Brine:
2L water
60g kosher salt
11 g kombu
1 tsp dried thyme
2 tsp coriander seeds
2 tsp fennel seeds
2 ea allspice berries
2 ea juniper berries
1 tsp chile flakes
2 ea cloves
1 ea 4# chicken, trussed.
2 tblsp chicken or duck fat
1 sprig thyme

1. Add all brine ingredients together  and bring to a simmer.
2. Remove from heat and chill.
3. Place whole chicken in brine for 3 hrs.
4. take chicken off brine and wipe dry
5. Season the chicken with kosher salt and fresh cracked black pepper. 
6.  Place chicken, fat and thyme in a sous vide bag and seal on medium so as not to distort the shape of the bird but still removes all air.
7. Place chicken into an 70c bath until the internal temp is 64c.  approx. 2.5 hours
8. let the chicken rest for 20 min at room temperature.
9. put chicken into ice water for 3 hrs until thoroughly chilled.

 Preheat combi-oven to 425 with “browning” mode on.

1 hour before serving remove chicken from bag and wipe off as much of the gelled juice as possible and season lightly with additional salt and pepper.

Place on a roasting rack in the combi oven for approximately 35-40 minutes, or until the thigh joint is barely warm. Remove and let rest 10 minutes. Carve and serve.

Ingredients:

1 ½ lbs cream cheese

1 vanilla bean

3 lbs sheep’s milk yogurt

 600 grams of sugar

1 teaspoon salt

13 eggs

Place tempered cream cheese into a kitchenaid bowl with the seeds of one vanilla bean.

paddle until smooth.

Add the yogurt and paddle until smooth.

Add the sugar and mix until smooth

Add the yolks one at a time, mixing well.

Pass through a chinoise

.

Bake at steam 93C for 25 minutes, covered.  then convection 110C for 25 minutes, uncovered.

The cheesecakes will puff slightly during the convection portion of the baking process.

be sure to the batter is tempered before baking as it tends to curdle slightly otherwise.

be sure to temper all ingredients to keep the mixing time to a minimum as you do not want to work too much air into the batter.

If using ring molds, filled 3/4 full, will yield approx. 16-18 ea.

You might find you need to tweak the proportions and cooking method to work in your kitchen since we use a combi-steam oven.  As a substitution I recommend you cook in a bain mairie, or water bath, to provide the moisture.

Craigie On Main’s Chef Tony Maws—Together with Ideas in Food’s Chefs Aki Kamozawa and H. Alexander Talbot—To Host

Celebrity Chef Tour Dinner Benefiting the James Beard Foundation

(CAMBRIDGE, MA; May 24, 2010)—The Celebrity Chef Tour benefiting the James Beard Foundation is coming to Cambridge on Thursday, July 29, 2010, for a night of culinary celebration. Two-time James Beard Nominee for Best Chef Northeast (2009, 2010) Tony Maws of Craigie On Main will cook an eight-course meal with IdeasInFood.com husband-and-wife dynamos Aki Kamozawa and H. Alexander Talbot.

Chef Maws’ signature “refined rusticity” will be paired with the modern culinary prowess of Chefs Kamozawa and Talbot in a fun and spectacular dining event. The full menu is currently being developed, but you can be sure of courses by the Craigie On Main team and the Ideas In Food team individually, as well as special courses concocted by Tony, Alex and Aki together. The night’s dinner will be paired with a variety of libations from Maws’ hand-selected wines to Craigie’s infamous cocktails and local brews.

A portion of the evening’s proceeds will go to the James Beard Foundation educational programs, which include continuing education classes, guided tastings, readings, conferences, children’s programs, scholarship opportunities for aspiring culinary students, and volunteer opportunities for current culinary students. To date the celebrity chef tour has raised of 850k for the James Beard Foundation.

Craigie On Main is located at 853 Main St., in Cambridge, MA. The Celebrity Chef Tour Dinner will begin at 7 p.m. on Thursday, July 29, 2010. Tickets are $150 per person, (inclusive of wine pairings, tax, and gratuity) and can be reserved by calling Jeff Black at 720.201.1853 or by visiting http://www.celebritycheftour.com.

