Slow Cooked Berkshire Pork Shoulder

Chef Jonathan Wright, The Lark Creek Inn

Serves 4

• 2 pounds pork shoulder from fat, farm-raised Berkshire pig                
• 5 ounces rock salt                
• 6 ounces cured ham trimmings (Serrano ham trimmings are best)                
• bouquet garni (include thyme, bay leaf, celery, leek, rosemary)            
• ½ head garlic, chopped                
• 1 onion, diced                

• 12 cipollini onions, peeled                
• 2 ounces honey                 
• 2 ounces white vinegar                
• salt and pepper, to taste           

• 12 baby turnips, peeled and trimmed with 1 inch stalks remaining
• 4 ounces heavy cream
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 rosemary sprig

• 12 cloves garlic
• 1 cup olive oil

• 1 pound Yukon Gold potatoes
• 2 ounces butter
• 2 ounces olive oil
• 2 ounces garlic oil (recipe below)
• salt and white pepper, to taste
• 2 ounces whole milk

• 8 parsley sprigs, leaves intact
• 1 quart canola oil

Pork

The day before you prepare the recipe, cut the the pork into large portions the size of a whole tenderloin, or have your butcher do it for you. Sprinkle the pieces with the rock salt and chill, covered, in the refrigerator for 24 hours.
                        
Rinse the pork in running cold water for 2 hours, then pat it dry. Preheat the oven to 150 degrees. Tie each piece with butchers twine. In a large pot over medium-high heat, brown the meat on all sides, then add ham, bouquet garni, garlic and onion. Cover and transfer to the oven. Cook for 5 to 6 hours. Check the internal temperature of the meat, and take it out when at 150 degrees.    
                
Once the meat is cooked remove from the pot and allow to rest for 30 minutes. Strain liquid and skim off the fat. In a pan over medium-high heat, caramelize the diced-up cured ham trimmings. Add the juices and reduce to sauce consistency. Then add marjoram.                

Onions

Saute the onions until golden, deglaze with vinegar and add the honey and thyme. Season with salt and pepper, then cover and cook in the oven at 350 degrees until just tender.

Turnips

Place turnips in cold, lightly-salted water and bring slowly to a boil. When tender, remove from heat and strain. Add cream, garlic, rosemary, salt and pepper.

Garlic Oil     

Slice the garlic thinly. Heat a pan on medium-low heat and add the olive oil. Add garlic to infuse. Take off heat and store in a bottle in the refrigerator. Heat up to use again.

Potatoes

Dice potatoes roughly. In lightly salted water, bring potatoes to a boil. When fully cooked, drain and allow steam to evaporate. Pass through a vegetable ricer until smooth. Boil milk and cream together and slowly whisk into the potato. If done too quickly, they will become too elastic in texture. Fold in the garlic oil.

Fried Parsley

Heat canola oil to 350 degrees. Fry large parsley branches until crisp. Season with salt and drain on paper towel.                                

Plating

Slice pork into serving size portions. For each plate, spoon potatoes onto plate and place pork slice on top of them. Spoon sauce over pork. Place four onions and four turnips on plate surrounding pork and a sprig of fried parsley on top.

Pan Roasted Wild Halibut, Truffle Polenta, Braised Salsify, Oxtail Ragout

Chef Jonathan Wright, The Lark Creek Inn

Serves 4

Oxtail

• 3 cups heavy red wine, cabernet sauvignon
• 1 cup port
• 1 cup carrot, cut into ¼ inch dice
• 1 cup leek, cut into ¼ inch dice
• 1 cup celery, cut into ¼ inch dice
• 1 cup onion, cut into ¼ inch dice
• 4 cloves garlic
• 2 pounds oxtail, cut into 4 pieces (have your butcher prepare)
• 2 cups brown chicken stock (made from roasted chicken bones, sautéed onions and water cooked for 4 hrs and reduced to a rich stock)
• 1 sprig of thyme
  

Polenta

• 4 ounces chicken stock
• 3 cups polenta flour
• 1 teaspoon thyme leaves
• 1½ teaspoon sage, finely sliced
• 1 teaspoon marjoram, chopped
• 2 tablespoons mascarpone cheese
• 1 ounce fresh black truffle, finely chopped
• salt and pepper, to taste

Garnish

• 4 sticks of salsify, peeled and cut into 2" pieces
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 8 shallots, peeled
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
• salt and pepper, to taste

Mushrooms

• 6 ounces mushrooms (for eg. chanterelles, hedgehogs, morels, porcini, trumpets)
• 1 ounce butter
• salt and pepper, to taste

Halibut

• 1 ounce butter
• 4 halibut filets (6 ounces each), skinned and pin-boned
• juice of one lemon

Oxtail

Preheat oven to 250 degrees. In a saucepan on medium-high heat, reduce the red wine and port by half. Sauté the diced vegetables, garlic and herbs until golden, then transfer to baking dish. Sauté the oxtail in a little oil in a frying pan until nicely caramelized. Transfer to the baking dish. Pour the wine and stock over the oxtail into the baking dish. Add the thyme and cover with a lid or aluminum foil and bake in the preheated oven for 3 ½ hours. At this point the meat should be falling off the bone. Strain off the meat and vegetables; reserve the meat until cool enough to remove the meat from the bone.

Run the sauce through a fine sieve, place in a saucepan on a high heat and reduce to the consistency of oil. Once the meat is cool enough, remove from the bone, cut into I" pieces and add to the sauce.

Polenta

Bring the chicken stock to boil, add polenta, stir, cover and steam for 10 minutes.    Stir in the remaining ingredients. Add more truffle or herbs, if you desire.  

Garnish

Sauté the salsify in a heavy or nonstick frying pan in butter until golden, Season to taste with salt and pepper. Saute the shallots in butter on low heat in a heavy cast iron pan until golden. When tender, add the vinegar and reduce it to almost nothing. Next add the honey and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Mushrooms

Peel and wash the mushrooms, then lightly sauté in the melted butter. Season with salt and pepper.

Halibut

In a nonstick pan, melt the butter on medium-high heat until it begins to foam, then add the halibut filets. Brown both sides until golden. Season with salt pepper and place in the oven for 3 minutes. Allow the fish to rest and keep warm until ready to serve.

Plating

Warm the oxtail and add the mushrooms. When heated, spoon on one side of the plate. Place the fish on top of the oxtail. Spoon the polenta to side of this and finish with extra truffle shavings if available. Warm the salsify and shallots and spoon around the fish. Season the fish with lemon juice.

About Lark Creek Inn

Restaurateurs Bradley & Jody Ogden and Michael & Leslye Dellar have been drawing national media attention to The Lark Creek Inn since opening in 1989. Ogden, who helped redefine American cooking, could not have found a more ideal setting for his menus of new and old American classics than the picturesque Lark Creek Inn. Surrounded by towering redwoods, the sunny yellow house (built in 1888) is a thorough delight from its entryway gardens to its stone-floored sun porch. Out back, an umbrella-shaded, and heat-lamp warmed garden beside a meandering creek is the perfect spot for lunch, Sunday brunch or summertime dinner. A wood-burning brick oven is the focal point of the main dining room, where a glass ceiling lets the outdoors in.