New Boob Tube Dudes

July 27, 2011 • Uncategorized • by
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Index finger – Engage. I dig food tv, this you know, and there’s no limit to the amount of delicious telecommunications I can digest…almost. Food Network and other stations continue to pump out pathetic competition shows like “Next Food Network Star” or “Master Chef” which rely on sheer entertainment value rather than culinary instruction. If I wanted to be torn a new one by a Scottish hand-grenade with a 14″ knife and bad haircut I’d call your mom! (all my readers are Scottish, right?).

I suppose there’s room for both styles in tv land and one must simply watch carefully no matter what the program. That being said, there have been some stellar additions to the tele landscape in the past few months and below are my newest addictions.

Chuck’s Day Off

I wish more shows followed this formula: Restaurant chef in his restaurant making restaurant quality grub with a sense of purpose. Chef Chuck Hughes cooking is fresh, clean, creative and innovative with a sense of humor. He’s a big kid at heart (as the commercial’s attest) and often riffs on childhood favorites like doughnuts, PB&J’s, fries, burgers, and ice-cream sandwiches. Don’t let that fool you tho, this chef has some serious chops and busts out dynamic recipes like braised short ribs, complex veal stock, turducken, and countless homemade standards like mayo, ketchup, pickles, jams, dressings, etc. What I appreciate most about this show, besides Chef Chuck’s happy-go-lucky Canadian attitude, is the glimpse into the restaurant world and explore what it takes to run a quality dining establishment. Reminds me of the good old days…I officially have a reason to visit Canada.

Two Fat Ladies

Cooking meets Monty Python. I kid you not, I used to watch this show in middle school and laugh just as loud as I do now. These two chubby chicks from foggy London-town are talented, mental and outlandishly hilarious. They cook up some of the craziest dishes I’ve ever seen and do so while mumbling in silly English accents and driving a sidecar motorcycle! If that’s not a recipe for an award winning show I don’t know what is. Only thing that could make this better is some heavy drinking and cigarettes. They do that after every show?! C’mon! Sadly Jennifer Paterson, the cheekiest of the two, passed away but Clarissa Dickson is acting as a local food activist in England. Jolly good work.

The Minimalist

Who called it? I wrote about Mark Bittman’s webisodes last summer and lo and behold the episodes are now being aired on The Cooking Channel in full HD. What can I say, I watch a lot of TV and know the good stuff when I see it. I’m expecting some royalty checks in the mail anyday now…I’m talking to you NY Times.

Shwing!

July 21, 2011 • Recipes • by
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arth’s right folks, these shwings are hotter than Cassandra belting “Ballroom Blitz” in a tube top and no pants. To ramble back on track, a few friends and I had some incredible pizza at Cary’s Bella Mia who are quickly becoming legendary for their traditional Napoletano pizzas. The pizzas were perfect, but our starter of wood-fire oven roasted chicken wings were crazy good and worth replicating…sorta.

Chicken wings are a favorite here at the Tuorto casa and I’ve prepared them a dozen different ways, but today’s recipe may be the best yet. Bella Mia’s can rock a chicken wing, but these little monkeys will have you singing “Foxy Lady” to complete strangers in your local soda shop. Ready Garth? Ready Paulie! Wooooooooooooooo:

Rosemary Roasted Chicken Wings

1lb Small Chicken Wings (farm fresh and never frozen please, yes it makes a difference)

Zest of 1 Lemon

Handful of Rosemary

2 Garlic Cloves

1 Tbs Chili Flakes

Olive Oil, Salt, Pepper

First things first: Light your Grill or Oven to full whack (roughly 400-450 degrees).

Next: Chop your Garlic and Rosemary into a very fine dice. Add to a bowl with the lemon zest, chili flakes, a heavy pinch of salt, 10 big grinds of pepper, and little drizzle of oil to moisten the whole ensemble.

Shortly After: Rinse and pat dry the chicken wings and add to the rosemary mixture. Toss and massage the chicken wings in the mix making sure to coat each and every bit of every wing with every ounce of rub. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes to an hour (longer is better).

In the Near Future: Once your oven or grill is up to heat lay the wings across and baking sheet lined with aluminum foil and place in the oven (or add to a pizza stone or Piastra on the grill). In the oven they tend to smoke a lot so make sure you have a working overhead fan otherwise the fuzz will show up with a fire hose and a warrant!

Here After: Cook the wings for roughly 10-12 minutes or until golden brown and crunchy, turning once or twice to crisp each side.

In Conclusion: Try to control yourself, the wings are so crisp, flavorful, and fall-off-the-bone tasty you’ll clear out a full order if you don’t have someone to share them with (not that there’s anything wrong with that). The wings are golden brown and full of flavor thanks to the spicy chili flakes, fragrant black pepper, refreshing lemon zest, and the crispy bits of roasted garlic.

They’re bright, summery, and lack any greasyness or piss-poor hot sauce that will certainly ruin your digestive system. Share? Shya, when monkeys fly outta my butt!

Paulie’s Spark Notes: 1. Buy Some Chicken Wings 2. Put Some Tasty Stuff on Them 3. Roast on High Heat Until Crispy

 

Booze of the Month! – July

July 18, 2011 • Booze of the Month • by
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I’ve been hoodwinked!! Apparently my shwag-ass hosting company was servicing their servers this weekend. The site was down for the majority of the weekend and on re-launch my ish got ganked! That’s right, my most recent post about the delicious and economic 4 in Hand IPA has disappeared into the infinite sea of Tron. I imagine it’s in a death battle with Jeff Bridges, but regardless it’s gone…

I’m working on restoring it somehow, but if anyone thought it was magnificent and printed out a copy to frame above their newborns crib for future inspiration please send me a copy. I’m also way too lazy to re-write the review, sorry about that, but just take my word for it that’s it’s crazy tasty – an IPA for IPA lovers and haters.