About Tony Maws
Tony Maws is the award-winning chef and owner behind the Northeast’s culinary gem: Craigie On Main. James Beard nominee for Best Chef Northeast (2009, 2010), and a Food & Wine Best New Chef (2005), Maws is celebrated equally for his innovative and traditional work in the kitchen, and is known for his immense talent, creativity, and rugged standards and expectations for himself and his staff, as well as the farmers and suppliers who visit him daily. “Commitment” is a key term for Maws and the entire Craigie on Main team. This commitment to the traditions of old-school farming methods— of “nose to tail, root to stem, and fins to gills” cooking—are implemented daily, combining to create a style of cuisine that can only be described as “refined rusticity.” All of Craigie on Main’s ingredients arrive each morning, and all are farmed or raised sustainably and with purpose and conscience. “It’s been part of my philosophy long before the terms ‘locavore’ or ‘farm-to-plate’ were coined,” Maws says. Maws has earned widespread attention, including being honored as “Boston’s Best Chef” by Boston magazine (while at his first restaurant Craigie Street Bistrot). He has also been featured in The Martha Stewart Show, Travel + Leisure, Gourmet, The Boston Globe, and on MSN.com, as well as NBC’s “Today” show and Fox News.

About Aki Kamozawa and H. Alexander Talbot
Aki Kamozawa and H. Alexander Talbot are the owners of Ideas in Food, LLC, a consulting business based in Levittown, PA. They met in the kitchen at Clio in Boston in 1997 and have been cooking together ever since. Kamozawa and Talbot specialize in sharing techniques for creativity with restaurants, food-service companies, and home kitchens using modern ingredients, equipment, and innovative approaches to food. The business grew out of their blog, Ideas in Food (www.ideasinfood.com). In addition to their one on one work with individual chefs, they have consulted with companies such as the No. 9 Group in Boston, Fourth Wall Restaurants in New York City, Frito Lay, and Unilever. The pair also writes for Popular Science online. Their column, titled “Kitchen Alchemy,” focuses on scientific explorations in the kitchen. Kamozawa and Talbot published an article about garlic in Santé magazine in March 2009. They contributed an essay to the anthology Food and Philosophy, which was published in November 2007. In addition to this they have been featured in articles for The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Food & Wine, Saveur, and many others. Their newest book, “Ideas In Food – Great Recipes and Why They Work” (Clarkson Potter) will be released in December 2010.

About the Celebrity Chef Tour benefiting the James Beard Foundation:
Since its inception in 2004, the Celebrity Chef Tour benefiting the James Beard Foundation has become a favorite event for both the chefs to participate in and guests to attend, and has raised more than $825,000 for the James Beard Foundation. The Celebrity Chef Tour brings James Beard Foundation Award winners and other celebrity chefs to private clubs, resorts, and other exclusive venues around the country for spectacular dining events. The tour was created to benefit the James Beard Foundation and to promote the culinary arts across America.

Proud sponsors of the Celebrity Chef Tour benefiting the James Beard Foundation include, Mercedes Benz, Stella Artois, and VisaSignature®. Partners include Wine & Spirits magazine, Certified Angus Beef, Hudson Valley Foie Gras, Fiji Water, and Forever Cheese.

About the James Beard House and the James Beard Foundation:
James Beard is widely recognized as the father of American culinary arts. Throughout his life, he pursued and advocated the highest standards, and served as a mentor to emerging talents. The James Beard House is where Beard lived, taught, and welcomed friends and colleagues who shared his love for food. Shortly after he passed away, a group of friends sparked a drive to save his home and create a living memorial and a center for the culinary community. It has become what Founding President Peter Kump envisioned it could be: “a culinary place to see and taste the work of this country’s most talented chefs, winemakers, cookbook authors, and teachers.” The James Beard House’s sister nonprofit organization, the James Beard Foundation, the mission of which is to “celebrate, preserve, and nurture America’s culinary heritage and diversity in order to elevate the appreciation of our culinary excellence,” furthers Mr. Kump’s vision by providing scholarships and volunteer opportunities for aspiring culinary professionals, educating today’s youth on the importance of good food and essential nutrition.

For more information, please see www.celebritycheftour.com.

