I Love New York: Ingredients and Recipes / Daniel Humm, Will Guidara

Featured Recipe from I Love New York: Baked Egg with Spinach, Mushrooms, and Cheese

Serves 4

Mushroom Duxelles

• 3 tablespoons butter
• 4 cups diced (1/8 inch) cremini mushrooms
• 1/2 cup diced (1/8 inch) shallot
• 2 sprigs thyme
• 2 tablespoons sherry
• Salt

Melt the butter in a medium saut pan over medium-high heat. Add half of the mushrooms and cook, stirring frequently, until the mushrooms are golden brown, 10 to 12 minutes. Add the rest of the mushrooms and continue cooking until golden brown, another 10 to 12 minutes. Add the shallot and cook until softened, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the thyme and sherry and cook, stirring frequently, about 5 minutes. Season with salt to taste.

Saut ed Spinach

• 2 teaspoons butter
• 1 teaspoon diced (1/8 inch) shallot
• 4 cups spinach, stems removed
• Salt

In a medium saut pan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the shallot and sweat until softened, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the spinach and saut until wilted. Season with salt to taste.

To Finish

• 8 slices deli ham
• 1/2 cup crumbled Tonjes Farm Dairy Rambler cheese (a raw cow s milk cheese similar to aged cheddar)
• 8 eggs

Preheat the oven to 375 F. Line 8 of the wells of a muffin pan with the slices of ham, treating them like muffin liners. Divide the saut ed spinach among the 8 wells and top with the mushroom duxelles. Distribute the cheese evenly, and then crack an egg into each well. Bake in the oven until the whites are set but the yolks are still runny, 11 to 13 minutes. Rest for a few minutes before gently removing the baked eggs from the muffin pan with a small offset spatula.

Featured Recipe from I Love New York: Lamb Rack with Cucumber Yogurt

Serves 4

Cucumber Yogurt

• 11/2 cups plain Greek-style yogurt
• 2 cucumbers
• Salt
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 clove garlic
• 11/2 tablespoons chopped dill

Line a colander with a quadruple layer of cheesecloth and pour the yogurt into the cheesecloth. Suspend over a large bowl and refrigerate for 48 hours, allowing the moisture to drain from the yogurt.

Peel and grate the cucumbers on a box grater. Season with 1 teaspoon of salt and hang in a quadruple layer of cheesecloth to drain excess moisture, about 1 hour. Measure 1 cup of the drained yogurt and reserve the rest for another use.

Combine the cup of yogurt and the drained cucumbers in a medium bowl. Stir in the lemon juice and olive oil. Grate the garlic on a Microplane grater into the mixture and fold in the chopped dill. Mix well and season with salt to taste.

Roasted Lamb Rack

• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 1 lamb rack (about 21/4 pounds), frenched and tied
• Salt
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 5 sprigs thyme
• 1 clove garlic, crushed but kept whole

Preheat the oven to 300 F. Heat a large cast-iron skillet over high heat. Season the lamb rack generously with salt. Place the rack in the skillet fat side down and sear over high heat until browned, 21/2 to 3 minutes. Turn and sear the bottom for 1 minute. Turn the rack back onto the fat side and add the butter, thyme, and garlic. Baste the rack with the butter for 21/2 to 3 minutes. Transfer the lamb rack fat side up to a wire rack set in a rimmed baking sheet and roast in the oven for 10 minutes.

Turn the lamb rack over, baste with butter, and return to the oven for another 10 minutes. Remove the lamb rack from the oven, turn it back over, and baste once more. Roast in the oven for another 10 to 15 minutes, until the internal temperature reaches 130 to 135 F. Let the lamb rack rest for 10 to 15 minutes before slicing. Serve with the cucumber yogurt and heirloom tomatoes.