Road Trip: Di Fara

Continuing on our NYC pizza tour, we made our first foray into Brooklyn. We met up at 5:30 on the Q line at Union Square and then rode out to Avenue J to get to Di Fara. A couple of things to note here: 1. Avenue J is more than 1 or 2 stops - when I finally checked, it was still 9 stops to go, 2. the subway never runs normally on Sundays - so we ended up on an express that skipped J and we had to get off and go back 2 stops. Okay, so it wasn't like we were hiking through the Serengeti or something, but we did still find a local guide (when we were chatting about how much further she spoke up, S asked a few questions and soon she was giving us the Orthodox guide to Avenue J - according to her, Di Fara's is pretty much the only non-kosher pizzeria in that neighborhood, and her son prefers PizzaTime (but, of course, they hadn't been to Di Fara's so she couldn't compare)).

Stepping out of the subway station, I had directions and S had a map, and anyway, it's really only about 40 steps (go left young man, go left). And, I wasn't disappointed when I saw it. It looked just like it should - it looked like it had been there forever.

Apparently, the 'rule' is that it's open for dinner from 6pm until 9 or whenever they run out of dough. Others have recommended showing up before 6 to get in line. Due to the subway, etc., it was actually almost 6:30 when we got there, but ... they still weren't open and there was only a small line (3 people actually, in front of us). One guy had been waiting an hour - but it was his first trip. One woman hadn't been waiting very long, and she mentioned that she preferred Roberta's, but not why she was waiting outside for this then. The third guy had this raspy voice with a hood and a scarf covering the bottom half of his face (did I mention we waited to go until the first weekend it snowed in NYC, so it was a bit chilly). The raspy guy told us that it was great pizza, definitely worth waiting for and that he had once waited 4 hours. S then repeated the reasons this was one of our ten - which included that it had been deemed 'transcendent' by Ed Levine.

The doors were finally (only about 5 minutes of real waiting time, so right around 6:30) unlocked and we all (there were now probably 15 of us) piled in. The guy behind the counter takes orders on a tablet divided into 9 squares; he writes the orders in each box with your initials in the upper-left-hand corner. Meanwhile, behind him, there's one guy grinding cheese and the other guy putting together the pies. I waited to place the order while others got a table (there are only about 15 seats in the whole place) and drinks.

I was nervous when a few minutes later a couple I hadn't seen waiting got a hot pie. I'm still not sure how it worked - had they ordered it at lunch? is there a special number you can call? I don't know. But they and the family of 4 that had parked the bikes out front both got served before the only three people we had actually seen as waiting in front of us. But there were only the two 'special cases' and then the three before us did actually start to get their pies.

I don't know that I was that hungry when I got there, but watching them grind the cheese, smelling the pies, seeing them cut the fresh basil onto the hot pies... pretty soon, I was starving. And before too long, we had ours. We ordered two round ones: margarita (because you have to do it to be consistent) and a Di Fara special (because, why not - it was sausage, mushroom, onion and pepper - which (minus the peppers, which are easy to pick off) is a favorite combo of mine).

A, S and I all reached for the margarita to start. H grabbed a special - noting that she might not even try the margarita. She later changed her mind. We all agreed that the margarita was actually the better pie - by far. Somehow, the toppings just didn't quite work on the special. It was off balance. The margarita had a great crust that was pretty thin, but had enough heft to it that you still knew it was there. It was not at all soggy - perfectly dry (in a good way - but definitely less bready/thinner than any of the others that we've had recently). It then had a bit of sauce and three kinds of cheese. The cheese worked for me. I liked it. That said, I did not feel transcended. It was a good pizza. It wasn't (in my (as well as A's, H's and S's) mind) a transcendent pizza.

So, the summary is that it was a fun trip. I might recommend not doing it on one of the coldest days of the year (they leave the door of the shop open - it can get windy). But it was fun to visit Avenue J, though I probably don't need to do it again.

Kimchi Fried Quinoa

So, I love kimchi fried rice. Though recently I've almost totally replaced it with quinoa. And so, I decided to try kimchi fried quinoa (instead of the otherwise amazingly delicious kimchi fried rice).

