For restaurant mogul Danny Meyer, the care put into the staff meal is a pretty good reflection of the hospitality his paying customers will receive. In their new cookbook, “Family Table,” co-authors Michael Romano and Karen Stabiner let fans of Meyer’s food empire, which includes Gramercy Tavern, Union Square Cafe and Maialino, get a backstage look at what his employees — cooks, waiters, porters, anybody who happens to be on shift — feast on during the restaurants’ slump hours.
Romano, who is also culinary director of Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group, says, “One of the virtues of the book is that a lot of these things have to be done pretty much on the fly. And it’s not on an unlimited budget, so it’s a good way to use up leftovers.” Here are three of our favorites. No reservations needed.
MONKEY BREAD: By Gramercy Tavern pastry chef Nancy Olson
“It started out one night as a snack,” Nancy says of these sweet rolls covered in toffee sauce and cinnamon sugar. “One cook said we have some brioche dough and some toffee sauce” — sticky toffee pudding happened to be on the menu, as well as brioche bread pudding. “It’s a quick, easy thing,” she adds. Although the restaurant makes theirs from scratch, you can buy premade brioche dough. According to the book, “Maialino chef Nick Anderer, who ate his share when he worked at Gramercy, couldn’t bear to be without them, which is why [he put] a brioche caramellato on his opening-day menu — Nancy’s monkey bread reimagined for a Roman trattoria.”
(Marcus Nilsson)
(Marcus Nilsson)
Serves: 8
For the toffee sauce:
⅔ cup plus ½ cup heavy cream
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
6 tablespoons (¾ stick) unsalted butter
1 vanilla bean, split, seeds scraped out, seeds and pod reserved
½ teaspoon salt
Basic brioche dough, refrigerated
4 tablespoons (½ stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
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To make the toffee sauce: In a medium saucepan, combine the ⅔ cup cream, the brown sugar, corn syrup, butter, vanilla seeds and pod, and salt, bring to a boil over medium-high heat, and cook for a few minutes, stirring, until the sauce thickens.
Add the remaining ½ cup cream, stir well, and remove from the heat. Discard the vanilla pod. (The toffee sauce can be made up to 1 day ahead and refrigerated; rewarm over low heat.) To assemble the monkey bread: Pour the warm toffee sauce over the bottom of a 9-x-13-inch baking pan.
Divide the brioche dough into 20 pieces, each about the size of a pingpong ball.
Pour the melted butter into a shallow dish. Mix the sugar and cinnamon in another shallow dish. Roll each ball of brioche dough in the melted butter and then in the cinnamon sugar, placing them side by side in the baking pan. Reserve the remaining cinnamon sugar.
Place the pan in a warm (80-to-85-degree) place and let the rolls rise until they have doubled in size and spring back when you press them, 2 to 3 hours. At a lower room temperature, the bread will take longer to rise.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Sprinkle the monkey bread with the reserved cinnamon sugar. Bake until dark golden brown, about 40 minutes. Remove from the oven and let sit for 40 minutes, until the sauce sets on the brioche. Serve warm or at room temperature.
CAPELLINI WITH GARDEN TOMATOES: By Union Square Cafe chef Carmen Quagliata
The original recipe for this dish came about long ago, when Union Square Cafe chef Carmen Quagliata was growing up in Upstate New York. “My mother got all these cherry tomatoes from a neighbor’s garden — you can taste all that great terroir on the tomatoes when you eat it that fresh. It was very brothy, she served it with capellini, and I just loved it.” Plus, it works well within the constraints of his restaurant’s family meal budget, which Quagliata figures is about $1.50 a head.
Serves: 4
1 pint cherry tomatoes, such as Sweet 100s, or grape tomatoes, halved
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
¾ cup olive oil
Kosher salt
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 cup torn fresh basil leaves
1 large beefsteak tomato, cored, peeled and chopped, juice and seeds reserved
8 ounces capellini
½ cup grated Pecorino Romano
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Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.
Place the cherry tomato halves close together on a baking sheet, cut side up. Mix the balsamic vinegar and ¼ cup of the oil together and spoon evenly over the tomatoes.
Sprinkle with a healthy pinch of salt.
Bake the tomatoes for 2 to 3 hours, or until they look shriveled and slightly dry but are still moist when you bite into one. Cool on the baking sheet. (The tomatoes can be made several hours in advance.)
Bring 4 quarts water to a boil in a large pot and add 2 tablespoons salt.
Meanwhile, in a large skillet, heat the remaining ½ cup oil over medium heat until it shimmers. Add the garlic and cook until light golden, about 3 minutes.
Add the red pepper flakes, basil, beefsteak tomato with its juice and seeds, and ½ teaspoon salt and bring to a boil, then remove from the heat.
Add the capellini to the boiling water, stir and cook until al dente.
Ladle ½ cup of the cooking water into the skillet, then drain the pasta, add to the sauce, and stir to combine. Add the oven-dried tomatoes, with all their oil and juices, and stir once or twice. Transfer to a wide shallow bowl, top with the Pecorino Romano, and serve immediately.
ROASTED POTATOES WITH FROMAGE BLANC & BACON: By The Modern chef Gabriel Kreuther
For chef Kreuther, this is a very traditional dish his family used to cook on the French (Alsatian) farm where he grew up. “There’s garlic, crunchy potatoes, and at the end, we season it with a little bit of coarse salt. That’s why the flavor explodes in your mouth. The vegetarians especially love it,” says Kreuther, who adds that the recipe can easily be done without bacon. “The key is small beautiful potatoes. The older ones, they will finish up like mashed potatoes” — which is not what you’re aiming for.
Serves: 4 to 6
18-ounce container low-fat fromage blanc or low-fat sour cream
2 tablespoons heavy cream or milk
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh chives
2 tablespoons finely chopped shallots
Kosher salt and freshly ground white pepper
1 pound fingerling potatoes or small Yukon Golds
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
6 thick slices bacon, cut into 1/2-inch-wide pieces
Fleur de sel or other coarse sea salt
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Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Using a whisk or wooden spoon, combine the fromage blanc, cream, chives, shallots and garlic in a small bowl. Season to taste with salt and pepper; cover and refrigerate.
Cut the fingerling potatoes in half or the Yukon Golds into thick slices, depending on their size, and then rinse to eliminate some of the starch. Dry well with paper towels.
Put the olive oil and butter in a large cast-iron skillet and heat briefly in the oven until the butter melts. Add the potatoes, stir to coat, and roast, turning once or twice, for 25 to 30 minutes, or until they are lightly golden brown and tender when pierced with a knife. Transfer to a serving bowl.
Meanwhile, spread the bacon on the baking sheet and roast for 10 to 15 minutes, or until crispy. Remove from the oven.
Top the potatoes with the fromage blanc mixture, garnish with the bacon, and sprinkle with fleur de sel. Alternatively, mix the potatoes, cheese and bacon together before, and garnish with the salt. Serve immediately