2 EAST MAIN STREET
BEACON, NY 12508
(845) 765-8369
OWNER: ROBERT MCALPINE; EXECUTIVE CHEF: BRANDON COLLINS
When the team behind the elegant, industrial Roundhouse Hotel took on its current property in Beacon, the enterprise was not a sure bet. Though the collection of former factories has an unparalleled view of Beacon Falls, according to Chef Brandon Collins (whose restaurant Swift is located inside the Roundhouse), “They bought in total six dilapidated buildings on nine acres. And I know that the Roundhouse building had been abandoned for about fifty years. Basically, whatever they bought was rundown and overgrown. I’ve had numerous people come up to me and say, ‘Hey, we used to sneak in here and smoke pot.’ It was like a lot of old factories in a lot of old factory towns; it was an abandoned building and people exploited it.”
Collins continues, “The reason why they chose Beacon is that the price was right, the location was beautiful—and there are not a lot of places that come with this kind of view without having to alter the landscape. Basically, they just found a bunch of beautiful buildings and snagged ’em. In the past the buildings were machine shops, blacksmith shops, bleacheries—just a whole slew of stuff. The original mechanized lawnmower was built here in the Roundhouse [in the 1850s]. It was the first one in the United States, built by a man named Horatio Swift—that’s where the restaurant’s name comes from.”
On Collins’s menu (and in his recipe, which follows), you’ll find touches of Korea, Vietnam, and Indonesia—yet Collins is a Midwest-born chef from Dayton, Ohio. He came to the Hudson Valley to attend The Culinary Institute of America and stayed to work under Chef Jeff Raider at the Valley Restaurant at the Garrison. The eclecticism in Collins’s menu at Swift is intentional. “Basically I wanted to create food that isn’t something you could make at home. And not because I don’t want people to create it at home—but if you’re going to come out here for dinner—I want you to enjoy something that you would not have thought of, or wouldn’t have the tools to cook, at home.”
(SERVES 4)
For the parsnip puree:
3 pounds parsnips, peeled and sliced into discs
Vegetable oil to coat
1 white onion, quartered
2 cloves garlic, quartered
1 quart heavy cream
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
For the brown butter:
1 pound butter
1 pint dry, nonfat milk powder
For the morel and potato hash:
½ pound morel mushrooms
Vegetable oil
4 potatoes, peeled and diced small, blanched until tender
2 shallots, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
2 tablespoons chicken stock
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
Zest of 1 lemon
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon chopped chives
For the John Dory:
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
4 sides John Dory, skin removed
1 cup mixed micro green lettuces
To prepare the parsnip puree: Toss the parsnips in just enough oil to coat. In a medium-size sauté pan over high heat, sear the parsnips until they are burnt on the outside. Add the onion and allow it to caramelize slightly. Add the garlic and sauté until it is translucent. Pour in the heavy cream and season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer the parsnips in the cream until the parsnips are tender. Strain, reserving the liquid, and place in a blender. Puree until the mixture is smooth, adding enough cooking liquid to make a silky puree. Add the butter and season to taste with salt and pepper. Reserve.
To make the brown butter: In a pot melt the butter and add the powdered milk. Stir constantly over medium heat until the mixture is brown and has a slightly nutty aroma. Strain through a chinois or fine mesh sieve. Lay out on paper towels to cool; the brown butter crumbs should be crisp.
To make the hash: In a hot pan slicked with oil to coat, sauté the morels. Add the potato and cook until the potatoes are brown. Add shallots and garlic and cook until they are translucent. Add the stock and reduce the liquid until it has thickened into a glaze. Finish with butter, lemon zest, salt, pepper, and chives.
To finish the dish: Heat a nonstick sauté pan over medium heat, then add the butter and the oil. Place the fish in the pan and sauté on one side only while using a spoon to continuously flick the butter and oil over the top of the fish. Sauté until the fish is golden and cooked through. Remove from the pan and drain on a paper towel.
To plate: Spoon a pool of parsnip puree onto each of four plates and then drag your spoon through the pools. In the center of the plates, spoon some of the hash. Top the hash with John Dory and top this with a spoonful of the crispy brown butter. Garnish with a small handful of mixed micro greens and serve.