Recently I did a big tasting menu with a couple different desserts. The crowd favorite was this pumpkinbread, spread with butter, crusted with maple sugar, griddled and smothered with wild blueberries, candied plums, soft cheese and candied black walnuts. As pictured its a bit of a process, but doing a toned-down version would be a…
Nuts, Seeds and Starches
Sunchoke Flour & Maple Sugar Beignets
Thanksgiving is a good time for reflection, and this year I really enjoyed reading my friend Sean’s article in the Times-an essay on Thanksgiving from an Indigenous perspective. It made me think of a lot of things, mostly about how unfortunate history has been for Native Americans. It’s not my place to weigh-in, but it resonated…
Chestnut Honey Sauce
Chestnuts are a lot more than something to add to stuffing or roast an eat, they’re special flavor, treated well can become a condiment all by themselves, particularly good with game and poultry. This sauce elevates them to a different level by incorporating a special ingredient: Chestnut blossom honey. Chestnut honey, along with buckwheat honey…
Wild Rice Flour Crusted Sunfish
I love keeping a little bit of wild rice flour around for projects here and there. There’s a lot of gluten-free flours out there, but none that I’ve come across that pack quite the flavor punch of wild rice flour, amaranth flour coming in a close second. I don’t use wild rice flour specifically because…
Wild Rice Crepes with Elderberry Syrup, Apples and Black Walnuts
Back at Lucia’s I used to come up with a different brunch every week, along with lunch, and the dinner menu. With such intense recipe generation, you’re bound to have a few hits and misses, and it can take some time to dial things in, especially if you’re working with new line cooks. Here and…
Fresh Cranberry Sauce with Cow Parsnip Seeds and Warm Spices
It’s almost time for the annual stuff your face and have a food coma celebration. I’m not doing the turkey this year since I have to travel back to the farm near Willmar Minnesota from the Twin Cities, but I did volunteer to do all the sides, which I don’t mind doing. Prepping ahead makes…
Carrots Glazed in Carrot Juice, with Wild Carrot Flowers and Seeds
Wild carrot is up, one of the last wildflowers we’ll see in the Midwest. The flavor is nice and carrot tasting, but it’s delicate, subtle, too many other things in a dish will overpower it. Most of the time I just sprinkle the flowers and seeds on simple things, raw, unadulterated. A couple weeks ago…
Marinated Cattail Hearts
I’ve been trying to harvest more young shoots, every year I get a little bit better with my timing, mostly from making sure I use a journal. I got a few cattail shoots/hearts last year, and loved them so much I had to go back and grab a few more, but by the time I…
Braised Halibut With Chanterelles and Acorn Oil
One of my favorite things is talking to people about ingredients we’re both excited about. Last Spring I met my friend Francois who’s from France and now helps organize the logistics and sourcing of a well known restaurant in Duluth. He’d been following my work for a bit and made it down to the Slow…
Strawberry-Rhubarb Crisp, With Angelica
From the first time I smelled angelica I’d been trying to figure out the perfect use for it in a dessert, which is easier said than done. Like truffles, the flavor is very strong alone, and almost soapy, but when mixed with too many things, the taste and aroma disappear completely. To further compound things,…
Angelica Seed Pound Cake
When I was dreaming up what to serve at the Slow Food MN’s Wild Things dinner last year, I knew I had to have an interesting dessert. Most of the other dinners of the previous years didn’t include a sweet option to finish the event, so I wanted to up the ante. Whatever the dessert…
Spring Dug Parsnip Soup with Acorn Oil
One of my favorite Spring treats is parsnips that have been left to winter in the ground. During the Winter, the cold converts starches in the parsnip into sugars, and sugars don’t like to freeze. The sugary parsnips stay alive throughout the cold season, get harvested in the spring and sold for a premium. You…
Chokeberry-Cow Parsnip Seed Ketchup
To me, using leftovers or looking in the cooler is how real creations are made and new menus created, not by looking at a fancy/expensive purveyor wish lists. A running behind the scenes joke I have with my cooks is that when we…