Taste of Tribeca Tip #7: Good Food Is Slow Food

This article first appeared in the Tribeca citizen on April 6, 2010. We appreciate being able to reprint this article.

In anticipation of Taste of Tribeca, the benefit for P.S. 234 and P.S. 150 on May 15, I’m asking the participating chefs for cooking tips. Once Alberto Polo, the chef and co-owner of Farinella Italian Bakery and Pizzeria, got started, he realized he had quite a bit of culinary advice….

People cook with too much rush—and rush and good cooking don’t exist together. Ever. Our flame is always low (well, not to boil water). When the flame is high, you dry food out. My tomato sauce takes 30 to 40 minutes. It’s better for the flavors, because the water evaporates, but the flavor is there. People want cooking to be fast—they buy parmigiano that’s already been grated—but cooking is time. So you have to think about what you’re going to do and then organize your time in a better way.

I’ve been trying to eat less meat and more vegetables, but meat usually has more flavor—especially here, not like in Italy where you bite into a tomato and it tastes like a tomato! But if you’re cooking with less meat, you need to add flavor, or a kick, maybe from unusual spices. Last night, I made a veggie carbonara, and I used zucchini instead of pancetta. To make up for the pancetta, I added a little onion, turmeric, and a little more Parmigiano than normal.

Another thing: When people want to cook proper Italian, they have to use extra virgin olive oil, no matter what. The other kind doesn’t exist in Italy! I even use extra virgin olive oil to fry eggplant. People say it’ll be heavy. No!

And when we make bread, we never use a proofer [a device that forces the dough to rise]. We set the dough out on a wooden board, the old-fashioned way. When the dough is ready, we make the pizza. If the dough isn’t ready, we don’t. Even if Presdent Obama calls, I’m sorry, we don’t have pizza. And once the dough goes down, I don’t use it. You want dough that is still alive—the enzymes, the protein, the air, the gluten. When people eat pizza somewhere and ask why it’s soggy, I say, ‘You know why it’s soggy? The dough died a few days ago!’

*Tickets are on sale now at tasteoftribeca.org. Buy before May 1 and they’re only $35. Also, join the Taste of Tribeca Facebook group and you might win a T-shirt.

Taste of Tribeca Tip #6: When Applying Sauce, Use Your Noodle

This article first appeared in The Tribeca Citizen on April 1, 2010. We appreciate being able to reprint the article.

In anticipation of Taste of Tribeca, the benefit for P.S. 234 and P.S. 150 on May 15, I’m asking the participating chefs for cooking tips. John Sierp of M1-5 and White Cloud Catering says there’s more to saucing pasta that mixing and serving.

Do you hate when you order pasta and get a plate full of red water on the bottom of your dish/bowl? Here’s a way to avoid that. When you cook the pasta, stop a minute or two before it’s al dente. Strain the pasta, reserving a cup of the pasta water. Put the pasta back in the pot (on low/medium heat), along with just enough sauce to coat it—you want to finish the cooking process by stirring the pasta with the sauce for the last minute or so; that way the pasta aborbs some of the sauce and flavors it. As you finish cooking the pasta in the sauce, add some of the pasta water as the sauce evaporates: The pasta will absorb the sauce/pasta water and the starch in the pasta water will help thicken the liquid. This also works well for serving family-style: When serving, add more sauce to each portion as you like. This way, everyone gets pasta with the right amount of sauce. And serve another helping of sauce on the side, so people can add it themselves as they wish.

*Tickets are on sale now at tasteoftribeca.org. Buy before May 1 and they’re only $35. Also, join the Taste of Tribeca Facebook group and you might win a T-shirt.

Taste of Tribeca Tip #5: Prep Like a Pro

This article first appeared in the Tribeca Citizen on March 29, 2010. We appreciate being able to reprint the article.

In anticipation of Taste of Tribeca, the benefit for P.S. 234 and P.S. 150 on May 15, The Tribeca Citizen is asking the participating chefs for cooking tips. Marc Forgione shares two tips—one he recently taught someone, and one he recently learned.

"I actually just showed one of my cooks how to peel a roasted pepper—and he’s been cooking for six years. Coat the peppers with oil and bake them uncovered at 400 degrees for a half hour, until they’re blistered. Then put them directly into a bowl and cover it with plastic wrap. You need to really seal it—use two pieces of plastic wrap. The plastic wrap will bubble up from the steam, and it’ll rain in there—drops of water will form on the plastic and rain down. Once the peppers are cool enough to handle, cut off the tops and bottoms, lay the peppers flat, remove the seeds, and scrape the peel with a knife. It’ll come right off.

