Friday, November 11, 2016

Master Chef Contestant Is Top Shelf Foodie / Long Island Weekly November 2-8, 2016


As I commented on my Facebook page...
"Sincere thanks to Anton Media Group writer and editor Dave Gilbert de Rubio for his polished writing skills. Credit must also be given to Charlotte Murphy for discovering my blog...and...to Newsday's newspaper Alejandra Villa, an Emmy award winning photographer extraordinaire for taking a pic that is worthy of this second write-up.
I'm humbled and deep down inside happy to be...again...worthy of the recognition."





Master Chef Contestant Is Top Shelf Foodie
BY DAVE GIL DE RUBIO
dgilderubio@antonmediagroup.com



Bert Spitz and a dish of pasta with white clam sauce he whipped up
Bert Spitz and a dish of pasta with white clam sauce he whipped up


Ownership of a garment hanger
company may be Bert Spitz’s
profession, but food is his passion.
He is a personal chef and regularly
posts to his food blog Phoodographs
and Finds (phoodographsandfinds.
blogspot.com), which allows him
to combine his intense interests
in the culinary and photographic
arts. Recent blog postings had Spitz
waxing rhapsodic about his homemade
potato salad made with dill
pickle, a summer Broadway market
and tasting expeditions he made to
an old-fashioned East Hampton ice
cream/hamburger shop called Sip
‘n Soda and the Water Mill location
of the burrito joint, Sabrosa Mexican
Grill. But his love of restaurant
culture, chefs and cooking date
back to when he was growing up in
Los Angeles back in 1955, when his
parents would take the family to eat at
the Piccadilly Restaurant, where the
captain would allow the young Spitz
to prepare the Caesar salad tableside.
Fast forward to the early 1990s, when
the Great Neck native decided to explore
being a personal chef while still
holding on to his regular weekday job.
It quickly evolved into more than just
preparing meals for paying clients.
A fresh tomato salad Bert Spitz ate at the annual Cutchogue Fire Department BBQ and subsequently blogged about.
A fresh tomato salad Bert Spitz ate at the annual Cutchogue Fire Department BBQ and subsequently blogged about.

“It started as a personal chef interest
and I joined the USPCA (United States
Personal Chef Association) in 1993 under
my corporate name of BetsaPasta
PCS. I cooked at clients’ homes and
left them with proper freezing and
thawing instructions,” he explained.
“In one instance, a client asked me if
she invited friends over, would I cook
dinner for all of them and teach them
how to prepare each dish? It turned
out that I got busy doing small dinners
for this client, her friends and others
and the personal chef service then
became a thing of the past. It was more
fun to cook and give lessons.”
Spitz
has been
blogging since
September 2010,
with an estimated 95 percent of his
entries centering on a Long Island
destination. The personal writing
style jibes well with his photographic
eye and as an added bonus, he
includes some of his many favorite
recipes, including his flank steak
ragu recipe that helped him make it
through the first round of the Gordon
Ramsay show, Master Chef.
“I know a lot about photography
and photo composition. [For me],
nice simple photos make a blog or
book interesting, colorful and fun,” he
said. “Check out the succulent entry
from June. The pics are fabulous,
if I do say so myself. I’ve had folks
call me to thank me for letting them
know about this short-term, summer
Broadway market. Makes me feel like
I’ve reached people and am spreading
some cheer…not to mention good
taste…pun intended.”

While newspaper reviews help
plant the seed for where Spitz will be
taking his palate, word-of-mouth from
friends whose food tastes he respects
are far more important. It also fits with
Spitz’s desire to share the discoveries
he’s made during his travels in the
most glass half-full kind of way.
“Phoodographs is all about my
food photos...and Finds is all about
cool places to visit off the beaten
path and more effective ways to navigate
them for optimum enjoyment,”
he said. I write nothing negative
about any restaurant. It’s all about
my own experience and if it’s good,
I’ll tell people about the specific
dishes I/we enjoyed.”

