Dig In, Buffalo! Global recipes from The Black Sheep featuring Western New York farms

The Black Sheep’s menu is a compilation of comforting, approachable dishes reflecting the couple’s obsession with local ingredients and knack for global flavor profiles.

Making flavors work: Contrast equals big flavor! The sweetness of the pumpkin and earthy richness of the pakora’s deep-fried chickpea batter are contrasted by Gedra’s acidic and spicy dipping sauce. Textural contrasts work, too. The crispy jacket of the pakora and creamy, smooth sauce play against each other.

Be like a scout: Prep is the key to deep frying at home. Remember the oil requires 40+ minutes to heat. Have lined trays and other tools, like tongs and strainers, at the ready. It’s a quickly moving process, so being prepared is the way to achieve the best results.

Frying 101: Adjusting the temperature of the oil so it hovers at 350 F for the duration of the frying process helps to keep the fritters from burning. Crowding the fryer drops the oil temperature and results in soggy, greasy pakora. Cook the batter in smaller batches instead. Lastly, if you want to be sure you don’t sacrifice a single fritter to the fryer, remember not to walk away from the stove while they’re cooking in the oil.

Seasonal, seasonal, seasonal: Don’t be afraid to experiment! Almost anything can be bound together with chickpea flour and fried into a delicious fritter. Use seasonal produce and flavor profiles. It’s a delicious way to use up whatever may be languishing in your refrigerator’s vegetable drawer.

Pumpkin jalapeno pakora with basil lime dipping sauce

Batter

• 1 ½ cups chickpea flour
• 1 medium pumpkin, peeled, seeded and grated
• 1 medium white onion, thinly sliced
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 2 tsp. salt
• 1 jalapeno, thinly sliced
• 1 tsp. fresh ginger, peeled and minced
• 2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• 1 tsp. ground turmeric
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• ¼ cup water
• Neutral oil, for deep frying

Sauce

• ¾ cup quality mayonnaise (a plant-based mayo works, too!)
• Handful of fresh basil leaves
• 2 tbsp. fresh lime juice
• 1 small jalapeno
• 2 cloves fresh garlic
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Garnish: Fresh basil leaves

Step 1

Add oil to fryer or deep dutch oven until it fills ½ to ¾ of the vessel’s depth. Begin heating to the optimal temperature of 350°F; this should take around 40 minutes.

Step 2

Make the sauce. Using a food processor, blend the basil, garlic, jalapeno, lime juice, salt and pepper until it binds together into a thick liquid. Add the mayonnaise and pulse until combined. Adjust salt and pepper. If making ahead, store covered in the refrigerator.

Step 3

Prep the vegetables. Bring a pot of salted water to boil. Working in batches, blanch the grated pumpkin by immersing it in boiling water for 1 to 2 minutes. Use a strainer to remove it from the pot and drain it on a paper towel-lined sheet pan. Set aside to cool.

Add the thinly sliced jalapeno, onion, garlic and minced ginger to the pot and blanch for 1 minute. Use a strainer to remove it and add it to the lined sheet pan.

Step 4

Make the batter. Transfer the drained and cooled squash, onion, garlic, jalapeno and ginger to a large mixing bowl. Add the chickpea flour and turmeric. Mix the flour in with the vegetables, adding water a little at a time to achieve the right consistency. The batter should be wet but not drippy. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Step 5

Ready your frying station and test fry. Set up a sheet pan lined with paper towels for draining the pakora as it comes out of the hot oil. Once the batter is ready and the oil in the fryer or dutch oven reaches 350°F, test fry the pakora batter by gently dropping a teaspoon of batter into the hot oil. Cook until golden brown, remove, and drain. Once cool, taste for seasoning. Add more salt or pepper if needed.

Step 6

Time to cook! Carefully and without crowding, batch fry the batter in ¼ cup dollops. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes until golden brown. Place each pakora on the lined sheet pan.

Serve the pakora with basil lime sauce served on the side or drizzled over the top. Garnish with fresh basil.

