So far we’re on track for the wettest June on record here in NYC. I’m secretly OK with it since it means keeping those hot, humid days at bay. I dread the relentless heat radiating from the asphalt, and the crippling furnace that are the Subway platforms. Our kitchen at Home averages between 100-120 degrees F. during the coming months. Aside from shedding some unwanted pounds, the bright side to all of this is the bounty of the Hudson Valley & Long Island come into full swing. Come enjoy our beautiful Garden, a rarity in New York! 

Mark Dunau from Mountain Dell Farm in the Catskills & Guy Jones’ Blooming Hill Farm have both started their weekly deliveries to Home Restaurant. Other than the fact that produce from both farms is gorgeous, it frees up a lot of my time. Free time at Home means, painting that wall that has been neglected, re-wiring the dimmer for the sconces up front, maybe even replacing the lights on the storefront. There really is no such thing as free time.

I made my National television debut last week on The Food Network. I competed in a new show called Chopped. You can click on the link to find when my episode will air again. It was a very interesting and equally humbling experience.

We tried to get some cooking classes together, but the weather has not been cooperating. Now that Summer is upon us, the heat tends to be too much to sit through a cooking class. We will attempt to resume courses in the fall.

ENJOY YOUR SUMMER!!!

Chef Ross Gill

Spring is finally upon us!!! Here are a few reasons why I get so excited for Spring.

• The trees on Cornelia Street are starting to bud their first flowers.
• The herbs in the Garden at Home are looking healthy and strong.
• Shortly, the Farms upstate will start bringing their bounty into Manhattan.
• Ramps, Fava Beans & Morels.
• I don’t have to wear a jacket anymore!!

Starting in May,  we will start a series of cooking classes  in the Garden that I am very excited about. We will be exploring the more unusual ingredients you see at the Green Market.

We are kicking off the series during the 2nd Annual NYC Wild Flower Week .  All week long we will be featuring dishes with local Wild Flowers as well as a course in how to use them. Wild Flower week is May 2nd-9th. There are 2 courses. Tuesday May 5th & Wednesday May 6th. Courses start at 6PM and are about 1 hour long followed by a 4 course tasting menu of the items we prepared. Classes are $65 per person or $80 with wine pairing featuring local vineyards. Sign up by emailing me at ross@homerestaurantnyc.com .

I am really looking forward to the Spring and Summer at Home. Come join us for Lunch or Dinner!

See us on CBS

I'm really excited for this coming Spring season! Last year, Home Restaurant closed for renovations for the entire Spring and Summer, so I missed out on 2 full seasons of cooking at Home.

I love Spring time in New York. The trees get their leaves back and the temperature finally climbs it's way out of the 40's. The best part is that I get to reconnect with all of our friendly farmers Upstate. Towards the end of March and 1st weeks of April the farms that went on Winter break start calling me up and faxing me with what they have available. As much as I love my Winter vegetables, I always breathe a sigh of relief when the Spring Garlic, Ramps & Morels start to pop up in the market.

On a personal level, it's my cue to stash the sweaters and bust out the shorts and flip flops for the rest of the season.

As it warms up and the sun sits higher in the sky, we're ramping up for our cooking class series in the Garden at Home. I'll keep you posted on the dates and subjects as they become available. In the mean time, stop by Home for dinner. Mention this blog to your server and I'll buy you a dessert!

Baked Oysters with Quail Eggs & Bacon

12 large oysters

12 Quail Eggs

1 Cup bread crumbs

Zest from 2 lemons

1 Tbs olive oil

2 garlic cloves minced fine

3 Tbs minced parsley

Dash of vinegar.

Set oven to Broil

Fill a sauce pan with water and a dash of vinegar and some salt. Bring to a simmer

Shuck the oysters and cut abductor mussel

Mix bread crumbs, zest, olive oil, salt, pepper, parsley and garlic well

Arrange oysters on a baking sheet and sprinkle bread crumb mixture over the top

Once oven is at temperature place oysters on top rack for about 2-3 minutes. Be sure to watch closely as oven temperatures vary dramatically.

Add the cracked whole quail eggs to the water and cook for 1 minute. Gently remove with a slotted spoon and place on top of each oyster.

Enjoy!

Duck Confit Salad with Grilled Apples, Candied Cashews, Orange Vinaigrette

1 Duck Leg Confit

1 Bunch Watercress

1 Apple

1 Cup Cashews

2 Tbs Powdered Sugar

½ Cup olive oil

½ shallot sliced thin

Zest from 1 orange

Juice from ½ a lemon

**Prepare the oil mixture 1 day in advance

Mix together olive oil, zest and shallots. Refrigerate for 1 day.

Cashews can be prepared up to a week in advance

Preheat oven to 420⁰F

Bring a small pot of water to boil. Add cashews and simmer for 5 minutes. Strain off water and add cashews to a mixing bowl. Add powdered sugar and mix together well until sugar turns to a syrup. Place on a cookie

sheet and then into oven for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool and then break apart pieces. Store in air tight container.

Slice apple into large “Coins”. Toss in olive oil salt and pepper and place on a hot grill and cook 3 minutes on each side. Slice into “Batons”

In a large bowl combine watercress, Cashews lemon juice and a drizzle of infused oil and apple. Add salt and pepper and mix well.

**at Home we shave a little dry aged goat cheese on the salad, but you can add any hard cheese you like.

Enjoy!!

