Coyote Café’s Chef Dakota Weiss created three recipes for TABLE Magazine, each beginning with a locally grown ingredient. TABLE’s Editor at Large Gabe Gomez admired her precise mise en place, tasted the dishes, and shared the experience.
American author Thomas Wolfe once suggested, wistfully, that you can never go home again. He believed that the experiences serving as the brick and mortar of memory are sometimes best left in the past. However, in a kitchen, the story often unfolds differently.
For example, think about the faces and lives behind the line. Picture a chef who discovered her love for food through endless prep work, marathon doubles, and the chaos of brunch rushes. Over time, those repetitive acts built a career that stretched across esteemed restaurants, national cooking shows, and a restaurant empire in California. Along the way, accolades piled up.
Now consider Dakota Weiss, executive chef at Coyote Café, the storied Santa Fe restaurant where she once staged after culinary school. Today she leads its latest evolution of Southwestern cuisine. Therefore, just this once, Thomas Wolfe may have been wrong. She has come home again––with fresh, imaginative, and palate-tingling results.
Because Dakota’s distinctive voice brings worldly nuance to Santa Fe’s food scene, we invited her to highlight local ingredients in three new recipes. On one recent morning, we watched her in the calm of Coyote’s kitchen as she transformed those ingredients. As a result, each dish felt rooted in memory (does anyone recall the thrill of 1970s Pop Rocks candy?) yet alive and relevant in the present.
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Grilled Asparagus, Hatch Green Chile Ricotta, Bitter Greens, Truffled Mustard Vinaigrette, Brioche Croutons
- Yield: Serves 4
Description
This elegant salad layers smoky grilled asparagus with Hatch green chile ricotta, bitter endive, brioche croutons, and a truffled mustard vinaigrette for a vibrant balance of flavors and textures.
Ingredients
For the asparagus:
- 1 bunch extra-large asparagus
- Pinch sea salt
- Pinch black pepper
- 2 tbsp EVOO
For the Hatch Green Chile Ricotta Cheese:
- 1 gal whole milk
- 2 cups heavy cream
- ½ cup lemon juice
- 2 tbsp distilled vinegar
- 2 cups hatch green chile, roasted, peeled, and diced
- ½ tbsp kosher salt
For the Truffled Mustard Vinaigrette:
- 2 shallots
- 2 garlic cloves
- 2 tbsp whole grain mustard
- ½ cup lemon juice
- ½ cup rice vinegar
- 1 cup EVOO
- ½ cup white truffle oil
- Kosher salt to taste
For the Brioche Croutons:
- 1 cup brioche, cut into micro-small dices
- ¼ cup EVOO
- Kosher salt to taste
For the salad:
- 2 red endives
- 2 yellow endives
- 2 tbsp chives, chopped
- Kosher salt to taste
- Black pepper to taste
Instructions
For the asparagus:
- Cut the bottoms of the asparagus to get rid of the woody stems.
- Toss the asparagus with the salt, pepper, and olive oil
- Grill on high heat until lightly charred. The asparagus should still be crunchy.
For the Hatch Green Chile Ricotta Cheese:
- Add the milk and cream into a heavy-bottomed pot. Bring to a boil.
- Turn off the heat and add the lemon juice and vinegar.
- Stir a few times until you see the milk start to curdle.
- Slowly pour the contents of the pot into a bowl that is lined with cheesecloth. Let the whey completely drain out of the curds.
- Gently scrape the curds off the cheese cloth and put into a bowl.
- Chop the green chile finely and stir into the curds.
- Season the cheese with salt to taste.
For the Truffled Mustard Vinaigrette:
- Using a hand blender, add the shallots, garlic, mustard, lemon juice, and rice vinegar into a large jar and mix well. Slowly add the two oils to emulsify and then season with salt.
For the Brioche Croutons:
- Sauté the brioche in the oil until golden brown and season with salt. Pour onto a sheet tray lined with paper towels to soak up extra oil.
For the salad:
- Toss the endives with the truffled vinaigrette, chives, salt, and pepper.
Building the plate:
- Pipe the Hatch Green Chile Ricotta Cheese into a long rectangular shape. Carefully place the endive, alternating the red and yellow, into the ricotta at an angle. Place about 5 grilled asparagus lying next to the endive. Sprinkle the croutons all over. Drizzle a little of the truffled vinaigrette over the whole dish.