###

For more information, or to schedule an interview, please contact Jessica Rodriguez
at Wagstaff Worldwide: 212.227.7575 or jessica@wagstaffworldwide.com

Dads are hard to buy for, and they don’t really need more grilling tools, business ties, or sleeves of golf balls. This year, whisk your father away to Craigie On Main where veteran dad of two-year-old Charlie Maws, and acclaimed chef Tony Maws is determined to make this holiday anything but ho-hum.

Craigie On Main has several dining options available:

Dinner will feature a dad-centric, four-course meal designed by Craigie’s cooking crew of gourmet dads. On the night’s menu will be big pieces of meat and “Flintstone”-type bones, as well as a lardo-wrapped Vermont beef tenderloin, and dessert for $75.

For brunch, a special “Papa Panino” will make its debut. The panino is comprised of pork heart sausage, garden pickle relish, provolone, and fried farm-fresh egg on ciabatta. Other brunch options include corned beef hash, steak and eggs, pancakes, grits, and the infamous Craigie brunch burgers, as well as a grilled spice-rubbed Berkshire pork chop, with a fried farm-fresh egg.

Craigie On Main also has one of the finest whiskey selections in the city from the highly sought after Buffalo Trace Antique Collection to a variety of scotch and scotch cocktails. There’s also the newly expanded beer list that includes Baird Shizuoka Natsumikan Ale (Numazu, Japan); Brasserie St. Germain, Page 24 Printemps (France), and Narragansett (Providence, RI) to name a few. 

No matter what your dad craves, Craigie On Main will make sure he’s well fed—because as we all know, the way to any daddy’s heart is through his stomach.

To make your Father’s Day brunch or dinner reservations, please call 617.497.5511 or visit www.craigieonmain.com.

Q. “We enjoyed a wonderful meal at your restaurant this past Thursday, particularly enjoying the salmon. One member of my party had the Halibut, as you ran out of the salmon….. The waiter mentioned that the Halibut came from the Atlantic (from Maine I believe). I have since read that the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch suggests that wild caught Atlantic Halibut be “Avoided” due to over-fishing. Is Craigie aware of this suggestion? 

A. We’re definitely aware of the suggestion and the Monterey Seafood Watch. Unfortunately acting on  these advisories is not always so black and white.  The timing of this question is ironic as I just participated in a meeting with the Chef’s Collaborative on this very subject and I’ll be sitting on  a panel at their conference in Boston this fall that will touch on this and related topics (and I’ll be doing a few demos as well!).  Unfortunately there is no perfect scale we can use for fish in the local vs. sustainable argument to help us decide what to do. Just consider these options:  Small Day-boat, line-caught fish from Maine vs. Day-boat dragger fish from Gloucester vs. organically farm-raised hiramasa from Australia that flies around the world..You can see that the tradeoff isn’t obvious or easy..

Certainly the halibut population is a worthy consideration, but so is the sustainability of the local fisheries and the fishermen whose livelihood rely on a catch that is exponentially restricted now compared to just a few short years ago.  We avoid gill-netted and dragger fish, and focus on local and sustainable.  I think Monterey’s advisory can be a great guide, especially for consumers who often rely on supermarkets that might be buying from larger, long trip boats with greater by-catch issues.  

All in all it’s more than challenging, but to sum up Craigie’s bottom line – we’re proud to serve the halibut we cook at the restaurant. 

Tony Maws

Method:

·        3# cleaned and soaked marrow bones (have your butcher cut the bones 3” long and in half lengthwise.  Soak  the bones in multiple changes of salted, cold water over the course of 2-3 days until the bones are removed of all blood).

·        Kosher salt and pepper

·        1 grill, such as a Webber

·        hardwood charcoal (NOT charcoal briquettes)

·        1 ea 12” aluminum pan

·        coarse sea salt (like fleur de sel)

·        grilled country toast

Light the fire 20 minutes in advance, piling all the charcoal in one corner of the grill.

Place aluminum pan next to coals on opposite side of the grill.

Season marrow bones with kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper.

Place bone-side down on the opposite side of the grill, above the aluminum pan.

Cover the grill with all vents open.

Roast bones until cooked all the way through (a cake tester or knife will enter the marrow with no resistence and is hot in the center).

