Pork and apples are a natural pairing, and when I picked up some Chinese broccoli at the farmers’ market this dish all started to make sense. The quinoa and hazelnuts add a really nice crunchy nuttiness, and the dish overall is really healthy and balanced.

Serves 2

• 12 oz. pork tenderloin
• 1/2 c. black quinoa (regular quinoa is fine too)
• 1 bunch chinese broccoli or broccolini
• 1 oz. skinned hazelnuts
• 1 Fuji or pink lady apple
• 1 inch piece of vanilla bean
• 1/2 c. white wine
• 2 tbsp. sugar
• 1 shallot
• 1 c. chicken stock
• 2 tbs. butter
• 1 tbsp sliced chives or scallions
• Salt, pepper, grapeseed oil

Heat oven to 300°F. Bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a vigorous boil. Place hazelnuts on a baking sheet and toast in the oven until golden brown, about 10 minutes. Trim the wooden ends off the broccoli, remove the leaves and set aside.

Peel and core apple and cut into small wedges. In a small saucepan, caramelize the sugar over medium heat until it reaches a rich golden brown. Add apple slices and cook about 1 minute. Add white wine and vanilla and bring to a boil to dissolve the sugar. Reduce heat to medium and simmer apples until tender and easily pierced with a cake tester.

Meanwhile, heat a skillet over maximum heat. Season the pork tenderloin with salt. Place a tablespoon of grapeseed oil in the skillet and sear the pork on all sides until golden brown. Remove to a wire rack and place in the oven. Roast slowly, turning every few minutes, until the internal temperature reaches between 140 and 145°F. (I think pork is best cooked “rosé,” or between medium rare and medium). This will take anywhere between 25-35 minutes, depending on the thickness of the tenderloin. Set skillet aside.

While the pork is cooking, trim the flowered tips of the broccoli. Reserve the stems for later use. Add to boiling water and cook for 3-4 minutes, until tender and easily pierced with a cake tester. Remove from water with a slotted spoon or spider and set aside (I don’t use ice baths). Add quinoa to boiling water and cook for 10-12 minutes, or until the quinoa is tender and the grains begin to “pop.” Drain in a chinois or fine strainer.

In a small saucepan, melt 1 tbs. butter. Add shallot and cook until translucent. Add broccoli leaves and a couple tablespoons chicken stock. Cover and cook until wilted. Add quinoa and set aside.

Remove apples from cooking liquid and set aside. Return the skillet you seared the pork in to the heat and add chicken stock and apple cooking liquid. Bring to a boil and reduce until it coats a spoon. By now you should have removed the pork tenderloin and set aside to rest.

Now it’s finishing and assembly time.  Heat a small skillet over maximum heat. Add a few drops grapeseed oil and heat until shimmering. Add the cooked broccoli tips to the skillet and sear until slightly charred. Crush the toasted hazelnuts and add to quinoa and check the seasoning. Slice the pork into 1/4 in slices. Return apples to reduced chicken stock. Spoon quinoa on plate and top with sliced pork. Arrange charred broccoli and apple slices around the plate. Garnish pork with sliced chives, fleur de sel or other fine salt and a quick grind of fresh pepper. Spoon reserved sauce around the plate. Enjoy.

As I mentioned before, I love hanger steak. I pulled some out of the freezer last night and whipped this up in about 45 minutes. It uses readily available ingredients, is pretty affordable and doesn’t have a ton of fat.

Ingredients:

• 1 piece hangar steak, about 12 ounces
• 1/2 c. orzo
• 1 c. chicken stock, divided in half
• 1/4 c. cream
• 1/4 c. milk
• 2 oz cheddar cheese, grated
• 1 oz Parmesan cheese, grated
• 1 bunch baby broccoli (≈8 oz.)
• 2 cloves garlic
• Dash red chile flakes
• 1/4 white wine
• 2 tsp. low-sodium soy sauce
• Pantry items: Olive oil, grapeseed oil, fine sea salt, pepper

Method:

Preheat oven to 300° F. Place steak on a wire rack atop a baking sheet covered with foil. Season liberally with salt.

Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a Dutch oven or other braising vessel over low heat. Thinly slice garlic and add to pot. Hit it with a bit of salt and cook over low heat until garlic turns slightly golden.Trim the woody ends of the broccoli.

Meanwhile, heat 1 tbsp. grapeseed oil in a cast iron skillet or other frying pan until it shimmers. Sear the steak on all sides, 45-60 seconds per side, until browned. Remove to wire rack and place in oven. While you’re preparing the rest of the meal, rotate the steak every 5 minutes or so.

Add chile flakes and broccoli to the garlic and cook to release the chile fragrance. Increase heat to high and add white wine.

Bring 1/2 c. chicken stock, milk and cream to a boil in a medium saucepan and season the liquid. Meanwhile, toast the orzo in a dry skillet over medium heat, shaking occasionally so it doesn’t burn.

When the wine is almost evaporated, add the remaining chicken stock and soy sauce. Reduce heat to medium-low and cover. Braise the broccoli until the thickest part of the stems pierces easily with a cake tester or fork, usually around 25 minutes.

Remove the stock/milk/cream from the heat so it doesn’t boil over when you subsequently add the toasted orzo. Return to medium-high heat and cook, stirring frequently, until the orzo is cooked al dente and the liquid is absorbed. If necessary, add milk, cream, stock or just water as it cooks. When orzo is done, remove from heat and stir in the cheeses. You could also add some butter if you like. Give it a final season.

Test the broccoli for doneness, then increase heat and boil off any excess liquid until you get a nice glaze. You can use this as a sauce.

When steak is cooked to medium (hanger steak is best medium–use a laser thermometer or a cake tester to your lips), remove from oven and let rest a minimum of 5 minutes. Put your serving plates in the oven for a couple minutes so the orzo doesn’t become gluey when it hits the plate.

To serve, place broccoli on plate along with a nice helping of orzo. Slice steak across the grain into 1/4″ slices and season with black pepper and coarse salt. Spoon any reserved broccoli cooking liquid over the top. Enjoy!

I love hanger steak (onglet). It has a rich flavor (it sits right next to the kidneys), it’s easy to cook, it’s relatively lean, and it’s far cheaper than New York or ribeye. It’s also, along with the tongue, the only cut of beef that’s a single cut (all other cuts are mirrored). However, it’s a little hard to find. You won’t get it in supermarkets or even Whole Foods, but try Bristol Farms or a specialty meat market. Ask your butcher to trim away the super-tough central membrane. You’ll get two long steaks, each about the size of a pork tenderloin, which is the perfect size for 4 people.

Here I slow roasted the hanger and served it with a potato puree enriched with chives and sharp cheddar, and a super-simple red wine sauce that’s a good alternative to a laborious demi-glace type preparation. Simple glazed French green beans with shallot round it out, but many vegetables would work–grilled asparagus, braised leeks, mixed mushrooms…On to the recipe:

• 1 hangar steak, trimmed (about 24 oz)
• 4 medium gold potatoes, peeled and diced large (about 1 pound)
• 1 large bunch chives
• 2 oz grated sharp white cheddar
• 6 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons cream
• 1 shallot
• 8 oz. French green beans
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce or tamari
• 1/2 cup red wine
• 1 tablespoon packed brown sugar
• Pantry items: Kosher salt, fine sea salt, black pepper, grapeseed oil

Preheat the oven to 300 F. Remove steak from fridge and season liberally with salt. Set aside, uncovered, out of the fridge (you want to bring the steak’s temperature up and let the surface dry out a bit). Place potatoes in a pot and cover with cold water. Season liberally with kosher salt. Bring to a simmer and cook until the potatoes are easily pierced with a fork or metal cake tester.

