Spring is Coming!!!

English Pea Puree

Freshly shuck English peas keeping the pods to make pea water. To make pea water put the pea pods in a stainless steel bowl with cold water, enough water  to come up about a quarter of the way up the pods. Tightly cover the bowl with a few layers of plastic wrap and one layer of foil. Cook the pea water double boil style, placing the covered bowl on top of a boiling pot of water and cook the pea pods for 35 minutes. Take off the bowl and set aside to cool to room temperature. To make the pea puree double shuck the peas and reserve the pea skins for another component, blanch the double shucked peas until tender in salted water with a touch of sugar. Put the peas in a Vita Mix and blend with the room temperature pea water and crème Fraiche, season with salt and adjust the acidity with lemon juice. Pass thru a chinois and keep the puree in the cooler until needed.

142 Degree Egg Yolk

English Pea Puree

Sous Vide Yellow Carrot

Roasted Orange Carrot

Pickled Turnip

English Pea Salad

Microwave Herb Crouton

Spiced Carrot Gastrique

Salted Marcona Almonds

Garlic Chips

Miners Lettuce

Carrot Greens

Maldon

Chicken, Ploenta, Beets Many Ways

Beet Pickled Eggs

Wash and peel medium sized beets and set aside. Make a pickle for the beets and simmer the beets in the pickle until tender.  Place eggs in boiling water and cook for 6 minutes after done cooking place the eggs in ice water and then peel. Drain liquid from the beets into saucepan. Place beets, onions, and eggs into a large bowl. Pour sugar and vinegar into the saucepan with the beet liquid and bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, and let the mixture simmer 15 minutes. Pour the beet juice mixture over the beets, eggs, and onions. Cover the bowl and refrigerate. Refrigerate for at least one to 3 days; the longer they are allowed to sit the better they will taste.

Pressed Chicken Thigh

Beet Pickled Egg

Beet Green Puree

Shaved Radish

Crispy Polenta

Roasted Beets

Salted Shallots

Fried Beets

Chive Tips

Chicken Jus

Borscht, Beet Textures, Apple

Borscht

Scrub the beets, rub them with olive oil, season with salt and pepper and put them on a sheet pan for roasting.  Roast until the beets are tender, about 1 hour. Set aside. When the beets are cool enough to handle slip off their skins, and cut them into large chunks. In a large heavy bottomed pot over medium heat, add butter. Put in onions, carrots, garlic, apple and thyme sprigs and cook until softened and just starting to color, about 10 minutes. Add the beats cook until dry and deglaze with a dry red wine. Add chicken stock just to cover and reduce to a glaze and repeat the process three times. Add chicken stock and a touch of cream just enough to blend to a soup. Bring to a simmer. Remove the thyme sprigs and blend until smooth, add more stock if the puree is too thick. Add the banyuls vinegar and honey, to taste, season with salt and pepper. Borscht can be served hot or cold.

Roasted Beet Borscht

Apple

Quail Egg

Pickled Beet Puree

Crème Fraiche

Sour Dough

Roasted Beet

Cress

Flowers

Oxtail, Potato, Onion,

Pierogi Dough

12 oz flour

1 oz salt

1 egg

4 oz soft butter

¼ oz baking powder

Sift together flour and salt on a work surface; form a mound with the flour and make a well in the center. Mix together sour cream and butter, put into the center of the flour. Work the dough until smooth. Let it rest in the cooler for an hour. Fill it with any mixture you would like savory or sweet.

Pierogi

Braised Oxtail

Buttered Potato

Crème Fraiche

Purple Potato

Yolk Jam

Stewed Cipollini Onions

Pickled Chive

Chive

Flowers

Artichoke Textures

Artichoke “Soup”

Clean and prepare artichokes for making a soup.  In a rondo sweat artichokes, garlic and onions in butter until onions are tender. Deglaze with white wine and reduce until the mixture is dry. Season while you go. Add chicken stock and reduce to a glaze and repeat the process twice. Add enough stock just to cover the mixture, zest from one lemon and 100 grams of chopped parsley bring to a simmer and 500 grams of cream and bring back to a simmer  adjust seasoning and acid with lemon juice. Blend the soup and pass threw a chinois and pour into an ISI canister. Charge 3 times shaking well after each charge and keep warm. We present the “soup” in the ISI canister tableside.

Artichoke Puree

Charred Baby Artichoke

Artichoke Chips

Pressed Cucumber

Roasted Chanterelle

Sopressata

Olive Powder

Micro Basil  

Duck, Broccoli, Garlic

                                                                                            Crispy Duck Confit 

When I make my duck confit I like to put some pink salt into my dry cure so when I cook the legs in the duck fat the meat doesn't get that off grey color, it is nice and pink. First step is to break down your ducks, clean up the legs and pat them dry. On the cure I made for this confit I did 50/50 salt to sugar with thyme, rosemary, parsley, juniper berry, pink pepper corn, bay leafs, fennel seed, star anise, and pink salt . Put all the ingredients in to the robot coupe and blend until smooth. Cover the dry duck legs with the cure and let set over night in the cooler. The next day wash off the cure and pat dry. In a hotel pan line the bottom with 1 inch thick sliced onions, put the duck legs on top of the onions, pour duck fat over the legs until they are covered, cover with foil and place in a 250*F oven for about 4 hours. Take the legs out of the fat, save the fat for your next batch of confit, and cool to room temperture. Pick the meat off the bones, in a pan melt some butter over medium heat and place the duck meat in the pan. This step take about 30 to 40 minutes, caramelize the confit in the butter stirring to break the confit up. Once the meat has caramelized add banyuls to the mixture and cook until the mixture is dry. Place the confit on a paper towel and use with-in an hour.

Duck Breast

Broccoli Puree

Broccoli Salad

House Cured Bacon

Pickled Raisins

Cipollini Onion

Black Garlic Puree

Garlic Chips

Crispy Duck Confit

Parsley Flowers

Chive Buds

John Dory, Corn, Barley

Corn Broth

I get my corn from the farmers market its local, sweet and delicious. Midwest bi-color corn is the best in my opinion. I start by shucking the corn removing all the green and hair from the kernels. Cut off all the kernels from the cob and scrape the cob with the back of your knife getting everything off. Place the corn cobs in a stock pot and cover with ice, bring it to a simmer and simmer for one hour. Let the corn stock steep for another hour and then strain. Put the cobs on a roasting rack and dry them out, you can use them to smoke, I use them to smoke bacon and it’s very good. Meanwhile in a pot slowly cook the corn kernels in butter with very low heat. After the corn cooks and starts to look dry cover with the corn stock cook it down to a glaze and repeat two more times.  Blend the glazed corn in a Vitamix slowly adding stock, adjust the seasoning and acid, to the desired thickness. Blend on high for about 8 to 10 minutes to work the starch and the broth will become silky. Strain thru a chinois, cool and reheat when needed. The broth will be sweet, buttery and silky with a good mouth feel that goes great with just about anything.

John Dory

Caramelized Barley

Smoked Huitlacoche

Pop Corn

Upland Cress

Corn Broth