Making Nice

Ok, I realize I may have freaked some of you out a little with that last post. Apologies. (That said, can't promise I won't do it again.) But you can come back now, it's safe, no furry head-on critters this time around. This recipe is so normal I got it from the Times. And you know what? It's really good.

See look, no ingredients with claws or ears.

 The first time I had socca (for the uninitiated: a savory chickpea flour pancake from south-eastern France/north-western Italy) was at a restaurant called Nizza on 9th Ave in New York. They serve food from Nice, which is what you would get if you mixed equal parts French and Italian, added a bit of Mediterranean sunshine, a pile of herbs, and then drank a bottle of red wine before cooking it up. In other words, wonderful. I could absolutely live on pistous and pissaladiers and good tapanade on fresh bread, and basically did on my trip to Nice a few years ago (at least when the seagulls weren't stealing the food right out of my hand). And the, gelato, oh the gelato. Of course I got a warm socca to eat at the open air market overlooking the beach, even if it was still way to cold to actually swim, being March and all.

The batter, ready for pouring.

 
 I hadn't thought about socca in a while, til a few weeks ago Mark Bittman did a column in the Times about all the wonderful non-hummusy things that can be done with chickpeas, and included this recipe. Don't get me wrong, lord knows I love hummus, but there's a whole chickpea world out there beyond garlicky spreads on pita. The original called for onion and rosemary for flavoring; I went in a different direction with sage ('cause that's how they make it at Nizza) and Italian sausage (because I had it in the fridge). Think of the batter as a blank canvas to play with as you will. It would be lovely with a handful of mixed herbs (sage, tarragon, and parsley?) and garlic; or onions and olives; a little bacon or prosciutto; some crumbled cheese. Beyond their basic sage/onion/pecorino version, at Nizza they use the socca as a gluten-free crust option for their pizzas, including a margherita; one with tomato, artichoke, goat cheese, and olives; and another with mushrooms, onions, and chevre. A nice ratatouille would be lovely on top too, with some oregano sprinkled over. You get the point - make it perfectly vegan or totally indulgent, whatever your mood. Just do try to have a light hand with the toppings so as not to overwhelm the pancake.

Sauteing the toppings.

 The only thing called for here that's slightly out of the ordinary is chickpea flour. I found a bag of Bob's Red Mill at the supermarket for a few bucks (look in the natural or gluten-free section if it's not in with the regular flour). Indian groceries would also have it, possibly under the name 'gram flour' or 'besan'. Worst case, there's always Amazon.

Socca
(adapted from Mark Bittman)

1 cup chickpea flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
olive oil
1 onion sliced
1 handful sage, chopped
1 link Italian sausage
Romano cheese

1) Mix the chickpea flour, salt, and pepper in a bowl. Slowly whisk in 1 cup lukewarm water, making sure to get out all the lumps. Whisk in 2 tbsp olive oil. Cover and let sit on the counter between 30 minutes and 12 hours.

Pouring in the batter

2) Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 450. Add a little olive oil to a cast iron skillet. Crumble the sausage into the pan and saute with the onions until the sausage is browned and the onions are translucent, maybe getting a little browned themselves. Add the sage and stir a minute more. (If you're using other toppings, cook them now.)

3) Pour the batter over the toppings. Stir quickly once or twive to make sure everything's evenly distributed, and sprinkle a handful of romano over the top. Stick in the oven for 10-15 minutes, until the pancake is set.

Ready to bake.

4) Brush a little more olive oil over the top of the socca and set it a few inches under the broiler. Broil it just until it gets brown in spots. Serve cut into slices with a light salad and some good summer wine.

Done.

"Pizza is always 'was awesome'"

Or so says my dear friend B., and in this case he's right. I'm in cleaning out the pantry mode, seeing as I'm about to leave the country for six months, and pizza dough does wonders for emptying the flour jar. Two of the three incarnations were smashing successes; the third, a cheeseburger stromboli, wasn't half bad but probably not worth repeating. The base in all cases was this recipe from the NY Times, which makes two or three normal-thickness crusts. The recipe says to let it rise an hour or two; if you're foresighted enough let it go in the fridge overnight. Or if not, y'know, don't. Save these for a day when you don't mind having a 500-degree oven going. I've gotta say they're pretty damn awesome.


