Ingredients

Pistachio
12 honey dates, depitted and crushed
2 sheets pistachio fillo dough
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup pistachios, roasted and chopped
2 tablespoons orange blossom honey
Almond
2 sheets fillo dough (approximately)
2 tablespoons almond paste
12 honey dates, depitted and crushed
1/4 cup crushed almonds, roasted and chopped
2 tablespoons honey

Method

• Prepare dates. Remove pits and crush dates. Take 3 and roll them into the shape of a cigar.

• Prepare Phyllo dough. Melt butter and set aside. Take one sheet of phyllo dough and lay flat on work space. Using a pastry brush, lightly brush melted butter on phyllo dough. Fold over in half. Cut in half and use halves to envelope the rolled dates. Fold the top down and the bottom up. Then starting from the right side, roll phyllo dough around dates. Brush seam with melted butter.

• Bake. Place rolled fingers (seam side down) on baking sheet lined with parchment paper. In a oven preheated to 375 degrees Fahrenheit, bake just until the phyllo dough is slightly brown. Remove from oven and cool.

• Garnish. Heat pistachios in a sauté pan until lightly toasted. Add honey. Reduce honey until syrup consistency. Lightly spoon mixture over top of the baked “finger” while warm. Place a halved pistachio (or almond silver) on tip of finger for fingernail (attach with honey).

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Ingredients:

Brine

2 quarts water
1/2 cup kosher salt
1/4 cup granulated sugar
4 apple wedges
1/4 cup sliced fennel
1/2 yellow onion, sliced
1 tablespoon dried bird chilies
rind from 1/2 lemon
1/8 cup dark Myer rum
1 tablespoons black peppercorns
1 tablespoons juniper berries
2 slices orange rind
Handful fresh parsley
7 stems fresh thyme
3 garlic cloves
2 bay leafs

Braise

4 pounds pork shoulder, trimmed and tied
kosher salt
freshly ground pepper
olive oil
1 cup onion, diced
1/2 cup fennel, diced
1 carrot, diced
1/2 cup leek, white portion, sliced
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1/4 cup dry white wine
Sachet (bay leaf, 10 peppercorns, 5 juniper berries,
3-4 fresh thyme stems, fresh flat parsley)
1 cup apple juice reduction
4 cups (approximately) chicken stock
2 Golden Delicious apples, cored and cut into eights
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1/8 cup Calvados
2 white belgium endives, halved
1 head radicchio, quartered
pinch of kosher salt
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
 

What to Do

• Brine

• Sauté and Braise Pork
(1) Remove pork from brine and rinse. Pat dry. Tie with kitchen twine to ensure even cooking. Season with salt and pepper.
(2) In a sauté pan over high heat, add a touch of olive oil and sear pork on all sides. Remove pork from pan.
(3) Degrease pan. Add aromatics to pan (onions, carrots, celery). Cook until golden color to develop flavor.
(4) Pincée. Add tomato paste to aromatics.
(5) Deglaze with white wine and reduce au sec (dry)
(6) Add pork back in pot and cover 2/3 with chicken stock and apple cider.
(7) Cover and cook in preheated oven at 350. (a tight cover is necessary so when water evaporates it condenses on lid of the pot and drips back downy to baste the meat).
(8) Pork is done when it is plastic fork tender
(9) Remove pork and set aside.

• Sauté Apples
In a sauté pan over high heat, melt butter. Add diced apples and sugar. Cook until they are soft. Off heat, add Calvados. Return to heat and reduce au sec. Remove from heat and set aside.

• Make Sauce
Using a chinois, strain cooking liquid into a large sauce pan. Use a fat separator or a spoon to remove grease from strained liquid. Reduce to sauce consistency ( à la nappé). Add more chicken stock if necessary. Adjust seasoning.

• Plate
Add apples to top of pork and pour sauce over to cover (not drown).
 

• Braise Endive and Radicchio.
Heat pan with little butter in sauté pan. Place endive and radicchio face down and salt lightly. Once lightly browned, ladle in chicken stock (cover 2/3). Cover with a lid to braise. Reduce heat and cook until tender (should take about 10 minutes, if undercooked will be bitter… if overcooked it will fall apart.)