I cruised around, combined a bunch of recipes, looked at what I had in the fridge and made the following:
1 tub kimchi (I feel like it's a pound, but not really based on any real knowledge)
1 lb ground pork
1.5 onions
3 cloves of garlic
Chili sauce
Soy sauce
Sesame oil

1. Sautee 1 onion and garlic. Add pork and cook. Add chili sauce and soy sauce to taste.
2. In a separate pan sautee second onion and garlic. Add kimchi and cook.
3. Add quinoa to kimchi pan and cook (the idea is to make it a bit crispy, but I've never really been able to make it very crispy). Add a bit of sesame oil (I probably added 1/2 tablespoon, but maybe a little more)
4. Mix the two pans together.

Simple and delicious!

Just a Random Tuesday Night

Tonight we had another of our random Tuesday night dinners. I learned that if I tilt my table across my 'dining area', I can comfortably seat 8 (rather than (as had been my modus operandi) just having the skinniest person sit at the far end)).

We started out with a pudding recipe I had seen on epicurious, plus L was reading the Momofuku cookbook and our continuing search for a pork recipe and ended up with what was a great menu.

Menu

• Hors d'oeurves: Bagna Cauda (Cauliflower with olive oil dipping sauce)
• Rustic Onion Tart with Greens
• Pork Tenderloin with Green Curry Cream Sauce, Jasmine Rice and Brussel Sprouts
• Sticky Date Pudding with Toffee Sauce

Things to note

• Both L&I noticed the NYTimes recipe on the cauliflower. And it was really good. Better than it should have been.
• The onion tart is so very, very easy (though a bit time consuming). It really doesn't deserve to be as good as it is.
• I firmly believe that the best brussel sprouts ever are at Momofuku, so when L said she had the recipe, I was sold. And they were amazing!! (The requisite "I don't like brussel spouts, but I'd eat the whole bowl of these")
• The Date Pudding looks very much like what Les Etats Unis - a restaurant on the Upper East side serves. And that is one amazing dessert. I agree with the other reviewers (on epicurious) though and should have cooked it longer.

Pork Tenderloin with Green Curry Cream Sauce

We used the recipe for the Beef Tenderloin with Green Curry Cream Sauce as a jumping off point. We used the Herb Roasted Pork Loin recipe for pork cooking time. And subbed in green curry (I used 1 Tablespoon, but should probably have done 1/2 (I actually added a little extra cream)).

Momofuku Brussel Sprouts
Serves 8

4 lbs sprouts

Vinaigrette
1/2 cup Fish Sauce
1/4 cup water
2 Tbsp rice vinegar
Juice of 1 lime
1/4 cup sugar
1 garlic clove minced
2 red chilies

Other
Cilantro - 2 Tbsp sliced stems and 1/2 cup leaves

1. Cut sprouts. in half
2. Heat 2tbs oil in oven safe skillet. Add sprouts cut side down
3. When they begin to brown, transfer to oven for abt 15 mins at 400
4. While cooking, combine the vinaigrette ingredients
5. Toss the sprouts with the vinaigrette
6. Fry cilantro and sprinkle over sprouts

You Can Go Home Again - Pizza Bread

Tonight I had 13 people over for a discussion group kind of thing. With that many people, I couldn't easily do a full dinner (and I'm feeling lazy), so I did what my mom did when she had people to feed and didn't want to do the table thing. I made Pizza Bread. I should also note that this is one of my absolute favorite foods on the planet. But I don't eat it very often. And I'm not sure why. Because it is delicious. And easy. Very easy.

