4 servings

Ingredients:
10-12 oz potatoes (any kind except red) peeled and julienned
½ medium onion (yellow), chopped ½” wide
4 cups water
4 heaping tbsp SHIRO (white) MISO
1½ tsp DASHI
2 green onions, finely minced

1. Boil the potato in water (4 cups) in a deep saucepan over medium heat for 3-4 minutes (don’t overcook potato).
2. Add onions and DASHI and continue to boil for 1 minute.
3. Decrease heat to low, add MISO and stir until melted.
4. Bring to a boil for 1 minute. Add more MISO or DASHI to taste.
5. Serve in individual MISO-SHIRU cups and toss a pinch of green onion on top.

Purchase items in BOLD in-store at Surfas or online at Culinary District!

Serves 8

1                      Leg of Lamb, approx. 5 lbs.
1 can                NOMU lamb rub
3T                    Extra Virgin Olive Oil
TT                    Kosher Salt & Freshly Cracked Black Pepper
2 lbs                 Fingerling Potatoes
3                      Garlic cloves, peeled
2                      Shallots, medium, unpeeled
1 Cup               Chicken Stock or as needed

Preheat oven to 450F. 

Wash fingerling potatoes thoroughly.  Place dry potatoes, whole cloves of garlic and unpeeled shallots into a large roasting pan and toss with extra virgin olive oil, kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper.  

Prepare leg of lamb by rubbing with extra virgin olive oil, kosher salt, freshly cracked black pepper and a generous helping of NOMU rub.  Place meat on top of potatoes in roasting pan, which will act as a natural rack to collect the juices.

Cook at 450F for 15 minutes, then turn down oven to 350F.  Toss potatoes every 20 minutes and add chicken stock if burning occurs in the pan.  Cook lamb for another hour or until thermometer reads 145F for medium rare.  Remove from the oven and let stand for 15 minutes, tented in foil. 

Once the meat has rested, cut into slices, place on a platter and spoon potatoes and garlic around lamb.  Garnish with fresh thyme sprigs.

Enjoy!

Purchase items in BOLD in-store at Surfas or online at Culinary District! 

Yields 2 Dozen Appetizers
1 pound of Regular Cut Bacon(not thick cut)
1 Package of Roschti Potatoes or a 12 oz bag of Frozen Hash Brown Potatoes – fried crisp(per package instructions)  and seasoned with salt & pepper
1 Medium Yellow Onions minced
½ cup Sour Cream or Lite Sour Cream
½ pound of Gruyere(or Swiss) shredded
1 bunch of Chives minced
Salt and Pepper
3-4 tbl of Reg Olive Oil or Canola Oil

Heat the Oil in a large sauté pan over medium high heat, then add the onions and sauté until they are slightly caramelized about 25 minutes. Season with a little salt and pepper. Preheat the oven to 375°.

Cut the Bacon into 3 inch strips. You will need 2 pieces per cup, depending on how big your muffin tin is and how thick/wide your Bacon is. Place the pieces in a cross pattern so it fills up the cup.  The strips should be just long enough to go across the bottom and up the sides of the cup of the muffin tin.  The goal is to create a “cup” with the bacon so you want bottom and sides covered. It needs to go to at least to the top of the tin since the Bacon will shrink down. But if pieces are too long and they go too far over onto the flat part between the cups, it will stick and the cups won’t cook right!

Cook the Bacon cups in the oven until the Bacon is firm and cooked about 30-35 minutes. Be careful they don’t burn. After about 20 minutes check the cups and gently push the bacon down toward the bottom of the cup, unsticking any pieces that have stuck across the top.

When cooked, and slightly cooled, lift the cups out of the fat(they will be sitting in the rendered fat) so they can drain and cool off.  The cups will firm up a little more once they cool. You can make these 1-2 days ahead of time. You will just need to store them in the muffin tins, or in a single layer on sheet pans so they don’t break and to help them keep their shape.

Set up an assembly line with bowls of each of the ingredients. Put the sour cream in a squirt bottle if you have one. If not just use a small teaspoon. Fill each cup with 1 tsp. of the fried seasoned Potatoes, then a sprinkle of Onions, then a tsp. of the Gruyere.  Bake the filled cups in a 375 degree oven until the cheese melts about 3-5 minutes. Top each cup with a squirt of the Sour Cream and a sprinkle of Chives.  And Enjoy!

Chef’s Note. While testing this recipe for my Bacon Affair Decadent Underground Dinner, I tried this recipe with fancy thick bacons and regular thin center cut store brands. While the flavor was terrific with the “heirloom” bacons, the cups worked better, and the pieces fused together better with the plain store brands. The pieces seemed to stay separate with the thick fancy cuts.  What I finally did was make the cup with the store brand and put a small piece of the “fancy” bacon at the bottom of each cup. Though this is not necessary.

Purchase items in BOLD in-store at Surfas or online at Culinary District!

Ingredients:
2 medium carrots grated
1/2-3/4 cups finely diced green pepper
1 pound potatoes
1 small onion
1 egg
2 tbs flour
oil for frying

note: When hand-grating vegetables, use the side of the grater (rebisen) with the larger holes.

Preparation:

1. Sauté carrots and green pepper in very little oil until soft and set aside.

2. Grate the potatoes and onions directly into a bowl of cold water.

3.  Put a colander on top of a bowl and pour the potato/onion mixture into the colander. Wring out the excess water from the potato/onion. The water will collect in the bowl underneath. The dryer the potatoes, the better.

4. Pour off the water from the bowl. You will notice a white powder settled at the bottom. This is potato starch. Put the potatoes into this bowl, mix in the egg and the flour.

5.  Shape the latkes like pancakes in your hands, or put the mixture in the pan and flatten with a fork or pancake turner.

***Latkes are usually fried on a medium heat for 4-5 minutes on each side. I have experimented with using pan spray and a tbs or two of oil on a low heat for a longer duration. In any event, the latkes should be crispy on the outside and completely cooked on the inside.

Purchase items in BOLD in-store at Surfas or online at Culinary District!