Ingredients:

• 2-3 duck legs confit
• 2-3 cups tomato sauce
• 3-4 cups shaved brussel sprouts
• 1 lb pasta
• shaved Parmigiano-Reggiano to garnish

Prep:

1. Remove and shred meat from the duck legs, leaving some larger pieces (this is easiest when the are warm). Add to sauce, simmer, and adjust seasonings.
2. Saute shaved brussel sprouts in butter and/or olive oil over high heat until browned nicely but still maintain some crunch.
3. Cook pasta until just under al dente.  Add to duck ragu to finish.  Top with brussel sprouts and cheese.

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Ingredients:

• 1 small yellow onion
• 3-4 garlic cloves
• 3-4 fresh tomatoes or 1 small can of whole peeled tomatoes
• 1-4 habanero peppers, depending on how spicy you want the salsa
• ~1/3 cup soy or grapeseed oil

Prep:

1. Roast onion, garlic, tomatoes, and peppers at 425 for about 20-25 minutes.
2. Blend and add oil slowly.  Taste for salt and pepper.
3. Server warm.

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• 1 head of garlic
• 1 t Piment d’ Espelette (or cayanne)
• 1 t ground nutmeg
• 1 t cardamon
• 1/2 lb thinly sliced bacon, sauteed
• 1/3 cup cup crumbled goat cheese
• 1/2 cup spiced nuts

Prep:

1. Start by roasting the garlic.  Cut about 1/3 off the top of the head of garlic and place on tin foil.  Sprinkle Piment d’ Espelette (or cayenne pepper), ground nutmeg, and ground cardamon on top.  Drizzle with olive oil and bake at 350 for about 40 minutes, until garlic is very soft and caramelized.
2. Blend the garlic with the juice of a small lemon and a few tablespoons of chopped fresh thyme. Drizzle olive oil while blending unit you reach the desired consistency — should be about 1/2 cup.  Add salt and pepper to taste.
3. Toss the salad dressing with fresh spinach and top with warm bacon, goat cheese, and warm spiced nuts.

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Union Square Cafe has the best bar nuts of all time.  These are aren’t a perfect replica and slightly spicier, but not too far from the original.

• 4 cups unsalted almonds
• 2 T melted butter
• 3 t brown sugar
• 3 T fresh finely chopped rosemary or thyme
• 1 t ground cardamon
• 1-3 t cayenne and/or Piment d’ Espelette (depending how spicy you like it)
• sea salt to taste

Melt butter with spices and herbs, toss with nuts, and bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes.

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• 4 strips of bacon, thinly sliced
• 1 cup of tomato sauce — this time of year, it’s easy to find great heirloom tomatoes for a simple homemade sauce, but I use store bought sauce all the time as well
• 1 large bunch of hen of the woods mushrooms (see above) very roughly chopped (leaving some large chunks)
• 1 cup grated cheese — we found something slightly stinky at the farmer’s market which worked great with the earthy mushroom flavors (can’t recall the name unfortunately), but almost anything will work
• Pizza dough

Prep:

1. Saute the bacon over high heat until browned.  Remove, leaving the fat to cook the mushrooms.
2. Cook mushrooms in bacon fat over med-low heat for just a couple minutes.  They will continue to cook in the grill, so you really only need a little toast.
3. To assemble pizza, start with a very thin layer of tomato sauce, then add bacon and mushrooms, and finish with a light layer of cheese.
4. Grill pizza (instructions here) and serve with a salad and oaky red wine.

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For the grilled lamb:

• 4 lamb chops
• 5 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 T tomato paste
• 1 T garam masala
• 1 T cayanne pepper
• 4 sprigs of rosemary
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 3/4 cup red wine

For the risotto:

• 3 links lamb merguez sausage
• 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup chopped leaks (about 2 small leeks)
• 1 cup arborio rice
• 1 cup white wine
• 6 cups chicken stock
• 1/2 cup grated young sheep’s milk cheese
• 1/4 cup chopped chives
• 3 T chopped lemon thyme

Lamb marinade: Saute garlic in olive oil with tomato paste and garam masala until garlic is slightly soft.  Add rosemary, soy sauce, and wine and bring to a boil.  Remove from hear, place in a large bowl or shallow baking dish and cool.  Once cool, add lamb and refrigerate for at least a couple hours.

Because the timing can get tricky with both grilling lamb and cooking risotto, I start by cooking the risotto until it’s about 3/4 finished, turn the heat off, and then grill the meat until its about 3/4 finished.  Then finish the lamb in the oven on very low heat while cooking the risotto.

For the risotto, saute sausage over med-high heat until browned.  Remove.  Add onion and saute until transparent.  Add garlic and leeks and cook for a minute or two over lower heat.  Add rice and cook for a few minutes to toast slightly.  Add wine and cook until rice has absorbed the liquid.  Add stock 1/2 cup at a time and stir constantly until the rice is al dente.  Fold in the cheese and garnish with chives and thyme.

