Category: Recipes

Small Plates:

• Brisket Confit tacos on Oaxacan tortillas, puya salsa macha, avocado and pickled onions
• burrata, lemon garlic broccolini, carrot confit, balsamic reduction
• king ora salmon sashimi (torched brown sugar cure), honeydew melon, pine nuts, morita dashi, tomatillo + shio koji + morita paste
• saffron butter seared XL sea scallops with mole verde and charred king oyster mushroom
• same as above with carne guisada sauce
• saffron butter seared XL sea scallops with garlic & pancetta cream sauce over rice with charred mushrooms
• masa roux tortilla soup with queso fresco and pancetta
• smoked cabbage with pears, pork belly and blue cheese dressing with pine nuts
• butternut squash and leek soup with cheese
• Sushi-grade Hamachi tostadas with mango, jicama, lime granita and morita salt
• Summer Squash carpaccio with garlic confit, endive, salted honey, roasted beets and apple
• Brown sugar cured hamachi with fried hibiscus flowers, hibiscus salt, mango, jicama, charred lime
• melon curry soup with coconut milk dollop, okra, basil leaves and lemongrass
• tamarind quail legs
• watermelon, shrimp, shallot, jalapeño, jicama ceviche
• bavette tartare with balsamic reduction
• fried scallop taco with pear + shallot + jalapeño relish
• A5 with blue corn tort, salted jicama, and red mole
• cochinita consomme
• sous vide pork tenderloin, carrot habanero tamarindo salsa, burn onion salt, taco
• seared 1/8th’d zucchini, on romesco, ricotta dollops, shaved parmesan, truffle oil

Entree Options:

• Wagyu hanger steak with 17 ingredient mole rojo
• Halibut en papillote with champagne beurre blanc and lemons
• 3 Hour Pork Tenderloin, morita mole, sage butter
• cod veracruz over whipped cauliflower
• Cold smoked then sous vide steak with chimichurri
• pork slayer chops
• smoked tomahawk
• sous vide filet mignon at 135 for 1 hour, pat dry, coffee rub, hard sear with butter over it. Serve sliced with chimichurri paste

Desserts:

• Lyonnaise chocolate mousse with crisped arroz con leche
• Honeycrisp cobbler with homemade whipped pecan ricotta
• Sweet corn tres leches with cinnamon coconut milk, strawberries, and pistachio cream
• Pan de maiz with merengue
• conchas + gracias shot
• pais de genes, plantain ice cream, salted mexican crema

Crust:

• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 sticks butter, cut into small squares and chilled
• 1/4 cup ice water

In a food processor, combine the flour and salt. Add the butter and pulse in 1-second bursts until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Drizzle the ice water over the dough and pulse in 1-second bursts until it just comes together. Turn the dough out onto a work surface, gather any crumbs and pat it into 2 disks. Wrap the disks in plastic and refrigerate until chilled, about 30 minutes.

Filling:

• 2 tbps butter
• 2 1/2 lbs of pink lady apples cored & cut into slices
• 1/4 tsp allspice
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 tbps flour
• 2 tsp cornstarch
• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 egg, beaten

Melt butter in pan/pot over medium high heat and all the apples. Stir till coated and cook. Once warmed through add in spices, salt and sugar. Lower heat and let run for 6 minutes. Then sprinkle flour and cornstarch and mix thoroughly into the pot. Stir pretty continuously for 5 minutes, it should thicken up. Turn heat off and add in apple cider vinegar. Once mixed pour into plastic bowl and leave uncovered to cool completely.

While cooling, set oven to 425 and place a baking sheet inside. Remove one of the disks, whichever looks larger and roll out to fit over your pie dish. Fit your pie dish and then place in the freezer.

Roll out second pie crust to be the size needed to cover the top of the pie.

Once the filling has cooled, pour it into the now frozen crust. Cover with 2nd piece of dough and crimp edges with fork. Make sure to cut 3 or 4 steam vents. Brush over with egg wash and sprinkle roughly 1 tbsp of sugar over the top.

Baking:

Place pie on hot cookie sheet and bake for 20 minutes at 425. Then reduce temperature to 375 and cook for an additional 35 minutes. Remove and cool for about two hours.