Sausage Pizza 
Half a batch of dough
One Italian sausage (hot Italian, if you're me)
Half a can of diced tomatoes (the good kind, no sugar or salt or other crap added)
Fennel seeds
Good pecorino romano cheese (Locatelli's best)
Sea salt, pepper, olive oil
 
Bring the dough up to room temperature. Preheat the oven as high as it goes, around 500-550 degrees if you can, with a pizza stone in it if you've got. Roll out the dough as thin as possible. Cover with tomatoes, fennel seeds, the innards of the sausage, cheese, salt and cracked pepper to taste. Next time maybe I'll add some fresh oregano too. Bake it til the crust it golden brown, maybe 20-25 minutes. About 10 minutes in, brush the exposed crust with olive oil. Let it cool a bit before you take a bite; I burned the crap out of the roof of my mouth on this one. Which is a good sign with pizza, I think. The leftovers were fantastic cold the next day for lunch.

Bacon/Onion/Olive Pizza, aka the Umami Bomb
Sort of  a cross between a pissaladiere and a deep-dish pizza. And for the love of god, don't add any extra salt.

The other half batch of dough
The other half can (unsalted!) tomatoes
Half an onion
8 or 10 chopped black olives (good herby ones, not crap from a can)
Chopped fresh sage
4 slices bacon, chopped
Fresh pepper
More romano

Let the dough come to room temperature. Meanwhile, chop the onion and saute it in a cast iron skillet. When it gets soft, set it aside but leave the pan oiled. Give the bacon a minute or two on the heat to crisp the edges but don't cook it through. Set aside.


Preheat the oven to 550. Sprinkle some polenta grains/grits in the skillet to stop the dough sticking (optional, the oil itself will do fine). Roll the dough out to just larger than the skillet and set it in, making sure there's a raised edge. Cover with the tomatoes first, then the other stuff, bacon on top. Bake about 25 minutes, til the crust is golden and the bacon is cooked. I pit the bacon on the bottom and ended up putting it under the broiler to make sure things were cooked through and it got a bit charred, not that that's entirely a bad thing for pizza crust.

I love avocados more than life itself

So here are some things I've been doing with them:

Mediterranean Veggie Sandwich
I got one of these at Pret a Manger in the DC train station a while back, so here's my version. It tastes better on a good buttery baguette, but is far less messy as a wrap. Your call.

Avocado
Finely sliced red onion or shallots
Chopped black olives - for christ sake use the good marinated herby kind, not that crap out of a can
Hummus
Spinach
Tomato slices
Cucumber slices
S&P to taste
A few shakes of cayenne
Drizzle of olive oil

Put all of the above on a baguette or wrap. Bring napkins

Guacamole
I know everybody has their own guacamole recipe. This is mine, and it's really good. If you're a purist who says guac should contain only avocados, lime juice, and salt, then I have nothing to say to you.

Avocados
Garlic, roughly 1 clove per avocado
Cumin - 2 shakes per avocado
Salt
Lime juice - 1tsp per avocado
Cayenne - 1 shake per avocado
Chopped tomatoes.

Slice ripe avocados into a bowl. Add minced or garlic-pressed garlic, salt to taste, lime juice, cayenne, and cumin. Mash well (fork or pastry blender, or food processor if you like it totally smooth, which I don't.) Taste, preferably using a tortilla chip, so you get the context. Add more of whatever it needs, probably lime & salt. Mix in the chopped tomatoes at the end.

Bacon Burgers
I had burgers the other day made with bacon ground into the meat, and they were awesome. I put avocado on top.

Mix two parts ground beef to one part finely chopped raw bacon. Mix in shredded sharp cheddar and a dollop of bbq and/or Worcestershire sauce if you're feeling adventurous. Grill. Admire drippy cheese stalactites. If you're me, top with sliced tomato, mashed avocado, ketchup, bbq sauce, pickle flavored potato chips, and more cheese on seeded rye bread. Drool.