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Ingredients
Base:

1 1/2 cups apple juice (reduced to ¾ cup (6 oz))
1 pound apples ( yield), cored, peeled and diced
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
3/4 cup whole milk
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup (2 ounces) all purpose flour
4 egg yolks
1/4 cup Gruyère, grated
4 ounces Gouda Cheese, aged 5 years, grated
1 ounce Gouda Cheese, aged 5 years, crumbled small
1 teaspoon kosher salt

Soufflé:
6 egg whites
1/4 cup granulated sugar

Garnish:

vanilla ice cream
miniature semi-sweet chocolate chips
 

What to Do

• Make Flavor Base:
(1) Reduce apple juice. In a sauce pan, bring 1 1/2 cups of apple juice to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook until juice is reduced to half , 3/4 cup.
(2) Prepare apples. Wash, peel, core, and dice apples. Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a sauté pan over medium high heat. Place apples in pan and toss with cinnamon and sugar. Cook until tender. Add apple juice reduction. Purée apples and juice until smooth, leaving a few apple chunks. Set aside.

• Make Soufflé Base
(1) In a sauce pan over high heat, scald milk, pepper, nutmeg, and brown sugar. Set aside.
(2) Make a roux. Melt 4 tablespoons butter in sauté pan and whisk in flour. Continue to cook (and whisk) for about 2-3 minutes, until flour taste is gone. Remove from heat.
(3) Whisk scalded milk mixture into roux.
(4) Add yolks into mixture one at a time.
(5) Stir in soufflé flavor base, both cheeses, and salt. Transfer to large mixing bowl.

• Make Soufflé (leavening power)
(1) Using an electric mixer fitted with a whisk, beat egg whites on high speed.
(2) When whites begin to foam rain in sugar into whites and continue to whisk until eggs hold firm peaks.
(3) Stir 1/3 of the egg whites into apple base.
(4) Fold remaining whites into base.

• Bake
(1) Pour mixture into prepared soufflé dish(es).
(2) Bake in an oven preheated to 375 degrees Fahrenheit for about 35-40 minutes until puffed and golden brown and the center is set.

• Garnish
Top with vanilla ice cream in the shape of a ghost and two miniature semisweet chocolate chips for eyes. Serve immediately. 

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Ingredients
Soup:

Sugar pumpkin (or butternut squash), peeled, seeds removed (1 pound yield)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
fresh thyme from 3-4 thyme stems
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 yellow onion, diced
2 1/2 cups (approximately) chicken stock
sachet (black peppercorns, 1 bay leaf, 3 juniper berries, fresh thyme sprigs)
1/2 cup (approximately) reduced apple juice (if necessary)

Garnish:

4 ounces cream cheese
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper*
1/4 teaspoons piment d’espelette*
1/3 cup pumpkin seeds,roasted and salted
crème fraîche (as needed)

* as written, this combination has a kick. My suggestion is to add 1/8 at a time and taste it as you go…you may only want to use the espelette which is milder.

What to Do

• Prepare the Soup Flavor Base. Peel the squash and remove the seeds. Dice evenly. Toss with olive oil, kosher salt, freshly ground pepper and thyme. Place in a baking dish or sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Roast squash in an oven preheated to 375 degrees Fahrenheit until tender (or sauté on the stove). Check squash and toss occasionally to prevent the squash from sticking to the bottom of the baking dish. Remove from oven and set aside.

• Sweat Aromatics. In a large sauce pot, melt butter. Add onions and sweat until translucent.

• Add Soup Flavor Base. Add roasted squash to onions.

• Add Stock and Simmer. Ladle in warmed stock. Add sachet. Simmer until tender and flavorful.

• Puree and Strain. Remove sachet. Using an emersion blender (or food processor) purée until smooth. Strain through china cap to remove chunks and thyme stems.

• Simmer again. Return puréed soup to clean pot. Adjust consistency with stock (or water if flavor profile is good). Can add heavy whipping cream if desired.

• Add Seasoning. Add more salt or pepper if necessary.

• Prepare Cream Cheese Garnish. In the oven, or in a small saute pan over the stove, toast pumpkin seeds. Set aside. Mix cayenne and piment d’espelette with cream cheese. Add toasted seeds to cream cheese mixture (do this right before you serve or the seeds will loose their crunch).

• Plate. using a small spoon or ice cream scoop, place a small scoop of cream cheese mixture in individual bowls (or pumpkin shells). Add soup.

• Spiderweb garnish. Fill a pastry bag (or squeeze bottle)with crème fraîche and squirt a small circle in the top middle of soup and 2 circles around center circle. Moving from the center of crème fraîche to the side of the bowl, drag a toothpick across the crème fraîche circles in 4-5 places to create spiderweb.

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