Prune

Prune

Bar Snacks



Canned Sardines with Triscuits, Dijon Mustard, and Cornichons

1 can sardines in oil

1 dollop Dijon mustard

small handful cornichons

small handful Triscuit crackers

1 parsley branch

Only Ruby brand—boneless and skinless in oil— from Morocco.

Buckle the can after you open it to make it easier to lift the sardines out of the oil without breaking them.

Stack the sardines on the plate the same way they looked in the can—more or less. Don’t crisscross or zigzag or otherwise make “restauranty.”

Commit to the full stem of parsley, not just the leaf. Chewing the stems freshens the breath.



Radishes with Sweet Butter and Kosher Salt

red globe or French breakfast radishes, well washed to remove any sand, but left whole with a few stems intact

unsalted butter, waxy and cool but not cold

kosher salt

There is nothing to this, but still . . . I have seen it go out looking less than stellar—and that’s embarrassing considering it’s been on the menu since we opened and is kind of “signature,” if Prune had such a thing as signature dishes.

Keep the radishes fresh with ice and clean kitchen towels.

Cull out any overgrown, cottony, spongy radishes; keep your butter at the perfect temperature; and be graceful on the plate, please.



Garrotxa with Buttered Brown Bread and Salted Red Onion

peeled red onion, halved and thinly sliced into ribbons

kosher salt

brown bread

unsalted butter, cool but softened for spreading Garrotxa from Spain

extra virgin olive oil

freshly ground black pepper

thyme

Liberally salt the red onion and toss with your fingers to break up the ribs. Let sit 10 minutes to weep out some of their bite.

Spread bread with a generous amount of butter, wall to wall. Cut bread in triangles and arrange on plate.

Lay slices of cheese next to bread.

Heap a generous tangle of salted onion on the plate.

Drizzle whole thing—cheese, buttered bread, and onion—with EVOO just before selling. Be light-handed with the oil—3 fats on one plate makes sense here but it’s about flavor and texture, not about ostentatious macho eating. Keep it accurate.

One grind black pepper and branch of thyme to finish



Marinated White Anchovies with Shaved Celery and Marcona Almonds

Per plate:

1 scant cup thinly sliced, sweet, tender inner branches of celery, leaves left whole

1 short dozen marinated white anchovies

¼ cup Marcona almonds

good drizzle extra virgin olive oil

brief squeeze lemon juice

lemon cheek

few grinds black pepper

big pinch parsley leaves, mixed into celery and celery leaves

Deviled Eggs

4 orders

8 eggs, still cold from the fridge

3 Tablespoons Dijon mustard

∂ cup Hellmann’s mayonnaise

flat-leaf Italian parsley

Bring large pot of water to a boil.

Pierce the eggs at the tip with a pushpin to prevent exploding.

Arrange eggs in the basket of the spider and gently lower them into the boiling water. This way they won’t crack from free-falling to the bottom of the pot when you are adding them.

Let boil 10 minutes, including the minutes it takes for water to return to boil after adding the cold eggs.

Moving quickly, retrieve 1 egg and crack it all the way open, in half, to see what you have inside. (If center has any rareness larger than a dime, continue cooking half a minute.)

If thoroughly cooked, drain eggs, rough them around in the dry pot to crackle their shells all over, then quickly turn them out into a frigid ice bath to stop the cooking. It helps with the cooling and the peeling to let the ice water permeate the cracked shells.

Peel the eggs.

Cut the eggs in half neatly and retrieve the cooked yolk from each. Place the hollow, cooked whites into a container with plenty of cold fresh water and let them soak to remove any cooked yolk from their cavities.

Blend yolks in food processor with mustard and mayonnaise. Make sure the bite of the Dijon can make itself felt through the muffle of the rich egg yolk and the neutralizing mayonnaise.

Scrape all the egg mixture from the processor bowl into a disposable pastry bag fitted with a ∑-inch closed star tip, but do not snip the closed tip of the bag until you are ready to pipe. Fit the pastry bag into a clean empty quart container like you might put a new garbage liner into the bin—folding the excess over the lip of the quart—to make this easier on you.

If you don’t already know, you can stick your middle finger up into the punt of the processor bowl while scraping out the contents with the spatula, to hold the messy, sharp blade in place.

Remove cooked egg whites from the cold water and lay, cavity side down, on a few stacked sheets of paper towel to allow them to drain. Don’t serve the deviled eggs wet, please.

When well drained, turn over eggs to reveal cavities and pipe the mixture in, more like a chrysanthemum than a soft-serve ice cream cone, please. Place on plate and finish with finely sliced parsley.

Make sure that the whites are not frigidly cold from the refrigerator—allow the whites and the yolk mixture to shake off the intense chill of the lowboy. The whites get rubbery and hard and the devil mix has a congealed mouth-feel if you serve them too cold. Please take care.

When there is more filling than egg white—use it to thicken the vinaigrette for poached leeks, as a condiment on family ham sandwiches, or stirred into the warm buttered lima beans on the veg plate.