5th Ave in Brooklyn

Trees and Stevie Nicks, they are one in the same, mystical and enchanting.  I love trees.  I'll always stop to marvel at gnarly bark, touch a smoothed area or grab a leaf.  I'm often looking up at the leaves...and it's just my nature as a forager identify the leaves and trees because of the bounty that I know comes beneath.  Walking down 5th Avenue today I was excited to see so many Oak trees along the sidewalks.  The Oak trees in Brooklyn are like the Maple trees we have in Chicago.  If Chicago wasn't Chicago it'd probably be a forest of Maples.  Well, I spotted a more mature Oak and sure enough there was a lovely lion's mane in a perfect little crook of the tree, plump as a kitten (which one of my friend's actually remarked about the pic I posted on facebook).  Lion's mane is easy to prepare although it may seem intimidating because of it's toothy characteristics.  These are a few of my fall backs for any mushroom which one can be uncertain about.
1) heat butter, add cleaned mushrooms, cook until liquid evaporated, season with salt and pepper.
2) heat butter, add cleaned mushrooms, cook until liquid evaporates, turn down heat, add more butter, touch of flour and cream...put over anything...you can change this up, add red wine in beginning, sherry is always delish.  Salt and pepper to taste.
3) render fat from chopped bacon, add minced onions and cook until translucent, add mushrooms, salt and pepper to taste, turn down heat and mix in sour cream.
Just check your foraged mushrooms for debris and bugs!

What's Out There Now.

Chanterelles
Black trumpets
Maitake aka sheeps head aka hen of the woods
Chicken of the woods
Pursalane
Lambs quarters
Sumac
Elderberries
Chicory
Green juniper
Black walnuts
Mint
Wood sorrel
Dandelion
and much more!

Fall Menu Beginning This October!

Bubble Tea

Apple Pie, Bourbon

Salad Sponge

Homegrown, goat milk, sunflower, honeys

Hanging

Charred corn, burnt lime, salmon roe

Pierogi

Yukon gold potato, white truffle, homemade cheese

Shrimp Carpaccio

Pears, tapioca, almonds, herbs

Pumpkin Patch

Pumpernickel, lobster, fennel, cashew

Grilled Cheese Soup

Encapsulated, tomato marmalade, garden items

Shrimp Noodle

Scampi

Your Hand

Oatmeal Dashi

Chia Seeds

1 Pill Makes You Larger And1 Pill Makes You Small

Dirty Pasta

Chicken livers, sausage, truffle, red-eye

Lamb Prosciutto

Root beer, cherry, smoke

Ice Cream Cone

Bacon, Koval Whisky

Bone Marrow Oxtail Bao

Lobster lemongrass consommé, caramel, Thai ingredients 

Worcestershire Ribeye

Tamarind, anchovy, maitakes, celery root

Buttermilk Panna Cotta

Pomegranate, candied sweet breads, pistachios, oak and sticks

Sorbet

Chocolate Orbs

Egg yolk, berry, gruyere, quinoa

*some items subject to change depending on availability, time, date, any number of reasons but this is roughly what you will see and eat. hope to see you.

Okra!

I love okra so much.  I love the seeds, the slime, the crunch, the taste.  I would marry it!  And I'm especially loving of all it's variations and applications, pickled, thickening agent in gumbo and last but not least FRIED!  Today I picked my first two lovely okra from my garden and ran upstairs snatching one lovely green tomato from my neighbor's plant :) and started lunch...I'll double the recipe for you.
4 okra, 1/2 inch slices
2 green tomato sliced
1 1/2 cup canola
2 egg yolks mixed with touch of buttermilk, cream or milk
1/2 cup flour mixed with 1/2 cup of corn flour
1/2 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
cracked pepper to taste
cayenne to taste
garlic powder to taste
I set up two plates-one for the flour and one for the flour mixture with the spices and salt included, a bowl for the egg mixture and a wide pan with at least 1 to 2 inch tall walls for with the oil.  I also lay out paper towels on a sheet tray for the fried yummies to release some of those oils...Heat the oil to 350.  In the meantime dip items to be fried in flour, then coat in egg mixture, then coat with flour/spice mixture...Fry several pieces at a time to keep temperature consistent, too many pieces will drop it down and too high a flame and too little pieces at a time with get the oil too hot and you don't want it to smoke or burn...
If I'm frying big patches I use several trays with paper towels and use the oven as a warmer.  I also try not to layer the fried items on top of one another so they don't get soggy...
I didn't feel like making a sauce from scratch so I took some condiments from the fridge and went wild...Mayo, siracha, and chopped parsley did the trick.
That's it.  Lots of the farmers at the markets have okra right now so don't pass it up because there is even more to do with it that what I've mentioned.

17 Courses and Counting!

When I began my Underground Dining my intention was a ten course tasting menu but it never quite made it to ten, it was always a solid twelve.   Then as time went on it grew to 14, 15...And as menu 3 hit I began to get those "staple," "money" dishes that guests raved about like shrimp noodle scampi, the mushroom tea course, and white truffle Yukon gold potato pierogi and I haven't been able to part with them.  The summer menu is currently 17 courses and this month of August there may even be 18 on the occasional lucky night.  I have a new fun plating technique which is in the works and lands right on the guest's hand that I hope to incorporate as one of the first courses when One Sister becomes above ground at Elizabeth Restaurant.  Remember that name, cause that will be her!

New Ingredients...

Salt and aroma-from your own hand....

Squash pollen...

3 month cured pork belly...

Stay tuned!  Come to dinner soon!  By mid august the dinners will be 19 courses!  Right now it's 15-17, best deal in town.

Summer Menu Part 2

Quesadilla

bubble tea

Salad Sponge

Honeys, goat milk, homegrown

Tomatoes

manchego-edamame, nasturtium, spice cubes

Hanging

Smoked watermelon, roe

Pierogi

Potato, truffle, homemade cheese

Shrimp Carpaccio

almonds, peaches, herbs

Elotes

encapsulated, salsa verde, black beans

Farm and Garden

Pork, snail, veggies

1 Pill Makes You Larger and 1 Pill Makes You Small

Shrimp Scampi

noodle

Oatmeal Dashi

chia seeds

Hand-cut Pasta

quail, duck, raspberry

Ice Cream Cone

Lamb Prosciutto

fennel, radish, corned leg

Veal Cheeks

hot mustard, granola, cherries

Cake and Custard

zucchini, honey dew, banana pepper

Chocolate Balls

blueberries, eggs, onions