November 12, 2007 at 7:22 pm · Filed under Catskills
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I haven’t made a pie since placing second in an apple pie baking contest at Enid’s three years ago. Though I continue to milk the prestige of that pie, I thought it was time to attempt another. This weekend, in an unfamiliar kitchen and lacking the crutch of my dough-crusted Cooks Illustrated recipe, my friends and I cobbled together a knockout apple pie.   The eighth note garnishes, carefully placed to obscure any imperfections, clearly convey a lyrical quality. Â
I was about to mention a noteworthy pizzeria I visited in Rome, Italy, when I came across a posting on Slice NY featuring Morrissey standing coolly in front of the very same place! Montecarlo, located in the Piazza Navona area of Rome, was recommended to me by a trusted local and turns out some of the best pizza in the city. Always busy, Montecarlo is like a slice of Brooklyn with its bright lights, charmingly abrupt service and warm house red wine. And just like at home, I was clueless about the celebrities whose photos cover the walls. We started with some perfectly fried mozzerella balls. I loved my onion pizza (all 8 slices of it) with its major charring around the edges. My friend enjoyed the signature Montecarlo pizza with about eighty toppings including olives, mushrooms, sausage, peppers, onions, artichokes and a fried egg. I won’t try to guess what Morrissey may have ordered, but check out the SliceNY article for a thoughtful analysis of the intersection of Morrissey and pizza.
High on my “To -Eat” list on a recent trip to Italy were rosette rolls, a light, airy roll native to Rome. Decorated with five lobes or “petals,” this simple yeast bread has been part of the region’s cusine for thousands of years. Almost hollow with a crispy crust and very little crumb, rosette rolls are often eaten for breakfast with honey but are great with any meal.
I like to call it the “Crockpot of Tomorrow,” but Italians know it as the Bimby, billed as “more than 10 kitchen appliances in one compact unit.” At first glance, the Bimby resembles medical or spa equipment. However, it chops, stirs, steams, purees, kneads, crushes ice, cleans and knows what time it is. The perfect guest.
October 10, 2007 at 5:39 pm · Filed under Catskills
Amid rumors of nepotism, bribery and unfit judges, Barryville, New York’s Annual Pumpkin Fest yielded one bright spot - my own third place finish in the sweet and savory pumpkin cookoff. This past Saturday, dozens of participants submitted fine autumnal dishes such as pumpkin poblano soup, pumpkin bread pudding and a savory pumpkin sausage pie, as well as gloppy Family Circle-esque offenses. The prizes: $100 cash, pumpkin-topped trophies, some ragtag purple ribbons and fifteen minutes of local recognition. My entry, an ice-cold pumpkin smoothie, likely had a competitive advantage thanks to the unseasonably warm weather. Nevertheless, we found some of the judges’ winning selections to be…let’s say… questionable. I’ll keep my post-game, obscenity-laden commentary confined to our car ride home. Suffice it to say, my culinarily standout group of friends and I will be back with a gourd-smashing vengeance next year.
Imagine my delight when my friend mailed me the newly released cookbook titled, “Aaaah…Belizean Rum Recipes.” In it, some of the Cayo district’s best cooks and mixologists contributed recipes like the Sorrel Slammer, Sweet Ting Pastries’ Mocha Rum Cake, Kick Start French Toast and Pescado Caliente a spicy, fruity sauteed fish recipe including Belize’s 1 Barrel rum, and the national hot sauce, Marie Sharp’s. After mentioning to my cookbook connection that 1 Barrel rum may not be available in Brooklyn, I received a leaden package with three boozes branded “Tasting is Belizing.” With its Jack-Sparrow-meets-70s-AM-Gold motif, the package had me pining for a pina colada Read the rest of this entry »
While my recent “Mission to Merida” was not primarily for food research, I did take the opportunity to sample some local Yucatecan favorites, visit grocery stores, and try the pizza at Vito Corleone’s. (Is the old man slipping?) Here’s a slideshow after the link, with more culinary tales from Merida and other parts of Mexico coming soon.
There’s nothing like visiting a Native American festival in New Mexico around 10am on a Fall weekend morning. With a chill in the air, artists are laying out their wares, costumes are adjusted, stages are readied for performances, grills are lit, kids are goofing off, everyone hopes for sun and I have one thing on my mind - Navajo fry bread. Fortunately, I only attend these festivals about once a year. Otherwise, I’d succumb more often to the 900 calorie deep-fried, honey-laced, 12-inch glorified doughnut known as Navajo fry bread.
Clam cakes, stuffed quahogs, fried oysters and selecting live lobsters for dinner are culinary high spots from my childhood. At oceanside picnic tables on sandy, weatherbeaten decks, eating fried seafood made me almost forget my sunburn. I got to missing men in tank tops and bibs drowning lobster chunks in butter with their hands. So Saturday evening at sunset, I and the rest of eastern Brooklyn chowed down at Randazzo’s Clam Bar, a Sheepshead Bay institution. Although its Emmons Avenue neighbor Lundy’s, seafood giant and once-rival to the ninety-year old Randazzo’s is no longer, they still receive the summer’s scores with a fluorescent lobster sign and clam bar favorites, deliciously rough around the edges.
Yuppies, gym bunnies and jujitsu masters alike have been drinking in the juice of the Brazilian superfruit acai. Like surveillance cameras silently moving into our downtowns, I’ve noticed an increased presence of acai drinks not only in health food stores but pharmacies, corner delis, and even a rest stop on the Garden State Parkway. And it doesn’t end with beverages. Acai now finds its way into energy bars, sorbets, ice creams, smoothies and nutritional supplements, promising health benefits from antioxidants and anthocyanins, which help prevent pretty much any condition from cataracts to heart disease.
A personal weblog of my experiences with fresh ingredients, home cooking, standout meals and the occasional bout with food poisoning from Brooklyn to Belize and beyond…
 
 
 