Visit www.phodographsandfinds.blogspot.com
to read Bert Spitz’s food blog.


BY DAVE GIL DE RUBIO
dgilderubio@antonmediagroup.com






Thursday, November 10, 2016

New "Anniversary Shrimp & Clams Scampi" & Touring on The NOFO Election Day November 8, 2016


Yesterday was Sandy's and my 41st wedding anniversary. We decided to head out east to wine country and enjoy a beautiful sunny 67 degree day.
First stop, Briermere Farm for PIE! Second stop...our favorite vineyard, Pugliese Vineyards, to pick up some of our favorite wines. While we were there, the always affable and hostess with the mostess, Mrs. Pugliese, offered us some cheese and wine as an anniversary gift. 
Mrs. Pugleise

Since I had to drive, we decided to graciously accept the cheese platter and taste just a couple of the wines offered to us. We chose a wine you can count on being consistently wonderful on Long Island...ie... the Bordeaux style red blend known as Meritage. Another is the Pugliese selection of of sparkling white and rose'. Thank you Mrs. P!
Cheese and Cracker Platter was YUM!

Sandy & Bert


 Next...Jeni's for a quick bite o lunch. Who knew election day was National Cappuccino Day?


We stopped off  at an antique shop or two, a couple of farms for some fruits and veggies..and then onto Marissa' Drago's Main Road Biscuit Co. for biscuits. Only open for two weeks, they are already famous for their desserts and local farm to table fare for breakfast and lunch in Jamesport on the beautiful at this time of year north fork. BTW...NOFO = North Fork


A Main Road Biscuit


Apple Surprise

We barely made it and as the clock struck 3 PM the door sign came up saying closed. Marissa, however, was gracious enough to put together  for us a box to go with a couple of her famous biscuits with honey butter and an apple dessert which was fabulous. We'll actually have to find out what is was that we enjoyed next time we get out to the NOFO!
On our way back home, wanted to make a  a quick stop to see the famous Joanne Zilnicki of NOFO Zilnicki Farms fame. 
Guess what?
She was closed. We weren't sure when we would see her again since they close Thanksgiving, so we knocked on her door to say Hi and Bye.
When she found out it was our anniversary, she went out back and presented Sandy with a beautiful bouquet of flowers. Awwwww!

Thank you Joanne! See you again soon.

By this time at this time of year, the sun sets early and Sandy wanted to see the famous NOFO sunset. So off we went to the beach. Check this out!
Sunset in Baiting Hollow

Ok...the sun has set and now off to vote back home in in East Norwich!

Voting Day for the next President of the USA

Ok...so now what's for dinner on this fine Happy Anniversary Day? I had bought some shrimp to make a shrimp cocktail and cocktail sauce made with some of NOFO's  'famous' Schmitt's horseradish...but Sandy had a better idea. "Lets have shrimp scampi"!
Okay!

Which leads me to my new recipe (with Patsy's NYC as my inspiration) for 
Shrimp and Clams Scampi


Back in the late 1950's, my grandparents and parents used to eat at relatively new Patsy's restaurant in Manhattan. What I remember most was their tomato/marinara sauce on one pasta or another. To this day I believe that a tomato/marinara sauce is the base flavor of sooo many dishes in an Italian restaurant. IF that red sauce is good, the restaurant, for the most part, will be successful...plain and simple!