On Toast with Eggs
My favorite breakfast ever. Slow-scramble an egg or two (egg + salt + black pepper + a splash  of water/milk/almond milk/cream; beat; cook over the lowest heat you have the patience for so they're nice and soft, stirring often). Toast some sourdough bread. Find one of those avocados that's about two hours short of being overripe and spreads like butter. Toast + thick layer of said avocado + scrambled eggs + a little more salt & pepper on top. Also good with a few strips of bacon if you're feeling decadent, and/or melted cheddar, salsa, seasoning of your choice. But no embellishment required.


Etc.
And in that same vein, here's a link to bacon guacamole grilled cheese, which I can't believe I didn't think of sooner:  www.closetcooking.com/2012/01/bacon-guacamole-grilled-cheese-sandwich.html

Also I ate camel sausage this past weekend. Check that one off the life list. And thanks to my little sister for a spot-on birthday present.

How to Cook a Squash

More recipes! These are from this fall, made with whatever winter squash you like - butternut, delicata, buttercup, acorn, et al. Both are easy as pie and uber-classy. Easier than pie, in fact. Unless you buy your crust pre-made, in which case they're about the same. Both are pureed 'creamy' soups; tossing a potato in gives it that nice texture without any actual cream. Or, you know, add some cream. If you're into that.

Squash Soup #1: Leeks, Celery Root, Ginger
1 squash
1 leek
1 celery root/celeriac/whatever the hell you call it
1-inch chunk ginger
1 small-ish potato
broth
s&p to taste
oil

Cut the squash in half, set it cut-side-up in a baking dish, brush with olive oil, and roast at around 400 til soft, maybe an hour and a half or so. Poke it with a fork, when it's nice and soft with brown at the edges it's done. Let cool.

Peel your celeriac. I usually do this with a knife, 'cause it's way too knobbly for a vegetable peeler. Cut it into chunks, then either rough-chop by hand or give it a good whiz in the food processor, depending how strong your arm is/how lazy you are. Needless to say, I use the food processor.

Peel your ginger. Use a spoon to scrape off the skin; way better than a peeler or knife, and way less chance of slicing your finger open. Chop roughly/stick in the food processor with the celeriac.

Chop your leek. Feel free to use the green parts, if you don't mind that they'll turn your soup kind of a funny color. I don't. Put the chopped leek into a big bowl of cold water and swirl it around a little to get out the dirt. Fun fact: leeks float, dirt sinks.

Peel your potato. Chop into small cubes/add to food processor with the rest.

Heat some oil in a pot. Add the veggies & saute til everything gets soft. Scoop out the flesh of the squash and add that, along with the broth. Simmer for 15 minutes or so.

Blend the soup to make it smooth. Three options if you don't want to scald yourself with a scalding blender full of hot soup: 1) use an immersion blender, 2) let the soup cool first, or 3) take that little clear plastic circle out of the top of the blender, and only fill the thing about halfway each time. I bet you can guess which I do.

Put it all back in the pot, season to taste, warm before serving, garnish with (optional) bacon, and blow the pants off any guests. In a good way.


Squash Soup #2: Apple & Sage
1 squash
1 apple
Onions
Garlic
1 smallish potato
Sage
broth
oil
S&P

Roast your squash. (See above.)

Peel, core, & chop your apple. (I use Granny Smith, but whatevs.) Chop the alliums and potato. Saute it all til the apple is soft and the onions are translucent.

Add the squash flesh, the broth, and half the sage. Simmer for a bit.

Blend as above. Don't scald yourself.

Season to taste. Add the other half of the sage, chopped fine. Bacon would go well here to.

Saturday Morning Grilled Cheese

Today I finally got to try the Cheese Truck from Caseus. I was at the Wooster Square Greenmarket, on a mission to bring back three quarts of chocolate milk for friends too busy to go themselves. So maybe 10:30 was a little early for lunch; whatever. The point is, this stuff's good. Sausage of the day ($5) was kockwurst, and the sandwich special was a grass-fed patty melt, but I decided to go for the classic. (According to the website: "a blend of provalone, swiss, comte, gruyere, gouda, and sharp cheddar on sourdough bread," though the online menu also says they have sandwich add-ons and salads, none of which were in evidence today - so that may be more of an approximation.) The sandwich itself was made to order, crunchy and gooey and not too greasy. Solid if not terribly exciting, in need of some acid to cut the fat. (Cornichons and grainy mustard are available for those of you who like such things, which I emphatically don't.) Dipped in the tomato soup, however, the sandwich went from good to outstanding. I think Judies may still have the edge in the best-tomato-soup-in-New-Haven competition, but the Cheese Truck comes in a close second. Overall, a satisfying lunch, and a well-spent $7.

thecheesetruck.com
Check website and/or twitter (caseusgrilled) for hours & current location.

