Sunday Sauce - Food Blog with Italian Recipes

Recipe: Fettucine with Mushroom Sauce (Sugo)

I welcomed last Saturday's passing nor'easter as an opportunity to snuggle up with the stove and try a California wine country-inspired recipe for Mushroom Sugo that I've been dying to make since the end of last cooking season.  With a bit of tweaking, this red wine and tomato-based mushroom ragu sauce by Michael Chierello did not disappoint.  Instead of the recommended gnocchi I decided to use fettucine when my first choice of taglietelle was not on my neighborhood supermarket's shelf.

 

If you enjoy the taste of mushrooms -- I used a combo of shitake and baby bella -- the accompanying flavors of rosemary, shallot and garlic catapult this dish into the stratosphere.  This dish was a perfect beginning to the cooking season because it was both light and hearty.  Enjoy!

Ingredients (Serves 2 large appetites or 4 normal ones)

1 lb. fettucine (or taglietelle)
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
4 cups mixed wild mushrooms, finely chopped (recommendation: mix of baby bella & shitake)
salt & fresh pepper
1 TB chopped garlic
1 tsp minced fresh rosemary leaves
1 TB minced shallots
1/2 cup tomato puree
1/4 cup red wine
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 TB unsalted butter
1 TB minced fresh parsley leaves
pecorino romano cheese

For pasta:

Bring large pot of water to boil; add 2/3 TB salt to water when at boil; add pasta and cook until al dente

For sugo:

- Heat large saute pan over High Heat; add oil and sprinkle mushrooms but DO NOT STIR THEM; let them sizzle and carmelize for 7-8 minutes
- Stir and season with salt and pepper
- add garlic and cook, stirring for one minute to release fragrance
- add rosemary and shallot and cook one minute
- add tomato and red wine and simmer until almost evaporated
- add broth and simmer until slightly reduced, 4-5 minutes; season with salt and pepper
- remove from heat and stir in butter; sprinkle with parsely

To serve:

After draining pasta, replace it in large pot; mix in one ladel full of sugo from the skillet into pot with pasta; scoop pasta in warm bowls and top with remainder of sugo; sprinkle with cheese

Sunday Sauce Visits Zero Otto Nove, Part 1

We spent last Sunday hanging out at Zero Otto Nove on Arthur Ave. in the Bronx with chef/owner Roberto Paciullo. Our mission was to find out all we could about the simply incredible pies (best in NYC!) that Roberto churns out every day in his wood-burning oven and Nikki was even able to get a pizza-making lesson from Roberto's star pizzialo, Enzo.

Enjoy the footage (which was shot by ace-camera person Chessy Giannettino) and more videos to come!

Video#1: Nikki's Intro, Roberto Discusses Why He Opened Zero Otto Nove

Video#2: Nikki Gets a Lesson on How to Make "Pizza Salernitana/Napoletana" From Enzo the Pizzialo

Video#3: Enzo Shows Us His Specialty Pie - "Pizza alla Enzo"

Photo Gallery: Step Inside Zero Otto Nove and Prepare to Drool...

Grandma Pie Defined

We were going to do a post about the pizza variety called "Grandma pies", but we just noticed that an article on the topic from back in 2003 was just resurrected on ExploreLI.com.
Jonny Mangia's great-grandmother, Nanny Gaggy, a native of Mondello, Sicily, made this type of pie, and now his mother, Mom G, carries on the tradition. Check out the above article for now, and then we are going to do a video segment on Mom G's pizzas, and we'll include the Grandma-style one in it.

Review: Napoli's Pizzeria, Hoboken NJ

It was a steamy Friday night in Hoboken and Nik and I were both shot from the work week. I tossed a few dinner ideas around - Cuban at Azucar or sushi at Komegashi Too, both in Jersey City, but Nikki wanted to stay local and eat Italian. Big surprise.

I kicked up the name "Napoli's", a semi-new pizzeria in Hoboken that boasts blood lineage to Lombardi's Pizzeria (I believe the owner is the nephew of John Brescia of Lombardi's).
It's been open for about a year and if you read blogs that deal with Hoboken dining, people love it. Nik and I have ordered takeout a few times and we thought the pizza was okay (we weren't fans of the hard crust), but we felt it held promise as the sauce and cheese were excellent.

 

We ordered a caprese salad to start with (romaine, roasted pepper and real mozzarella, not the brick-like embarrassment served at that unamed pizzeria in Edgwater Commons mall in NJ) . For the pies we ordered a large regular and then I ordered a personal sized clam pie. I figured with the ties to Lombardi's this place has to be able to do a clam pie the right way, as that is Lombardi's signature offering.

TALE OF THE TAPE

Oven Type: Gas, brick lined walls

Pizza Dimensions: Thin as thin can be.

Crust: Not pliable. Very hard, almost like a cracker, similar to the style they employ in Rome. Underside is not charred at all.

Sauce: Very tangy. This stood out over all other variables. If you like your tomatoes, you will dig it. Just ask for extra sauce because there wasn't enough on the piece.

Cheese: Laid on staccato style, and quite tasty.

The normal pie was decent, but that's probably a prejudiced statement b/c I don't like pizza with a hard crust and that isn't charred, and that's just not going to happen with this style oven. 
However the clam pie, as I figured, was better than the normal pie. First of all, it seemed like he used the same clams as Lombardi's. They were chopped up and thick, and though they had been cooked in the oven they weren't tough or rubbery. There was a healthy dose of grated cheese and garlic on it as well as olive oil. This was one of the better clam pies I have eaten outside of Lombardi's so if you go to Napoli's definitely check it out.

One thing to note was that the table next to us ordered a bunch of personal pies that looked phenomenal. 

Maybe that's the way to go at Napoli's - with a smaller area to work with they can concentrate their abilities to a higher level and produce a better pie. Next time we go back we're going to order a few different personals and report on them. 

Napoli's Brick Oven Pizza
Address - 1118 Washington St, Hoboken, New Jersey ( NJ ) 07030 Google Map   Mapquest Map
Telephone - (201) 216-0900

Heirloom Tomatoes in Bloom

We missed the Hoboken Heirloom Tomato Festival this year as we were at Nikki's brother John's wedding
so we decided to dig up last year's post with some pics of the heirloom tomatoes we bought. These beauties were used in salads, panini (see below pic) and pastas. They're expensive but well worth it as they taste so much better than normal tomatoes.

"Co." a new pizzeria coming to NYC

Backed by Jean-Georges Vongerichten and coming to 9th Ave. and 24th Street, "Co." will be the latest entrant into the NY Pizza Wars. Descriptions of the pies looks great and he's looking to add gelato to boot. We'll be there!

John's Last Meal

Nikki's brother John was married last Sunday to his longtime sweetheart Jennifer. His last meal as a free man was spent at where else? Joe and Pat's of Staten Island where he ordered this large plain pie along with a meatball hero and a chicken parm hero as well. While we are sure he is eating like a king in Tahiti right now, for some reason we don't think the pizza out there can run with Joe and Pat's. Not to worry, we'll have hot pie ready for you guys upon your return!

Congrats again to John and Jen!