NYC Top chefs dish out their recipes

New York City’s restaurant scene is arguably the best in the world, and while there are enough restaurants to offer you a different meal every night of the week for years, at some point you’ll have to make your own.

“New York Cooks: 100 Recipes from the City’s Best Chefs,” out this month, gives readers a chance to try some famous NYC restaurant recipes at home.

The recipes, which range from quick and simple to complicated, and ingredient-heavy, have been penned by chefs such as Telepan’s Bill Telepan, Artisanal’s Terrance Brennan and The Little Owl’s Joey Campanaro.

All dishes fall into one of seven categories — New American, Italian, Urban Country, French, Classic American, Mediterranean and Iberian or Specialty Cuisines (which include raw food and global seafood).

“New York has a certain cache,” said the book’s co-author, Barbara Winkler. “People want to make dishes that have been vetted by New Yorkers.”

We spoke with Winkler and co-author Joan Krellenstein about the book.

How did you choose the chefs?

JK: We wanted to capture the New York experience — use fresh names and high-end, more established ones, we wanted to run the gamut. Ultimately we decided to do it by cuisine.

What’s unique about New York’s restaurant scene?

BW: The diversity. There are all kinds of cuisines and all kinds of prices.

JK: A lot of people come here from other countries, it’s their culinary mecca.

Did many chefs refuse to give away their trade secrets?

BW: Not at all. The challenges were that the chefs are used to restaurant quantities and sometimes it was hard for them to adjust measurements. Also, a lot of them don’t use recipes when cooking. Andy Nusser at Casa Mono said he draws the dish.

JK: What helped was that we asked the chefs to give recipes that reflect how they cooked at their restaurant, but also how they would want to cook at home.

Are the recipes difficult for the average home cook who’s not classically trained?

JK: There’s something for every skill level. Some are relatively simple and some take a day and a half to make.

Recipe: Mussels Marinière from Marc Murphy, executive chef and owner, Landmarc

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 large shallot, peeled and sliced

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 pounds mussels, scrubbed and debearded

1 ½ cups dry white wine

salt and ground black pepper to taste

6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, cubed

½ bunch chopped parsley

½ pint grape tomatoes

Heat oil in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add shallots and garlic and cook until they begin to brown. Add the mussels and the wine and season with salt and ground black pepper. Cook until the mussels all open, around 4 minutes and remove with a slotted spoon to a large bowl.

(Discard any unopened mussels). Reduce the heat to medium and add the butter, swirling around to emulsify. Toss in the parsley and grape tomatoes and cook until just heated through. Season to taste with more salt and pepper.

TO SERVE

Pour sauce over mussels and garnish with more parsley, if desired. Serve with crusty bread or french fries.

• Twitter
• Facebook
• Delicious
• Digg
• Stumble Upon