One of the dishes that stuck in my head was Patsy's shrimp scampi and it wasn't for many years a recipe I thought about duplicating. When I started going to the food shows some 15 years ago, I befriended Sal Scognamillo, the Patsy's chef and grandson of the original Patsy. I think it was at one of the trade shows where they had a booth introducing their Patsy's sauces in jars that I bought their cookbook and decided to master the shrimp scampi recipe I'd always enjoyed the most.
Patsy's Cookbook


There came a time, however, that my taste buds told me there was a need to adjust the recipe to my own taste and drastically cut back on the garlic. I also felt the need to add a bit more Worcestershire sauce and lemon. Believe me, I certainly didn't want to mess around with a classic recipe that has worked successfully for half a century,
                                              BetsaPasta Anniversary Shrimp & Clams Scampi

 I found, however, that 6 cloves of minced garlic was overpowering the flavors I wanted to bring out, namely the sweet and sour flavors of the shrimp and the lemon. A couple of other adjustments as I mentioned above and Bam!
With Pugleise Rose'

One ingredient to make this dish, and sooo many others, that I won't mess around with are the Patsy's "Seasoned Bread Crumbs" Just fantastic!

Sandy and I were visiting our friend Helen last week and when she scoops out her bread or even bagels, she toasts them and puts the scooped out pieces in a jar to use as bread crumbs. Can't wait to try that.

PATSY'S SEASONED BREADCRUMB RECIPE

1/2 small loaf day-old Italian bread (about 1/2 pound), cut into large pieces



  • 3 tablespoons freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
  • 1/4 cup finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
  • Pinch of freshly chopped oregano preferred (I use dried oregano)
  • 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • Place bread in the bowl of a food processor; process until fine crumbs are formed. Transfer crumbs to a large bowl along with cheese, parsley, oregano, and garlic; stir to combine. Gradually stir in olive oil until well combined. Season with salt and pepper. Store, refrigerated, in an airtight container, up to 5 days
Getting back to the recipe...
In a restaurant, there is always fresh clam sauce. At home, the store bought bottle of clam juice was what I always used...UNTIL last night!
I was passing by the seafood section, saw a tray of little neck clams and into my head popped an idea. Just use the same amount of fresh clam juice from real live clams and add the clams to the shrimp scampi? Brilliant!
So I bought 10 clams for 4.00 (the clam juice was 4.00) and Bam! Again!

Here is simple service for two:

8 MAIN INGREDIENTS
-4-5 ounces dried pasta like thin spaghetti or linguine prepared al dente (reserve 2-3 Tbsp starched water the pasta cooked in)
-1 lb. fresh from the sea (not farmed) jumbo shrimp (peeled and deveined/tail on
- 1/2 stick of sweet unsalted butter
-2 medium cloves fresh garlic (thickly sliced)
-2 heaping Tbsp seasoned bread crumbs/ I have used  seasoned (Patsy's way) panko bread crumbs
-Juice from 1.5 fresh (preferably thin skinned) lemons
-10 fresh little neck clams scrubbed clean
-1 tsp Worcestershire 
2 Tbsp EVOO
-1/2 tsp sweet paprika
-Kosher salt and fresh black or white mill pepper to taste

TECHNIQUE
-Preheat the oven to broil
-Cook pasta and drain reserving 2-3 Tbsp. starched pasta water. Keep pasta and starched water in the pot
-On the stove, use a 12" oven safe fryer and melt butter over medium-low heat.
 -Add sliced garlic and saute 2-3 minutes until garlic is a light gold color. 
-Add shrimp. Cook, turn and coat the shrimp with the garlic butter for about 1 minute.
-Add the lemon juice, Worcestershire and clams...COVER and cook for another 2 minutes or until you peek under the cover and see clams open slightly.
-Uncover...sprinkle with paprika and place fryer in the oven...and broil for 3-4 minutes until you see the clams open at least half way and the shrimp are golden. 
-Remove the fryer...shake the contents and then top with bread crumbs and drizzle with EVOO. Broil until you see the bread crumbs lightly browned (1.5-2 minutes).
-Remove from the oven and with a large spoon place 2-3 Tbsp of the juices from the fryer into the pasta, add salt and pepper, mix over high heat for 30 seconds and plate. Slide shrimp and clams out of the fryer and on to the top of the plate of pasta.


                                                                                 Ahhhhh!

                                                                            Mangia Baby!

                          HAPPY ANNIVERSARY SAND!