Serve with crusty toast and/or place a little on top of a beef entree

(Oxtails have their own distinctively delicious flavor but in a pinch you could substitute another braising cut such as beef shanks, cheeks, or short ribs.)

Ingredients:
4# cut, grass-fed oxtails
1 navel orange, sliced into 1/2″ rounds
1/2″ ginger, smashed
6 ea peeled shallots
1/3# maitake mushrooms
2 cup full bodied red wine
2T Worcestershire sauce
1 bunch scallion, sliced thin
flour for dusting
salt and pepper
canola oil for browning

Dust and season the cut oxtails all around with flour, salt and pepper.
Heat oil over medium-high heat in a Le Creuset or other enameled braising pot.
Color oxtails on all sides and remove from pot.
Discard oil and wipe clean.
Add 2T oil and roast oranges on both sides, remove when well caramelized on both sides.
Roast maitake, ginger and whole shallots in the same pot until they color slightly and begin to soften.
Deglaze with red wine and Worcestershire sauce, reduce by 1/2.
Add the oxtails and oranges back to the pot.
Add enough water to cover half the oxtails
Cover and cook in a 300 degree oven until falling of the bone.
Strain off the sauce and reduce by half or until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.
Fold the braised ingredients and scallions together and serve.

• 1/4 cup dijon mustard
• 1 Tblsp toasted cumin seeds
• 1 tsp toasted coriander seeds
• 1 tsp ground black pepper
• 1 Tblsp chopped parsley
• 1 Tblsp tarragon
• 1 tsp chopped rosemary
• 1 cup plus 2 Tblsp extra virgin olive oil
• kosher salt
• 1 8-bone rack of lamb — preferably local (you can also use individual lamb chops)
• 1 black steel or cast iron pan

For 1 Gallon of Cider:

Stud 2 oranges with 20 cloves each, piercing the orange skin

Compound butter:

1 pound butter
1 cup lightly packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground canella (or cinnamon)
3/4 of one nutmeg grated
pinch of salt

Let butter temper and then beat in remaining ingredients being careful not to incorporate a lot of air.  Put butter mixture on to parchment paper or plastic wrap and form a log about an inch and a half in diameter.  Refrigerate until firm then slice into half inch pieces.

For the Toddy:

1 piece of compound butter
2 dashes Angostura bitters
1.5 oz Appleton Reserve Jamaican Rum
6 oz Mulled cider

Heat and mix the drink, incorporating the butter into the beverage. (We steam this mixture on the frothing wand of the cappuccino machine.  You could also use a hand held mini milk frother.)  Top with grated cinnamon stick and grated nutmeg and serve.

1 ¼ cups vanilla sugar

 ½ cup sugar

Custard:

2 fresh vanilla beans

3 cups whole milk

¾ cups vanilla sugar

3 whole eggs

6 egg yolks

PREHEAT OVEN TO 325 DEGREES

For the caramel:

Place sugar and water in a heavy saucepan

Put on medium heat and simmer until it caramelizes, a dark amber color.  Too far and it will burn and taste bitter, so keep your eye on it!

Pour the caramel into the ramekin or baking pan and let cool.  Be careful, caramel is extremely hot, hotter than boiling water.

For the custard:

Steep the vanilla and milk – put vanilla beans in milk and scald (begins to simmer), cover and let infuse for 10 -15 minutes.

Put all eggs into a large mixing bowl.  Once the milk is fully infused add the sugar and whisk vigorously. Slowly pour the milk mixture into the egg and sugar mixture while whisking. Be sure to scrape all the seeds in the pod into this mixture.

Save the scraped pods for future vanilla sugar infusions.

Pour the custard base into the mold.  Place in a water bath in the oven and cook until set and a cake tester or toothpick comes out clean, 1 – 1 ½ hours depending on size.

A recent NY Times Online article uses Craigie On Main as an example of “ethical consumerism” – questioning whether a consumer’s choices to buy and eat locally and morally is a meaningful gesture or just an empty substitute for “real” social action:  http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/10/us/10iht-currents.html?_r=1 

 The author, Anand Giridharadas, dined at Craigie recenty.He kindly wrote us about how much he enjoyed his meal.  Now, after reading his article, we’re flattered again - but also confused.  Mr. Giridharadas  seems to be placing Chef Tony Maws and our team here at Craigie right at the crossroads of an important conversation about global societal change. 

