Peter Dale

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chef:
The National, Athens, GA
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Atlanta, Ga

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• 02.15.2012

  

  “Jeweled” Quinoa Salad
  Serves four

  The dried fruits, pomegranate seeds, and pistachios are the “jewels” in this Persian-inspired salad, perfect as an appetizer or side dish. When pomegranates are out of season, simply use red quinoa instead of regular quinoa (as pictured) to compensate for the loss of color. This salad is a great way to introduce some color and a touch of sweetness into a winter meal.

  Ingredients
  1 cup quinoa, rinsed
  2½ cups water
  ¼ cup dried currants, plumped in warm water
  ¼ cup golden raisins, plumped in warm water
  ¼ cup dried apricots, diced
  ¼ cup pomegranate seeds
  ¼ cup pistachios
  ½ cup Italian parsley, coarsely chopped
  2 scallions, diced
  Juice of one lemon
  3 T olive oil
  3 oz crumbled feta
  Salt and ground black pepper to taste

  Directions
  In a saucepan, bring the quinoa and water to a boil. Cover and cook over low heat until the water is absorbed and the quinoa is tender, 20 minutes. Let cool.

  Meanwhile, combine the lemon juice and olive oil in a bowl, set aside.

  In a large toss bowl combine the quinoa, fruits, pistachios, parsley, scallions and feta. Toss the quinoa mixture with the lemon juice and olive oil until well combined. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

  
  Recipe originally published in B’Nai B’Rith Magazine
  Photo courtesy of Emily Hall.

  
  
  Comments

  

• 12.10.2011

  Fall Chopped Salad Recipe

  This simple, yet exquisite chopped salad is a great way to showcase the wealth of hearty vegetables we are so fortunate to enjoy in the autumn to winter months.

  
  Ingredients
  
  Pita Croutons…
  2 6-inch pitas
  olive oil
  Salt and freshly ground black pepper
  
  Fall Vegetables…
  1 cup ½ -inch cubed beets
  1 cup extra virgin olive oil
  Salt and freshly ground black pepper
  1 cup ½ -inch cubed sweet potato
  ½ pound Lacinato kale, chopped into 1-inch strips
  1 cup ½ -inch cubed hakurai turnips
  1 cup ½ - inch cubed radishes
  ¼ cup pomegranate seeds
  ¼ cup fresh mint leaves
  1 tablespoon Sherry vinegar

  Finishing…
  ½ cup goat’s milk labneh (cow’s milk labneh or Greek yogurt is a good substitute)
  1 teaspoon ground sumac
  1 teaspoon white sesame seeds, toasted
  Salt and freshly ground black pepper
  
  Preparation
  
  For the Pita Croutons…
  Heat the oven to 350°F. Tear pita into bite sized pieces and toss with 1 tablespoon olive oil, salt, and pepper. Toast pitas in the oven until golden brown and crunchy. Cool.

  For the Fall Vegetables…
  Heat the oven to 350°F. Toss beets with 1½ tablespoons olive oil, salt, and pepper. Spread out on a sheet tray and roast in the oven for 30 minutes or until tender. Cool.

  Toss sweet potatoes with 1½ tablespoons olive oil, salt, and pepper. Spread out on a sheet tray and roast in the oven 30 minutes or until tender. Cool.

  Heat a large sauté pan with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. When the pan is very hot, add the kale and sauté until just slightly wilted, working in batches. Cool.

  Combine the remaining ½ cup olive oil with the Sherry vinegar and reserve. Roughly chop or tear mint leaves; reserve. In a large bowl, combine beets, sweet potato, kale, turnips, radishes, mint, pomegranate seeds, and olive oil-Sherry vinegar mixture. Season to taste.
  
  To Assemble and Serve…
  Place vegetables on individual salad plates or in a serving bowl. Place a dollop of labneh in the center of the vegetables. Spread croutons, sumac, and sesame over the salad.

  
  {This recipe was originally published on StarChefs.com}

  
  
  Comments

  

• 09.27.2011

  

  Beets. What can we say, some people love them, others won’t even venture a taste. We think they’re a versatile vegetable that deserves a place on dishes summer through winter. Boasting such a lengthy growing season, beets transition seamlessly from cold to hot, always lending vibrant colors and a natural earthy sweetness. We love to include beets in our power lunch and on the vegetable plate.

  Beet-Pecan-Pomegranate Salad
  Serves 6 as a side dish.

  4 cups cooked beet, cubed
  1/4 cup pecans, toasted, chopped
  1/4 pomegranate seeds
  2 scallions, finely diced
  2 T pomegranate molasses
  2 T olive oil
  salt and pepper to taste

  Combine ingredients in a bowl. Season to taste.

  
  
  Comments

  

• 08.31.2011

  Favorite Ingredient: Greek Yogurt

  At The National, I love that we are able to boast a frequently changing menu featuring ingredients that reflect local seasonality. That said, Greek Yogurt remains a go-to ingredient for me all year long.