And here’s another tip, about corn. I only learned it last year. Throw the unshucked corn into a pot of water that’s just about to boil (but no longer on the stove). Leave it there for five minutes. When you do shuck the corn, the cornsilk won’t stick to the kernels. And then cook the corn however you want."

*Tickets are on sale now at tasteoftribeca.org. Buy before May 1 and they’re only $35. Also, join the Taste of Tribeca Facebook group and you might win a T-shirt.

Taste of Tribeca Tip #4: Fresh Pasta Shouldn't Be Too Fresh

This article first appeared in Tribeca Citizen on March 26, 2010. We appreciate being allowed to reprint this article.

"In anticipation of Taste of Tribeca*, the benefit for P.S. 234 and P.S. 150 on May 15, I’m asking the participating chefs for cooking tips. Roc’s Giovanni Tenace—pictured above right, with restaurateur Rocco Cadolini—says that if you’re going to go to the trouble of making fresh pasta, take the time to do it right.

When you make fresh pasta, you have to let the dough rest an hour. Don’t refrigerate it. Let it sit outside, under a wet cloth. That way, it will become firmer—easier to work with and less likely to fall apart. And it tastes better, too. This is true for any kind of pasta—squid ink, spinach, whatever. But don’t use regular wheat flour. You should use durum or semolina. It’s much better."

*Tickets are on sale now at tasteoftribeca.org. Buy before May 1 and they’re only $35. Also, join the Taste of Tribeca Facebook group and you might win a T-shirt.

Taste of Tribeca's Tip for the Perfect Mashed Potato

This article first appeared in Tribeca Citizen on March 20, 2010. We appreciate being allowed to reprint this article.

In anticipation of Taste of Tribeca, the benefit for P.S. 234 and P.S. 150 on May 15, I’m asking the neighborhood chefs who are participating for cooking tips that mere culinary mortals might use at home. Henry Meer, chef and owner of City Hall, shares the method behind City Hall’s luscious mashed potatoes.

First, scrub the potatoes. Use Yukon Golds, and leave the skin on—it’s where the nutrients are, and besides, I love the flavor. Set a pot of cold water, with a little salt, to simmer. Never boil your potatoes—instead, you want a long, low simmer. If you boil them, all the starch ends up on the bottom of the pot. Now the real key is that all the ingredients have to be hot. So the milk and butter should be brought to boil and combined with the potatoes while still hot, then mashed with love. If the potatoes or milk are cold, it’ll make the potatoes pasty, not creamy, fluffy, and yummy.* Garnish with fresh dill and olive oil, and season to taste.

City Hall is at 131 Duane (between Church and West Broadway); 212-277-7777, cityhallnewyork.com.

* Tickets are now on sale at tasteoftribeca.org. And if you buy before May 1, you’ll get a discount.
** Meer insisted I try City Hall’s mashed potatoes, and I can vouch that they are indeed all that. See for yourself….

Taste of Tribeca Tips

This article first appeared in Tribeca Citizen on March 18, 2010. We appreciate being allowed to reprint this article.

In anticipation of Taste of Tribeca, the benefit for P.S. 234 and P.S. 150 on May 15 (tickets are on sale now via the website), I’m asking the neighborhood chefs who are participating in the event for cooking tips that mere culinary mortals might use at home. Here’s one from Rachel Thebault, owner and head confectioner at Tribeca Treats—who, it bears mentioning, has a cookbook, Sweet Chic, coming out in October, with a foreword by Isaac Mizrahi.)

When planning a dinner party, do you often skip a homemade dessert because it’s too time-consuming? You may not know it, but many desserts freeze remarkably well, so you can do most of the work one or two weeks in advance. Cookie dough is one of my favorite things to freeze, because you can make it all beforehand, portion it out, and then freeze it. (I use a small ice-cream scooper to form little balls of dough; after letting them freeze a bit on a tray—so they don’t stick—I stack them in an air-tight container. The key to freezing desserts is to make sure that whatever you freeze is wrapped as air-tight as possible—it keeps the flavors more fresh.) When it comes time to serve, pop the frozen dough straight in the oven. You’ll then have a plate of warm, fresh-baked cookies to offer your guests.

For something even more decadent, cheesecake also freezes really well. Spend a Sunday baking a cheesecake (or several mini ones), let it set in the refrigerator overnight, then wrap it and freeze it for a week or two. Let it thaw in the fridge one day before your party. Your guests will be very impressed. If you forget to plan ahead, of course, you can always visit your local bakery….

Tribeca Treats is at 94 Reade, between Church and West Broadway; 212-571-0500, tribecatreats.com.