It seems to us that his article presents a false choice between eating at a restaurant like ours – one that prioritizes local, sustainable, and delicious food – and being genuinely committed to bettering the world.  We choose to do both.   

We’re hoping that our diners’ choice to “vote with their pocketbooks” about how their food – and those who grow, catch, and cook it –  does indeed create financial pressure.  From the boycotts of the Civil Rights Movement to the seed of the anti-apartheid movement – a group of South African exiles who simply asked folks not to buy South African goods —  the power of the purse to advance social justice is apparent. We’re with Margaret Mead on that one: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”  

And we totally agree that consumer choices need to be matched by explicit political action. But why does this mean that we should  not  run a restaurant committed to serving well-prepared, well-sourced food, and being a good citizen in our community, because we should be out marching instead?   We think we can have it all. 

We are grateful that Mr. Giridharadas has articulated some important trends.  We definitely hope this sparks a useful and continuing dialog, and that people put their money where their mouths are.

We can and will cook and eat responsibly and happily,and urge others to do the same. And after we vote or march or call our congressman, we like to sustain our stomachs with a ragout of beautiful forest mushrooms that were foraged by hand a few miles from here. They’ll be in a dish with homemade sausage, local fall vegetables and a farm-fresh poached egg.

From the Team and Craigie On Main

3 slices cucumber
1 pinch of salt
1 1/2 oz Hendrick’s Gin
3/4 oz yellow chartreuse
3/4 ox lime juice
1 drop orange blossom water

Muddle 3 cucumber slices with pinch of salt.  Add remaining ingredients and shake. Strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a slice of cucumber.

Place whole ear(s) of corn in a pan with pork fat and some lardons (small chunks) of guanciale.  Generously add salt and pepper.  Roast in 450 degree oven for 10-15 minutes.  Top with chiffonade of basil.

Method:

Remove corn kernels from cobs with a knife, cutting cobs in half and reserving kernels for later. Scrape cobs with the back of knife and save all the “milk” you collect. Place cobs in a stainless steel, non-reactive pot with ½ the leek, 3 shallots, fennel, onion, garlic, spices and ½ the herbs. Cover with water, season with salt and pepper, bring to boil, lower to a simmer and cook for 20-30 minutes. Strain this corn stock.

Place corn kernels in pot with strained stock. Add ¼ lb. butter, remaining herbs tied in a sachet, and season to taste. Bring to gentle simmer, and cook for 20 minutes. Remove herb sachet and blend on “high” in batches, adding butter and seasoning to taste.Be sure to blend each batch for a few minutes to pulverize the corn kernels. Pass through a strainer or the fine disk of a food mill.

Serve hot with a sprinkle of chopped fresh chives.

Ingredients
1 duck breast (preferably Moudlard)
Coarse sea salt
2T peppercorns (preferably Sichuan)
2T peppercorns (preferably Telicherry)
1 cup Banyuls, port or Madeira wine
1T Banyuls Vinegar

How To
1. Separate tenderloin from the breast and trim some of the extra fat
2. Bury duck breast in sea salt for 24 hours and place in the refrigerator
3. Remove duck from salt
4. Rub with vinegar first, then douse duck with Banyuls wine
5. Generously cover duck with the blended peppercorns on both sides
6. Roll up duck in cheese cloth
7. Tie it up
8. Hang in a wine cooler or fridge for a minimum of 7 days
9. Slice thinly with a meat slicer, mandoline or very sharp knife and serve

Recommended serving options: as a “crouton” on salads, amuse-bouches, part of charcuterie plate

Can keep in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks or freeze indefinitely.

Easy and delicious.

Note: they must be spring dug as they are super sweet and buttery.

Ingredients:
2 lbs spring dug parsnips
1 leek
2 shallots
sprig of thyme
8 Tbsp butter
4 cups chicken stock
4 cups water
½ cup cream

Method:
Sweat out leeks, thyme, and shallots in 4 T butter. Season with salt and pepper.
Peel and dice parsnips.  When leeks and shallots are soft, add the parsnips, salt and pepper. Cook gently until parsnips are soft and cooked through, being careful that nothing browns.