Best. Sandwich. Ever.

Toasted seeded rye bread.
Melted sharp cheddar.
Sliced green apple.
Sauteed onions.
Bacon.
And the thinnest spread of maple syrup.
Nirvana on a plate.

RIN Thai

A quick review of my lunch yesterday at RIN Thai:
DO go for the lunch specials. Really, go. $8 gets you an appetizer and an entree big enough to make two meals. Seriously, I had my leftovers for lunch today. The chicken prik khing was excellent. The pineapple fried rice was excellent. The sangria ($20 for a pitcher) was really really excellent.
DO go to the bathroom, whether you need to go or not. It's cooler than the dining room. And the dining room's pretty cool. Think pebbles, Buddhas, and fountains.
DON'T order the steamed vegetable dumpling appetizer. It was so overcooked it fell apart in my chopsticks before I'd lifted it 2 inches off the plate. And then it was nearly flavorless. I was not amused. But seriously, the sangria's awesome.

RIN Thai
265 W 23rd St (Btwn 7th & 8th Ave)
(212) 675-2988
www.menupages.com/restaurants/rin/

Stuffing myself in NYC

My aunt & uncle just spent the weekend visiting here in NYC, and while they're not foodies/hounds/pick your label of choice, they do enjoy taking poor little unemployed me out to dinner at places I might not otherwise make it to. So here's an account of our Big Weekend of Eating in New York:

-Thursday lunch: DB Bistro Moderne. This was actually the day before they arrived, but close enough. In honor of restaurant week and prix fixe menus at places I could otherwise never afford, my boyfriend and I went for lunch at DB Bistro Moderne. Apps were great; I got the Alsatian flammenku"che (listed as "tarte flambee" on the online version of the menu) with bacon & onions, and he got the sweet corn soup with shrimp. Boulud knows his produce (cf also our desserts), and the corn soup had a great clean pure corn flavor. As for my tarte, bacon, cheese, & onion happens to be one of my favorite flavor combinations, so I was happy. For the main course we both got the couscous, which came with a piece of lamb, a chicken thigh, and merguez sausage, along with some diced veggies & chickpeas. Good but not outstanding; if I were to do it again I'd order the risotto instead. Dessert brought it back up to a higher level - I got the peach & nectarine crisp, which had the most incredibly intense peach flavor. I wish all peaches tasted like that. The BF's chocolate hazelnut cake was delicious and rich without being overwhelming, and had a wonderfully silky texture. We both ordered orange spritzers ($5) to drink, which were nice and refreshing but nothing special. Verdict: I'd go back for sure.

-Friday dinner: More restaurant week reservations at Mia Dona. They're offering basically the same prixe fix menu they offer at lunch all year, extended for restaurant week to dinner as well. I started with the Mia meatballs, which were fantastic (the big piece of cured pork - sauteed prosciutto? pancetta? guanciale? - in the sauce with them certainly didn't hurt). Main course was the rigatoni alla Norma. In all a successful dish, but the smoked mozzarella in it seemed excessive - it already had smokiness from the eggplant and salty/cheesy richness from the grated ricotta salata, so the mozz was a little redundant. But aside from a few chunks of cheese I happily cleaned my plate. My uncle enjoyed his cod quite a bit, but since I didn't taste it I can't report in detail. To get some veggies in there we ordered a side of sauteed haricots verts for the table - buttery, garlickey deliciousness, topped with dill & fried breadcrumbs. Desserts were also quite good; my vanilla panna cotta was strangely jiggly (maybe a little heavy on the gelatin?) but delicious, and my aunt's tiramisu was the first thing on the able to go. I should also mention the bread basket here, which includes some fantastic foccaccia alongside the more traditional bread slices, and a head of roasted garlic. Again, worth another visit.