  Greek yogurt is rich and creamy, sometimes the consistency of sour cream. It’s full of protein and probiotics, and happily versatile in sweet or savory dishes.

  On the sweet side, I love it over fresh peaches or figs with a generous drizzle of honey on top. Yet it’s also a perfect topping for salmon, especially with grated cucumber, lemon zest and mint stirred in. Now that eggplants are plentiful at the farmer’s market, try adding Greek yogurt to babbaganoush. It makes a richer dip that’s perfect for warm flatbread. In the morning, I eat Greek yogurt with granola. Top this with pomegranate seeds when they’re in season for a nutritious start to your day.

  Nothing against the regular stuff, but when it comes to yogurt, I’m hooked on Greek.

  
  
  Comments

  

• 08.17.2011

  How to Cure Lamb Belly

  It’s finally fig season in Georgia! Starting tonight, we’ll have local figs wrapped with house cured lamb bacon, broiled with balsamic and arugula {6}. So come taste this special treat, then make cured bacon in your own home with the following simple recipe.

  Cured Lamb Bacon

  3 lamb bellies (aka boneless breasts, approximately 1-2 lbs each)

  Curing mixture:
  ½ lb kosher salt
  4 ¼ t DC curing salt #1
  2 T course black peppercorn, freshly ground
  1 T cumin, freshly ground
  1 T coriander seed, freshly ground
  25 bay leaves, crushed
  10 garlic cloves, crushed
  1 cinnamon stick, crushed

  In a mixing bowl, combine the ingredients to make the curing mixture. On a large, flat surface, lay the lamb bellies flat. Rub with the curing mixture. Place each belly in a gallon-size plastic sealable bag, removing excess air. Refrigerate the bellies for 24 hours. Remove the bellies, rinse the curing mixture completely off, pat dry. Wrap the bellies tightly in plastic wrap and rest in the refrigerator for an additional 24 hours. The bacon is now ready to use, or freeze for future use.

  
  
  Comments

  

• 07.19.2011

  Greek Salad Dressing Recipe

  Stop by the Athens Farmers Market at Little Kings today between 4 and 7pm or make your order on Athens Locally Grown by 8pm tonight, and you’ll be eating local Greek Salad all week. What a great way to Taste Your Place right at home!

  Serve this dressing with lettuce, feta, olives and chopped fresh vegetables from the Athens Farmers Market such as tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and onions. Feta cheese is produced locally by Greendale Farm and Split Creek Farm, both available from Athens Locally Grown.

  And did you know olives have a history of growing in Georgia? They were grown primarily on the coast, first brought by the Spanish and then by English planters. It’s believed that olive trees growing on St. Simons Island and Cumberland Island were gifts from Thomas Jefferson.

  
  1 cup red wine vinegar
  3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
  2 t dijon mustard
  2 T fresh basil, finely chopped
  2 T fresh oregano, finely chopped
  2 t garlic powder
  1 1/2 t onion powder
  salt and pepper to taste
  
  Place all ingredients in a mixing bowl and whisk to combine. Alternatively, place ingredients in a mason jar with a tight fitting lid. Shake until well combined.

  
  
  Comments

  

• 06.18.2011

  Local Chicken Salad with Yogurt-Herb Dressing

  In the summer, we love simply grilling Darby Farms chicken with a bit of spicy marinade. Nothing says summer like a backyard cookout, and when you host a crowd, you’re bound to have a pile of leftovers. This recipe for yogurt-herb dressing is a great way to make a light and summery chicken salad with your extra grilled chicken. If you’re not having a cookout, it also works well with poached chicken and is a fresh alternative to ranch for dipping veggies.

  Yogurt-Herb Dressing for Chicken Salad

  1 cup plain yogurt
  1/2 cup mayonnaise
  1/2 cup packed basil leaves, finely chopped
  2 T capers, chopped
  1/4 cup red onion, finely diced
  1/4 cup celery, finely diced
  1/2 T lemon juice
  1/2 t ground cumin
  1/2 t dried thyme
  pinch of chili flake
  salt and pepper to taste

  Combine all ingredients and stir to combine. Toss with sliced, cooked chicken. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

  
  
  Comments

  

• 11.15.2010

  Rote Kohl Recipe

  Our recent German wine dinner was a big success, thanks mainly to The National’s sous chef, Patrick Stubbers. His family’s recipes provided the core of the menu. One of my favorite dishes was rote kohl, a deeply satisfying cabbage dish perfect for the holidays.

  Rote Kohl (Holiday Red Cabbage)
  Family Recipe of Patrick Stubbers, Sous Chef, The National

  Ingredients:
  1 head red cabbage, chopped
  2 red apples, cored, peeled, diced
  1/2 stick butter
  1/2 t ground cloves*
  1/2 t ground nutmeg*
  1/4 t ground cinnamon*
  3/4 C red wine vinegar
  1/2 C red wine
  3/4 C dark brown sugar
  salt and pepper

  * I like to use more, add recommended amount, cook awhile, then taste, add more if desired)

  Melt butter in large pot; add cabbage, apples, spices. Stir to mix. Add vinegar, wine and brown sugar.

