Not even 24 hours after the Thanksgiving feast, I went on a Brooklyn pizza crawl with my sister Chessy, Uncle James and Cousin Jimmy. We visited two of Brooklyn's vaunted pizzerias - DiFara's and Motorino. And to top it off, later that evening I decided to drive down the Hutch and paid a visit to Ernie and Louie's in the Bronx. So yes, three pizzerias in one day makes for a crawl, and the gory details have been noted.
I will follow up with a longer, more detailed post about the experience, but for now enjoy the photo gallery and video.
How do you prepare your Italian tomatoes for cooking? Nikki is known to bust out the KitchenAid blender and give the tomatoes a few pulses, keeping the seeds in the mix. However there are those who find the seeds to leave a bitter taste. If you want to remove them, herein lies a technique using the trusty salad spinner.
Chef Dave Pasternak dropped by CBS to give tips on how to put together an authentic Christmas Eve Feast of the Seven Fishes with only $80. Let it roll...
We spent last Sunday hanging out at Zero Otto Noveon 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"
Sunday Sauce is proud to present to you the following 4 videos showing our visit to "The Cheese Store", a gourmet cheese shop that recently opened in Hoboken, NJ! Our mission: to be introduced to a few Italian cheeses that most people wouldn't be familiar with. That means no talk of parmiggiano, mutz or pecorino romano! Join us on our journey by clicking on the videos below. We look forward to your emails and comments. Ciao!
PS - "The Cheese Store" is a must-see in our fair Hoboken. In addition to over 70 cheeses from myriad regions, they sell gourmet food products, meats and sandwiches made only with their gourmet ingredients. Check them out at:
The Cheese Store 720 Monroe Street Hoboken, NJ 07030 201-683-8162 www.thecheesestorehoboken.com info@thecheesestorehoboken.com
Resident Cheese Expert & the First Cheese, "Piantino" from Tuscany
The Second Cheese, "Fiore di Sardo" from Sardinia
The Third Cheese, "Taleggio" from Lombardy
The Fourth Cheese, "Blu del Moncenisio" from Piedmont
I was pleasantly surprised last Wednesday when I opened up the food section of the New York Times and noticed an article by Harold McGhee that discussed various ways to cook octopus ("pulpo"). One important highlight was McGhee's dispelling the myth of placing a wine cork in the water in which the octopus cooks. This was precisely what Mom G. discovered several years ago and I have video to prove it! Each year, me and Mom G. visit Randazzo's Seafood on Arthur Avenue to pick up the bounty for the family Christmas Eve "feast of the fishes", a bounty which most definitely includes pulpo. After using a cork for years, Mom G. was advised by the owner of Randazzo's to ditch the cork and use a method where you dip the pulpo 3 times in the water before letting it cook away. This has proven to be spot-on and our pulpo has never been more tender. Below you will find a video where Mom G. talks about this method. Although she typically makes the polpo for the seafood salad on Christmas Eve, this dish, dressed with some fresh-squeezed lemon, choppend parsely and drizzled olive oil begs to be eaten on a spring or summer day accompanied with a light, crisp glass of Italian white wine. Enjoy!
Like many Italian food lovers, I am obsessed with tomato sauces and finding the perfect San Marzano brand of tomatoes for these sauces. So, it is not surprising that on my never-ending quest for the perfect can, I can often be heard asking chefs, vendors and waiters alike, what brand they prefer. On a recent pilgrimage, er, trip, to the indoor Retail Market on Arthur Avenue in the Bronx, a vendor recommended the brand Strianese at a whopping $4 a can which, the vendor explained, was due to the brand’s “DOP” designation, which means that the tomatoes genuinely originate and are manufactured in the San Marzano region of Italy.
Photo: Our tomato combatants. Are DOP-certified Strianese tomatoes worth the $4? Should La Squisita be used for pest control? Watch the video!
Because every trip to Arthur Avenue must include a stop at Café Il Mercato for a slice or two of their delectable Sicilian–style pizza, I queried the pizza guys on their tomato brand of choice. La Squisita was their answer, a brand that Jonnymangia and I had passed up at the vendor’s because it was not “DOP” designated and was cheaper at just under $2 a can. But the sauce was so good on Il Mercato's pizza that we decided to pit these two brands against one another in a Tomato Sauce Showdown.
Thus, armed with our battling brands of tomatoes, we decided to make a simple recipe of marinara sauce so that we could really discern the true taste of the tomatoes. To find out which brand won out in our Tomato Sauce Showdown, check out our video!