Beef Tenderloin Roulade with Rosemary Sauce

2 6oz Beef Tenderloin Steaks

½ # Maytag Blue Cheese

2 Tbs Bread Crumbs

1 Tbs Parsley

1 Egg, Whipped

1 Cup baby spinach shredded

Roasted red peppers shredded

Combine Blue cheese, egg, breadcrumb and parsley with salt and pepper

Butterfly each steak, place between plastic wrap and pound flat.

Season the inner surface with salt and pepper. Spread the mixture between each tenderloin. Top with spinach.

Place on a sheet of plastic and roll tightly. Store seam side down in the refrigerator up to 2 days in advance.

When ready to cook. Remove from plastic. Season the outside with salt and pepper and place seam side down in a lightly oiled sauté pan and cook to desired doneness.

Slice and serve with your favorite sides

Rosemary Sauce

2 Tbs Butter

1 Shallot Sliced

½ cup of a good red wine

1 ½ Cups beef stock

1 tbs rosemary

Melt butter in a sauce pan and add sliced shallots. Cook at a medium heat until translucent. Add red wine and reduce by ½. Add stock and rosemary simmer until reduced by half. Season with salt and pepper.

Enjoy!!

Chocolate Fondue

12 oz semi sweet chocolate chips

2/3 cup heavy cream

1 Tbs Vanilla Extract

3 Tbs Booze

Combine chocolate and heavy cream in a sauce pan and heat over medium heat until melted, stirring constantly. Add Vanilla and liquor of choice.

Enjoy with your favorite fruits or, pound cake, pretzels…it’s all up to you!

Valentines Day is just around the corner, so hurry and make dinner reservation at Home!! That's right, we're taking Dinner Reservations for Valentines Day only. We're running our regular dinner menu with some really nice specials. 

Valentines Day Menu

Soup

Salsify & Wild Mushroom

Small Plates

Baked Blue Point Oysters w/ poached quail egg & bacon

Duck Ham Salad w/ wild arugula, roasted chestnuts, blood orange vinaigrette

Large Plates

Whole Rock Fish w/ a warm salad of baby vegetables & horseradish beet relish

Whole Roasted Poussin, corn bread stuffing and balsamic baked apples

Sign up for a cooking class at Home!! Tuesday February 3rd and 10th at 5:30 PM, Chef Ross Gill will be demonstrating an elegant yet simple dinner to prepare for your special someone. With the size of typical NY kitchen being very limited, the menu is designed to be able to be made in stages so you don't have to sweat it all at once. Check out what's on the menu!! Classes are hands on, so be prepared to roll up your sleeves, put on an apron and do some cooking. Price for the class is $65 and includes a sit down dinner to enjoy the fruits of your labor as well as a wine pairing.

First Course

Baked Oysters with Quail Eggs & Bacon

Second Course

Duck Confit Salad with Grilled Apples, Candied Cashews and and Orange Vinaigrette

Third Course

Beef  Tenderloin Roulade with Rosemary Sauce

Dessert

Chocolate Fondue

We are looking forward to a very exciting 2009 at Home Restaurant. Our cooking class series will start in February, kicking off with some ideas and recipes for a romantic Valentines day dinner. After that we will continue with monthly themes. Much like Home restaurant, classes are very small and intimate. Keep an eye out for more details to come next week.

Winter has finally arrived with some bitter cold temperatures. When I left for California to be with my family for the holidays, the day time temperature in New York was in the 60's. Barely a week later and we're looking at temperatures in the 20's and some snow! I guess it's time to embrace the cold. This is the time of year that we serve a Fresh Hot Apple Cider from upstate New York with Rum. It's a great cocktail to keep you warm on the inside while it's oh so cold outside.

Remember that the Garden at Home is open year round. We have awnings and electric haters to keep you warm. It's especially cozy when you can huddle up with a loved one during a light snow and sip a Hot Apple Cider.

For the second year in a row, our farmers upstate reported another record growing season. Usually Thanksgiving represents the end of the season in which they're bringing product to New York City. Last year we where getting product into the 1st 2 weeks of December. This year, our last delivery was last week. None of us are sure to be thankful for such a long growing season, or fearful for the future of our planet. I'm thinking, a little bit of both.

Wishing you and yours a healthy and prosperous New Year from all of us at Home.

-Chef Ross Gill

 Fall and Winter are such great seasons in New York City for a number of reasons. For me the cooler air is a welcome respite from a Summer of agonizing heat. Temperatures in a restaurant kitchen typically exceed 100° F every day from June through the beginning of September. The change in seasons also represents a shift in the focus on our menu from the bounty of Summer to the richness of Fall and Winter. As the weeks move closer to the Winter Solcitice, lists from farmers Like Guy Jones at Blooming Hill Farms get smaller and smaller. At the end of August, the weekly fax is so crammed with product you can barely make out what's available. These days it's a hand full of items, but with a wild variety. I think I counted 10 different kinds of squash on his last update. I love all the different squash available and the richness that it provides in an infinate number of applications. Growing up in the Dry Creek Valley of Northern California, we didn't have a real sense of a change in the seasons. We did have a mind blowing resource of delicious fresh Organic products.  For me, season changes where always form of food. When I see all the Pumpkins & Squash available at the Green Market and from Farms upstate, it reminds me of home. Enjoy & Happy Holidays.

-Chef Ross