Welcome to the Big Leagues

When a restaurant chef cooks, he or she simply has to reach for a handful of neatly chopped vegetables, grab a ladleful of rich meat stock or clarified butter, lift a perfectly filleted piece of fish from a nearby drawer. Someone else has already rinsed the salad greens, chopped the onions, sauteed the mushrooms--and someone else will do the dishes.

This is partly why restaurant dishes are in many ways more complicated than the food most home cooks prepare. And it’s why, when you try to make a recipe from the repertoire of a great chef, the results rarely match what you eat in the restaurant. Chefs don’t use recipes as we know them; they work by instinct and habit.

These recipes from Patina are somewhat difficult. Often, several recipes are required to get one plate of food. But you don’t have to duplicate the restaurant dish exactly. The Garlic-Thyme Mashed Potatoes, listed as a sub-recipe with the Lamb Gratin, are perfectly wonderful on their own. And the Ponzu Sauce with the Peppered Tuna would work well with many other types of fish. Consider your own tastes and make the recipes work for you--that’s exactly what the chefs do.

This one is time-consuming, but well worth the trouble. Tasters in The Times’ Test Kitchen couldn’t get enough of the stuff. You might want to start the recipe the day before you plan to serve it--the oxtail for the sauce takes 4 1/2 hours to cook.

BARLEY RISOTTO

1 large yellow onion, diced

3/4 cup butter

1 cup white wine (Chardonnay)

1/2 pound pearl barley

3 cups chicken stock, about

1 carrot, diced

1 leek, white part only, diced

5 shallots, minced

Cloves from 1/2 head garlic, diced

Oxtail Meat and Braising Juice

1 cup finely chopped parsley

Salt, pepper

1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Place onion in saucepan with 2 tablespoons butter and saute until caramelized. Deglaze with wine until liquid evaporates. Add barley and roast 2 minutes, stirring. Add chicken stock and simmer until barley is al dente, about 30 minutes. If barley doesn’t cook through, add bit more chicken stock than called for until stock reduces. Repeat process 2 to 3 times as necessary.

Saute carrot, leek, shallots and garlic separately, using 1 1/2 tablespoons butter for each vegetable. Combine vegetables in bowl and refrigerate.

Chop prepared Oxtail Meat into small pieces. Reduce Braising Juice to about 2 cups.

To a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, add cooked barley, sauteed vegetables and 1/2 cup reduced juice. When liquid is absorbed, add another 1/2 cup reduced juice, stirring until additional liquid is completely absorbed. Repeat process until all reduced juices are absorbed. Add chopped Oxtail Meat. Whisk in remaining 1/4 cup butter, little at time, until it emulsifies in risotto. Place in serving dish and top with parsley, salt and pepper to taste, and Parmesan. Makes 8 servings, about 6 cups.

Oxtail Meat and Braising Juice

2 1/4 pounds fresh oxtail, cut up

1 large yellow onion, sliced

2 heads garlic, sliced in half

6 sprigs thyme, tied in bundle

4 bay leaves

2 quarts chicken stock

In large casserole, place oxtail, onion, garlic, thyme, bay leaves and chicken stock. Cover with foil. Bake at 325 degrees about 4 1/2 hours, until beef is tender, just about falling off bone.

Strain meat juices and reserve. (Should have about 4 cups.) Pick meat off bones and, if cooking ahead, refrigerate. Oxtail can be prepared 1 day ahead.

This is one of Splichal’s best sellers. It’s light, great-tasting and relatively simple to make. Notice that the vegetables are plunged into ice water after blanching--this is to preserve their bright color. Also, in the restaurant, the tuna is served rare, almost like sushi, in the middle. You should cook the tuna to your preference.

PEPPERED TUNA WITH PONZU SAUCE AND DEEP-FRIED WON TONS

1 (1 1/2-pound) tuna loin

1/4 cup cracked black pepper

1/2 cup butter, clarified

12 whole green onions

6 heads baby bok choy

2 cups oil

15 won ton skins, sliced in thin julienne

Ponzu Sauce

Trim tuna and remove skin. Roll loin in black pepper. Sear sides of tuna in hot pan with clarified butter. Thinly slice tuna into about 16 slices.

Cut green onions into 3-inch pieces and blanch with bok choy in boiling water. Refresh in ice water to keep bright green color. Cut each bok choy in half lengthwise.

Heat oil in wok or deep-fryer. Deep fry won ton strips, few at time, until golden brown.

Place seared tuna slices on tray and warm in 350-degree oven, 1 to 2 minutes, or longer to desired doneness.

