Sunday Sauce - Italian Recipes, Food and More!

Food Wars: Battle of the Italian Sausages

What better way to start off the grilling season than to have a Memorial Day slugfest amongst some of the top Italian sausage purveyors in the New York City metro area?  In a duel for the ages, "Sundaysauce" pitted the finest from salumerias in Staten Island, the Bronx and Yonkers against one another.
We had a full cast of characters on hand to sample the salumerias' finest fare, so the sausages would be vetted by a most discerning crowd.

And in this corner . . . 

The contenders included the following:

- Pastosa's of Staten Island

- A&S Pork Store of Yonkers

- Biancardi's of Arthur Ave. in the Bronx

We bought links of both sweet (no fennel) and hot sausages and then conducted a blind-taste test at Mom B's Memorial Day BBQ.  The sausages were served sans any accoutrements, e.g., bread, pepppers, onions or anything else that could alter the taste.

And the winner is. . .

Sweet Sausage Winner: Pastosa's

In the battle of the sweet sausage, it was a close call, with Pastosa's rated No. 1 by 4 voters and No. 2 by 3 voters.  Coming in at second place was A&S Pork Store which chalked up 3 first place votes and 2 second place spots.

Hot Sausage Winner: Tie between A&S Pork Store and Pastosa

For the hot sausage contest, Pastosa's and A&S Pork Store battled to a tie as they both notched 3 first place votes.  An interesting sidebar to the hot sausage contest was that three different voters - Dad B and the two Grandma's, all declared it a dead heat finish between the three contestants.

Additional Notes:

- Biancardi's of Arthur Ave. was handed a resounding ass-whupping as they only notched 2 first place finishes out of 20 different votes.

- Jonny Mangia voted Pastoso's - A&S - Biancardi's for both contests

- Nikki voted A&S - Pastoso's - Biancardi for both contests

Nikki and I aren't surprised that Pastosa performed so well. We've enjoyed their sausage for years at Mom B's and in particular I've found their hot sausages to be otherworldly. What I did notice when examining the uncooked sausage is that Pastoso seemed to have more marbled fat content which is going
to lead to a tastier sausage, albeit one that will clog your arteries a hell of a lot quicker.

Lastly, my personal highlight was the sausage sandwiches which we created after the battle. Using A&S' noted broccoli rabe sausage, we combined the sausage with Rocky Road bread from Cuccio's Bakery of Brooklyn and a stellar onion and peppers combo that Nikki grilled up. Simply unreal!

 

Food Wars: Battle of the Pizza Rusticas

Welcome to our first installment of Food Wars. We decided to use Jonny Mangia's favorite dish of the Lent/Easter season, pizza rustica, as the subject of the first Food War. We went out and bought four different version from leading vendors (hey, we wanted a homemade one but couldn't get one of the vaunted ones from Nicole's Great Aunt Tina in time for the taste test), brought them to Mom G's for Easter and set about tasting them with Mom and Dad G, Jen & Mario Giannettino and Chessy. Here are the contestants:

Faicco's Pork Store - 260 Bleeker Street, NYC 212-243-1974
The Skinny - Faicco's was handicapped as an early favorite. They specialize in stuffed breads and it's so damn clean you can eat off the floor of the place. Cleanliness = quality in the Sunday Sauce book.

Rocco's Pastry & Espresso Cafe - 243 Bleeker Street, NYC 212-242-6031 
The Skinny - Rocco's was a dark horse candidate, added at the last minute. His specialty is pies and pastries. Could he pull-off a prime-time pizza rustica?

DeCicco's Food Market - 21 Center Street Ardsley NY 914-813-2009
The Skinny - This is where Mom G bought the gorgeous lamb for Easter. They have a lofty reputation
for quality so we figured they would hold their own in this pitched battle.

A & S Pork Store - 1789 Central Park Avenue, Yonkers NY 914-337-2550
Jonny Mangia's "go-to" place when it comes to Italian food products.

Note: No contestants from Arthur Avenue? That's right folks. Due to it's rapid transformation into a
tourist mecca, the prices on Arthur Ave. are getting ridiculously inflated. $40 for a pizza rustica? Go scratch!

Here are the tasting notes:

Faicco:
Visual -Huge gorgeous chunks of soprassata show they didn't skimp on the meat. Towering piece.
Crust - A thick shell, almost bread-like
Taste - A bit salty due to the large amount of meat, but after the salt spike subsides, bliss.

