Obamarama

I'm planning on watching the election results at the Bistro next Tuesday. I would welcome all to come down and cheer on our new President.

Grand Marnier Shrimp

Dear Josh,

My husband and I have been visiting Rhinebeck each year for 16 years for the Goodguys car show. We have visited Terrapin each year since its opening….

We had a wonderful shrimp dish on our last visit on September 13, 2008. It was Grand Marnier shrimp with an orange shallot crème sauce over linguine. My husband cannot stop raving about this wonderful dinner. Would it be possible for Chef Kroner to divulge his recipe for this fabulous dish?

We are looking forward to visiting Terrapin again in the near future….

Thank you and we wish you continued success.

Regards,
Susan C. Nash

Dear Susan,

Here's the recipe for Grand Marnier Shrimp & Linguini -


½ pound Dried linguini
1 pound large shrimp, peeled and de-veined
1 cup shrimp stock (you can substitute canned clam juice)
½ cup light cream
½ cup white wine
½ cup orange juice
2 tablespoons garlic, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon flour
2 tablespoons Grand Marnier
½ pound sugar snap peas, cleaned
1 tablespoon butter

Cook pasta in boiling salted water. The best way to know if you’ve put the correct amount of salt in the water is that it should taste like sea water. Drain the pasta when it is al dente, or slightly hard. Toss the pasta with the butter and reserve. Heat the olive oil over a medium heat in a sauté pan large enough to accommodate all the pasta. Add the shrimp and cook quickly on both sides, then add the garlic and sauté until the garlic just starts to brown. Add the flour and continue to cook for 30 seconds. Deglaze the pan with the Grand Marnier, stirring constantly to incorporate the flour, then add the wine. You should have a smooth paste at this point. Add the sugar snaps, stock, cream and juice and bring to a boil. Season to taste with salt and pepper and then add the pasta and toss to coat the linguini.

Serve and enjoy.

All the best,

Josh Kroner

Heirloom Tomato Gazpacho

There’s nothing like being a chef in the Hudson Valley at this time of year. With all the great local ingredients available from our favorite farms such as Migliorelli Farm, Sky Farms, Brittany Hollow to name a few, the Terrapin menu becomes that much more robust with local fresh flavors.

So the next time you stop in, try the Heirloom Tomato Gazpacho, a seasonal addition to the menu, or make it at home with tomatoes from your garden and enjoy.

Heirloom Tomato Gazpacho

• 5 slices White Bread
• 5 pounds Heirloom Tomatoes, cored, seeded & chopped
• ½ cup Red Bell Pepper, chopped
• ½ cup Poblano Chile, chopped
• 2 tablespoons Italian parsley, chopped
• 1 teaspoon Raw Garlic, chopped
• ¼ cup Roasted Garlic
• 1 tablespoon Sherry vinegar
• ½ cup Extra virgin olive oil
• To Taste Salt, pepper, honey
  

Garnish:

• Diced, peeled tomatoes
• Diced yellow peppers
• Diced poblanos
• Chopped scallions
• Crème fraîche

In a blender combine all ingredients except oil, salt, pepper and honey. You will need to do this in batches, depending on the size of your blender. Fill the blender no more than half full. Divide the oil into the amount of batches you will need to do. Puree until smooth, then add the oil to the blender while it is running to create an emulsification. Combine batches in a large pot or plastic container. In the container, season the soup to taste. Depending on the sweetness of the tomatoes and your personal taste, you may choose to add a little honey or leave it out completely.

For the garnish, you are looking to add a little texture to the dish. Add one or two tablespoons of chopped vegetables to each bowl and a dollop of crème fraîche. Serve with a piece of crusty French bread.

Sometimes, you just want a Great Burger

As a fine dining chef, I always had this strange desire to serve hamburgers. It's something that I always love to eat, so I thought it would be great to make a Great Hamburger.

Now I have the opportunity. There's the fine dining side of the restaurant and the bistro side.

At Terrapin Red Bistro I get to do all kinds of fun, comfort stuff like macaroni and cheese, fish n chips and hamburgers.

You know, as a chef, you need to continually develop. On the fine dining side, I still have that menu where I can feature stuff that I'm proud of in terms of its culinary achievement. I'm equally proud of Terrapin Red Bistro, because it's good food and good to eat.

