The Way to Dad's Heart is Through His Stomach

In my family, food means love. 

Not just any food but delicious, homemade, clean-your-plate cuisine. When I was a child, I never understood why anyone would want to go out to eat. The food in my house—and my grandparents' home—was so unbelievably good and announced with heavy command: "sit down and stay awhile."

Nothing meant family like sharing a meal and breaking bread together. And everything was shopped for, prepared, cooked and served at home for free.

Father’s Day is this Sunday, and moms and kids are in charge of the festivities. So Patch has reached out to some local restaurants, chefs and home cooks for their favorite recipes to make with your children on Father’s Day.

(If you are a dad or grand-dad reading this article, head out to the backyard hammock, grab a cold glass of Guinness and await your Father’s Day gift: food, glorious food, prepared especially for you on your special day.)

Recipe 1: Maple-Poached Pears Sundaes for 6 (by Vivianne Bauquet Farre of Piermont)

Ingredients:

• 1 lemon
• 7 cups spring water
• 3/4 cup maple syrup (grade A or B)
• 2″ piece fresh vanilla bean – cut in half
• 6 Bosc pears – peeled, cut in half and cored 
• 4 oz semisweet chocolate (preferably Callebaut, Valrhona or Scharffen Berger) – broken in 1″ chunks
• 1/2 to 2/3 cup heavy cream
• 1 pt pistachio or vanilla ice cream

Preparation:

• Peel the lemon with a vegetable hand-peeler in 6 strips. Place the water, maple syrup, vanilla and lemon strips in a large heavy-bottomed pot and bring to boiling point. Reduce the heat to medium to medium-high and add the pears, cut-side down. Fast-simmer for 50 to 60 minutes, turning the pears over once, two-thirds of the way through the cooking.
• When the liquid has almost all evaporated and starts foaming up, remove pot from heat and transfer the pears, lemon peels, vanilla and syrup to a bowl to cool to room temperature.
• Cover and refrigerate until well chilled (about 2 hours). Cook’s note: The pears can be refrigerated for up to 3 days.
• In a double boiler, melt the chocolate, stirring constantly. Turn off the heat and slowly add the cream, stirring until the mixture is smooth, to the desired consistency. (Depending on the brand of chocolate, you will use 1/2 to 2/3 of a cup of cream.) Keep warm.
• Place 2 pear halves, cut-side down, on a large dessert plate. Place one scoop of ice cream near the stem part of the pears. Drizzle with the pear juices and the chocolate sauce. Garnish with one lemon strip and serve immediately.

Recipe 2: Grilled Double Cut Cowboy Rib-eye w/ Brown Sugar Glaze & Caramelized Shallots (by Peter X. Kelly of Xaviar’s Restaurant Group)

Ingredients:

• 1 Rib-eye Steak cut  2 ½ inch on the bone
• 3 Tablespoons Dark Brown Sugar
• 1 Teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
• Salt and cracked pepper
•  10 Peeled Shallots
• ¼ Cup Sugar
• 1/3 Cup Balsamic Vinegar
• ½ Cup Brown Stock or Canned or Beef Bouillon

Preparation:

• Rub with Cayenne pepper & brown sugar; let marinate for at least 3 hours.
• On an outdoor barbecue or grill char steak for 3 minutes on each side to a nice charred exterior, continue grilling while turning often for about 6 minutes for medium rare.
• Let steak rest for 10 minutes before slicing. 
• Serve with caramelized shallots.

For the shallots:

• In an ovenproof casserole dish over medium heat, melt sugar until it caramelizes being careful not to burn sugar. 
• When sugar is a dark amber color, quickly add shallots, vinegar & stock.
• Stir until liquid is smooth, reduce over high heat until just slightly syrupy (about 3 minutes).
• Place casserole in oven at 400°and cook shallots until tender about 20 minutes.

Recipe 3: Frittata (by Ula Robertson, Owner of At Your Service NY Catering)

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp olive oil or butter
• 1 small onion, sliced
• 4 slices of ham, cut in strips
• 1/2 cup grated cheese (any kind) or 3 slices
• 3 eggs, beaten
• Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• Heat skillet to medium heat, add olive oil or butter, then add onions and cook for about 2 - 3 minutes or until just translucent, add ham and toss to coat with oil from all sides, add cheese evenly over ham without stirring, add beaten eggs and cook for one minute , then place pan in the oven for about 15 minutes or until the eggs are set.
• Let rest for 5 minutes, then place a lid over pan and turn, the omelet (frittata) should come out like a cake.
• This can also be made adding cooked potatoes to the pan.
• Cut in wedges and enjoy with a good slice of bread, you can also add tomato sauce or ketchup.