Menu

• Hors d'oeuvres: Fresh ricotta, olives, olive tapenade, sopressata and grapes
• Pizza bread
• Congo Bars and 7-Layer Bars

Pizza Bread
Serves about 6 people (I made 2 for 13 people and wish I had made a third, though most of it would have been left-over (but this is really, really good left-over))

2 ½ cups unsifted flour
1 ½ tsp sugar
2 tsp salt
1 pkg yeast
1 cup hot tap water
2T oil
16 oz (4 cups) of grated mozzarella cheese
3 oz thinly sliced pepperoni
1 ½ onions (diced)
Oregano
Salt
Pepper

1. Mix 1 cup flour, sugar, salt and yeast together
2. Add water and oil
3. Beat 1 minute on low (I just mixed by hand)
4. Stir in flour for a soft dough
5. Knead 8-10 minutes (I usually do about 5)
6. Place in a greased bowl (I just use the one that I was mixing in, without cleaning it out), Cover and let rise until doubled (about 45 minutes)
7. Punch down, roll out to a rectangle (maybe 20 inches by 8 inches)
8. Cover with the cheese, add the layer of onions, and season with oregano, salt and pepper
9. Place the pepperonis one at a time across the dough
10. Jelly roll it and put it seam side down on a cookie sheet
11. Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes (until nicely browned)
12. Let sit for 15-20 minutes (you can eat sooner, but the cheese ends up everywhere)

One thing to note - I'm not at all sure where this recipe/idea came from, but I was struck by the Pepperoni rolls that the NY Times discovered in West Virginia recently.

Let the Games Begin - Pizzeria Veloce

Working off a combination of S's matrix and Opentable (I can't handle a 'no reservation' option on a Friday), we chose Veloce Pizzeria as our first official pizzeria (we're looking at comparing 5 'new' places (opened in the last 18 months) and 5 'originals' (opened before 1924)). We were supposed to be 6, but between the rain and the flu, we were down to 3 by the time we sat down. But S, A and I are troopers, we were committed to carrying on.

The ambiance is great and the host and waitress were fabulous. We chose an arugula salad (improving the green balance over last time) and then got into the pizza decision. The margarita was easy (nothing like a requirement to simplify life), the mushroom was an obvious choice and then both the sausage and the onion looked great. We knew that 4 was a bit excessive, but we figured why make a decision if you don't have to. The waitress convinced us that that was probably too much - she recommended 1 pie for 2 people, so we dropped the sausage and onion options (and ended up with just one piece extra, so it was perfect). She was really great.

The pizza is sicilian, so very different from Co. It's a thicker, richer crust (as well as more square - which potentially does not affect the flavor, but does affect the experience (at least for me as I kept thinking, 'hmm this is square')) than non-sicilian. The margarita was good. S & A enjoyed it a bit more than I did. I liked the almost buttery crust and the strength of the cheese, but it just didn't quite make my mouth sing. Maybe the sauce? They liked the balance.

I loved the mushroom - the other two also liked it, though were potentially slightly less lyrically enthused than I was. I felt a little like I was outside in the fall, wearing weather appropriate boots, hunting around in damp leaves for mushrooms. The crust was a perfect balance for the strong woodsy-ness of the mushrooms and the cheese just made it really pop. I wanted to close my eyes and savor (though I didn't because the whole square-ness thing sort of made me feel like I had to keep an eye on where I would take my next bite). I had an extra half a piece of the mushroom while A had half of the last margarita slice (which she said lost a little in cooling off/coming after the mushroom).

We tried to go to Chick-alicious for dessert, but good conversation disrupted our timeline and they were already closed by the time we arrived. It didn't matter. The pizza was good.

The Last Word on New York Pizza

So, a group of us decided that it would be fun to finalize once and for all what the best pizza is in New York (using the opinions of the thousands that have gone before us as input - allowing our answer to be the absolute and final word on the subject). Having shouldered this mantle of responsibility, we're going about it in a very structured way (S compiled an incredibly impressive fact-base on the subject which he then transformed into an easy to use matrix - no one could accuse of us taking our responsibility lightly). There will be no room for dissention on our decision.

As with all things of great import, we decided a dry run would be a good idea. S and I met at Company for a leisurely lunch. We decided that a shared salad would provide a bit of balance to the hedonism of the pizza - but chose the beet salad (which was great), but (with beets generally tasting remarkably like candy) may not have truly balanced the vegetable content of our meal.

