La Belle Farms Duck!

I recently got these La Belle Farm Ducks.  They're air dried birds have enormous breast's (insert pun here) and the perfect sized legs and wings for us!  This is the dish we're using for a duck breast entree.  The duck is spiced with cumin, coriander, clove, and cardamom.  It is garnished with a watercress puree, pickled grapes, hazelnuts, fried pieces of Oatmeal-hazelnut polenta, and whipped yogurt.  Now to figure out a leg and wing dish...  all waiting in brine till we can decide.  Any ideas, let me know!  

Venison

We crusted the leg of venison in licorice root and anise seeds; then pan roasted.  It was served with Spaghetti Squash "saurkraut" (pickled and fermented), black trumpet mushroom veloute, dots of celeriac-pear puree, baby turnips with their greens, and pieces of crispy fat back.

Buttercup Squash

New Soup!  We created a soup made of buttercup squash; made primarily of the roasted squash, ginger, onion, garlic, and mounted with a whole bunch of spiced drawn butter.  This soup is poured table side over this garnish.  A black garlic puree with a bit of sherry vinegar, caraway and juniper powders, wild peppercress(im still amazed what you can find in the city), and tuna.  The tuna was cured, smoked, and then slow cooked in smokey duck fat.  The fish was flaked and has flavors reminiscent of bacon and tuna salad.  I really love the flavors of this dish.  Simple looking (tuna, powders, black garlic, soup) but lots of different things going on.

used/old circulator... soon to be optimus prime!

I bought this used immersion circulator from Ebay...  it's analog, cheap, and I it works! 
well, kind of...  I need a thermometer in there to make sure it's constant and adjust the thermostat to make sure it's the temperature we need.  Tomorrow it's going to be constructed into a massive unobtrusive master...  well at least for two days until it fizzles and breaks into pieces... 

Mushroom Salad.

mushroom salad composed of pickled porcini mushrooms, crispy-smoked hen of the woods, barely sauteed chanterelles, and a lobster mushroom jelly terrine.  The mushrooms are accompanied with puffed Parmesan rinds, rosemary-bonito vinegar, a froth of rosemary dashi, and lots of chickweed and lambs quarters from the back yard.  autumn! 

Tomatoes

Heirloom Tomatoes..  They were seasoned with fennel pollen, black pepper, salt, and chives; dressed in boccorones oil (we fry the white pickled anchovies in olive oil until they were crispy and broken up a bit. Mozzarella curd with a basil-honey puree and a parmesan consomme "pudding" was made and finished it off with weeds and greens from the back yard, baby dandelion and fennel fronds.  It's basically "Insalata Caprese" modified.  It's a simple dish that's been on the menu all since tomato season started... I thought it would be appropriate to post the dish right before tomato season  ends.