Tuesday, December 31, 2013

'Unstuffed' Stuffed Cabbage Soup

The timing is perfect! This entire first week of the new year 2014 is supposed to be sub freezing in the NYC metro area.
This Friday, January 2nd, the weathermen & women predict a low of 4 degrees fahrenheit and below zero a little bit further up north.
Besides, or in addition to, a blazing fireplace...what better way to keep yourselves warm and cozy but with a nice hot bowl of soup and a loaf of your favorite bread?
In this case, pumpernickel or rye is my choice to accompany this recipe of  Unstuffed Stuffed Cabbage Soup.


The one beautiful thing about this recipe is that all you have to do is put everything in the pot...in almost no particular order...and simply let it cook. The only work is to drain the excess liquid fat out of the beef.


Are you ready? The shopping list/ingredients include:

5 lb. green cabbage...sliced thin and thick. I like two or even 3 widths.
2.5 lb. chopped beef ...cooked/fat drained
1 very large onion ...diced and sauteed
3.5+ quarts water
3 cups white vinegar
4 large lemons/juice squeezed
2.5 cups dark brown sugar
8-10 oz golden raisins
2 large apples/ chopped fine or Cuisinart
1 1/4 cup your favorite white rice (I like Arborio)
1 6oz. can tomato paste
2 28 oz. cans plum tomatoes pureed in a blender or Cuisinart
1.5-2 Tbsp. kosher salt

...and you will need at least a 12 qt. stockpot...20 qt. preferred


Technique:

*On medium high, break up and cook ground beef until pink is gone. Immediately drain off excess liquid fat and set aside
*Saute in same pot one very large chopped onion until translucent
*Put beef back in pot with sauteed onions...add 1/2 Tbsp kosher salt...and stir
*On same medium high setting, add tomato paste to beef and stir. This step colors the beef a more palatable pale orange vs. brown. It's not critical you follow this step, however this is my preference
*Add the pureed tomatoes, water, white vinegar, juice from the 4 lemons, brown sugar, apples, the rest of the salt and sliced cabbage to the pot. I put the cabbage in last. Bring to a light boil and reduce the heat to medium low
*Cook covered stirring once every 15-20 minutes for about 1 hour 45 minutes
After that time add the rice and raisins. This step will thicken the soup and it will require stirring more often (about every ten minutes). Cook partially covered for about 45 more minutes and then taste and determine if you feel a need for more salt. I do!
Stir...turn off heat...and let sit covered for about 30 minutes before serving
*Serve with bread and butter. Yum!

Serves 15-16 as a main course with bread. You can always cut the recipe in half if you don't want to make that much
Depending on how thick you like your soup, you may want to add more water while heating up to serve. That's it!


                                                                   Mangia Baby!


As always, please feel free to comment below. Just love comments!










Saturday, December 14, 2013

Hey Hey Ralphie...How 'Bout A Slice O Full Moon And Some Cannoli?

It was a sign! Plain & Simple...
A poster picture I took coming out of the train show in the Botanical Garden.

Sandy, Emma and I started our evening at the Beautiful Anytime of Year Bronx Botanical Gardens to see the annual Holiday Train Show.
The plan was to see the show at the NYBG, get over to Arthur Avenue for some pizza and then head home.
Not so plain and simple for me when it comes to Arthur Avenue.
                                                               NYBG Christmas Tree

What is the Annual Holiday Train Show at the New York Botanical Gardens in the Bronx?
This show features model trains traveling around the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory among the 140 or so replicas of New York City landmark buildings. Other notable landmark structures from around the world are also on display.
The truly amazing thing about this show is that these replicas are created by using only plants and trees.


http://www.nybg.org/

Macy's Herald Square NYC

The Leaning Tower of Pisa

This annual Holiday Train show is popular with families...young and old(er) alike. Kids love watching the trains and finding buildings and landmarks, like Yankee Stadium., while the adults will be impressed with the beauty and detail of them.


What happened next was kismet, or in plain English...destiny.
On September 30th, 2013 @ www.phoodographsandfinds.com, we serendipitously stumbled onto a slice of pizza at Ivana's on Arthur Avenue and wanted to come back for more. However, when we arrived, it was closed. Since there are really no shortage of pizza restaurants in the area, we drove around the block to see if there was a spot that looked like it was for us. Sandy said let's try the one on the corner...Full Moon Pizzeria. That's right, Full Moon...remember? And check out the real moon in the upper left hand corner of the pic.



Lucky for us Gerardo was running the counter.
The reason I say lucky is because this is the kind of fellow who knows how to treat his customers.
I had Sandy and Emma in the car (where we decided to eat)...and needed to prepare these large Full Moon slices of pizza in such a way that they would be the right size for everyone. You know; like mama, papa, and baby bear size slices.
Gerardo was gracious and accommodating as he sliced the slices how I asked, with a smile, into all different percentage sizes.