Quickly reheat green onions and bok choy in boiling water and drain. Place bok choy at top of serving plate and top with green onions. Fan tuna slices attractively at bottom of plate, then cover with Ponzu Sauce. Place won ton strips in center of plate, piled high. Makes 4 servings.

Each serving with Ponzu Sauce contains about:

495 calories; 1,618 mg sodium; 139 mg cholesterol; 25 grams fat; 21 grams carbohydrates; 46 grams protein; 0.93 gram fiber.

Ponzu Sauce

8 cloves garlic, peeled

2 Roma tomatoes

2/3 cup chicken stock

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/2 cup ginger root, finely diced

1/4 cup thinly sliced green onions

Blanch garlic cloves in boiling water 3 times, changing water each time. Drain and thinly slice garlic.

Quickly blanch tomatoes in boiling water, then shock in ice water. Peel skin, seed and dice.

Combine chicken stock, lemon juice and soy sauce in saucepan and bring to boil. Add garlic slices, ginger, green onions and tomatoes.

This is a recipe with several delicious components--the mashed potatoes; the zucchini flowers filled with chopped basil, zucchini and garlic; the lamb itself. Again, the garlic used in the mashed potatoes is blanched three times--this is a trick some restaurants use to soften the pungent flavor.

LAMB GRATIN

1 boneless, skinless lamb loin or leg, as desired

2 tablespoons butter

Salt, pepper

Garlic-Thyme Mashed Potatoes

Glacage

Baby Zucchini With Mousse-Filled Zucchini Flowers

Lamb Juice

Thinly slice lamb into medallions. Heat butter in skillet and saute medallions to desired doneness. (Or brush with butter and grill to desired doneness.) Season to taste with salt and pepper.

For each serving, place Garlic-Thyme Mashed Potatoes in oblong mound in center of plate. Cover potatoes with lamb slices then cover lamb with Glassage. Place in broiler until golden brown. Place Baby Zucchini With Mousse-Filled Zucchini Flowers on either side of potatoes, then pour finished Lamb Juice around. Makes 4 servings.

Each serving, not including zucchini flowers, contains about:

877 calories; 988 mg sodium; 465 mg cholesterol; 71 grams fat; 35 grams carbohydrates; 29 grams protein; 2.17 grams fiber.

Garlic-Thyme Mashed Potatoes

1 pound Idaho potatoes

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

1/4 cup butter

2 tablespoons chopped thyme

1/4 cup Garlic Puree

Salt, pepper

Peel potatoes, cut into chunks and boil in water until tender. Pass through food mill to puree. Heat cream and add to potatoes with butter. Add thyme and Garlic Puree. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Makes 2 cups.

Garlic Puree

1/2 cup peeled garlic cloves

1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

Blanch garlic cloves in boiling water 3 times, changing water each time. Cover with cream and bring to boil. Puree in blender until smooth. Makes 1/2 cup.

Glacage

3 egg yolks

2 tablespoons white wine

1/2 cup clarified butter

2 tablespoons Lamb Juice

1/4 cup whipped heavy cream

Salt, pepper

Combine yolks and white wine in small bowl placed over hot water bath (or use double boiler). Whip mixture until thick. Whisking vigorously, slowly add clarified butter. Fold in Lamb Juice, whipped cream and salt and pepper to taste, swirling pan until sauce thickens.

Lamb Juice

1 pound roasted lamb bones

2 quarts chicken stock

2 carrots, diced

1/2 cup diced celery

1/2 cup diced onion

1 clove garlic

Few stems parsley

1 stem thyme

1/4 cup cold butter, cut up

Salt, pepper

Cover lamb bones with chicken stock. Add carrots, celery, onion, garlic, parsley stems and thyme. Cover and simmer 4 hours.

Strain stock and reduce to sauce consistency. Finish by adding cold butter bit by bit, tilting and swirling pan until sauce thickens slightly. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Baby Zucchini With Mousse-Filled Zucchini Flowers

8 baby zucchini with flowers

3 medium green zucchini

1 clove garlic

1 tablespoon butter

5 leaves fresh basil, minced

1 slice white bread, crust removed

2 tablespoons beaten egg

Salt, pepper

1/2 cup chicken stock

Blanch zucchini flowers in salted water, then refresh in ice water.

Peel zucchini, then chop zucchini peel. Reserve zucchini pulp for another recipe. Saute chopped zucchini peel and garlic clove in butter until tender. Add basil. Puree in blender with bread and egg until smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Fill zucchini flowers with mousse. Reheat zucchini flowers in small skillet with chicken stock. Simmer covered about 5 minutes until flowers are puffed and firm to touch.