A Spring Entertaining Menu from Maude

Read more about Curtis Stone’s approach to wine and fine dining at Maude in our profile of the restaurant and chef.

Maude’s Sugar Snap Peas and Caviar

“If you have a local farmers market, buy as fresh and as crispy sugar snap peas as possible. Remove the peas from their pods and reserve, cold. Ask your farmer if pea tendrils or flowers are available; they add beauty and enhance flavor.” —Osiel Gastelum, chef de cuisine

• 1/2 cup crème fraîche
• 3 drops liquid smoke
• 1/4 cup butter (4 tablespoons) cut into small cubes, with 1 tablespoon reserved
• 3/4 pound shucked sugar snap peas
• 1 tablespoon cold water
• 1 tablespoon thinly sliced chives
• 2.2 ounces golden osetra caviar (or the caviar of your preference)
• Pea flowers and tendrils

1. Combine crème fraîche and liquid smoke in a bowl set over ice, and season to your liking with salt. Whip until stiff peaks are formed. Reserve cold until needed.

2. In a small pot, melt the 1 tablespoon reserved butter cubes over medium heat, add peas, and cook for about 1 1/2 minutes, mixing carefully. Season with salt. Add 1 tablespoon cold water, place on low heat, and add the remaining butter cubes slowly while mixing to create a butter sauce with the peas. To finish, add the chives and adjust the seasoning one last time.

Maude’s beverage director Jessica Taylor likes to pair a Grüner Veltliner with this caviar dish. (Ray Kachatorian)

To Serve

In each of 6 to 8 small glasses, place 1 teaspoon whipped crème fraîche, cover completely with peas, and place a spoonful of caviar atop. Garnish with a pea flower and tendrils if available. Serve immediately.

Wine Match

Tatomer Grüner Veltliner Santa Barbara County Paragon Vineyard 2020

“Just like with the food, the wines show a progression, so each dish and each wine has to build on the last. And it’s fun to serve something that they’re not going to get anywhere else. Grüner Veltliner is special because it has that great acid, light body, salinity and a vegetal quality so it can stand up to asparagus, Brussels sprouts and peas. But it’s also understated.” —Jessica Taylor, beverage director and general manager

Wine Spectator Alternates: Abbazzia di Novacella Grüner Veltliner Alto Adige Valle Isarco 2022 (90, $22); Pfaffl Grüner Veltliner Niederösterreich Vom Haus 2022 (89, $13)

Dungeness Crab, Granny Smith Apple and Citrus

Lime juice and green apples add just the right amount of tang to this Dungeness crab preparation. (Ray Kachatorian)

“At Maude we work closely with farms that grow herbs for us; one of them is citrus marigold, which has a unique citrus taste and a particular beauty. Both the flower and the fern-like leaves are edible.” —O.G.

• 4 green apples, cored
• 2 cups spinach
• 6 large stalks green celery
• 3 inches ginger, peeled
• Juice of 4 limes
• 4 2-pound live Dungeness crabs or 2 pounds picked crabmeat, seasoned (see recipe below)
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped tarragon leaves
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley leaves
• Zest of 1 lemon
• Extra virgin olive oil
• 1 green apple, cut into batons
• 2 lemons, cut into supremes and diced
• 4 kumquats, peeled and seeded, sliced thin
• 3 finger limes halved, caviar reserved
• 1 bunch chervil, picked into small clusters

For the Jus

1. Place the 4 cored apples in a juicer. Add the spinach leaves and juice together, then juice the celery and ginger, adding the lime juice. Strain all with a very fine strainer and season to the level of acidity and salt that you like. Reserve, cold.

For the Crab

1. Bring a big pot of water to a roaring boil and salt to taste like the ocean. Prepare an ice bath in a separate large container.

2. Cook the crab for 9 minutes, then cool in the ice water for 10 minutes. Pick the meat from the shell.

3. Place a bowl over ice and add the picked crabmeat, tarragon, parsley and lemon zest. Season with salt and olive oil. Mix carefully with a spatula, leaving the crabmeat as whole as possible. Reserve, cold.

To Serve

Divide the seasoned crabmeat among 6 to 8 chilled bowls. Top with the apple batons, lemon segments and kumquat slices. Arrange the finger lime caviar amid different parts of the crabmeat. Finish with clusters of chervil (and marigold flowers and fern if available; see chef’s note above). Serve as cold as possible and add 5 tablespoons of jus to each plate at the table.

