my career.


Was your mother a good cook? Did you have adventurous meals or more meat & potatoes style meals as you grew up?

My mom is a very good cook, and we were never hungry. There were four of us in the house: two boys, my dad and my mom, and we ate so much! We were true mid-westerners, overeating at almost every meal. Thankfully we also had high metabolisms and we're still pretty thin people. I really enjoyed the way she cooked when I was younger. The excitement happened, but only on the weekends, really. My dad is a total meat & potatoes guy, and did not like when my mom would step outside the box and try new things. She was always interested to try new things - she wanted to cook what she wanted to cook too, but also knew she had to satisfy the alpha male in the house. There was a little flair here and there, but not a lot.

What was a standard meal that she would make that you loved? And what was a way that she stepped outside of that and was adventurous?

The one thing I would always do - I loved her spaghetti sauce, but when she was frying the beef and the onions and the garlic, I would pull a couple spoonfuls of that out and season it and eat the ground meat and the garlic before the tomato sauce got in there. I liked parts - like anything - but when the tomato sauce got incorporated, I didn't care for it much. We always had family taco night, steaks on Saturdays, we went to fish fries on and off. On Friday nights we'd go out - maybe an old Christian belief not to eat fish before the Sabbath - I'm not sure, but Friday night everywhere where I grew up was fish fry night. We'd do lake perch. Sunday we always ate at 3 or 4 o'clock at my grandparents house. That was usually pretty meat intensive, like roast beef or a pot roast or something. Pretty typical.

Her most adventurous (standard) dish was chop suey with water chestnuts. She'd make the white rice, we had soy sauce, it was like we were at a Chinese restaurant, minus the chopsticks.

When was it that you took a different direction in food? 

When I decided I was going to be a professional cook, I was living in Michigan and went to a place called the Food Dance Cafe - Julie Stanley was the chef and owner, and was like the Alice Waters of southwest Michigan. I always worked at restaurants growing up and this place was different. It was still homey and had meat and potatoes, but she always used the best ingredients that were nearby. She bought tomatoes and berries from the local producers and knew them by name. It taught me not to just reach for canned food. How do I get more of an experience this way, I asked myself? Julie said I needed to get out of the country[side]. "Pick a city and go work there", she said.

Being a small town boy, I stayed close to home and moved to Chicago. It wasn't a risk really, but I found a place that was renown - chef  Ted Cizma had just won a Food & Wine 10 best new chefs award. But in retrospect, the menu was meat and potatoes. It was wild game: antelope, buffalo, interesting fish I'd never seen before - in the Friday night fish fry, you don't even know what you're eating half the time. I was seeing whole, real ingredients, but at the end of the day it was roasted venison with potatoes and glazed carrots, and that was the make-up of most of the dishes.

Roasted rabbit, adzuki beans, moo radish, sweet potato molasses

I worked at a very busy place called Spring, only for two months while I waited for another job to open, but it was my first exposure working with asian ingredients on a regular basis. That became a way to make more interesting combinations without it being "meat and potatoes". I learned you can have an interesting menu that integrated world flavors. Then, I helped open a restaurant called Fortunato, which was my first dealings with northern Italian style food. No red sauce! I don't necessarily go-over for Italian food, but I admire the approach to the ingredients: don't weigh the food down, let the product sing - like raw artichokes with chestnut honey and fennel. Simple - that was a dish! I didn't stay there very long either (laughs), but it was a great way to see how you could buck traditional French techniques and still have quality food to bring to people. That was an influential restaurant for me, even though things didn't end well for me there. You can never go wrong as long as you're paying attention to what's going on and formulating opinions on what you see, whether good or bad. If it doesn't work, don't do it. If it does, then do it!

What are five ingredients that are indispensable to you?

Anchovies, bottarga, butter, olive oil, - or some sort of fat. I love animal fat, so some kind of fat would need to be represented. Cheese is another ingredient. Any type of cheese - I love lactic flavor. From Cato Corner, they have one that is so funky and so good, called Hooligan. It's available at the farmers market. Saxelby's carries that cheese as well. Basically, if it is coming from a good cow, it will make an amazing product. Fennel, licorice, anise, hyssop - any would be my last of the five ingredients. I love licorice flavor, and I think it's gotta be a genetic trait passed on from my father. He used to munch on black licorice candies all the time.

Flounder roe, brown butter pudding, carrot dashi

What are five things you would have at your last meal?