• 1.5 cup vinegar
• 1 tbsp salt
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 9 habaneros
• 4 large garlic cloves

1.5 cup vinegar shaken with 1 tbsp salt and 1 tbsp sugar. Once dissolved add in 9 quartered habaneros and 4 large garlic cloves large sliced.

• 1 lb pinto beans
• 8 cups water
• 12 garlic cloves
• 2 knorr caldo de pollo cubes
• 4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 3/4 tsp ground cumin
• 1 medium white onion
• 1-2 jalapeños sliced
• .71 lbs salted pork (thick slicked)
• 12 oz negra modelo

Slice and sear .71 lbs salted pork (skin removed). Slice thick and sear in 1 tbsp olive oil. Remove seared pork belly. Add in diced onions & sautee. After onions are satueed add in diced garlic (smashed with salt). Add in cumin & corainder plus bouillon. Cook. Add in 2 sliced jalapeños. Cook. Deglaze with 12 oz negro modelo. Boil. Add in beans. 8 cups of water. Slice pork thing (think bacon) and add back in with fat drippings. Simmer with lid on for 4 hours.

Smoke at 275 for 6 hours until the internal temperature of 203 at the point.

• 2 tbsp EVoo
• 5 Jalapeños (2 ribs included)
• 1 yellow onion
• 2 garlic cloves
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 4 cups chicken stock
• 1/4 cup milk, 1/4 cup heavy cream

Sweat the onion in the oil, then add the garlic and sweat for a few minutes (don’t brown). Next add and sweat the jalapeño for 5 additional minutes.

Using the butter and flour create a roux, add the salt, chicken stock, and onion/garlic/jalapeño mixture. Bring to a boil and thicken. Remove from heat and blend then put back into the original pot and add the dairy until fully thickened.

• Preheat oven to 375.
• 2lbs pork loin with a good looking fat cap and minimal tendon appearance. Cross stitch the fat cap to allow for rub & garlic penetration.
• 4 cloves of garlic mashed into paste (no salt), pressed into fat cap gaps.
• Salt, pepper, brown sugar & coffee rub mixed and used to season the top and bottom.
• Depending on size, cook for approximately 50 minutes to 1 hour until center is 145 degrees.
• Serve with sour cream + salt + horseradish.

What good is a good Friday night meal without a good Friday night drink?

This drink is dedicated to growing up on the border of Mexico, while at the same time recognizing that I had no idea what a good drink tasted like back then. Scotch and apple soda? Sure. Dr. Pepper and Malibu Rum? Obviously.

Nowadays I’d like to think I’ve got a bit more sense. Or at least I’ve gotten better at my hobbies. So without further delay here’s a mezcal drink that will earn you some points and make you think you’re a better salsa dancer than you really are.

Ingredients:

• Mezcal (For the price, I like Vida)
• Fresh lime wedges
• Fresh orange/tangerine wedges
• Agave syrup
• Topo Chico
• Mexican powdered spice (Trechas, Tajin, etc)

I think a mason jar is the perfect size for this drink. In a pinch you can also use a small glass cup. Let’s just say keep it between 8-12oz.

Rim the glass using an orange wedge and the mexican powdered spice. Peel the orange or tangerine and drop it in. Fill it up with ice about 3/4 of the way. Pour in about a tablespoon of agave. A little more if you like sweet drinks, a little less if you like mezcal. Pour in 1.5 oz of mezcal (aka either one big shot or a shot and a half).

Fill with Topo Chico.

Pinch in the lime juice from a small lime wedge. Stir it up. Surprise your friends with how much they actually like Mezcal, and at how well you dance.

Note from the editor:

I’m actually not a huge fan of dropping my lime wedge into the drink. On a pretentious cooking note – there’s a ton of bitterness in the white part of the rind. Also, you can’t control how much lime juice gets into the drink if you just dump the whole wedge in. On a “oh come on man” note – I worked as a bartender growing up, believe me, you don’t want the lime dropped in there.

This stuff is delicious and the story behind it is even better.

I got this recipe from a ship captain while living on a sailboat off the coast of Thailand. No….seriously.

Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons Massaman curry paste
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 -2 cartons Coconut milk
• 1 tablespoon Palm sugar
• 1-2 Chicken breasts
• 1 Sweet onion
• 6 (ish) small organic yellow potatoes
• Roasted peanuts (unsalted)
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1 head of Cauliflower
• Salt, pepper, paprika

The cauliflower is my own personal addition. It adds flavor, depth, and a sweet and salty bit. Let’s go ahead and knock it out. It’s 5 extra minutes of work and you’ll be thankful later.

First, turn your oven onto broil. Roughly chop and dice half a head of cauliflower. Turn it into small cubes and spread it evenly across a a cookie sheet. Toss some olive oil, salt and pepper on top of the cauliflower. Once the broiler is going strong, throw the pan in. That’s it. Done is 15 or so minutes (you want the edges to have browned and crisped.

Onto the curry:

Fry 3 tablespoons of the curry paste in 3 tablespoons of olive oil. Get this going really well and keep mixing. You want to combine the paste with the olive oil so it doesn’t separate or break down the line. Once they’ve become friends, add in a drop (about 2 tablespoons if you’re being exact) of coconut milk and a tablespoon of thai palm sugar. Bring all of this to heat.

Once this comes to heat drop in your cubed/sliced chicken. Keep mixing, stirring, and cooking the chicken with all of the flavors of the curry you’ve developed. Once the chicken is 70% cooked pour in the rest of the coconut milk.

Once this is all brought up to heat, drop in the small yellow potatoes (roughly chopped), followed by the quartered sweet onion and a handful (1/4 to 1/3 cup) of unsalted roasted peanuts.

Slow cook this. You’re guide here is the potatoes, once they’re done you’re good to go. Add in the roasted cauliflower at the last minute. Combine, salt and pepper to taste. Serve over rice with a slice of lemon on the side.

Aka Lyon-Style Soup au Gratin, aka Gratinée lyonnaise.

How long it’s supposed to take: 20 prepping, 40 cooking.

How long it really takes: 2 or so hours.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4lb yellow onions (about 2 large ones)
• 1 1/3 stick unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 11 cups water
• 1 small bouquet garni (I used 2 bay leaves, 4 sprigs of chervil, and 3 sprigs of thyme bound by string)
• 1 baguette
• 9 oz of grated Gruyere cheese
• 4 egg yolks
• 1 small glass of Madeira wine (I didn’t have any Madeira wine, and my local store was all out as well so I used a Malbec from the South of France instead. I’m sure it altered the flavor a bit, since Madeira is a fortified wine with a sweet mouthfeel and a French Malbec is dry with a punch of fruit)
• Salt & Pepper

Get your oven really hot. It’s suggested to put it at 450F, but I think it’s better served set to a broil since you’re going to be using it to create a crust on the top of the soup.

Dice the onions as small as possible and sauteé them in the butter. Patience pays off here. Wait until they have a nice brown color to them. Once achieved, add in the flour and make a roux. I’ve rushed this step before because the onions take an annoyingly long time. Really brown the onions and really brown the flour once you get your roux going. This is where your depth of flavor starts.

In a big pot filled with the water, carefully spoon in your onion mixture. Add some salt and pepper (generously), and your bouquet garni. Bring this whole thing to a boil, then knock it down to a simmer and let it hang out for 30 minutes.

Remove the bouquet garni and work the onions through a sieve. Hopefully you’ve cooked them hard enough to where they easily turn into a sort of paste. I’ve messed this part up before and it’s a pain trying to get the whole pot down to a smooth consistency.

Finely slice the bread (about half a baguette), throw it in your oven for 1 minute to get some of the moisture out. Spread the bread across the bottom of an oven proof pot. Sprinkle some cheese on top.

Here’s where it all happens.

Throw the onion mixture into the oven proof pot, put some more bread on top and sprinkle the remaining cheese. Put all of this into your hot oven. Give it about 5-10 minutes – you’re looking for a pretty brown crust on top.

While the soup is getting its “gratin” on, get one small glass of your wine and mix it with 4 egg yolks. Pull the soup out, show off to your guests how fancy and sophisticated you are, then crack the top and pour in your egg mixture slowly – make sure to continuously stir nobody wants French onion egg drop soup.

Congrats, you’ve just accomplished touiller. Get a couple of bowls ready and serve.