We started with a pizza bianca - just a simple crust flavored with olive oil, rosemary and salt. It was light and crispy, but still with enough to the crust that it wasn't like eating air. It was a nice beginning (though we realized later that the 'ricotta' dip option would have been a good idea).

For the main event, we selected the margarita and the popeye. Following in the tradition of some of the best food reviewers, we will be ordering a margarita everywhere we go. Then, depending on the people with us/the size of the pie/etc. we will chose other topping options.

The margarita was fine. The crust was not quite as good as the bianca - slightly chewy/damp in places; the sauce was nice, but not overly distinctive; the cheese was good.

The popeye was amazing. I eyed it a bit askance when it arrived as it looked less like a spinach pizza than a pizza crust that someone had upended a salad on. However, I am nothing if not determined and I stepped up to the plate (metaphorically speaking of course) and took a bite. It was the most amazing balance of green and decadence I've had (maybe ever, but definitely recently). The crust was perfect (the whole way through both pieces), the spinach was fresh and perfect with some parts a little crisp from baking and some a little more raw, and the whole thing was tied together with a rich mixture of olive oil, cheese and garlic (maybe other stuff, but that was the major). Both S and I agreed that this was a great pizza (we even recommended it to the couple next to us, who seemed oddly discomfited to be addressed by strangers at a communal table). With one (dry run) pizzeria down, we had a pizza to beat. And having tried both pizzas, but with a little more room, both S and I had a second slice of the popeye, letting our second slices of the margarita go to waste.

We did also have dessert (the chocolate thing), but in retrospect, I might have preferred a second popeye.

Sunday Night Dinner

Had friends over for a casual dinner, but was in the mood for cooking - so I made the following menu

• Hors d'oeuvres: Spicy-sweet bacon (made with thick farmers' market bacon), Red seedless grapes, Fresh Ricotta (with a bit of oil, salt and pepper) and pita chips
• Twice-Baked Goat Cheese Souffle with Micro-greens with a sherry vinaigrette
• Dill Bread
• Roast Leg of Lamb with carrots and mashed potatoes
• Lemon Cake with Lemon Curd and whipped cream

A bunch of these (bacon and souffle are recipes I've used before, though I did make some changes to all of the epicurious recipes)

• Bacon - I substituted maple-sugar sugar for brown sugar - for next time I think upping the sugar portion a very small amount is a good idea (it was a bit spicy for some people); I also used thick farmers market bacon, but maybe prefer the crunch stuff
• Souffle - I somehow thought that i was supposed to add 4oz of Gruyere to this recipe - I have NO idea how I got that in my head. But I didn't realize until it was already in and melting - so I cut the goat cheese down (to ~6oz). It was okay, but could have used more of the mustard and thyme (I also had to sub dried ground mustard as somehow the lid on the dijon wasn't closed and it was not usable)
• Dill Bread - got rave reviews, not really surpising as it is my favorite too
• The lamb was okay - I thought the rub worked well, but had issues with the timing and the temp (it said til 130 and I lost track of time and it went to 140, but was still a little rare even for me) - I also had no luck with the sauce (probably because there was very little in the way of drippings) - not sure what I would change (other than cooking it longer) though
• Lemon cake&curd - the curd was (again) phenomenal - it was so very good. The cake is almost more of a base (I think the last recipe may have been a teensy bit better, but can't find it) - plus I served whipped cream, so how bad can that be

Dill Bread
This is one of my mom's standards - I think it's from a random Bread book

1 package yeast
¼ cup water
1 cup cottage cheese
2Tbsp sugar
¼ cup fresh dill (or 2T dill seed)
1Tbsp butter
2Tbsp onion
1tsp salt
¼ tsp baking soda
1 egg
2 ½ - 3 cups flour

1. Heat cottage cheese to lukewarm. Add butter, sugar, salt, onion, dill and egg (beaten) in a saucepan. Pour into large bowl when warmed
2. Add yeast/water mixture
3. Beat in flour
4. Add flour until dough is stiff. Knead for a few minutes
5. Cover. Let rise until double (about 1 hour)
6. Stir down a bit. Place in a greased bread pan and let rise again
7. Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes


