Brussels Sprouts & Sage Sausage Hash

Thanksgiving breakfast: 

Yes, we love Brussels sprouts in our house.  On Thanksgiving, it has been determined that it is just fine, in fact, to serve them twice.  The first time is for breakfast where we cook them camp-out style on a grill over the fire in our fireplace.  And the second is at the dinner table, simply sautéed with garlic in olive oil until brown.

For breakfast, organize the following ingredients with a dozen locally raised eggs and a ½ loaf of whole-grain bread for toast.

12 Brussels sprouts, quartered

3 small red potatoes, cut into thumbnail size cubes and blanched for 3 minutes

1 small sweet potato, cut to same size as red-skinned potatoes and blanched

1 leek, diced and rinsed

4 shallots, quartered

½ pound fresh-from-the-butcher sage pork sausage

3 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon kosher salt

Cracked pepper to taste

Using a large cast-iron skillet over medium heat, begin by browning the sausage. Stir for five minutes. Next, add the Brussels sprouts, leeks and shallots.  Continue to stir regularly for five minutes.  Add the butter and then the potatoes.  Continue to stir.  Finally, season with salt and pepper.

After five minutes, begin to prepare your eggs as you wish.  Turn the skillet to a lower heat and stir on occasion.

When ready, plate the hash and top with eggs while the toast is warming.  If you have a little truffle oil and feel decadent, splash the hash as it goes to the table.

Chicken Hash "21" Style in Honor of a Very Elegant Sarah

Back in the late 90's, I had the good fortune of serving the Amagansett, NY community on a daily basis. The restaurant was called Estia's and I had a bird’s eye view of Main Street for 16 years from my kitchen.
The nice thing about running a full-service restaurant seven days a week over the course of a decade is the people that you meet. One of my favorites was an elegant woman named Sarah Davis.  She stopped by occasionally for lunch with her daughter Tracy.  It was my good fortune to have a chance to serve Sarah, joining the legions of friends who admired her style. 

Sarah Davis had her final meal last week at a steakhouse in East Hampton with Tracy and some friends. Unfortunately, she did not make it home. The good things that I see in her passing are that she lived a complete life, was the belle of the ball and stepped away with very little suffering.

This afternoon I was honored to provide a hot dish at her memorial service. The suggested dish that I prepared was Chicken Hash in the "21" style. Let me explain how it came together.

One Year after Sandy

The hurricane hit hard 50-miles south of Darien, Connecticut on Monday October 29, 2012. Upon awakening on Monday the 29^th, we knew it was the real thing here in Connecticut. The trees were being uprooted all around us, power went out early in the day, but all indicators were that the storm's biggest impact was to effect those south of Manhattan and we were the lucky ones. Today, I truly feel that was the case and I’m grateful to have avoided the suffering that many experienced. I’m sharing my experience for the first time because it marks a milestone in our restaurants' history. I need to look back in order to realize how far we’ve come.

Hurricane Sandy hit six-months after our newest restaurant, Estia’s American, had first opened in Darien, Connecticut.  With 21-years of experience running restaurants named Estia in both Amagansett and Sag Harbor, New York, my wife Jessica and I decided to make an effort to expand into Connecticut. Using the same menu and design influences that have been successful at Estia’s Little Kitchen, we set out to build a new frontier in Darien since, on paper, the demographics looked similar: high net-worth families with a focus on eating clean, well prepared meals.