This cold and uncomfortable weather requires a meaty, warm and filling pasta. I was on the phone yesterday with my butcher, Nichola, and asked about veal neck bones. He said he had the next best thing: veal shoulder. It was cheap at $5.00 a pound.
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Lamb Barley Soup for 10:
2 lamb fore-shanks
2-lb lamb neck bones
3 Spanish onions
5 carrots
5 celery stalks
3 large garlic cloves
1 bottle red wine
2 quarts chicken stock
¼-cup vegetable oil
2 cans Muir Glen Whole peeled tomatoes (strained)
Salt and pepper to taste
½ -cup flat parsley Read More »
On the night of the Golden Globes, you might want a thinning dish that is easy to serve as the parade of dresses gets underway during the pre-show red-carpet extravaganza. Read More »
Iacono is a family run chicken farm on the edge of the village of East Hampton. I stopped in today to visit with Anthony Iacono and his mother, primarily to place an order for six chickens. I will use them on February 20th as I prepare a dish to be served among several other chefs’ work at a benefit for my friend Gerry Hayden. Read More »
The Ambrose sisters and their sunny mother have returned from eight days on the southeastern coast of Florida, primed for another semester. Their call came in at 11:30 a.m. reporting a safe landing at JFK. “What’s the plan for dinner? ” they asked. I responded “pork loin” and the plan is made. Read More »
Thanksgiving breakfast: Yes, we love Brussels sprouts in our house. On Thanksgiving, it has been determined that it is just fine, in fact, to serve them twice. The first time is for breakfast where we cook them camp-out style on a grill over the fire in our fireplace. The second is for dinner, simply sauteed with garlic in olive oil until brown.
a dozen local eggs
½ loaf of whole-grain bread for toast
12 Brussels sprouts, quartered
3 small red potatoes, cut into cubes and blanched for 3 minutes
1 small sweet potato, cut and blanched
1 leek, diced and rinsed
4 shallots, quartered
½ pound fresh-from-the-butcher sage pork sausage
3 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon kosher salt
cracked pepper to taste Read More »
Back in the late 90’s, I had the good fortune of serving the Amagansett, NY community on a daily basis. The restaurant was called Estia’s and I had a bird’s eye view of Main Street for 16 years from my kitchen.
The nice thing about running a full-service restaurant seven days a week over the course of a decade is the people that you meet. One of my favorites was an elegant lady named Sarah Davis. She stopped by occasionally for lunch with her daughter Tracy. It was my good fortune to have a chance to serve Sarah, joining the legions of friends who admired her style. Read More »
Tomorrow night will mark my first vegetarian tasting effort. Five courses served with organic wine from the Heller Estate in Carmel Valley, California.
This dishwill start the evening. As the menu developed, I was concerned that there might not be enough substance to satisfy a hungry guest. Having tasted this dish, I now feel confident that we will more than fulfill the goal of providing complete nourishment with tasty variety.
1 butternut squash, peeled and sliced thin on a mandoline
1 spicy turnip, peeled and sliced thin on a mandoline
1 cup lentil sprouts
1 cup sunflower sprouts
1/2 cup alfalfa sprouts
1 cup pine nuts (soak in filtered water over night)
1 garlic clove
2 shallots
1 cup parsley leaves
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
1 lemon, juiced
1/2 cup water
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Anything with hollandaise sauce works for me, especially when I’m cooking at home for my daughter Mansell. This morning, she is on a soft food diet so I decided to forget about the usual English muffin and sliced ham arrangement. Leftover mashed potatoes and diced ham provide a perfect replacement.
Simply mix 2 slices of ham chopped fine with 2 cups of mashed potatoes and create patties. Place the patties on a buttered pan over medium heat and cook until they begin to brown. Flip them over and repeat.
After tasting it, we realized we actually like this preparation better so it will be on the “Little Kitchen” Sunday brunch menu soon. Read More »
Raul has outdone himself with another superb Albondigon. The last time we ran one, they were mini-chicken meatballs in a chicken broth. This one is the opposite but, in some ways, the same. It starts with a long cylindrical sausage wrapped in meatloaf, then foiled and roasted for an hour. Slice and serve with rice and beans. We enhanced the dish with a small radish salad harvested an hour before at the Quail Hill farm.
Today, I walked in the kitchen door to find Raul putting the final touches on a salsa verde, utilizing the balance of our season’s harvest. It is unique in that this salsa features several types of peppers, jalapeno, serrano, and sweet bells. In addition, he utilized a bowl full of cilantro and parsley that continue to flourish in our November garden. Finally, he added equal parts of tomatillo (to the peppers), a handful of garlic cloves and the biggest Spanish onion in our pantry.
Tonight’s menu was written when we weren’t sure how many people would join us for dinner. The past weekend’s surprise snowstorm (15 inches in October) has caused power outages all over Connecticut. That means no school for many. Several neighboring families have no electricity so that they can cook, and Jessica has been on the phone sharing the love of her husband’s cooking.