Wine Match

Idda Carricante Sicily 2022

“There are vegetal qualities in this dish too, like a bridge from the first dish, so I knew I needed a wine that has the same characteristics I was loving in the Grüner Veltliner but it had to be richer and deeper. Carricante, with the volcanic soils in Sicily and the style of the grape, has a little more body and depth to it.” —J.T.

Wine Spectator Alternates: Tenuta delle Terre Nere Etna White 2022 (91, $24); Benanti Etna White 2022 (91, $33)

Rock Cod with Tomato Marmalade, Escabeche Vegetables and Zarandeado Aioli

This dish of spring vegetables and grilled cod shines with Mexican and East Asian–inspired flavors. (Ray Kachatorian)

“Ask your fishmonger to clean fillets with the pin bones removed and the belly trimmed; one fillet will serve two. Rubbing the skin side separately with just salt will help crisp it up. Keep in mind that some of the steps can be done ahead. The escabeche can be made days in advance and it will taste better with more time. But make the Hollandaise at the last minute.” —O.G.

• 4 rockfish fillets, at least 3/4 pound each
• 1/2 cup kosher salt, plus more for curing
• 1/2 cup sugar
• Tomato Marmalade (recipe below)
• Escabeche Vegetables (recipe below)
• Zarandeado Aioli and Hollandaise (recipes below)
• Zest of 1 lime
• 8 pitted, sliced olives

1. Mix the sugar and salt and sprinkle the flesh side of the fish evenly and generously. Turn skin side up and with a heavy hand, sprinkle the skin side with only kosher salt. Refrigerate 30 minutes.

2. Rinse the fillets, pat dry with paper towels, and chill, skin side up. Remove the fish from the refrigerator at least 20 minutes before cooking.

Tomato Marmalade

• 1/2 cup small-diced yellow onion
• 2 small-diced garlic cloves
• 4 cups ripe Roma tomatoes, peeled, seeded and diced
• 2 fresh oregano sprigs
• 2 bay leaves
• 8 tablespoons olive oil
• Sherry vinegar and sugar to taste

1. Cover the bottom of a saucepan with the oil and sweat the onions over medium heat until translucent. Add the garlic and sweat for an extra minute. Add the tomatoes, oregano and bay leaves and cook down to a marmalade consistency, about 30 minutes. Season with sugar and Sherry vinegar to taste.

Escabeche Vegetables

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 whole garlic cloves, whole
• 1 tablespoon whole black peppercorns
• 1 tablespoon whole coriander
• 2 fresh bay leaves
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup white wine
• 1 cup Champagne vinegar
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons salt
• 2 carrots, peeled and cut diagonally
• 4 radishes, cleaned quartered
• 2 jalapeños, seeded and cut into small strips
• 1 large shallot, small dice

1. In a saucepan, place the olive oil on low heat and sweat the garlic cloves until just translucent. Add the peppercorn and coriander. Once fragrant, add the rest of the ingredients up to and including the salt, and simmer until no alcohol is present in the liquid. Strain, reserving the hot liquid.

2. Place all the remaining cut vegetables in a glass jar or other tall container and pour the hot liquid over the vegetables until fully submerged. Let this cool at room temperature, then refrigerate. Remove from refrigeration 1 hour before serving.

Zarandeado Aioli

• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons white soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon Champagne vinegar
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 2 tablespoons yellow mustard
• 1 cup melted butter

1. Place all in a container and use a hand mixer to create an emulsion. Reserve, cold, to use in the following preparation.

Zarandeado Hollandaise

• 2 tablespoons Zarandeado Aioli
• 2 tablespoons escabeche liquid (from the vegetable preparation)
• 6 egg yolks
• 3/4 cup clarified butter
• 1 tablespoon white soy sauce

1. Melt the clarified butter in a small pot until just liquid.

2. Bring a pot with 1 inch water at the bottom to a simmer. Choose a bowl that will fit in the mouth of the pot without touching the water. In the bowl, whisk the egg yolks, aioli and the escabeche liquid until well-combined, then place the bowl over the simmering water and continue to whisk vigorously until a thick foam forms. Drizzle in the clarified butter while whisking to create an emulsion; add soy sauce and season with salt. Reserve, warm, until needed.

To Serve

1. Prepare a hot grill.

2. Heat the Tomato Marmalade and reserve until needed.

3. Brush the skin side of the fish with Zarandeado Aioli slightly, to prevent it from sticking. On a very hot grill, place the fillets skin side down and add some weight to the top to flatten them a little and so the skin cooks evenly. Once the flesh and skin relax, after about 2 minutes, remove the weight, brush the flesh side with aioli, and turn the fish for about a minute. Remove the fillets from the heat and let rest, skin side up.