Rocco's:
Visual - Shallowest one we bought, not  much meat.
Crust - Pie crust which makes sense as it came from a baker.
Taste - Tasted more like an Italian cheesecake due to the propensity of formaggio.

DeCicco:
Visual - Another large piece, alla Faicco. Decent amount of meat.
Crust - Flaky, phyllo-like crust. Very Middle Eastern.
Taste - Very nice, correct balance of meat and cheese. Only problem was the structure as it fell apart easily when cut into.

A&S Pork Store:
Visual - Somewhat underwhelming. Not much in the way of meat, especially when compared to Faicco.
Crust - Crust was a negative, had a gummy, undercooked vibe.
Taste - Certainly not bad when heated up, but most were unimpressed..with one exception (read below).

The Winner: Faicco's of Bleeker Street
Aside from the initial salt spike, there wasn't anything wrong with this beast, as it scored three 1st place votes and a 2nd place finish as well. Tasted great, held it's form and wasn't all that expensive to boot - about $24 for a whole pie.

Second place was awarded to DeCicco as they finished in the upper rung with all of the voters and avoided any last place finishes.

Next up was A&S which had a few last place finishes yet scored a 1st Place with Nikki !(?).

Rocco's took up the rear, mostly due to it's lack of meat. Hey if we were voting on cheesecake, it would have been a contender.
 

Vodka Sauce Showdown: Mom B. v. Lidia B.

Posted by: (a very objective) Nikki

A very brave move on my part, I decided to put Mom B.'s formidable vodka sauce recipe to the test by pitting it against the "penne alla vodka" recipe of another favorite Italian-cook-matriarch (and worthy contender), Lidia Bastianich! 

Challenging the "less is more" concept of Mom B.'s Vodka Sauce Recipe (which requires only five, yes, five ingredients), Lidia's more involved recipe came with the noteworthy additions of my two fav ingredients: garlic and olive oil!  Yes, I was excited.  The result?  Momma --"B" in this case -- is right again!  The simmering of the vodka and butter together, which serves as the base to this sauce, made the taste of the vodka open up and distinct.  After the tomatoes, desired dose of heavy creme and healthy amount of red pepper flakes were added, the dish had a robust flavor that was no question, a vodka sauce.  I stress the healthy dose of red pepper here as its spiciness nicely juxtaposes the creamy background.  On the other hand, (and much to MY chagrin due to my obsession with garlic), Lydia's addition of 10 garlic cloves and olive oil (as opposed to butter) that served as the base to her sauce, made it bitter and completely overwhelmed the potential of the vodka's "taste."  Mom B.'s simple and foolproof recipe was surely the victor in this showdown! 
And to all those who doubt vodka's potential in the taste and aroma categories (JJ, for example...) this recipe really makes it come alive!

Mom B's Vodka Sauce Serves: 2 (with leftover) or 6 (non-gavone appetites) Ingredients 1 Tb. unsalted butter 1/3 cup vodka 3 16 oz. cans Del Monte tomato sauce (makes a nice "smooth" sauce) or cans of your choosing 1 cup heavy cream (less if you want a more tomato-y sauce, more if you want a creamier sauce) salt (to taste) 1/2 tsp. red pepper OK, let's go! Start cooking your pasta (we prefer this sauce with a tubed pasta such as mezza rigatoni or penne), so that it will be close to finished when the sauce is done... ok, let's continue... Melt the butter in the skillet on a medium heat; once melted (or close to it), add the vodka and let it cook out for about 2-3 minutes; add the tomato sauce and let simmer for about 1 minute; then, pour in the heavy cream; add salt and red pepper to taste (and desired spicyness re: the red pepper). Cook no more than 10 minutes total. When the pasta is done, drain it and throw in skillet with sauce; mix to coat the pasta thoroughly and serve immediately! Tip: Our family doesn't typically add any goodies to this sauce, but you can! If adding shrimp, throw those babies in (make sure they're rinsed, cleaned and de-shelled beforehand) about 5 minutes before you serve because you don't want them to get dried out. If adding chicken, Mom B suggests sauteeing bite-size pieces of chicken breast in another skillet and then plopping the cooked pieces in the vodka sauce at the end.