The recipe below comes from today’s efforts. It’s been cut down to serve 4 or 5 at your table. I like to fill out the braising pan with chunks of veal stew meat thereby allowing for extra visitors or extra hungry family members. I’ve chosen to keep the tomatoes whole in the braising pan so that the resulting broth will be clear. If you like a darker, richer sauce, switch out the white wine for red and add tomato paste to the recipe (about 3 tablespoons should do). Read More »
We feature Little Neck clams in our Paella at the Little Kitchen. Since it is cheaper to buy them by the bushel, we often have a few dozen left on Monday for this family favorite pasta dish at home. Of course, fresh linguine is our choice especially when we have an extra pound of Lemon Pepper linguine left after our Ambrose Sisters Food Co. farmer’s market appearances. The whole cooking process only takes about 30 minutes.
Be sure to have a bowl full of arugula and some ripe tomatoes on hand to accompany this meal with crunch and color.
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons water
1 can sweetened evaporated milk (4oz.)
14 oz. half / half
4 eggs (2 yolks only, 2 whole)
1.5 tablespoon instant coffee
A straight forward take on traditional flan. Not too sweet, if you like it sweeter add a few tablespoons of agave syrup. Read More »
When you clean a pumpkin never throw out the seeds. That’s what my mother taught me as a kid, primarily because the toasted seeds always made for an added fall attraction at her counter for snacks. In my kitchen the toasted seeds are shared with little hands as well as on the adult salad at dinner.
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 medium size squash or pumpkin
3 tablespoons oil (each)
1 teaspoon kosher salt (each, seeds and squash)
4 cup mixed greens
2 tablespoon goat cheese
1 apple, diced
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2 pounds Striped Bass
1/4 cup butter
1 cup wheat berries
1 cup organic brown rice
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 cup mixed chopped herbs
2/3 cup egg whites
This dish has supported our menu since the striped bass season opened on Long Island last July. The cakes are sometimes finished with mushrooms and truffle oil, sometimes sesame oil and sesame seeds, today with herbs from our garden, olive oil and egg whites. Read More »
In the end of August, on a balmy Wednesday night I traveled to Montauk with Rupert for a sample of the offerings at Sean McPherson’s beach bar “The Crows Nest”.
Dinner was excellent. My favorite choice was the Kale Salad. Service was on the money, too. My take away came off the bar.
They were featuring a cocktail made with coconut water, mint, and some sort of rum. I don’t drink alcohol, the drink was delicious served virgin. I’m going to call it the Cocojito.
We don’t serve spirits at The Little Kitchen so I chose raw organic agave syrup and lime juice as a replacement. The muddled mint comes from our garden. It helps to shake the “Cocojito” on ice before serving. Try it in a 16 oz. shaker glass. Add a shot of Bacardi for the extra kick.
8 oz. coconut water
2 oz. lime juice
2 oz. raw organic agave syrup
5 mint leaves crushed on the bottom of the glass
On Sunday last week a hurricane roared through Sag Harbor, her name was Irene and in the end my lemon cucumber plants were stripped of their leaves. Not a problem as the plants seem to be regenerating with new flowers and the existing cucumbers are much easier to find with the thinned foliage.
Lemon Cucumbers from the Estia garden for Lymanade recipe
We’ve had a regular at the East Hampton farmers market asking for our Cucumber Mint Lymanade for a few weeks now. The A. Sisters table featured raspberry, strawberry, watermelon, peach, and cantaloupe Lymanades as the season has progressed. Now it’s time to respond to the call for the Mojito mixer that’s been a late summer hit for the past 3 years.
Lymanade Variety
Each of our Lymanades feature a different seasonal, locally harvested fruit, but the basic recipe remains the same. Combine equal parts of lemon and lime juice (1 cup each) and then that much fruit puree (2 cups) with enough simple syrup to soften the citrus (1/2 to 1 cup)
and shake in an recycled wine bottle, chill and serve over ice with soda or your favorite spirit. Read More »
Another Tuesday on Quail Hill, sunny, dry, August at it’s best. I waited for a little girl to finish using the pitch fork in the potato bed. Her hair was tied back in a pink bandanna. If she dug 10 potatoes I’d be surprised but that’s not what it was all about. The look in her eyes, excitement on her face and tone of her voice screamed the story of perfect summer adventure.
On this particular evening we had an Amagansett resident visiting our table, he lives in a house that sits on the hill that overlooks Quail Hill’s fields. He’s an old family friend who’s been a vegetarian for years, oh sure a little fish, some chicken but when Alec comes to dinner, we always make an effort to include a vegetable center piece on the menu to ensure a full belly for the big man. Read More »
This is one of the easiest “oh boy this is great” grilling recipes I know! A few basics to get started. Ask the fish man for 10-20 prawns and 10-20 sea scallops. That simply means that you’d like shellfish that come 10 to 20 per pound. When the prawns are thawed remove the main shell but leave the head and tail on. With a small knife slice the back of the prawn open and run the butterflied pieces under cold water to rinse away the brown stuff.
To clean the scallops, remove the muscle which is a little chip of flesh that comes off with the flick of your thumb.