Add a mixture of cream and  1/2 chicken stock and 1/2 water - enough to cover above parsnips etc by about 2 inches. Be sure to use a pot that is wide enough to allow the parsnips to cook in one flat layer and tall enough to accommodate the chicken stock, water, and cream. Add more salt and pepper. Cook over high heat until soup comes to a boil. Puree in batches with the remaining 4 T butter.

Season to taste. Pass through a strainer.

(At the restaurant we serve it with pork jowl croutons but anything crunchy will probably be delicious.)

Serves 4-6

Filling
Spiced Rum
3/4 cups golden raisins
10 champagne mangoes, diced
3 stalks rhubarb, chopped
1/3 cup turbinado sugar
zest of 1 lime
4 tablespoons flour
pinch of salt
3 tablespoons Spiced Rum

The night before serving, pour enough boiling rum over the fruit to cover. Cover with plastic wrap and allow the mixture to cool to room temperature before storing in the refrigerator.  The raisins will absorb the rum, and any leftovers will only get better over time.

To make the topping: lightly toast and coarsely chop the macadamia nuts.  Stir together the flour, sugar, salt and spices. Cut the butter into 1″ cubes.  With a food processor, pulse the butter and flour mixture together until the butter is well coated and approximately the size of peas.  By hand, stir the chopped nuts into the flour/butter mixture.

To make the filling: in a bowl, combine the raisins, diced mango, chopped rhubarb, sugar, lime zest, flour, salt, and rum. Toss well to combine. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Put the filling in a buttered pan just large enough to hold all ingredients. With your hands, spread an even layer of crisp topping over the fruit, using enough so that no fruit shows through the topping. Bake, uncovered, until topping is an even golden-brown throughout and the fruit is cooked - from one to two hours. Serve with vanilla ice cream

Notes: Serves 8-12.  You can vary the amount of sugar to taste.  Any extra topping mix can be stored in fridge for up to a week and used on any type of crisp or brown betty. Substitute any light brown sugar for turbinado if necessary.

* To make a beurre monté, bring 1 Tablespoon of water to a boil in a saucepan. Bring the heat down to moderate and whisk in chunks of cold butter, 1 or 2 at a time. Once the butter has started to emulsify, more butter may be whisked in faster. Hold the beurre monté between 160°F and 190°F for poaching, being careful not to boil or it will break.

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Butter 4 (6-ounce) ramekins and season them with salt and pepper. Crack 2 eggs into each ramekin and place in a water bath. Set aside.

Blanch green garlic tops in well-salted boiling water. When the garlic tops are tender, shock them immediately in ice water. Puree them in a blender with water and the sake until smooth. Pass through a chinois. Set aside.

Sauté the mushrooms in butter, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Add the miso, crab, shrimp and buerre monté. Cook over low heat until the shrimp and crab are fully cooked. Add the lemon juice and fines herbes; season to taste with salt and pepper and Piment d’Esplette. Set aside.

Cook the eggs over medium heat for 15-18 minutes, or until just set.

To Assemble and Serve:

Re-heat the green garlic sauce. Spoon some over each ramekin with eggs. Place seafood and mushroom sauté over the top. Serve with toast.

Ingredients:
1 whole chicken cut into 6 pieces
butter or olive oil or other cooking oil
8-10 sliced button mushrooms
2 shallots
2 cloves of garlic
¼ cup white wine
1 cup red wine vinegar
1 tbsp tomato puree
4 cups chicken stock (or enough cover 1/3 way up the chicken)
Bay leaf
Thyme Sprigs
¼ cup heavy cream
2 tbsp butter
salt and pepper

Salt and pepper both sides of the of chicken. Sear with skin side down in medium hot pan with butter and/or oil. Turn and baste until nicely brown on both sides.  Remove from pan. Add chopped mushrooms, shallots, and garlic and more salt and pepper if needed. Add tomato paste. Deglaze with white wine red wine vinegar. Reduce until almost dry.