-Saturday lunch: Co. I've been here several times before and loved it, and this visit didn't disappoint. We skipped the apps entirely and just ordered 3 pizzas: a margherita, a ham & cheese, and a popeye. I'd never had a margherita here before, and I thought it was really fanastic. Perhaps my new favorite pizza at Co. Ham & cheese was a repeat for me, and with that much prosciutto draped across the top, how can you go wrong? The caraway seeds are a nice touch too. I wasn't as crazy about the popeye; some bites had great flavor but some were slightly bland. That was also the one pizza out of the three that was charred enough to taste burnt to me. Verdict: So happy I live on the same block as this place.

-Saturday dinner: Szechuan Gourmet. I love this place. Apps were steamed vegetable dumplings (good if not terribly exciting) and dan dan noodles (quite possibly my favorite thing to eat in all of New York, even if they went a little light on the szechuan peppercorns this time). My aunt, who doesn't like spicy foods, ordered the chicken & broccoli, and my uncle got General Tso's chicken. Both were sweet & sticky but better than what you get at a lot of American Chinese places. After smelling it at a neighboring table during my last visit, I had to order the crispy lamb fillets with chili cumin. The lamb was slightly greasier than I would have liked, but deliciously cuminy, with just a little kick of spice and a great crunchy/tender texture. As were were walking down the block to the subway afterwards our waitress chased us down outside to give me back my sunglasses, which had fallen out of my bag at the table. Verdict: Bruni was right about them.

-Sunday Brunch: JoeDoe. Final meal of the visit. We came by at about 11:15 (they open at 11 on sundays) and were seated immediately, but by the time we left around noon they were full up, so come early for good seats. We chose JoeDoe for brunch based on the recent writeup in Time Out New York's brunch issue and my hankering for chilaquiles, which I fell in love with in Mexico this winter and hadn't had since. We weren't disappointed. First off, the biscuits with honey butter they brought to the table were just so good. Biscuits were big and moist and the honey butter was a creamy salty sweet pot of addictive deliciousness. I gotta find me a recipe for that. My aunt got the challah french toast with fresh fruit, which was (I kid you not) about 2 inches thick and delicious. My chilaquiles were nothing like those I had in Zihuatanejo, but utterly delicious nonetheless. Instead of crunchy tortilla chips topped with sauce, melted cheese, and bits of meat & veggies, this was a puffy tortilla, topped with a mound of scrambled duck eggs, crumbled chorizo, beans, guacamole, crema, and sauce, more like an unrolled breakfast burrito. My uncle finished every last bite of his eggs benedict, but I didn't get to taste. I liked the ambiance, definitely trendy but in a Brooklyn sort of way, very low-key. Verdict: Can't wait for more relatives to visit so I can finagle another meal here.

Sunday dinner through the foreseeable future: I'm about ready to swear off food for good. So full. But totally worth it.

I <3 Sausages

There's been a lot of talk around about Dogmatic Gourmet Sausage Systems, the sausage place that opened up about a month ago right near Union Square. After two lunches there, I'd say it's deserved - this place knows their dogs. A sausage, poked into a hollowed-out baguette and doused with sauce is $4.50, a damn good deal for just about any neighborhood.
The first time I was there I had a lamb sausage with sun-dried tomato-feta sauce. I'm happy with just about anything that's got feta in it, but this went beyond just satisfying my Greek cheese fetish. The lamb was flavorful without being gamey; the sauce was a reminder that before sun-dried tomatoes became a '90s cliche they got popular for a reason; and the bread... they should win awards for that baguette (baked at "artisanal bakeries such as Pan D'Avignon," according to the website. Fresh, hot, crusty, chewey, carbiferous goodness. The one downside was that, while the hollow-out-a-baguette-and-stick-a-sausage-in-it design means that when you take a bite out of one end, all the sauce-covered insides don't squirt out the other end - they squirt back towards you, dripping orange gunk down your coat as you walk through Union Square. So consider yourself warned, and take some napkins.
On my second visit I ordered the pork sausage with truffled gruyere sauce. I was less impressed this time around - the pork was a little hot-doggy, and the gruyere sauce added a lot of richness but less flavor than I would have liked. Still, it was hot, gooey, and filling, so I'd say I got my $4.50 worth.
Also on the menu are tortilla chips (with your choice of the same sauces that come with the sausages), handmade sodas, and some frozen desserts. I tasted a sample of the chocolate soft-serve and found it too sweet for my taste, but the ginger soda ($2.50) was great, with a recognizable ginger taste and a little bit of kick. Mmm. I'll have one of those with my dog any day.