4. Arrange a small bed of olives on each of 6 to 8 plates. Place spoons of Tomato Marmalade on top. Arrange the Escabeche Vegetables around the marmalade. Portion the fish by cutting skin side down, then turn skin side up again to preserve crispness. Season with Maldon salt and lime zest. With a long spatula, transfer to the plates, opposite the marmalade. Pour the Hollandaise at the table.

Wine Match

Leah Jorgensen Tour Rain Gamay–Cabernet Franc Oregon 2021

“This one is so fun. Leah Jorgensen is a producer in Oregon who loves the Loire Valley. That’s their whole vibe. The grapes are sourced from multiple appellations in Oregon. This wine is not even medium-bodied; it’s medium minus. You need that to pair with the fish, something that has a richness of the Hollandaise, but also fits the tomato and the olives. Cabernet Franc has that green bell pepper slight herbaceousness, then when it’s mixed with the Gamay it has bright acidity. If you were gonna blind taste this wine, you would not get either of the two varieties.” —J.T.

Wine Spectator Alternates: Domaines Dominique Piron Morgon Cinq Terres 2020 (88, $30); Fincas Don Martino Cabernet Franc Mendoza Viña Violeta 2021 (89, $17)

Thai Basil Ice Cream, Ginger Sabayon and Mango

Brown Butter Crumble adds texture to this herbaceous and tropical springtime dessert. (Ray Kachatorian)

• 2 1/2 cups milk
• 1/2 cup cream
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 9 egg yolks
• 3 1/2 packed cups of Thai basil leaves
• 3 large ripe mangos, diced
• Ginger Sabayon (recipe below)
• Brown Butter Crumble (recipe below)

1. Blanch the basil leaves in boiling water for 30 seconds, remove, and place in ice water until cold. Remove from the ice water and squeeze to remove all the excess water.

2. In a pot, warm the milk and cream. Whisk the yolks and sugar until the yolks turn a pale yellow. Pour the milk and cream over the yolks slowly while whisking until all the milk and cream has been added. Return this mixture to the pot and cook until it reaches 179° F.

3. Working quickly but very carefully transfer to a blender and blend with the blanched basil leaves. Strain the ice cream base and place over ice to cool quickly and prevent discoloration and change in flavor. Let this mixture mature, covered and refrigerated, for at least 12 hours. Churn in your preferred method.

Ginger Sabayon

• 1/4 cup sugar
• 4 egg yolks
• 1/4 cup ginger juice
• 1/2 cup heavy cream, cold

1. Place a pot on the heat with 1 inch of water and find a bowl that fits on the top without touching the water. Whisk together the first three ingredients and place in the water bath, whisking constantly until the sabayon thickens and leaves traces on the bottom of the bowl.

2. Remove from heat and reserve, cold. Whip the cold heavy cream until stiff peaks form. With the help of a spatula, fold the cream into the Ginger Sabayon and reserve, cold.

Brown Butter Crumble

• 1/3 cup butter
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

1. In a pot, melt the butter and while constantly moving let the milk solids brown and make the butter amber color and nutty in aroma. Remove from the heat and place over an ice bath to stop the cooking.

2. Mix together the dry ingredients. Add in the melted butter and mix until everything is uniform. Bake at 325° F for 20 minutes. Let cool down and break into small pieces with a rolling pin.

To Serve

1. Place a spoonful of Brown Butter Crumble in the center of the plate. With an ice cream scoop place a small ball of basil ice cream on top of the crumble.

2. Arrange 5 pieces of mango around the ice cream and with a small spoon arrange dots of sabayon between the mango. (At the restaurant we use a squeeze bottle to make a perfect dot.)

3. Place micro basil on the sabayon and basil flowers on each mango. Finish by sprinkling a few grains of salt on the ice cream and serve immediately.

Wine Match

Oremus Tokaji 5 Puttonyos 2014

“A dessert wine has to be sweeter than the dessert. If it isn’t neither the wine or the dessert are going to shine. The wine will taste bitter. The dessert will taste flat. So playing with that balance of sugar is something I’m always thinking about. One of the things I love about the Oremus is that it doesn’t have that unctuousness. It’s not like honey. This is a sugary wine but the acid is so deep and bright and vibrant that it cuts through the sweetness.” —J.T.

Wine Spectator Alternates: Inniskillin Riesling Niagara Peninsula Ice Wine 2021 (94, $90/ 375ml); Donnafugata Passito di Pantelleria Ben Ryé 2021 (94, $50/375ml)