Grilled Quail with Truffled-Balsamic Reduction, Mesilla Pecan-Fig Crumble & Aji Amarillo
- Yield: Serves 4
Description
This dish pairs smoky grilled quail with a rich truffled-balsamic reduction, a sweet-savory Mesilla pecan-fig crumble, and the vibrant heat of aji amarillo.
Ingredients
For the quail:
- 4 quails
- 2 rosemary sprigs
- 2 thyme sprigs
- Salt to taste
- Black pepper to taste
- 2 garlic cloves
- ¼ cup blended oil
For the Truffle-Balsamic Reduction:
- 1 cup balsamic vinegar
- ¼ cup white truffle oil
- ¼ cup soy sauce
- 1 ½ tbsp cornstarch
- 1 tbsp cold water
For the Mesilla Pecan-Fig Crumble:
- 6 oz Mesilla pecans, toasted
- 4 oz dried Mission figs
- 1 tsp Urfa Biber chili flakes
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp hibiscus, dried
- 1 tsp juniper berry
- Kosher salt to taste
Instructions
For the quail:
- Clip the wings off the quail. Poke a tiny hole in one of the legs and pull the tip of the other leg through that so it looks like the legs are naturally crossed.
- Add the herbs, garlic, and oil in a blender and mix well.
- Rub the herb puree all over the quail and allow them to marinate for an hour or so.
For the Truffle-Balsamic Reduction:
- Add the balsamic vinegar, truffle oil, and soy into a pot and bring it to a boil, reducing the mixture by a quarter.
- Whisk together the cornstarch and water.
- Slowly add that mixture to the reduction and cook out the starch. The sauce should thicken until it coats a spoon.
For the Mesilla Pecan-Fig Crumble:
- Take all ingredients and add to a Robot-Coupe food processor. Mix until you have a crumble-like consistency.
Building the Plate:
-
- Grill the quail for about 2 ½ minutes on each side getting nice grill marks.
- Using a spoon, make a circle (1 ½ times larger than the quail) with the truffle balsamic. Place the grilled quail right on top of that.
- Put the pecan crumble on top of the quail breast.
- Add a dollop of Aji Amarillo paste to the plate.
- Garnish with any herbal microgreens.
Buttermilk Vanilla Panna Cotta, Local Honey-Macerated Strawberries, Basil Sorbet & Strawberry Pop Rocks
- Yield: Serves 4
Description
This playful dessert layers silky buttermilk vanilla panna cotta with honey-macerated strawberries, refreshing basil sorbet, and a nostalgic crunch of strawberry Pop Rocks.
Ingredients
For the Buttermilk Vanilla Panna Cotta:
- 2 tsp gelatin powder
- 3 tbsp cold water
- 2 cups heavy cream
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 tbsp vanilla bean puree
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1 ¼ cup buttermilk
For the Basil Sorbet:
- 2 oz basil leaves
- 1/3 cup lemon juice
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 ½ cups water
For the Honey-Macerated Strawberries:
- 1 pt strawberries, sliced thinly
- 4 tbsp honey (local wildflower is my fave)
- Pinch of salt
Instructions
For the Buttermilk Vanilla Panna Cotta:
-
- Bloom the gelatin in the cold water and set aside.
- Add the cream, sugar, vanilla, and salt and heat just until the sugar is melted fully.
- Slowly whisk in the gelatin, making sure all of it melts.
- Take off the heat and whisk in the buttermilk.
- Pour into ramekins or bowls that you plan to serve it in.
- Chill until set, about 2 hours.
For the Basil Sorbet:
- Puree the basil with the lemon juice.
- In a saucepan, add the sugar and water and cook until the sugar is fully melted.
- Remove from the heat and add the basil lemon juice.
- Pour into an ice cream maker and spin until the mixture becomes frozen and creamy-looking.
For the Honey-Macerated Strawberries:
- Add all ingredients together and stir well.
Building the plate:
- Add the strawberries on top of the panna cotta. Scoop on some basil sorbet and sprinkle it with 1 package of Strawberry Pop Rocks.
Story by Gabe Gomez
Photography by Gabriella Marks
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