For the lamb chops, grill over direct heat until a nice crust forms.  Move to indirect heat and cook until medium-rare.

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After the long awaited move to Brooklyn, we made it over to the Grand Army Plaza Greenmarket last weekend.  I was hoping to find ramps for a pizza, but they are out of season so we picked up wild onion and garlic shoots instead.  We also found some incredible manchego cheese and homemade sausage.  Sunday night we did the pizza (recipe below) and last night we made some very tasty orzo with the leftovers (recipe to follow).

Sausage Pizza with Wild Onion and Garlic Shoots:

• 4 sweet Italian sausage, casings removed and chopped
• 1/2 cup marinara sauce or chopped canned tomatoes
• finely chopped wild onion (you can use all of the bulb and as much of the greens as you wish)
• finely chopped garlic shoots
• fresh pizza dough (recipe below)
• shredded young manchego cheese

Saute sausage over med-high heat until nicely browned and almost cooked through.  Remove and add onion and garlic to the saute pan.  Saute until transparent and wilted and remove.

Roll out dough and start with a very thin layer of tomato sauce.  Add sausage, cheese and onion/garlic mixture.

Bake on a pizza stone at 500 degrees until dough is cooked through and cheese is nice and bubbly.

Pizza Dough:

• 3 ½ cups flour
• 1 cup warm water (between 95 and 115 degrees F)
• 1 package active dry yeast
• 2-3 T honey
• 1 t salt
• ¼ cup olive oil

1. Dissolve yeast in warm water in a small bowl.  Add honey once yeast has been dissolved.
2. Add 1 cup flour to large bowl and mix in yeast/water mixture with wooden spoon.  Continue to add flour to bowl until a ball begins to form.
3. Transfer ball onto floured surface and begin kneading and incorporating flour until the ball no longer sticks to your hands.
4. Add ball of dough to a lightly oiled bowl, cover with a damp kitchen towel, and set aside in a warm, draft-free area.
5. After about 45 minutes, the dough should have doubled in size.  Punch down the dough, so it deflates.
6. Cut the dough into thirds, cover again and let it sit for another hour.
7. Roll out dough into a nice even circle and transfer to a pizza slider.

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For the sauce, saute a two or three thinly sliced shallots in olive oil until caramelized in a small sauce pan.  Add 4-5 cloves of chopped garlic, two chopped jalapeno peppers, a couple tablespoons of tomato paste, and a few tablespoons of Garam Masala and cook a few minutes.  De-glaze pan with about a cup of white wine and cook over high heat for a few minutes.  Add a small can of tomatoes (without the juices) and some stock.  Blend and cook unit desired consistency is reached.

For the rice, cook basmati or something similar according to instructions.  Once finished, fold in the juice of 1 Tangelo (or another citrus fruit), most of the rind, and a healthy handful of chopped cilantro.

Season thick cut pork chops liberally with salt, pepper, and Garam Masala and saute over high heat until nicely browned.  Lower heat to medium and baste with butter until they are just cooked through.

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The fat rendered from warming the duck provides an ideal base for the chili. Create a paste out of 3-4 tablespoons of tomato paste, 3-4 tablespoons of chili powder, garam masala, and whatever other spices you have on hand and like in chili (cumin, nutmeg, etc).  Cook this paste in the duck fat until the mixture becomes slightly rusty in color.  Add a large can of whole peeled tomatoes, about 3/4 cup of bbq sauce, 1 or 2 canned chipotles, and a head of roasted garlic.  Cook for 20 minutes or so and puree with hand held blender.

Separately, saute the sausage over high heat, remove and add a mixture of chopped onions/shallots and peppers (we used poblano, jalepeno, and habanero this time) to the saute pan.

Add everything to the pot with a few cups of stock and simmer for a few hours (adjusting with stock and spice as necessary).

Garnish with some cheese and serve with a pickleback shot of Jameson.

Mr. Lucas Giokas prepares the picklebacks.

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Duck:
Score the skin of the breast and season heavily with salt and pepper.  Saute (skin down) in olive oil over high heat until the fat has melted and the skin is brown and crisp.  Remove and reserve most of the duck fat.  Flip the breasts over in the saute pan and finish in the oven around 350.  Once finished, deglaze the pan with some white wine and apple cider and reduce to a desired consistency for sauce.  Taste for salt and pepper.

Wild Rice:
Cook wild rice (1 cup rice to 2 cups stock) according to package instructions.  Separately, saute wild mushrooms (this time I used chanterelles and creminis) in some some of the duck fat and butter.  Add some minced garlic and cranberries when the mushrooms are almost cooked through.  Fold into rice.

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