Books |
The Freds at Barneys New York Cookbook
Mark Strausman & Susan Littlefield
By
Published: May 17, 2018
Category:
Food and Wine
I bought my suit for Wedding #1 at Barneys. A decade later, I wrote a Vanity Fair piece about the wildly ambitious sons of Fred Pressman who took the store uptown and built a monument to themselves so over-the-top that their father told me they’d never be able to pay for it. (They couldn’t. The Pressmans no longer own Barneys.) In 1996, when Mark Strausman — who got his Bar Mitzvah suit at Barneys —started the in-store restaurant named after Fred Pressman, I made Barneys a destination for lunch. (A restaurant in a store? Come on. Yes. And when out-of-towners ask me to suggest a midtown restaurant for lunch, I recommend Freds. They thank me.) One more thing: Mark Strausman catered my last wedding. (I thank him.)
And now there’s “The Freds at Barneys New York Cookbook,” which he wrote with Susan Littlefield. Eclectic? “Barneys is a curated mix of luxury brands from all over the world,” Strausman says. “Clothing from Belgian designer Dries Van Noten hangs across the sales floor from Dolce & Gabbana. So why can’t Belgian fries share the menu with lasagna?”
This formula isn’t only successful with the bold-faced names (Laura Bush, Bruce Springsteen, Jack Welch, Hugh Grant, Julianna Margulies) you’ll spot at Freds at the Barneys on Madison Avenue. It also works at Freds in Barneys Chelsea, Beverly Hills, and Chicago. And in the cookbook, which has recipes for Caprese salad, pizza margherita, tuna tartare, Belgian pommes frites, chicken Milanese, chicken paillard, chicken soup, Freds chopped chicken salad — a tumble of avocado, bibb lettuce, pears, string beans and meat. [To buy the book from Amazon, click here. For the Kindle edition, click here.]
“Virtually every dish comes from a moment, a place, and time,” Strausman says. So the book also features…
The Jewish Boy From Queens Sandwich
1 large onion pocket roll
2 tbsp Russian dressing
5 oz sliced freshly roasted turkey
1/2 cup classic coleslaw
1 leaf Bibb lettuce
1 thick slice vine-ripened red tomato
1/2 sour pickle, optional
Potato Chips, optional
Cut the roll in half horizontally, and toast it on a light setting so the onions don’t burn.
Spread Russian dressing on both halves, and then arrange the sliced turkey on the bottom half.
Using a fork so that excess liquid drains off, place the coleslaw on top of the turkey.
Top with the other half of the bun, press down slightly, and cut in half.
Arrange on a plate with the lettuce, tomato, pickle, and potato chips, if desired.
Of course the next incarnation of Ladies Who Lunch is mad for salads. Here’s the simplest…
The Madison Salad
Serves 4
1 garlic clove, smashed and peeled
1⁄4 cup red wine vinegar
3⁄4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Two 6-ounce cans Italian tuna, drained and crumbled
1⁄2 cup cooked lentils
1⁄2 cup cooked or canned white beans
1⁄2 cup red and yellow peppers
1⁄2 cup diced cooked beets
1⁄2 cup diced cooked string beans
1⁄2 cup fresh or frozen green peas, cooked
1 cup chopped cooked asparagus
2 fresh plum tomatoes, chopped
1⁄2 cup minced red onions
1 scallion, chopped
1⁄2 pound mixed salad greens (mesclun), or a mixture of at least three lettuces such as red leaf, romaine, endive, radicchio, arugula, frisée, watercress, or Boston
In a nonreactive bowl, combine the garlic and vinegar and set aside to infuse for 1 hour while you prepare the salad ingredients. Just before adding the dressing to the salad, whisk in the olive oil and salt and pepper to taste until emulsified.
In a serving bowl, combine all the salad ingredients except the greens. Add the dressing and toss gently until evenly coated. At the last moment, chop the greens and mix into the salad. Add salt and pepper to taste and serve.
Asparagus with Butter and Parmesan
3 tsp of extra virgin olive oil
2 bunches of medium green asparagus, trimmed, peeled, and boiled
1 cup of grated Parmesan cheese (optional)
1 cup of aged balsamic vinegar
Salt to season
Boil the asparagus for 2 – 3 minutes, tasting to make sure that it is not overcooked.
Take the cooked asparagus and spread out on a baking sheet.
Drizzle with 3/4 of the oil.
Carefully place the Parmesan cheese on top and bake in a 350-degree oven until the cheese is melted and the vegetable is hot (around 5 minutes).
Slowly simmer the balsamic vinegar until it is reduced to 1/2 cup.
Drizzle with the reduced balsamic and the remaining oil, season with a pinch of salt, and serve.
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