Meanwhile, bring a few quarts water to a boil and season it liberally with kosher salt until it tastes like the ocean. While you’re waiting: 1) Clean the green beans and dice the shallot very finely. 2) In a small saucepan, combine 1/2 the shallot, the red wine, brown sugar, soy sauce and all but 2 tablespoons of the chicken stock, and bring to a low boil. Reduce, uncovered, until the mixture coats a spoon.

Blanch the green beans for 2-3 minutes, or until tender. Remove from water with a slotted spoon and set aside to cool. (Generally, I don’t use ice baths for blanching vegetables). Add the chives to the boiling water. Boil vigorously until you can smush the chives with your fingers. Remove to a blender and add a few ice cubes. Purée on high until smooth, adding ice cubes as necessary to create a puree consistency. Pass through a fine strainer and set aside.

Heat a cast iron or other skillet as shot as possible. Add a tablespoon of grapeseed oil until it shimmers and quickly sear the steak on all sides. Hanger steak sears wonderfully, so you’ll need only 30 seconds on each side. Remove to a rack and place in the oven, turning every few minutes. Normally I like steak medium rare, but hanger actually tastes better closer to medium. You’ll need about 25 minutes to cook the steak to medium, so in the meantime, prepare the potatoes.

Drain the potatoes and run them through a ricer or food mill. Return them to the pot and add cream, 4 tablespoons butter and cheese. Beat vigorously until smooth. Add the chive purée and stir to combine. Keep warm (it won’t discolor for at least an hour).

Remove the steak when it’s reached its desired doneness (test by inserting a thin metal cake tester for 3 seconds, and holding it to your lips–if it’s like bath water, that’s medium rare, if it’s a bit hotter, that’s medium) and let rest for 5-10 minutes. Turn off oven and put your serving plates inside with the door ajar.

In a sauté pan, melt 1 tablespoon butter over low heat. Add the remaining shallots, season and cook slowly until translucent. Add remaining chicken stock and green beans, increase heat slightly and cook until liquid is almost evaporated and green beans are nicely glazed. Add the remaining tablespoon butter to the red wine sauce and stir to emulsify. If you have any juices from the steak, you can add those, too.

Final assembly: Slice the meat into 1/4 inch slices across the grain (hanger steak has a clearly visible grain, so this will be easy). Grind some black pepper across the top, and if you have it, sprinkle with good quality sea salt. Divide potato puree among plates and top with green beans. Fan the sliced steak across the plate and spoon a tablespoon of the sauce on top. Eat!

Today the market had a display of local organic vegetables that were cheap and looked delicious: heirloom eggplant, summer squash and mildly spicy yellow peppers. At the risk of sounding too Gwyneth Paltrow, they inspired me to make a delicious summer dish. I picked up a rack of lamb, some herbs and some coarse-ground polenta and was off and running. I had some leftover pesto that I stirred into the polenta, but feel free to omit it, or use fresh store-bought. Total prep time: 90 minutes.

• 1 rack of lamb – ask your butcher to remove and save bones
• 1/2 c. coarse-ground polenta
• 1 qt. chicken stock
• 1 c. water
• 1 c. milk
• 12 cloves garlic, peeled
• 1/2 small yellow onion
• a few sprigs thyme, marjoram and rosemary
• 1 small globe-shaped eggplant
• 1 small globe-shaped summer squash or zucchini
• 1 yellow pepper (bell pepper is fine)
• 3 roma tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons pesto (optional)
• 3 tablespoons grated Parmesan
• extra virgin olive oil
• grapeseed oil
• soy sauce
• herbes de provence, dried, for garnish

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Cut apart lamb bones and place on a rack. Roast in oven 15 minutes or until well browned. While the bones roast, bring a medium pot of water to a rolling boil. Slice eggplant and zucchini into 1/4″ slices. Seed, devein and cut yellow pepper into 1/4″ dice. Dice the 1/2 onion into 1/4″ dice. Season the lamb loin with salt and coat lightly with grapeseed oil. Leave out at room temperature, maybe on top of the fridge.

