HUDSON VALLEY CHEF’S TABLE

Almost everything about The Cookery pushes someone’s buttons. Not only is its dining room small and loud, but you can’t reserve a table for fewer than six diners. The restaurant is located on a virtually unparkable block, and Chef David DiBari’s menu is lavish with transgressive foods like crispy duck tongues, jiggly bone marrow, and the roasted, split heads of lambs. At The Cookery you’ll find no veal chop, and there is no $200 bottle of Barolo. Some conservative diners will find themselves at sea.

And yet it works. In spades. On any given night The Cookery is jammed with rabid fans, only some of whom have come for DiBari’s outré foodstuffs. Mostly, The Cookery’s customers return for heartbreaking pastas, unspeakably carnal charcuterie, and supernaturally fluffy meatballs. They’re there for DiBari’s hand-stretched mozzarella that’s so tender, it’s only barely coherent. While whole pigs and duck tongues might snag the camera-phone snaps, it’s the finesse of The Cookery’s kitchen that keeps diners coming back.

DiBari, who was not yet thirty years old when he opened The Cookery in 2009, had nevertheless been working in professional kitchens for more than half his life. Having grown up in Verplanck, New York, DiBari started working at the Paradise Restaurant, located a few doors from his home, at the tender age of fourteen. After attending The Culinary Institute of America, DiBari’s trajectory took him through some of the highest profile kitchens in Manhattan: Windows on the World, David Bouley’s Danube, Patroon. Most notably, DiBari worked for three years in the notorious kitchen of Mario Batali’s Babbo; it was an experience that prepared him for restaurant ownership at an age when most young men can’t cover their car payments.

“It’s been an evolution, but The Cookery will always be my baby. There might be other restaurants, other concepts, but this will always be my launching pad. It’s just full of soul and good energy, and everyone here collaborates.” At the time of writing, DiBari was already in the midst of launching his third venture, The Parlor, a wood-fired pizza restaurant. It joins DoughNation, DiBari’s mobile wood-fired pizza truck.

THE COOKERY’S ROAST SUCKLING PIG

For the brine:

2 gallons water

1½ pounds salt

2 tablespoons fennel seeds

1 tablespoon ground star anise

1 tablespoon red pepper flakes

2 bay leaves

1½ pounds granulated sugar

1 (20-25 pound) suckling pig, skinned and gutted

For the quince honey glaze:

2 tablespoons quince or apple vinegar

4 tablespoons honey

For the roasted suckling pig:

¼ cup whole cloves garlic

3 large carrots, cut into 2-inch lengths

½ head of celery (about 6 stalks), cut into 2-inch lengths

3 white onions, quartered

10 Yukon Gold potatoes, cut in half

To brine the pig: On the day before you intend to cook the pig, bring the water, salt, spices, and sugar to a boil in a large stockpot. Stir to dissolve the sugar, then remove the brine from the heat. Chill the brine until it is very cold. Select a container large enough to fit the pig with room to spare, then place the pig in it and pour the cooled brine over the top. Make sure that the entire pig is fully submerged; weight the pig down with a heavy bowl or plate, if necessary, to keep it covered in brine. Brine the pig, refrigerated, for 24 hours.

To toast the pig: Preheat oven to 300°F. In a roasting pan large enough to hold the whole pig, place the garlic cloves, carrots, celery, onions, and potatoes. Use the vegetables as a bed on which to lay the pig. Arrange the pig on the vegetables so that the back legs stretch forward. Roast the pig in the preheated oven for 7 minutes per pound, or at least 3 hours. About 5 minutes before the end of the roasting time, raise the oven temperature to 500°F. Roast the pig at high heat for 5 minutes to crisp the skin. After 5 minutes remove the pig from the oven and place it on a board or platter. Brush the pig with the quince glaze until it shines. Using a silicone spatula, stir the vegetables remaining in the roasting pan to coat them with the pork juices, being sure to scrape up any of the tasty brown bits stuck to the bottom of the pan. Arrange the vegetables around the pig and serve.

KALE SALAD

For the soft-poached eggs:

4 large eggs

For the salad:

1 pound fresh black or red kale, de-stemmed, cut into bite-size pieces, and washed thoroughly

½ small red onion, sliced thin

4 tablespoons coarsely chopped toasted almonds

¾ teaspoon quince vinegar

½ teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil

4 soft poached eggs (recipe follows)

Salt and black pepper to taste

To soft-poach the eggs: In a medium pot of boiling water, carefully submerge the eggs. Cook the eggs in gently boiling water for exactly 5 minutes. While the eggs are cooking, prepare an ice bath. When the eggs have cooked for 5 minutes, shock them in ice water to halt further cooking. Allow the eggs to sit in the ice for at least 15 minutes before you proceed. Take this time to prepare the rest of the salad.

