Friedman Andrew - Battersby: extraordinary food from an ordinary kitchen

Every night, at our restaurant Battersby, in Brooklyn, New York, three cooks toiling in a tight open foxhole of a kitchen turn out more than seventy meals in a matter of hours. Its a feat that demands careful choreography and more than a little improvisation. Sharing a single oven, a six-burner stove, a slim prep counter, and about the same square footage as a studio apartments kitchenette, we work next to and around each other, playing a game of culinary Twister from the time the doors open until we serve our last dinner sometime after midnight.

Against all odds, the formula works: At five oclock, people begin lining up for one of our twenty-three seats (thirty-eight in the spring and summer, when our backyard garden is open) before the wait creeps into the one- to two-hour zone. Of course, most guests flock to Battersby because they enjoy and appreciate the food. But part of the appeal is also how we cook: That kitchen, situated at the back of the dining room for all to see, has become a source of fascination, offering our own version of dinner and a show. People are puzzled and pleased by the fact that we can generate such solid food out of such a minuscule galley.

We didnt choose Battersbys space so the kitchen could double as a conversation piece; we ended up there for strictly practical reasons, to open the place on a modest budget. But its turned out to be our defining feature, and has also provided the inspiration for this book, which builds on the natural connection between our kitchen and yours: In order to function in our cramped quarters, weve devised a repertoire of space-and-equipment-efficient dishes that can be largely prepared in advance and finished quickly when its time to serve them, which translates beautifully to the needs of home cooks, whether you want to get a head start on a one-course, weeknight family dinner or have a multicourse dinner party ready to go, allowing you to actually spend time at the table with your guests while still serving a sophisticated, memorable meal.

In fact, because of its small size, Battersby often feels like a home, and our staff feels like a family getting ready to host a dinner party. We dont serve lunch, so our days are spent right in the dining room, prepping food. One cook might be at the stove, searing or braising fish and meats, while another sets up camp at the bar, turning artichokes right from the box they were shipped in or peeling potatoes into a bowl. The third team member might be making sauces or parcooking vegetables so they can be quickly reheated and finished with a little olive oil or butter when they are ordered by our guests. Late in the afternoon, our service team pulls in and pretties the place up: folding napkins, setting tables, placing votive candles along the bar and in the recesses in the wall.

Add it all up, and its not that different from what its like when you cook for your family or get ready to host guests in your home; we prep right where we serve, and our success depends on how well we plan.

The two of us were classmates at the Culinary Institute of America, then trained at such restaurants as Gramercy Tavern, Blue Hill, and Alain Ducasse at the Essex House, which was where we reconnected after cooking school. Over those years and during our time running pre-Battersby kitchens for various employers, we developed a complementary repertoire of dishes, and that repertoire has expanded exponentially since we opened Battersby, and its sister restaurant, Dover, which has a more generously apportioned kitchen and from which weve borrowed a few recipes for this book.

Were young, barely in our thirties, but by todays culinary standards, were old souls. We believe steadfastly in the merits of traditional cooking: the beauty of fresh ingredients, simply presented; the searing of meat in a pan or the char imparted by a grill; the surprising alchemy created by the right amount of lemon juice and olive oil and judicious seasoning. Theres not a dish on our menus that requires modernist additives or equipment, and we dont see that changing any time soon, if ever.

Our dishes draw mainly on French tradition, with Mediterranean and Asian influences. Our time working for Alain Ducasse was especially formative: We loved and absorbed his notion of taking a simple idea and executing it to perfection, or as close to perfection as possible. (Those who know his body of work might recognize a few homages in these pages, such as our chicken Albufera, duck with radishes, and stuffed rabbit.) A few breakout dishes have already emerged, like the little rosemary breads we serve as a welcome, warm from the oven, with a sidecar of whipped ricotta for spreading or dipping, which has become something that regulars look forward to. Our Crispy Kale Salad with Brussels Sprouts and Kohlrabi ().