We use natural meat and that is actually a subject I care a lot about.

Sometimes, you just want a great burger. When you do, you should try one of ours, because frankly, we serve the best burger you'll ever eat.

Have you tasted one of Irving Mink's Tomatoes?

This time of year in the Hudson Valley is one of my absolute favorites. With all the great local ingredients available from our favorite farms such as Migliorelli Farm, Sky Farms, Brittany Hollow to name a few, the menu becomes that much more robust with local fresh flavors.

One of my favorite vendors is Irving Mink. He brings us tomatoes with love. On many occasions, he will pull out a ripe red tomato from the delivery just to introduce it to me.

"Look," Mink says, "Look how gorgeous this one is, so red, so great."

So the next time you stop in, try one of these new additions to our regular menu that include Irving Mink's succulent local organic tomatoes;

• Heirloom Tomato Gazpacho
• Heirloom Tomato, Fingerling Potato, hearts of Palm, Sugar Snap Pea and Corn Salad

Horseradish-crusted Ahi Tuna with Miso Aioli

For 10 years the horseradish crusted ahi tuna with miso aioli has been the most popular dish at Terrapin Restaurant. I use sushi grade #1 tuna for this dish and sear it briefly on both sides in a non-stick pan, leaving the center raw. Really, the key to this dish is the freshness of the tuna. At Terrapin, we get fish deliveries from a sushi supplier almost every day. The best way for you to get sushi grade tuna, at its freshest, is to ask your local fish store which days of the week their #1 tuna is delivered and make this dish on one of those days.

Tuna with Horseradish Crust

4 1” thick #1 Ahi tuna steaks
2 cups Grated fresh horseradish
1 cup Prepared horseradish
1 cup breadcrumbs

Combine all ingredients and press 1/4 inch thick crust onto one side of tuna steaks. Heat a non-stick skillet and add 2 Tbs. of oil until almost smoking. Add tuna, crust side down and cook for 2 minutes, until well browned. Flip and cook for one more minute. Serve immediately with miso aioli. Enjoy!

Miso Aioli

2 cups Mayonnaise
¼ cup White Miso
1 tablespoon Garlic, finely chopped
4 teaspoons Rice vinegar
4 tablespoons Lemon juice
4 tablespoons Honey
1 tablespoon Sambal, Asian chile sauce
2 tablespoons Ancho chile powder
1 tablespoon Bull’s head Chinese barbecue sauce (optional)
Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and whisk well to combine.

Dark and Stormy

Fill glass with ice
add
1.25oz Mount Gay Rum
6oz Reeds Extra Ginger beer
a tiny splash of fresh squeezed lime juice
float .75oz Cruzan Black Strap dark rum on top
garnish with a lime wedge
ENJOY!!!

If I had the time and energy to throw a party

I sometimes do have dinner parties, in fact I enjoy having people over for dinner. My time however is always in short supply. The other consideration is that if I am having people over for dinner, I want to spend as much time as possible with them, and not necessarily in the kitchen. Given those considerations, when I have a dinner party, I’m thinking simplicity. Now this also goes with my thinking that the most important element in good food is good ingredients, and by keeping it simple, you let those ingredients shine through. Some of the things I like to do are: get some great meats from Fleishers’ Grass Fed & Organic Meats and have a barbecue, make a lasagna and serve it with a knockout Italian red wine from Terrapin’s wine cellar, or roast a local chicken and serve it vegetables and potatoes that I’d get from the Rhinebeck farmer’s market.

Another fun party I had once was a raclette party. Raclette parties are real popular in Europe. You need a special piece of equipment called a raclette grill; it is a tabletop electric broiler that has eight non-stick scoops that you put cheese in to melt. It’s similar in concept to fondue, in that the guest gets involved with the making of their meal. You serve the cheese with cooked potatoes and sliced meats. First you put a slice of cheese on your scoop and stick it under the broiler and melt it. Then, pour the melted cheese over the potatoes and salami. It’s fun and easy to prepare. It’s great to get your guests involved in the meal. Really, when I have the time to spend with my family and friends, that’s what I want to do. What I generally do not want to do is to spend the day in the kitchen.