  Cook on low heat, covered, until desired tenderness. It generally takes 2 to 3 hours. Check and stir frequently. Adjust heat as needed, it should cook slowly. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

  
  
  Comments

  

• 01.10.2010

  Once in awhile I’m lucky enough to experience a transformative meal changing the way I think about food, cooking, everything.  One of those for me was lunch at St. John in London, back in 2003.  In addition to the bone marrow and lamb sweetbreads, I fantasize about the eccles cake.  A simple pastry really, it’s buttery flakey pastry with a dense dried currant filling.  Clearly a trip to London would be required to ever have another eccles cake…  until the day I got to work and TWO eccles cakes were waiting for me!  My dear friend Richard smuggled them in on his way home for Christmas.  Just as good as I remember!  Recipe follows:

  To see this story with its related links on the guardian.co.uk site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2007/nov/27/recipes.foodanddrink

  
  St John’s eccles cake
  
  In the second of our week-long series of exclusive baking recipes, Fergus Henderson reveals the secrets behind the delicious eccles cakes served at the St John restaurants in London
  
  Fergus Henderson
  Tuesday November 27 2007
  The Guardian
  
  
  http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2007/nov/27/recipes.foodanddrink
  
  
  Makes at least 12 (leftover pastry freezes well)
  
  Pastry
  125g unsalted butter (butter A), cold from the fridge
  500g strong white flour
  Pinch of sea salt
  250ml water
  375g unsalted butter (butter B), cold from the fridge
  Filling
  50g unsalted butter
  110g dark brown sugar
  220g currants
  1 tsp ground allspice
  1 tsp ground nutmeg
  
  Glaze
  3 egg whites, beaten with a fork
  Shallow bowl of caster sugar
  
  I stress the St John in our eccles cake, as I am sure that bakers in Eccles will not recognise them as the eccles cake they know. Oddly enough, for a restaurant with a carnivorous reputation, we serve a vegetarian eccles cake, omitting the traditional lard; we use puff pastry. This recipe’s results are delicious and particularly fine when consumed with Lancashire cheese.
  
  To make the puff pastry, mix butter A with the flour and salt using your fingers until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs, then cautiously add the water and mix until you have a firm paste. Pat into a square and wrap in clingfilm. Leave to rest in the fridge for at least an hour.
  
  Once the pastry is rested, roll the paste into a rectangle about 8mm thick, then beat butter B between greaseproof paper into a rectangle a wee bit smaller than half the paste rectangle. Lay the butter on the paste, leaving a space at the end. Fold the unbuttered half over the butter and fold the edges over, so you now have butter in a paste package. Pat square, wrap in clingfilm, and allow to rest in the fridge for at least 15 minutes.
  
  Roll the pastry square out into a rectangle in the opposite direction to your initial major fold. (Each time you roll out the pastry to fold, turn your pastry and roll across the previous direction you rolled. You will have to sprinkle flour on the surface of your rolling pin; and it is very important to dust the flour off the paste before folding it at every turn in the process.)
  
  Once the pastry is approximately 1cm to 1.5cm thick, fold it like a traditional letter, with one end of the rectangle to the halfway mark, and the other end over this. Pat square and place in the fridge for at least 15 minutes to rest again. Repeat this process two more times, but no more! This is essential for successful puff. Return it to the fridge and rest for an hour or more. Do not be deterred - it seems like a more complicated process than it is in practice.
  
  Now, to the filling. Melt the butter and sugar together, then add them to the dry ingredients, mix well, and then leave to cool before using.
  
  We’re now ready to make the cakes. Roll the puff pastry out to 8mm thick and cut circles about 9cm in diameter. Spoon a blob of your cake mix into the centre of the disc and pull up the sides of the pastry to cover the filling, Seal it with your fingers, then turn it over and slash the top three times (for the Holy Trinity). Paint the top with the egg white, then dip it in the sugar. They are now ready to bake for 15 to 20 minutes in a hot to medium oven; keep an eye on them so that they don’t burn. They can be eaten hot or cold.
  
  A version of this recipe appeared in the book Nose to Tail Eating, by Fergus Henderson, published by Bloomsbury.

  
  
  Comments

  

• 01.09.2010

  

  Winter is tropical fruit season, reminding me of an amazing yet simple dessert I had at Inopia (iconic tapas bar from the brother of super-chef Ferran Adria) in Barcelona.  We use 1/4 of a super ripe pineapple, sprinkle lime-sugar and pomegranate seeds, and drizzle cane syrup over the top.  At Inopia they use a cane syrup from the Canary Islands, we go a little more regional with Steen’s Cane Syrup from Abbeville, Louisiana.  It’s a delicious and refreshing way to end a meal.

  
  
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