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Excerpted
from Central
PA magazine, March 2007
Almost any chef can make a good turkey-and-cheese sandwich. But a smoked-turkey and brie sandwich made with dried cranberries, a mild Dijon mustard and romaine lettuce, all tucked inside blueberry crumble bread — now that takes some innovation. This kind of familiar, down-home food — with a decidedly five-star twist — is exactly what Dan Nowalk, chef at Byron’s Dining Room at the Mercersburg Inn, hopes to bring to the table.
“What I like to make is not-very-pretentious, good comfort food,” says Nowalk. “It’s without all the hoopla of 7,000 ingredients for each dish.” Although he has no formal culinary education, Nowalk spent 10 years working under classically trained chefs in upstate New York, where he formed his main food principle: “My philosophy, personally, is two or three simple flavors that go well together, and then combine them in a starch and a sauce and a protein.”
But while “comfort food” may call to mind macaroni and cheese or chicken pot pie, Byron’s Dining Room provides more upscale options. On the winter menu, for example, Nowalk offered a braised, slide-off-the-bone lamb shank with roasted fingerling potatoes, and jumbo lump crab cakes with lemon-basil aioli and herbed polenta. Even dishes as ordinary as shrimp scampi get an extra punch of flavor: “We preserve our own lemons, we do a garlic confit — the whole clove in good white wine — shrimp cooked perfectly ... it’s two or three ingredients into a sautéed shrimp,” Nowalk says.
But that doesn’t mean the process is necessarily easy. Nowalk firmly believes in making his own sauces and stocks: “Restaurateurs have come over and said, ‘Why is he boiling these vats full of bones?’ ” says the inn’s owner, Jim McCoy. When it comes to store-bought stocks and sauces, both agree: “It doesn’t taste the same, and it doesn’t look the same,” says McCoy. “There’s absolutely no comparison,” adds Nowalk. That, they feel, gives the food they serve an extra punch of homemade flavor that other places may not have.
Nowalk also visits local produce markets, taking what inspires him that day and creating recipes from the fresh ingredients, as well as using the herbs, heirloom tomatoes and other produce grown in the inn’s own backyard garden.
The menu changes often, featuring choices such as the “soup of the evening,” which allow Nowalk to showcase his culinary creativity: “I like to have all different kinds of fresh stock in the cooler on hand,” he says. “I’ll go, ‘What can I do with soup today? I have this squash, I’ll clarify this duck stock into a consommé for the soup,’ and it stretches from there.”
One such creation, the “lobster Charlotte,” which features layers of peeled mango, avocado and chilled lobster topped with a citrus vinaigrette, was so popular that, when it was taken off the menu for the winter season, guests requested it so many times that Nowalk decided to make it a permanent menu fixture. “We had said, well, it’s kind of a summery thing,” says McCoy. “We had to put it back on, and we’ve been running it ever since.”
And, of course, the ambience of the inn also adds to the food. Built in 1910, the Mercersburg Inn (717-328-5231; www.mercersburginn.com) was originally a private home for Harry Byron and his family, who made their fortune in the tanning trades. The 24,000-square-foot mansion features oak flooring, double-curving wrought-iron balustrades, scagliola columns and mahogany-and-chestnut paneling — all original to the house. In 1954, the home became an inn, and in 2004 McCoy and his wife, Lisa, purchased it, so they could offer a spectacular dining experience to both overnight guests and visitors just stopping in for a meal.
“We want to be a restaurant inside of an inn,” says McCoy. Diners can enjoy a cocktail by one of the living-room fireplaces or tour the inn after they eat.
In addition, the inn offers intimate cooking classes given by the founder and director of Bethesda, Maryland, culinary school L’Academie de Cuisine, Chef François Dionot, four times a year (the next weekend is April 20–22). Nowalk presents a “chef’s dinner” one of the evenings in conjunction with the classes. “I branch out and do things that I normally wouldn’t do, like foie gras or caviar — a little more exotic,” he says. “Last time, we did a stuffed rack of farm-raised venison.”
Still, it’s the country recipes — with a twist — that keep both tourists and locals asking for more. Nowalk’s shrimp-and-corn chowder, for example, combines homemade shrimp stock and diced fresh shrimp with the traditional flavors of root vegetables and just-grilled sweet corn, beefing up the classic Central PA dish.
Combine dreaming up new recipes with the inn’s catering service — they host an average of 25 to 30 events a year, from weddings of 200 to private dinners for eight — and Nowalk admits he has little free time in his schedule. However, “I feel best when I’m very busy on the line,” he says. “It’s the best feeling for me.”
Veal Braised with Olives (osso buco with a twist)
2 carrots, chopped medium-sized
3 ribs celery, chopped medium-sized
1 onion, chopped medium-sized
3 Tablespoons plus 1/2 cup vegetable oil
4 veal hind shanks
Seasoned all-purpose flour (salt and fresh ground black pepper)
4 bay leaves
1 Tablespoon dried thyme
1 Tablespoon dried rosemary
1 Tablespoon whole black peppercorns
1 medium tomato, peeled, seeded and chopped
2 strips crisp bacon, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
3 quarts chicken stock
4 cups veal stock
10–12 picholine olives with brine, about 2 cups
Sauté carrots, celery and onion in 3 Table-spoons vegetable oil for 5 minutes, add to braising pan. Dredge veal shanks in seasoned flour, and sear in 1/2 cup vegetable oil on each side until golden brown. Combine remaining ingredients to braise, and cover with foil. Cook in oven, tightly covered with foil, for 3-1/2 hours or until fork tender. Remove shanks from liquid and strain liquid. Reduce liquid by half, being careful to skim out any impurities. Serve veal shanks with traditional saffron risotto or celery-root purée, and garnish with pitted picholine olives and remaining cooking liquid.
Fluke Carpaccio with Gorgonzola, Sesame and Pomegranate-Red Wine Mignonette
1 whole fluke, or any other suitable flat fish such as halibut
4 shallots
4 cups red wine
3/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup pomegranate juice
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1/3 cup vegetable oil
Crumbled Gorgonzola cheese
Lightly toasted sesame seeds
Finely chopped parsley
Fillet fish and remove skin. Thinly slice, across the grain, 1/8th inch medallions. Place medallions between sheets of food film and gently pound with any flat-surfaced item, such as a rolling pin, until very thin and translucent. Arrange fish on chilled plate, cover with food film, and hold in cooler until ready to serve. Prepare shallots to 1/8-inch dice and combine with red wine, red wine vinegar, pomegranate juice, salt, pepper and lemon juice. Reduce mixture by one-half on medium heat and let stand until room temperature. Add vegetable oil. Note that this is a mixture and not an emulsion. The shallots, which absorb as well as flavor the red wine mixture, act as an attractive garnish as well when presented atop the opaque fish, and the acidic reduction “pools” in the oil on the plate, creating more eye appeal. For service, ladle 1 oz. of mignonette over arranged fish, and lightly garnish with Gorgonzola, sesame seeds and parsley.
Recipes courtesy Dan Nowalk
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