I would love to eat the quail egg raviolo I ate at Schwa again. It was one of the most perfect bites of food I've had, ever. And, a really well-aged duck. Duclaire duck, aged, roasted whole. The intensified meat flavor is great. A glass of sparkling water - I love sparkling water. Also, a really light red from northern Italy's Alto Adige region - like a blaufränkisch or such. I'm not wine smart enough to tell you, but something from around there is great. And then lastly, Alaskan crab... maybe with fennel and bottarga, like from above.

What's one of your favorite all-time recipes?

Vegetable custards. I love them, always include them, and it's an easy thing to do. The custards deliver a lot of flavor for comparatively small effort. I made a cauliflower custard last year with gruyere broth and trout roe, with burnt leeks. We did a green garlic custard, too, with fava beans, baby carrots, and peas. It is something I continue to return to.

Candy cap mushroom tofu, favas, baby carrots, peas, asparagus and black trumpet mushroom broth

Who in your experience has been a role model? Why?

Peter Hoffman, obviously. He spent a lot of time familiarizing me with the business aspects of the workings of a restaurant. He was always comfortable with my level of cooking and acumen, so we ended up spending a lot of time understanding managing people, and how we evolve in approaching what we can do in a space. That was valuable. Mike Gaspard, one of my closest friends, was the first chef who spoke to me in a way that didn't make me feel like a total idiot. He was chef at that meat & potatoes place in Chicago (which has since become modern American cuisine focused). He was a hard guy, but when it came to speaking about the food, he would speak in a language that you could understand. No punching in the neck....  "Here, you need to do it like this, let me show you". Simple, right? I have friends whom I admire so much too. You never get to say it to them because you see them - you're in the business working - but my friend Blake Joyal is the chef at Wong, and he's doing amazing work there. My really good friend Stephanie Isard in Chicago is doing great things at her restaurant The Girl and the Goat. She's just been nominated best chef for the 2012 James Beard Awards. We don't ever get too intimate and say "hey buddy, I'm proud of you"...

Rabbit liver, hedgehog mushrooms, brandy cream, dried figs, black walnuts, red wine

In the time you have been in New York, how has the culinary landscape changed? What observations do you have?

This is where I get all whipped up and foam at the mouth. (pause) I'm clearly frustrated with the landscape at the moment. I know I'm smart enough to realize the world changes. The economy changes. And therefore all the things that go along with it change as well. What people want to eat, how they want to eat it,  when they want to eat it, how much they want to pay for it. I think 2008 ruined anything high-caliber in this city and instantly changed how restaurants do business and how to make food. It's a fair realization for these business owners, I just don't have to like it as a culinary professional. I don't think everyone wants a cheeseburger all the time. Yet, we are feeding people cheeseburgers everyday all the time in this city. Enough already. It's a business, I know. Why can't we be what we want and do what we want? Not every chef is a restaurateur, chefs still want to be chefs. That becomes complicated in a financial environment. When you wear both hats, you have to make hard choices, and I don't agree with them all. I think there is some good stuff. Torrisi delivers, without a huge cost to the diner. You don't need all the pageantry of fine dining, but it's important to retain fine dining! You don't have have crystal to have a good meal, but you don't have to choose meatloaf either. I think we went too far to one side without pausing in the middle ground. Maybe as things improve financially, as the world stabilizes a little more, things will push back again. That's what I want.

Veal tongue, smoked apples, mustard seed caviar, rye crisps, baby mustard greens

Whiting, green chili purée, meyer lemon conserve, 60 degree egg yolk, capers

It's like the automatic de-cultivation of things - whether food, manufacturing/making of goods and objects, every single thing you can look at, expectations, refinement, and lack of education, are all intertwined.


It seems like there is too much easy satisfaction going on. We are all different, why should the restaurant scene be so homogenous, with $12 being the price point and ... I want to charge a fair price, pay my rent, pay my bills, and deliver an amazing experience (regardless of those things). Don't let your worries creep into the dining room. People should dine, not just eat. We're well trained people, let us do what we do and deliver an experience. I want people to relax and enjoy that.

Getting to the Root

Eat from the earth. Literally. We have arrived upon the season where bounty has grown ripe deep in the dirt, and is ready to bring to the table. These roots in their many shapes and colors, dense and  heavy, are some of the greatest eating around. This is a story of  L-O-V-E. There's more, too. Like the great things I did with the stuff Gilt Taste sent me a couple weeks ago: Becker Lane's gorgeous pastured pork shoulder, and BliS bourbon barrel-aged maple syrup, which is every bit as dynamic as it sounds. Savory, sweet, hearty, and all of it comfort food.