There was a fellow eating pizza at another table who was having a good time taking all of this in and marveling at what we had going on. We owe it to this unnamed fellow for taking the pictures that Gerardo was again gracious enough to be part of once I let him know I wanted them to write this story.
Bottom line: This pizza was extraordinary.
Again, it's hard to explain what is the best, since it's sooooo subjective. There was something very different about the pizza at Full Moon. It was a thin crust as are many artisanal pizza crusts, and it had a very distinctive and unique flavor that was familiar to me. I realized what it was regarding the crust while returning for one more slice before we left. It was either cornmeal or semolina on the bottom that the pizza pie is prepared with.
I use cornmeal when I make my pizza in order to make sure the pizza slides off the paddle easily. What I found over the years is that it also adds a nice flavor...and...as Gerardo so eloquently put it when I asked him about it, "it adds a nice crunch".
The texture and flavor of the cheese and pizza/tomato sauce on their pie was distinctive as well, however more aligned with the traditional taste of pizza and not the artisanal style. One more thing I loved...and have never seen anywhere else, is the way they serve their red pepper flakes. They're ground in such a way that there are no large visible seeds or flakes to speak of. They  are simply ground into a finer consistency. Fabulous!
As a result, the only thing I can say is that it's a slice of pizza that stands alone and cannot really be compared to others. Now that's exciting!
You simply have to taste it for yourself...and I guarantee you will be glad you made the time to go.
If the timing is right, maybe you'll get to meet Gerardo, who just happened to be the son of  Stan, proprietor and owner of The Full Moon Pizzeria on Arthur Avenue (technically 600 E. 187th Street) in the beautiful Bronx , New York, USA!

www.originalfullmoon.com







On the way out of Bronx's Little Italy , Sandy, Emma and Gramps had an urge for dessert. I'm thinking for Sandy and me...Cannoli...and Tri-Color cookies for Emma. Next stop simply because it was there...and so was a parking space...Egidio Pastry Shop....Celebrating 100 years in business. Can you imagine...100 years?!
                                           
                                 
Upon entering Egidio's, I was nicely greeted by  Perla and proprietor and owner Maria Lucciola...otherwise known to her friends and family as "Carmela".





Everything looked sooo good, however there was no way to try everything. Simply put, I went with plan A.
Cannoli and Tri-Color cookies.Check these out!
                                                                           Egidio's Cannoli


Custard Filled Mini Eclairs

Bottom line...Cannoli were a great as the looked... and Emma "loved" the Tri-Color Cookies.
Another social success.

Thank you Perla and Carmela!



As always, please feel free to comment below.



Mangia Baby!
Bert






Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Saturday, December 7, 2013

Short & Sweet...The Best Cannoli In The Land



We're in New York. Everything is supposed to be better in New York...right? The great equalizer, however, is relativity...and what does one think is the best? What this means is that there is no real best of anything. It's what you like...and in this case what I feel extremely confident you will like!
That said, you can trust me when I say I have found "The Best Cannoli In The Land" right here on Long Island.





We know about the venerable and revered cannoli havens in NYC, namely Veniero's on 2nd Avenue and Ferrara's in Little Italy. In the Bronx, there is Delillo's on Arthur Avenue.
In Boston, The Modern Bakery and Mike's Pastry on Hanover St. in the North End (Boston's Little Italy) get kudos for their cannoli...although my hands down favorite in Boston is the cream filled "Lobster Claw" at Mike's.
I'm sure that some of my readers have their favorite baker somewhere in Brooklyn, where the second best cannoli probably live.
I'm not saying all of these places have fabulous cannoli. All you have to do is Google reviews of any of these and you can walk away with a pretty good understanding as to whether or not they live up to their reputations.
Before I announce the Best Cannoli In The Land...let's address what I define as the best.
*I don't like shells that are too crispy since they can crumble.
* They need to have slight crisp texture and a nice bite, yet remain intact.
* The entire cannoli needs to be filled. Invariably, the cream in many instances just simply doesn't make it  makes it through from end to end, thus an almost hollow center exists in many cannoli.
* I also love the little semisweet chocolate bits blended into the cannoli cream.
There is no recipe from me in this entry and I don't think the time will come where I make my own...especially when I can go to the Alpine Pastry Shop in Smithtown, Long Island, New York. Yup folks...plain and simple..."The Best Cannoli In The Land" is at the Alpine.
Chocolate covered or plain? I  gravitate to the plain coated with confectioners sugar, otherwise the chocolate coated ones can obscure the taste of the cannoli cream and compete with the bittersweet chocolate bits I look for.
Bottom line...trust me.
They are my definition of the best...and worth the ride from anywhere on Long Island.
They even make MINI cannoli which you can eat by the half dozen!
Closer to home, Matteo's Italian Restaurant in Roslyn, Long Island offers a wonderful dessert of cannoli cream served with biscotti for dipping. If you go to Matteos, recently lauded by Howard Stern, ask for David and tell him Bert sent you.



                                                                       Mangia Baby!
                                                                              Bert



PLEASE FEEL FREE TO COMMENT. IF YOU HAVE SOMEWHERE THAT YOU THINK IS "THE BEST CANNOLI IN THE LAND", LET ME KNOW!