2. Cut a small X on the base of the tomatoes and plunge them into boiling water. When skin splits, remove tomatoes and run under cold water or plunge in ice water. In a stockpot, heat 1 tablespoon grapeseed oil over medium heat. Add onion slices and garlic. Cook slowly until softened and slightly caramelized. While that cooks, peel and seed the tomatoes. Reserve seeds and peels and add to the onions. Saute a couple minutes, until liquid evaporates. Remove bones from oven and add to the onions along with 3 cups chicken stock and marjoram/rosemary/thyme (reserve a sprig of each herb). Simmer over medium heat until reduced by half.

3. Meanwhile, bring additional chicken stock, milk and water to a boil in a medium saucepan. When it reaches the boil, slowly add polenta. Season and stir with whisk. Meanwhile, season eggplant and squash slices with salt and drizzle with olive oil. Place on the rack you were cooking the lamb bones on and roast in the oven for 10-15 minutes, until softened and lightly browned.

4. While the vegetables roast, heat 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil over low heat. Add remaining 6 cloves garlic and diced pepper. Season and cook until peppers are softened and garlic is light golden in color. Cut seeded tomatoes into 1/4″ dice and add to peppers. Season and stir to combine. Remove eggplant and squash from oven, reduce oven to 300 F and place tomato-pepper mixture in the oven.

5. Continue stirring the polenta with a whisk. Preheat a skillet over high heat. Sear lamb loin on each side until browned. Remove from heat and place on the rack in the oven. Roast lamb slowly, turning every couple of minutes, for about 20 minutes, until the lamb reaches just past medium rare. Set aside in a warm place to rest. (Test lamb for doneness by inserting a meat fork or metal cake tester into the center and placing it to your lips; if it feels hot but not burning, you’re good.)

6. Strain the lamb bones and vegetables from the pot, reserving 2 garlic cloves, and pour liquid and garlic into a small saucepan. Meanwhile, chop remaining herbs, pick off any meat left on the bones and add both to tomato-pepper mixture. Reduce sauce over medium heat until the mixture lightly coats a spoon. Add a splash of soy sauce to add color and seasoning. Smash garlic gloves using the back of a spoon; this will thicken the sauce. Set aside.

7. Finishing: Remove tomato-pepper mixture from the oven and place a small spoonful atop a slice of eggplant. Top with a slice of squash, then continue layering eggplant, tomato mix and squash until you run out. Place vegetable stacks in the oven to warm them through. When the polenta is thick and creamy (about 45 minutes), add parmesan cheese and pesto, if using. (You will have a ton of leftover polenta). Spoon some polenta across the plate. Slice lamb loin and place on top of polenta, then place vegetable stack beside lamb. Spoon sauce over the place. Sprinkle lamb with herbes de provence. Eat it.

• 2 boneless chicken breasts, skin on
• 2 oz bacon, cut into 1 x 1/4″ batons
• 1/2 yellow onion, cut into small dice
• 2 cloves peeled garlic
• the kernels from 2 ears of fresh corn
• 2 small red skinned potatoes, cut into 1/4″ dice
• 8 oz summer squash, cut into 1/4″ dice
• 1 teaspoon dried herbes de provence, or fresh savory, chopped
• 1/4 cup white wine
• 1/4 cup chicken stock or water
• 1/2 cup frozen peas (or fresh cooked ones)
• 1 tablespoon brown butter
• 1 tablespoon regular butter
• grapeseed oil
• fine sea salt

Method:

Preheat a cast iron skillet over high heat. Set oven to 400 degrees F. Season chicken breasts liberally with salt. Add 1 tablespoon grapeseed oil to pan. When it shimmers, place chicken breasts in pan, skin side down. Cook over high heat for ~5 minutes, or until skin is thoroughly browned, as in the photo.

Remove chicken breasts and place, skin side up, on a rack over a roasting pan, and place in oven.