A full investigation has commenced and the intertron-thieves at fault will pay dearly…I suspect it’s robots of some variety.

Summer in a Bag

July 8, 2011 • Recipes • by
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n cartoccio actually. In Cartoccio (or papillote as those beret-fanatics like to say) is nothing more than cooking some tasty ish in a makeshift bag. It sounds easy, but requires a delicate hand and a watchful eye as the ingredients can easily overcook and turn to bland mush.

Fish and vegetables work best thanks to their short cooking time, but I bet fruit with a dash of sugar and glug of rum would be phenom too. Maybe some mint…Mojitos in Cartoccio?

Today’s recipe is just on variation on the veggie-fish cartoccio, only rule is to use what’s fresh and in season. Pack it up, pack it in:

Trota in Cartoccio

2 10″x10″ pieces of Parchment Paper

2 Trout Filets

1 Zuchinni (sliced thin)

1 Small Heirloom Tomato (sliced thin)

1 Lemon (sliced thin)

1 Green or Red Chili (sliced thin)

2 Green Onions (sliced thin on a bias)

4 Garlic Cloves

Olive Oil, Salt, Pepper, Chili Flakes, Oregano

First things first: cut your veggies wafer thin. They should all be roughly the same, about 1/8″ thick like those professionally executed slices right n’ya.

Rinse your Trout Filets and pat dry. Time to assemble:

Fold each of your parchment squares in half and reopen. Near the crease first lay your zuchinni slices. Salt lightly and add your trout filet. Salt lightly, crack a little black pepper over the filet and top with the sliced tomato.  Top the tomato with the sliced lemon, then the sliced chili, and then the green onion remembering to salt each layer lightly so all veggies are well seasoned.

Finally top the whole ensemble with a drizzle of olive oil, chili flakes, a couple garlic cloves, and some fresh oregano leaves. To close the cartoccio simply crimp the edges, folding tightly as you move along the edge to make a air-tight seam. Pretend it’s a piece of dough.

Preheat your grill or oven to 400 and add the cartoccio (Note: If you’re using a grill make sure to use a Piastra or pizza stone so the parchment doesn’t burn). Depending on the thickness of your fish and the amount of veggies you use the whole thing should take no more than 10-12 minutes. The parchment will inflate and turn lightly golden on the outside. After 10 minutes remove, bring to the table, cut the top open and dive in!

Everything melds together in steamy goodness, fusing the flavors and creating an outrageously succulent filet of fish. A little Vesta on top goes a long way, adding a crunchy, spicy bite to the mix. Make sure you have a few slices of crusty bread to sop up all the love at the bottom of the plate –  a brodetto of fish and veggie juices.

Summer’s in full swing so veggies like zuch, chilis, and tomatoes make sense but this can also be made in fall with thinly sliced squash, mushrooms, swiss chard, etc…

 Paulie’s Spark Notes: 1. Make a Bag, 2. Put Stuff in Bag, 3. Cook Bag

O Sale Mio

July 6, 2011 • Product • by
3 Comments

 

alt, so simple but so important. It may seem self explanatory, but I’ve seen a lot of good dishes go down due to improper use of the essence of life. All salt is salt, NaCl, but not all salts are equal. By using specific salts for specific uses you’ll find your cooking suddenly seems…balanced, refined and perfectly seasoned making for some very happy eaters. Below are a few of the salts I keep at my disposal for a variety of uses from frying eggs to baking fish and boiling pasta:

Kosher Salt: My go to sodium of choice. Kosher salt’s unique shape makes it ideal for application with your hands via pinching and will not stick like table salt. It’s also mild which keeps the human error down to a minimum and allows you to control the salt level of your cooking precisely. If you’re going to be a one salt cook, this is your salt.

Sea Salt: Nothing can compare in flavor to sea salt, it’s mellow but complex and melds harmoniously with seafood dishes. Coarse Sea Salt is my prefered option for salting pasta water and I like the Medium Coarse grind for seasoning fish, steaks, and anything else hitting the grill. I think it stands up to the heat and smoke of the grill better than other salts.

Grey Salt: This is fancy shmancy salt, French in origin, but damn tasty if I have to say so (and I do considering this is a salt post). It’s often very coarse and moist with a silver hue thanks to the abundant minerals retained in the making. It’s price is as hefty as a frenchman’s belly but if you ever get some as a gift try it on pan-seared steaks or deep fried items.

Table Salt: I don’t use it. This shitty laboratory impostor is nothing but nasty, fine for a last dash on the table, but incredibly over-saturated for cooking.

Others: There are too many varieties to name, but I have a few others in the pantry like the cabernet above (pink thanks to being evaporated with wine), black hawaiian sea salt with a malicious dose of volcanic minerals, Himalayan pink, and a little bit of smoked sea salt which is righteous as a finishing salt on grilled items.

Which is best? That’s up to you. The only way you’ll know which salt spices up your life the right way is by trying them all (or a few atleast). But, if I were to give salt guide lines they may just look like this:

Kosher Salt: Everyday Cooking

Sea Salt: Grilling, Boiling Water, and Preserving

Grey and all others: Finishing salts used for texture and flavor as a garnish

Happy Salting.

 

 

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