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Roasted curried cauliflower
At Fulton Market Kitchen in Chicago, executive chef Jonathon Harootunian adds Madras curry powder to melted unsalted butter, strains it to remove the solids and dips a head of cauliflower in it. He bakes that at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 minutes.
Separately he makes a chutney by simmering raisins with sugar, rice wine vinegar, toasted mustard seeds, lime zest and minced ginger for two hours.
He plates the cauliflower over a crema of mayonnaise mixed with cilantro, cherry tomatoes that have been simmered in olive oil for around 10 minutes, and the chutney. He garnishes the plate with crispy fried capers.
Price: $22
Paneer roasted in Swiss chard
At Indienne in Chicago, executive chef and partner Sujan Sarkar offers this version of butter chicken as part of his 5-course vegetarian tasting menu. He takes thin sheets of the Indian cheese paneer and layers it with a textured purée of cashews, pistachios, almonds, browned onions and his house spice mix. That’s sliced into individual portions, wrapped in Swiss chard and roasted over embers. It’s served in a traditional makhani curry made with tomato, cashew, fenugreek, ginger, garlic, and his house garam masala that are simmered for at least six hours and then finished with cream. It’s garnished with a chai flower and served with garlic naan and black dahl that has a similar flavor as the makhani.
Price: Part of the $80 5-course vegetarian tasting menu
Tablet Negroni
Iain Griffiths, creative director of Hidden Leaf in New York City’s Manhattan West Plaza, makes this popular cocktail in batches of 200 or more at a time. For each drink he combines an ounce each of Roku gin, Campari, and sweet vermouth (they use a 50/50 blend of Cocchi Torino and Dolin Rouge), plus ¼ ounce of whole milk, 1/8 ounce of Boiron Passion Fruit Purée, and a dash of saline solution made by combining 10 grams of salt with 100 grams of boiling water.
That is all refrigerated for 24 hours, during which time the acidity in the purée will curdle the milk. Then Griffiths strains it through a coffee filter and stores it cold.
Price: $19
Lobster Baba
For this appetizer at Piccola Cucina, which has three locations in New York City, although this item is only available at the restaurants on the Upper East Side and on Spring St. in Soho, not the one on Thompson St. in Soho, executive chef and owner Philip Guardione draws inspiration from a traditional Italian baba and a Northeastern lobster roll. He incorporates salt and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese into an Italian baba bread recipe, bakes it, lets it rest for a little while and then fries it to order. Then it’s sliced down the middle and filled with stracciatella cheese, olive oil, lemon zest, lime zest, tomatoes, olives, capers, and red onion, and cooked lobster. It’s plated over pesto and topped with sea urchin mayonnaise.
Price: $23.95
Loaded Giant Latke
At Gold Finch in San Diego, executive chef Tim Kolanko peels, grates, salts, and squeezes the liquid out of russet potatoes — his preferred variety for potato pancakes because they’re high in starch.
Then he adds eggs to bind them and adds minced onions, thyme and black pepper. He spoons the potatoes into hot oil to form a 10-inch pancake and shallow fries it until the edges are crispy but the center is still soft and chewy. Then he tops the latke with a fried egg, sauteed mushrooms and broccoli raab, caramelized onion, and labneh spiked with horseradish.
Price: $20
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