Add chicken back and add chicken stock until 1/3 way up the chicken. Add bay leaf and thyme sprigs. Cover and cook  approximately 15 minutes in 400 degree oven. Test for doneness. Remove chicken to a plate and add juice back to pan.  Add butter and cream to taste; simmer and reduce until you can coat the back of a spoon with the liquid. Pour on chicken and serve. (Serves 4)

Ingredients:
1 cup stock or water
3 slices stale white bread with crust removed - crumbled or chopped
1 clove garlic crushed to a paste
1 lb. livers (can be duck, rabbit, chicken, squab or a combination)
1/3 lb. beef marrow (optional)
salt, pepper, four-spice (quatre épices), paprika
3 eggs
½ cup heavy cream
2 tbsp Armagnac

Combine stock or water with dried bread and garlic and cook over low heat stirring continuously so as not to brown until it is a paste. Grind livers, marrow, with bread paste, by putting through a food grinder or pulsing in a food processor. Pass through fine mesh sieve, discarding remnants. Whisk in eggs, cream, Armagnac, and seasonings. Butter a mold or terrine and line with parchment paper. Pour in mixture. Immerse mold in a bain mairie or water bath. Cover and cook in preheated 325 degree oven approx. 1 hour or until a cake tester comes out just clean.   Let rest until room temperature. Refrigerate and serve terrine well chilled on toasted country bread.

Ingredients:
5 pounds of skirt or hangar steak

For Marinade:
6 New Mexican dried red chiles (rehydrated)
6 garlic cloves
1 tablespoon coriander seeds
1 tablespoon cumin seeds
2 cloves
10 allspice berries
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 tablespoon dried thyme
2 teaspoons black peppercorns
1 cup canola oil
½ cup soy sauce
salt to taste

Grind all of the spices and seed the chiles. Put all marinade ingredients into a blender and puree. Rub on skirt steak and let sit overnight. Grill to desired level of doneness.

Ingredients:
4 bunches mixed radishes (red, purple, French Breakfast, White Icicle, etc…)
6 Tblsp. extra virgin olive oil
2 tsp French walnut oil
2 Tbsp good quality red wine vinegar
1 tsp Dijon mustard
salt (preferably sea or Kosher) and fresh cracked black pepper.

Rinse all dirt and grit from radishes from and cut into quarters. Put mustard, vinegar salt and pepper into a mixing bowl. Gradually wisk in the oils, and adjust the seasoning. Gently toss radishes with the vinaigrette and serve. (serves 4-6)

Ingredients:
3 lbs Macomber turnips peeled and diced
1 leek - small dice
1 qt chicken or vegetable stock (or water)
¼ lb butter
1 cup crème fraîche
sea salt, pepper

Season and sauté leek in a little bit of butter until soft. Put diced turnips into stock pot; add stock and enough water to cover turnips by two inches with liquid. Season liquid soup base and bring to boil. Return to simmer. When turnips are thoroughly cooked, combine turnips, leek, butter and crème fraîche and turnip liquid. Blend, season, and pass through a strainer. Adjust thickness of soup with whatever liquid remains in stock pot. Based on size of your blender, do in batches if necessary, using the same proportions. Serve hot with fresh snipped chives. (serves 4)

Ingredients:
2 pounds of carrots, peeled and sliced (all the same size)
2-3 tbs butter
salt and pepper
1 cup full-bodied red wine
1 cup stock or water
chopped chives and parsley

Saute carrots in butter, salt and pepper until just slightly (but not too) brown—about 10 minutes or until the juices are released, stirring occasionally.

Add red wine and stir to combine pan juices and goodies. Cook until liquid is reduced to a syrup consistency. Add stock or water. Cover and continue cooking on very low heat until carrots are tender. If necessary, reduce liquid until thick. Add one tablespoon butter and chopped chives and/or parsley.

Ingredients:
1 pound fromage blanc or other fresh cheese
2 shallots, minced
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
2 Tblsp. Extra virgin olive oil
3 Tblsp. Good quality red wine vinegar
chopped chives
leaves picked from 2 sprigs tarragon, chopped
leaves picked from 2 sprigs parsley, chopped
salt and pepper

Place all ingredients in a mixing bowl and incorporate. Let the mixture infuse for a few hours. Adjust the seasonings as needed - the mixture should be full flavored. Serve with crusty bread. Will keep refrigerated for 5 days.