Recipe 4: Farro Multicolore for 8 (by Rossano Giannini and his son Patrick, owner of Lanterna in Nyack)

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs. Farro
• 3 Red Tomatoes, 2 chopped, 1 sliced
• 1/2 cup Capers
• 1 Green zucchini
• 1 Yellow zucchini
• 1 Carrot
• 1 cup Green olives, diced finely
• 1 cup Extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tbsp. Chopped fresh basil
• 4 oz. Smoked mozzarella, diced
• 1 Bunch endive
• Balsamic Vinegar
• Arugula
• Salt
• Pepper

Preparation:

• In a large pot bring 2 quarts of salted water to boil.  Add Farro and boil for 30 minutes. Drain Farro and set aside to cool.
• Next julienne cut the yellow and green zucchini and the carrot.  Place in a small pot of boiling water and blanch the vegetables by boiling for 2 minutes.  Drain vegetables and set aside to cool. Once the vegetables and Farro is cool combine together in a large bowl.
• Add the remaining ingredients – chopped red tomatoes, capers, olives, basil, olive oil, Smoked Mozzarella, and salt and pepper.  Toss all ingredients together until well To serve, spoon Farro salad onto center of plate. Garnish with arugula, endive and sliced tomato.  Drizzle with Olive oil and Balsamic. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Refrigerate 30 minutes or until ready to serve.
• To serve, spoon Farro salad onto center of plate. Garnish with arugula, endive and sliced tomato.  Drizzle with Olive oil and Balsamic.

Recipe 5: Vinaigrette (by Tamika Adjemian and her daughter Alexa, Community Coordinator for Cropsey Community Farm) 

Ingredients:

• 1 clove garlic
• large pinch of salt
• 1-2 teaspoon red wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon or more of grainy dijon mustard
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• pinch of black pepper

Preparation:

• Into a small bowl squeeze the garlic through the press (if you do not  have one, with help from an older sibling or mom, smash the garlic on a cutting board with the flat part of a medium size knife, chop  finely, then scrape into bowl)

• Put the large pinch of salt on the garlic and with a fork mash them up  together. Add the red wine vinegar, then the mustard and whisk with  the fork, or little whisk. Add the olive oil slowly and keep whisking  with the fork, it helps to tilt the bowl a little toward you so the  fork can whisk the ingredients properly. Whisk until emulsified (the  oil will be completely mixed into the other ingredients). Set aside.

Salad:

• Fresh lettuces from the farmers mkt or your garden, washed well and refrigerated to 'crisp.' Herbs, such as fennel leaves, cilantro, parsley, basil, dill, torn into small pieces Radishes, sliced thin
• Pour your dressing into your salad bowl. Tear the lettuces gently into large bit size pieces, or leave whole if they are small, add any herbs you like, toss it all together, adding potatoes and flowers if you want. You can serve the salad on individual plates with a warm egg on top.
• Other options to add: Potatoes, cut small and roasted in olive oil in a 400* oven for 20 minutes (or until done, get help with this if you haven't used the oven yet) warm medium or soft boiled eggs, peeled, broken in half Edible flowers such as chive flowers, nasturtiums, violets, rose petals

Recipe 6: Seafood Sausage (by Angela Rivera)

 Ingredients:

• 12 ounces of spinach,stemmed and coarsely chopped
• 1/2 bunch watercress, stemmed and coarsely chopped
• 1 tspn olive oil
• 4 tablespoons inced shallots
• 12 ounces fillet of sole
• 2 egg whites
• 4 tablespoons soy milk
• 16 ounces of mixed boneless fish 4 oz salmon, 4 oz shrimp, 8 oz tuna) cut in 1/4 dice
• 2 teaspoons fres thyme
• 2 teaspoons leeks, miced
• red pepper flakes
• pinch of sea salt
• pinch of nutmeg
• 4 quarts of water or stock

Preparation:

• In skillet, heat oil, add shallots.  saute for 2 minutes. Add spinach and watercress. Toss 1 minute
• Transfer to mixing bowl and refrigerate unil very cold.
• Prepare mousse: Puree sole in processor for 30 seconds.  Add egg whites, process15 seconds.  Scrape down bowland process 15 seconds more.  Add soy milk gradually while processing.
• When greens are cold, mix with mousse, fish, herbs, pepper, nutmeg and sea salt to taste.
• Wrap in foil(8"x6" foil for 4" long, 1 1/2" thick sausage) and cook in simmering water for 8-10 minutes.
• This is a great dish served with basmati or forbidden rice!

Recipe 7: Turkey Burgers (by Diane Hoch, CHC, founder and director of The Food Evolution)

Ingredients:

• 1 pound ground turkey meat
• ½  cup flavored bread crumbs
• 1 egg
• 3 tablespoons ketchup

Preparation:

• Mix all ingredients together and form 4 hamburger patties. 
• Pre-heat grill to high place burgers on grill and turn down heat to medium.  Cook burgers 10 -12 minutes per side remove and serve immediately.
• For the father that likes a little extra flair to their burger add ½ onion diced, 1 carrot diced, 1 red pepper diced and 3 baby bella mushrooms diced.  Sautee onions in a tablespoon of olive oil until translucent and then add remaining ingredients and sauté 2 to 3 minutes.
• Build burger as you wish.