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Located in Strykersville and known for its CSA and popular farm stand, Thorpe’s procured an organic 15-acre grove in Lake Wales, Florida some years ago. In winter the family transports its citrus to Western New York, ensuring CSA members and farm stand customers have access to pomelos, tangerines and ruby red grapefruits – to name a few – during the coldest part of the year.

When restaurant chefs and owners have relationships with farmers, they support local families economically, provide guests with the freshest and most nutrient-rich produce available and, since local produce has a much longer shelf life, ultimately reduce the restaurant’s food waste.

Choosing citrus: In the Northeast, January through April is when the freshest citrus is available in supermarkets, making this an ideal winter salad recipe. Chef Gedra feels the salad benefits from using a variety of citrus fruits rather than just one, but he also acknowledges that freshness is key, so opt for the best fruit the market has to offer.

Cheesy suggestions: Saint Andre triple cream brie is the cheese The Black Sheep employs for this salad, but Gedra notes that any soft, ripe brie is adequate, and points out that a nice blue cheese such as Roquefort “would be super groovy.”

Vinegar options: Except for malt vinegar or a very sweet balsamic, almost any vinegar will work in the citronette. Champagne and sherry vinegars may render the best results, but there is enough flexibility that the cook may almost any vinegar in their pantry, including apple cider vinegar, red or white wine vinegar, seasoned rice vinegar, and in a pinch, white distilled vinegar.

Preserving the crunch: The leaves of bitter lettuces tend to be sturdy, but you can keep them crisp by not dressing them too far ahead.

Fresh citrus salad with bitter greens, whipped brie and candied pecans

Serves 4

Candied pecans

• ½ lb. raw pecan halves
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg white
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• ½ tbsp. water

Salad

• 5 citrus fruits such as navel oranges, blood oranges, pomelos, ruby red grapefruits, cara caras or tangerines)
• 1 lb. bitter greens, washed and dried (Belgian endive, chicory, frisée, radicchio)
• ¼ cup triple cream brie
• 1 oz. heavy cream

Citronette

• 1 shallot, minced
• 1 tsp. fresh ginger, peeled and minced
• 1 tsp. fresh thyme, chopped
• 1/2 cup citrus juice
• 1 tsp. vinegar (cook’s preference)
• ¼ cup neutral oil
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Garnish: Pomegranate pips or molasses

Step 1

Preheat oven to 350°F. In a large mixing bowl, combine the egg white and water, and whip until frothy. Add the pecans and toss until thoroughly coated. In a separate bowl, combine the cinnamon and sugar. Add the sugar mixture to the bowl of pecans and combine until the pecans are evenly coated. Spread the nuts onto a sheet pan and bake for 15 to 20 minutes. Remove the sheet pan and let the nuts sit for 5 minutes before trying one. If the nuts are still soft when bitten, return to oven for a few more minutes until crisp and golden brown.

Step 2

Line a dish or sheet pan with paper towels. Segment 4 of the 5 citrus fruits. Segment 4 of the 5 citrus fruits. Cut off the ends, stand the fruit on an end and with a sharp knife, moving from pole to pole, cut all the rind and pith away, leaving the fruit exposed and intact. On both sides of each segment, carefully slip the knife in between the fruit and its membrane. Turn the knife to release the segment onto the paper towels to drain. Gently remove seeds.

Step 3

In a food processor or blender, pulse the cheese and heavy cream until smooth and creamy. Reserve for plating.

Step 4

Make the dressing by juicing the remaining citrus fruit into a bowl. Add the vinegar of your choice, shallots, ginger and thyme. Whisk the mixture while slowly drizzling the oil into the bowl until combined. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Step 5

In a mixing bowl, add the greens and lightly dress with the citronette. Reserve to the side. Build the salad on a platter for family style service or in low-sided bowls for individual servings. Using a spoon, spread the whipped brie on the bottom of the serving vessel. Lay the sliced citrus atop the brie and sprinkle with the candied pecans and half of the optional pomegranate pips or molasses. Gently pile the dressed lettuces on the top of the brie and pecans and drizzle with additional pips or pomegranate molasses.

