HN39;
Re, "Pulling the thrust levers back to idle would help to increase the ND pitching moment, but that's about all I can think of."
The TLs were in the CLB detent in the exercise cited, so yes, that would have helped in the speed with which the AoA reduced.
And yes, recovery from AoA's of around 16° (just before the apogee but well into the stall warning) was a lot quicker - between 10k and 15k with more altitude required for the pull-out once unstalled, (secondary stall occurred a few times when we pulled too hard). The exercise described was a recovery from a fully developed stall, (AoA > 40°).