To make the salad: Toss the kale, onion and almonds together. Lightly whisk vinegar and oil together and use to dress the salad, to taste. Season with salt and pepper. Place on a platter. Peel the eggs very carefully by cracking and peeling their shells under cold running water. Allow the water to slip underneath the membrane that lies between the shell and the egg white. This will allow you to peel the eggs more easily without breaking them. Cut the boiled eggs in half, lengthwise, exposing their runny yolks. Arrange the eggs over the salad and serve.

CAULIFLOWER RAVIOLI

For the cauliflower filling:

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 head cauliflower, coarsely chopped

2 tablespoons peeled, chopped garlic

¼ pound (1 stick) unsalted butter

Pinch of chopped fresh thyme

1 cup milk

6 ounces brioche bread, coarsely chopped

1 ounce Grana Padano cheese

Pinch of red pepper flakes

Salt and pepper to taste

For the pasta dough:

1 teaspoon salt

3 whole eggs

8 egg yolks

¾ teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil

3¾ pounds flour

2 eggs, beaten, for an egg wash

For the pasta sauce:

12 tablespoons unsalted butter

36 slivers garlic

2 pinches of red pepper flakes

A few 6-ounce ladles of the water in which you have cooked the ravioli

3 teaspoons grated Parmigiano Reggiano

Few pinches of bread crumbs

Drizzle of lemon olive oil

To prepare the filling: In a large stockpot heat the oil and add the cauliflower. Sauté the cauliflower until it is well caramelized. Add the garlic, butter, and thyme and cook the mixture for another 5 minutes. Pour in the milk, then add the bread and the Grana Padano. Allow the bread to absorb the liquid, thickening the mixture. Cool the filling. When the mixture is cool, puree in a food processor until smooth. Reserve.

To make the pasta: In a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment, combine the salt, eggs, and olive oil. Slowly add the flour until the mixture forms a ball. Add more flour, sparingly, if the dough seems too wet. The pasta dough should form a ball, but it will be sticky to the touch. Form the dough into two balls and allow them to rest on a floured surface for about half an hour.

After the dough has rested, roll it out: Using a rolling pin on a floured surface, roll it into two long rectangles. The dough should be about ½ inch thick. Set up a pasta maker fitted with rollers and dial to the machine’s widest setting. Flour one pasta sheet on both sides, then begin rolling the sheet between the rollers. Progressively dial down the width of the rollers, making the dough thinner with each pass. Stop at the second to narrowest setting; repeat the rolling process with the second sheet. After both sheets have passed through the machine at the second to narrowest setting, lay them out onto a floured surface.

To form the ravioli: You will need a square or round ravioli mold (available online or at many cookware stores). Lightly flour the bottom half of the mold and lay one sheet of pasta dough over the mold. Use the other part of the mold to make depressions in the pasta sheet; these will be the pockets that you fill with cauliflower stuffing. Lightly brush the dough with egg wash.

Fit a pastry bag with a ½-inch round tip and fill the bag with the cool cauliflower stuffing. Use the pastry bag to fill each dimple in the pasta dough with the ravioli stuffing. You will use approximately 1 ounce per ravioli. Lay the other sheet of pasta dough on top of the filling and lightly press it onto the bottom sheet with your hands. Carefully replace the top of the mold and, with a rolling pin, roll over the entire mold to press. Flip the ravioli mold over and the entire sheet of ravioli will pop off. On a pan lined with parchment paper and then floured, place the ravioli and freeze until you are ready to use. Freezing the ravioli makes them easier to separate without breakage. Repeat the molding process until you have used all the dough.

To finish the ravioli: Drop the frozen ravioli in salted boiling water and cook for at least 3–4 minutes. If the ravioli have not been frozen, they will cook in 1½–2 minutes. Place a sauté pan large enough to accommodate all the ravioli over medium heat, and into that place the butter, garlic, and red pepper flakes. When the butter is brown, turn off the heat and add a few 6-ounce ladlesful of pasta water. Add the cooked ravioli to the pan and cook them in the sauce, swirling, until the sauce thickens, reduces, and becomes a silky coating on the ravioli. Remove the pan from the heat, then add the Parmigiano Reggiano and swirl until it is incorporated. Plate the ravioli and garnish with bread crumbs and a drizzle of lemon olive oil.