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“Buying and parting a whole locally raised chicken may seem foreign to some, but it’s a gamechanger,” Steve notes.

Buying chicken from a farmer adds incredible flavor to any dish. When measured against supermarket chicken, local poultry is raised in better conditions and fed a varied and vitamin-rich diet, which translates to bolder flavor on the table.

Using a whole bird also allows the cook to make stock and render chicken fat – two techniques that amp flavor and nutrients. Steve suggests making stock from the back of the chicken and rendering the skin from its neck to create the fat needed to make and brown the dumplings.

The Black Sheep utilizes Erba Verde Farms’ Freedom Ranger chickens for the restaurant’s paprikash, but it often uses poultry from Nuhn Family Farm and Plato Dale Farm as well.

Know your paprika

Hungarian paprika is made from dried peppers ground to a fine powder. It’s available in various heat levels; this recipe calls for mild (or sweet) paprika. Since it’s the focus of this recipe, avoid using a generic brand paprika or a jar that’s been in your cupboard for some time. Szeged and Bende are popular and easy-to-find brands.

Substitutions

If piquillo peppers aren’t available or you prefer to add fresh vegetables to the dish, substitute two diced red bell peppers.

Time or effort in short supply? Buy a box of dried spaetzle, nokedli or even haluski at your local supermarket. Cook it to the package’s instructions, transferring it to a skillet to brown, as outlined in Step 6.

Don’t allow the lack of a spaetzle maker to keep you from recreating this recipe at home. Several hacks are easily found online – look for one using everyday home kitchen tools like a slotted spoon or colander.

Noodle this

The Gedras have little use for single-task gadgets, but they endorse an inexpensive spaetzle maker as a tool home cooks should consider. Once familiar with the ease of the recipe and tool, these adorable and delicious dumplings are a welcome addition to chicken soup or a replacement for egg noodles in goulash.

Browned in a skillet and tossed with sautéed spring vegetables, spaetzle serves as a side dish at dinner. When paired with eggs at breakfast, browned spaetzle acts as a stand in for hash browns. There are also many recipes for seasoned or spiced spaetzle and nokedli worth exploring.

Grandma’s Chicken Paprikash

Serves 4

Chicken

• 1 whole, bone-in local chicken, cut into 8 pieces – you can always ask your butcher for help with this!
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tbsp. Hungarian paprika (mild/sweet)
• 1 tsp. onion powder
• 1 tsp. garlic powder
• 2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. pepper
• Neutral oil, for browning
• 1 cup sour cream

Sauce

• ¼ lb. slab or thick-cut bacon, diced
• 1 white onion, diced
• 1 can piquillo peppers, diced (or two red bell peppers)
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 tsp. tomato paste
• ¼ cup Hungarian paprika (mild/sweet)
• 16 oz. chicken stock
• ¼ cup sour cream
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Nokedli

• 1 egg
• 1 tsp. mustard powder
• 1 oz. melted butter or rendered chicken fat
• ½ cup all-purpose flour
• 1 oz. water or chicken stock
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 1 oz. cold butter
• Neutral oil, for browning and tossing

Garnish: Pickled vegetables

Step 1

Heat the oven to 300°F. Pat the chicken dry and salt thoroughly. In a large bowl with ample room to coat the chicken pieces, combine the flour, paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Toss the chicken in the mixture until evenly coated. Set aside, allowing the flour to hydrate.

Step 2

Start the sauce by warming a dutch oven or large sauce pot over medium heat. When the pan is hot, add the bacon, onion, garlic, piquillo peppers and a sprinkle of salt, cooking until the onion softens. Mix in the tomato paste and cook for a minute or two until it warms through. Add the stock, bring to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes.

Add the sour cream and mix until blended. Season with salt and pepper to taste before transferring the sauce to a 9x13-inch casserole dish to cool.