Lemon Cake (i.e., Sweet Lemon Bread)
This is a recipe from my mom – I think she got it from her mom

½ cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 ½ cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup milk
1 tsp salt
1 lemon – juice and zest

For glaze:
1 lemon – juice
½ cup sugar

1. Cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs
2. Alternate milk and flour (plus baking soda and salt)
3. Add lemon
4. Butter and flour the pan. Bake at 300 for 1 hour 10 minutes
5. Immediately remove from pan. Puncture the top (with a fork) and pour glaze over. Let cool

Just Like Old Times in Nagoya

I've been spending a lot of time recently back in Tokyo (I lived there for more than 4 years, but that was a long time ago) and am really enjoying two parts: 1. seeing old friends, 2. eating. There are some things that it really is impossible to get outside of Japan But there are some things that it's tough even to find in Japan - regional specialties.

I love eel - unadon is one of my favoritie dishes, but somehow it just doesn't taste as good in the US. I don't know what it is. So, I do always try to have it when I'm there. This time, for some reason I got in my head a very distant memory of a meal on a rainy inght in Nagoya. We had had eel, but it was eel three ways - a Nagoya specialty (this was a long time ago, but I think it may have been at the place where this specialty originated). I never had the style again. For some reason, the first trip I had to Tokyo in August, I thought of it again - but there was no chance to go to Nagoya, and I didn't remember the name (or anything else) of the restaurant anyway. One night, I was going out with my friend E for dinner and was talking to one of my co-workers about ideas. After I confirmed a different restaurant with him, she came up with another suggestion - what about Hitsumabushi?

And, unbelievably, there it was - the dish that had until then existed as an almost dream-like memory. It was real. And so, she and I made plans for dinner on our next trip. And Ginza is much closer than Nagoya.


There were four of us and we all got the Hitsumabushi set.

All it is really is unadon that you eat three different ways, but that does make it better - at least I think so. So the plan is that you first eat about one-third of the eel just normally (i.e., a little eel and a little rice). The second third is put (with rice) in the small empty white bowl with some wasabi and onions - and mixed up (this is my favorite of the three ways). The final third repeats the second third mixture but adds soup broth to make a chawamushi kind of thing (you're supposed to add nori, but I find that it overwhelms the other flavors).

It's simple and it's good. And a little fun.

Picnic in the Park - Quinoa and Bacon

We had a picnic in the park yesterday - Symphony in the park is one of my favorite nights of the year. I baked that same Apricot Tart I made a few weeks ago (it seemed very picnic-y and was delicious), but once I started cooking, I wanted to cook some more.

I decided to make the bacon that I had fallen in love with over my 4th of July holiday. We nick-named it 'crack bacon', it was spicy, sweet and magical. I found a Spicy Sweet Bacon recipe on epicurious and tried it. I'm going to try it again but change the brown sugar to maple syrup - that said, even with the brown sugar - it was amazing!

I've been eating a lot of quinoa. But I really wanted a pasta salad kind of thing. So I found a couple of recipes and mixed them up for a Roasted Vegetable and Chevre Quinoa Salad:
3 Crook-necked squash
2 Zuchini
1 Vidalia onion
1 1/2 pint thingees of cherry tomatoes
3 cloves garlic
1/2 cup Kalmata olives
1 box quinoa
5 oz goat cheese
Fresh herbs - I used basil, lemon basil, lemon oregano and tarragon
Salt and white pepper (black pepper would work, but I love white pepper)

• Cook the quinoa normally
• Roast zuchini, squash, onion, garlic and 1 pint cherry tomatoes with olive oil and salt and pepper at 450 for about 30 minutes
• Add the goat cheese to the quinoa
• Add salt, pepper and herbs to the quinoa
• Mix in the roasted vegetables
• Roughly chop the last 1/2 pint cherry tomatoes, mix in with olives into quinoa
• Adjust salt and pepper to taste

All three offerings were well received by the picnic-ers!