Old Dog, New Tricks

After almost 100 posts (this is 99), I am really proud to say that I am officially competent in the kitchen.  Most of the past posts were about what “we” cooked, but honestly, JustAwesome was taking the lead and I was running backup/sous chef/dishwasher.

Last night I made some really great pizzas—the dough, the sauce,  the toppings, etc.—all by myself. Generally, I feel shy about cooking for guests, but last night I was rockin’ and rollin,’ baby!! The pizzas were delicious. I also made a caesar-like salad (from the Frankies’ book) with homemade croutons.

I felt a little anxious during the first pizza but once I saw how well it was going, I was able to relax... I should also say that I was beta-testing a pizza app put out by our friends at Pizza A Casa and it was like having Mark Bello in the apartment with me, coaching me along. Greatest App Ever. Fucking awesome.

Hurricane Irene Hits the LES!

Mayor Mike (el alcalde) told us to stay indoors all day on Sunday. We took this very seriously.

This is what happened to our tree.

Pasta and Sauce. The perfect storm.

Frankies’ Sunday Sauce

All kidding aside, we hope everyone is safe and sound.

Lazy Girl Salad Dressing

I’ve mentioned this dressing lotsa times. I make it often. Sometimes several times a week. It first came to me as a comment from a reader/friend and it has changed my life. Usually I just have on greens with some tomatoes. Couldn’t be simpler.

Avocado

Good olive oil (I like Frankie’s or Segreto)

Maldon salt

Envy

If I have one major envy/regret in my life, it is that I can not grill. I live in NYC, no terrace. And I really love barbecue. Mostly veggies (and fruits!), maybe some steak. And that regret has me looking at real estate sometimes. Ok, lots.

We made these (above) on our friend’s giant patio in Brooklyn. The top is a grilled caesar salad. Yes, grilled iceberg lettuce. So refreshing and exciting. Homemade croutons. Dressing from the Frankie’s cookbook. Dessert was pineapple and apricots. Mmmgrilledpineapple. My new favorite dessert. (Nice grill markings, SR!! When can we do it again?)

These (above) we made on our rainy weekend at Solid Sound. The festival was challenging because of the weather, but we made a few nice barbecues. Though, sometimes there are too many cooks in the kitchen...

These (below) I made at home, in NYC, on a grill pan. Not the same as barbecuing but the best I can do.

Weird with the grapefruit-campari sorbet though.

Sunday Sauce

Sauce in Progress. Notice how I am lovingly

hugging the pasta from Eataly!

While I had absolutely nothing to do with last night’s dinner, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention what was without a doubt, hands-down, the best sauce ever to go through the Feral kitchen. JustAwesome has been eager to make the Sunday Sauce from her The Frankies Spuntino Kitchen Companion & Cooking Manual since the book arrived in July. Here is her old post.

While it takes a really long time to cook (the timeline has you starting at 7am, after mass, as Nonna would’ve done), there isn’t actually a ton involved in making this sauce. And the results were phenomenal. Again, this is such a beautiful and funny/sweet cookbook. It’d make a great gift, even for yourself.

Pasta with Frankies’ Sunday Sauce and

Eggplant Marinara (salad and wine not shown)

Frankies Caesar by JustAwesome

I’m so excited! I just got my copy of The Frankies Spuntino Kitchen Companion & Cooking Manual. Frankies is one of our favorite neighborhood restaurants, everything we’ve ever eaten there has been delicious. There are two of them, one in Brooklyn and one on the Lower Eastside, they’re both great but we usually go to the LES one because it’s in our ‘hood. It’s on the list of places we take out of town guests to give them a taste of awesome NYC food. And now they’ve put out a book giving away all their secrets! It’s packed with beautiful illustrations and simple but detailed recipes. The tone is sweet and playful, and you get some backstory about how the Frankies restaurants came to be. There’s even an illustrated timeline to help you plan out a Sunday Dinner like you wish your nonna made.

Yesterday I tried their Romaine Hearts with Caesar Dressing salad. I love a good Caesar Salad; crunchy refreshing lettuce covered in strong, funky dressing, what’s not to love? But I’ve always been a little afraid to make one at home, I’m not comfortable cooking with raw eggs. The Frankies dressing was a success, it was absolutely delicious, if you don’t believe me ask Feral, she kept saying, “I can’t believe you made this. This is THE BEST Caesar Salad I’ve ever had.” It was really easy to make. I’m not going to give you the recipe though because you NEED your own copy of this book. You can thank me later.


I served it with our favorite summer pasta dish.

Just heat up some olive oil, sauté garlic, crushed chili pepper and oregano until the apartment smells great. Then toss in some quartered cherry tomatoes, cook just long enough to warm them up and get the juices flowing. Add this to a big bowl of penne. Mix in a ton of arugula, it’ll wilt. If you’re lucky enough to have some fresh basil rip it up and toss it in there too. Add a couple of handfuls of pecorino and you’re done.