Spring Vegetable Soup with Pesto
Wolfgang Puck, Spago Beverly Hills
5 carrots, peeled and cut into pieces
2 leeks, peel, remove outer leaves, cut into pieces
2 garlic cloves, peeled, minced
extra virgin olive oil
butter
1 sprig oregano
1 sprig thyme
3-4 cups vegetable or chicken stock
1 potato, peeled, cut into pieces
1 bunch broccoli rapini, cut into pieces
1 bunch asparagus, cut into pieces
salt and pepper to taste
Cut all vegetables the same size. Use a stainless steel pan. Add 1/8 cup olive oil and 1 tablespoon butter to pan and heat. Add leeks, carrots and stir. Add oregano, thyme and garlic and stir until translucent (glossy). Add salt and pepper. Add stock. Bring to a boil for approximately 2 to 3 minutes. Add potato. When potato and carrot are almost cooked, add broccoli and asparagus. Continue to cook until done. Add salt and pepper to taste. Just before serving, drizzle pesto over soup and add crostini with goat cheese on the side.
Pesto Sauce
basil leaves, washed
parsley
2 cloves garlic
roasted pine nuts
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
Add basil leaves, parsley, garlic, pine nuts and olive oil to blender. Blend it all together to make pesto.
Goat Cheese Crostini
Baguette
Extra virgin olive oil
Preheat oven to 350°F
Slice baguette into 1/2" slices. Place on sheet pan in single layer and brush with olive oil. Heat in oven for approximately 5 minutes or until lightly browned. Spread fresh goat cheese on each slice. Put back into oven until warm and creamy. Drizzle with pesto.
Chicken with Mustard Sauce & Cipollini onions
(Serves 4-6)
Wolfgang Puck, Spago Beverly Hills
1 whole chicken
salt and pepper
flour
sprig rosemary
sprig thyme
garlic cloves
parsley
tarragon
Wash chicken, pat dry, cut into pieces. Season with salt and pepper on both sides and dust with flour.
Add 1 tablespoon olive oil to pan and heat. Add chicken skin side down. Add rosemary and thyme. Heat on high until browned then turn down heat. When skin side is nice and brown, turn over chicken pieces and add extra herbs and garlic cloves. When the second side is brown put chicken in oven for additional 15 minutes or until juice is clear.
Serve family style or on Individual plates. Spoon mustard sauce over chicken. Add onions and sprinkle with chopped fresh herbs.
Cipollini Onions
1 basket of onions
sugar
salt and pepper
extra virgin olive oil
butter
Peel skin off onions. Cut in half - stand onion on its side and slice through so you have two circles. Use stainless steel sauté pan. Rub butter on bottom of pan, and lightly sprinkle sugar over butter. Lay onions in pan cut side down. Add a touch of salt. Put pan on high heat, add about 1 tablespoon more of butter to pan. Turn over onions when lightly browned on first side. Add a bit more olive oil and butter and continue cooking until second side is lightly browned.
Mustard Sauce
½ cup port wine
1 T Dijon mustard
1 T whole grain mustard
½ cup cream
Remove chicken from pan and keep warm, remove all herbs and garlic along with excess oil. Deglaze pan with port wine. *Note: When adding port to hot pan it will flame up. Be careful and stand back. Reduce port wine by half and whish in cream. Bring to boil then turn off heat and add mustards. Continue to whisk. If sauce gets too thick add a bit of stock. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Campton Shortcuts with Berries and Cream
By Sherry Yard, Spago Beverly Hills
Dough:
1 ½ cups flour, plus 6 tablespoons for dusting
1/3 cup sugar, plus 1/3 cup for dusting2 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
4 ounces (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into ½ inch pieces and frozen for 15 minutes
1 large egg
½ cup heavy cream
1 egg beaten with 1 egg yolk for egg wash
For the berries:
1 cup heavy cream
½ cup crème fraiche
2 tablespoons sugar
1 pint ripe strawberries
Dough: Sift the 1 ½ cups flour, 1/3 cup sugar, baking powder, and salt into the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment. Add the partially frozen butter and mix on low speed for 1to 2 minutes, until the butter is broken down into large lumps that are still visible in the mix. Stop the machine and flatten out round lumps of butter with your thumb and forefinger. Continue beating on low speed for about 30 seconds. The butter should resemble flattened walnut pieces. (You can also mix this by hand rubbing the butter into the flour between your thumbs and fingers.)
In a separate bowl, whisk together egg and heavy cream. Pour into the dry ingredients, and pulse the mixture on and off for 20 to 30 seconds to mix. (Or mix with your hands or a wooden spoon.) The dough should be crumbly and tacky when you take it out of the bowl.
Place a piece of parchment paper on your work surface. Dust it with 2 tablespoons flour, and scrape out the dough. Begin the three-fold process. Fold the edges of the parchment over, using them to press the dough into a 1-inch-thick square. The dough will be tacky in places. Peel back the paper. Lightly dust the top of the dough with 1 tablespoon flour and flip the dough over. Lightly press it into an even 1”inch-thick 6”-x-8” rectangle. With the side of your hand, make a crease through the middle of the dough, parallel to the bottom edge. Using the parchment to lift the dough, fold it over at the crease. Peel back the parchment and dust the top of the dough with 1 tablespoon flour. Lightly press out the dough again and turn it 90 degrees. Make a crease in the middle and fold and turn again. Lightly dust the dough again with 1 tablespoon flour. If any pieces have crumbled off the dough and fallen onto the parchment, place them on top of the dough. Crease, fold, and turn one more time. The dough will now be a uniform block. Dust with the remaining 1 tablespoon flour and gently roll out into a 1” thick 6”x 8” rectangle. Cover with plastic wrap and place in freezer for 30 minutes. (At this point, you can refrigerate the dough for 1 day or freeze for up to 1 week. When you are ready to cut the dough, defrost just until the dough is soft enough to cut, and cut while it is semi-frozen.)
Place a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat the oven to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Unwrap the dough and place it in front of you so that the smoother side is down. Cut crosswise on the diagonals to make 4 long triangles, then cut from top to bottom and crosswise through the middle to crease 8 triangles in all. Flip the triangles over and place them on the baking sheet. You will have scraps at each end that you can use for irregularly shaped shortcuts. Brush the triangles with the egg wash. Generously dust with the 1/3 cup sugar: grab a handful of the sugar and let it fall through your hand over the dough, from one end of the triangles to the other. Then, with your finger, smooth the sugar evenly over the surface of the dough.
Bake for 15 minutes. Rotate the sheet from front to back and bake for another 5 to 8 minutes, until the shortcuts are golden brown.
Prepare the berries and cream: Whip the cream and crème fraiche with the sugar to soft peaks. Wash and cut the strawberries into fours. Serve the shortcuts with a spoonful of whipped cream and berries on the side.