Reduce heat under skillet to medium. Add bacon. Cook until fat renders out and bacon is browned and crispy. Remove to paper towels with a slotted spoon. Pour off all but 1 tablespoon of fat from pan.

Add potatoes, corn, onions and garlic to pan. Stir a bit and season with salt, then cover with lid. Let cook for 7-8 minutes, stirring occasionally, until potatoes are almost tender. Add herbes de provence or savory, summer squash and white wine. Increase heat to high and simmer uncovered until liquid is almost entirely evaporated.

Remove chicken from oven to rest. Pour juices into the pan with vegetables.

Add chicken stock or water and peas. Cook until peas are warmed through. Add butter and brown butter and simmer until emulsified and creamy. Add reserved bacon and stir to mix.

Slice chicken cross wise into 3 pieces. Spoon vegetable mixture onto plates. Top with chicken. Pour a bit of the sauce from the vegetables over chicken. Eat.

• 1/2 c. greek yogurt
• 1/3 c. sour cream
• 1/2 c. mascarpone
• zest of 1 lemon
• 4 large egg yolks
• 1/2 c. milk
• 1/2 c. melted butter
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 c. flour
• 4 large egg whites
• butter, for cooking
• powdered sugar, for serving

In a large bowl, beat the first 5 ingredients until smooth. Sift in the flour and baking powder and whisk gently until smooth. Beat the egg whites until quite stiff and gently fold them into the batter with a rubber spatula in 4-5 batches.

Heat a griddle to medium and add 1 tbsp. butter. Let the butter brown slightly before ladling or spooning the batter 1/2 a cup at a time onto the griddle. When the edges of the pancakes are set and small bubbles form on their surface, gently flip them. They’ll take about 2 minutes per side.

Transfer to a plate and serve immediately with powdered sugar or berry compote.

Berry Compote

• 1 pint blackberries
• 1 cup blueberries
• 1 cup quartered strawberries
• juice of a lemon, to taste
• 1 tsp vanilla extract, or 1/4 vanilla bean
• 3/4 cup maple syrup
• cornstarch to thicken, if desired

Combine first 6 ingredients in a saucepan and cook over low-medium heat, stirring to incorporate. If using a vanilla bean, be sure to scrape the seeds into the mix. If you’d like to thicken the mixture, whisk 1 tbsp cornstarch with 1/4 cup cold water, mix with berries, and bring the mixture to a boil.

Braised short rib, carrots, mascarpone smashed pee wee potatoes, arugula gremolata

Sometimes it’s easy to throw together a quick dinner using leftovers. This dish was assembled using things I had on hand from previous meals. The short ribs were left over from a previous fancy dinner. Of course, not everyone is going to have red wine braised short ribs in a vac-pack bag in the freezer, but you could have easily roasted a chicken breast or grilled a steak. I had some small potatoes sitting around, while the mascarpone came from a risotto I made a few days ago.

So, I boiled the potatoes in heavily salted water with 3 cloves of garlic (more on that later), then transferred them to a small pot with a couple tablespoons of mascarpone and some salt (I never make pepper part of the cooking process and use it only as a final touch over meats, eggs, raw foods, etc). I retained the cooking water, pulled it off the heat, and threw in the short ribs, which were frozen and sealed in a plastic bag.

The carrots, meanwhile, are a staple item–I simply sauteéd them slowly in some brown butter (again, leftover from a previous meal) and a pinch of sugar. If you don’t have brown butter, you can just brown some fresh butter before you put the carrots in the pan. The arugula gremolata–that’s finely chopped arugula, lemon zest, olive oil and the garlic that I cooked with the potatoes (because raw garlic is disgusting), with pine nuts thrown in for fun, is made of staple goods and some pre-existing arugula.

By the time I’d cooked the carrots, finished the potatoes and made the gremolata, the short ribs were reheated and ready to go. All I had to do was assemble everything. The whole meal took about 20 minutes to throw together, involved the use of only 3 pans, yet was satisfying, cohesive, and had a nice balance of flavors.