Step 3

Prepare the nokedli. In a large mixing bowl, whip the egg with water/stock, mustard powder, melted butter/chicken fat, salt and pepper. Add the flour and mix the dough with a wooden spoon until it comes together and illustrates some elasticity. Pat the dough into a ball and wrap it in plastic film before setting it aside to rest for 15 minutes.

Step 4

Set up a sheet pan lined with paper towels near the stovetop. Heat a large skillet on the stove. Once it’s hot, add neutral oil to the pan. Using tongs, sear the chicken in batches. This creates a crisp crust – but is not intended to cook the chicken through to the bone. Once the pieces are crisp and golden brown, place the chicken on the lined sheet pan to drain excess oil.

When all eight pieces are done, transfer to the casserole dish, laying them onto the sauce in a single layer. Cover the casserole with foil, tenting it slightly with a fold in the middle so it’s doesn’t stick to the chicken. Place the dish in the oven on the middle rack and bake for 30-40 minutes.

Step 5

While the chicken is in the oven, finish making the nokedli. Boil a pot of salted water. Place a sheet pan near the stove top. When the water is at a rolling boil, place a nokedli (or spaetzle) maker over the pot. In batches, drop dough through the spaetzle maker into the water and cook 2 to 3 minutes. Use a spider or mesh strainer, remove the nokedli, pouring off excess water before transferring to the sheet pan. As the dumplings are moved to the sheet pan, drizzle them with a small amount of oil and toss gently to prevent sticking.

Step 6

Once all the nokedli are made, heat a large skillet over medium heat. Brown the cold butter. Reduce heat enough that the butter doesn’t burn while evenly browning the dumplings in the pan. Once browned, hold the dumplings in a large serving dish and cover to keep warm.

Step 7

When an internal thermometer inserted in the meaty part of the chicken reads 155°F remove the casserole from the oven. Allow the chicken to rest a few minutes. This uses the chicken’s residual heat to bring it to 165°F while retaining its internal moisture. Place the chicken on the nokedli. Spoon the sauce over the chicken and noodles.

Garnish with sour cream and serve with a side of cold pickled beets or veggies from Barrel and Brine.

It’s uncertain how Ellen’s version of the cake retains its shape in its serving vessel and yet promptly collapses into a velvety warm pool the minute it hits your mouth. Saturated with sumptuous toffee caramel sauce, its salty notes and accompanying whipped cream keep the luxurious mélange from being overly rich, delivering peaks and valleys of both flavor and temperature.

Decadent, yet not overly rich, The Black Sheep’s confidential iteration of this recipe trounces those easily found on the internet. The difference is found in its complexity and deft balance, which work together to serve an intensity more satisfying than overbearing.

Sticky Toffee Pudding is incredibly popular in the UK, so much so that it’s been unofficially embraced as one of Britain’s national desserts. This is surely due to the fact that it is incredibly delicious, but also perhaps the inclusion of the word pudding in its name, a noun used to describe the country’s overly full category of steamed and boiled desserts. However several food historians believe STP was born in Canada sometime in the middle of the last century; a somewhat egregious, though scrumptious, response to the thrift war rationing required. Post-war, STP celebrates formerly scarce ingredients: heaps of quality butter, sugar and the dish’s main device, Medjool dates.

While we can’t share the mysterious recipe for this particularly spectacular sticky toffee pudding, we can highly recommend that you get to The Black Sheep and order one (or two – we won’t judge).

Pre-order a pan of STP for a party of 40 at home. Treat yourself to one on a rainy night at the restaurant’s bar paired with a rye Old Fashioned or tawny port. Score a dish to share with your BFF at brunch. Or order a round for the table after a lovely dinner with friends.

Where there’s a will, there’s a way, and we promise you’ll find that any effort required, large or small, to attain your own Sticky Toffee Pudding from The Black Sheep will be worth it.

Dig In, Buffalo is presented by Orville's

Win a curated gift basket inspired by Dig In, Buffalo! valued at $250–plus a $250 gift card to Orville’s! Enter now »