Dogmatic Gourmet Sausage Systems
26 E. 17th St (just west of Union Square)
eatdogmatic.com

The Best Damn $5 Lunch in New York

I know, I know, the moment you say the word “best” the whole city jumps up to argue with you. But hear me out here, people. This shit’s good.

First of all, here’s the menu: pizza & a cupcake. Who doesn’t love pizza & cupcakes? (N.b the lines at Magnolia and Artichoke Basille, impassioned Chowhound arguments like this one: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/320107, etc.) I stumbled upon this delectable combination early this summer when I decided to finally take a walk down to Chelsea Market and check the place out. (I say finally since I’d been in New York for nearly a year by that point, lived 10 blocks away from it, and hadn’t been by since my visiting-the-grandparents tourist days back in high school.) The problem with Chelsea Market, like in restaurants with too-long menus, is the overabundance of good choices – too many shops offering delicious-looking fare. So I figured hell with it, nobody says I have to stick with one place. My first course came from Buon Italia, where a slice of their basic pizza, topped with nothing but sauce, garlic, basil, and some herbs costs $2.17, cash only. From there, on to Eleni’s for a cupcake, $2 each. I headed out to the seating area in the middle of 9^th Ave to eat in the sun.

It was all fantastic. The pizza was nothing like the cheesy thin-crust stuff most places serve – it’s got a thick, airy crust topped by a thin layer of delicious sauce and herbs and nothing else. The cupcake too was phenomenal. It was a light lunch, not enough if you’re feeling really hungry, but the cupcake was substantial enough to fill up any space left by the pizza on a normal afternoon. Total bill: $4.17.

I’ve taken to going back every weekend for lunch, and there’s enough variation that I haven’t gotten bored yet. For a few extra cents you can get some more toppings on your pizza (cheese, onions, eggplant slices, depending on the day – though the plain is still my favorite). I’ve also tried a bunch of the other offerings, including the frittata di pasta (kind of a baked pasta with sauce, cheese, and veggies served in thick pie-like slices), stuffed zucchini, sautéed artichokes, and a few of the sandwiches, and been impressed by all of them. (I was heartbroken when, sitting outside Lincoln Center eating dinner before seeing South Pacific, my half-eaten frittata slipped off my lap and landed on the ground. What a waste of good carbs!) The frittata’s something like $2.50/slice, the veggies are around $10/pound, and the sandwiches (may I recommend the Milanese with breaded chicken, eggplant, sauce, & basil) range from around $4 each up to $6.50, so the tab’s higher but it’s still easy enough to stay below $10 for a meal. Also worth getting is the $1.50 can of Lemon Soda, more like a fizzy lemonade than a soda and hard to find in this country.

Eleni’s too has enough options to keep things interesting. The cupcakes are all fantastic – my favorite is the chocolate with coconut – but what really blew me away was a maple-walnut muffin with cream-cheese icing. Light, flavorful, not too sweet, and, since I ate it outside on a hot & humid day, by the time I finished the frosting had melted all over my hand. And let’s be honest, that’s definitely a plus. If a cupcake’s too heavy for your taste, the scones are good too, and come with a free small coffee (they’ll give you tea instead if you ask). Most pastries are $2-3, and if you go after 6 (after 5 on Sundays), everything is half price. How many places in this city can you get a cupcake for a buck anymore? And if you go Friday through Monday after noon or so and you see a cute guy with dark hair behind the counter, say hi to him. His name is Jon and he’s awesome.

So that’s my recommendation: pizza and a cupcake at Chelsea Market, awfully cheap and very tasty. It may not be the best five bucks you can spend in New York – I’ll leave that argument to the taco-truck aficionados vs the DiFara’s devotees – but it’s pretty damn good.