Saturday, October 1, 2016

the world on a string


The WesternBEEF butchers were happy to offer a long length of butchers twine the other day when I told them I needed it to tie up one of their sumptuous veal breasts.  Let’s make a classic arrosto di vitello zucchini ripieno:  veal potroast with zucchini filling. 
They sell inexpensive veal breasts with the ribcage still intact which is great because the per pound price is lower and the bones make fantastic veal stock. 
But we start with fresh zucchini. Half them and scrape the seeds out with a spoon.


Start some bacon and fry it till crisp while you julienne the squash, then set the bacon on absorbent paper and drop the zucchini into the very hot fat.

Now let’s prep the veal. Take a sharp paring knife and free the slab from the bones. You can trim off the membranes and fat, too, get it nice and clean and pound it a little thinner if it’s too chunky to roll.

While your zucchini browns...


...crack an egg into a bowl and grate some reggiano parmigian. We’re going to make a quick omelet.

Grate some pepper, let it brown and flip it, this omelet must cook through.

Now set the omelet on a plate and start to prep the meat. Pepper it, coat it with reggiano...

...and then add the bacon in a line.


The omelet comes next, then your zucchini...

and now we tie it up.


Make a slip knot like a little lasso and use that to grab one end of the roll, then work your way down the roast, tying it tightly as you go. Trim the strings and the veal roll will look like this.

Yum. We’re getting there.

Now melt some butter, were gonna brown the roast.

Brown it gently on all sides in the butter, then add an inch of veal or beef stock, cover it and turn the heat down. It simmers this way, covered, for about an hour and a half. Mmmmmm. Your loft will smell fantastic.

Set the table and get everything ready while you let the veal simmer for about an hour, then swing into the pasta and it will all finish up together. I used penne rigate but use your favorite. Boil it till al denté, drain it and we’re ready to go. 

We’ll need some fresh broccoli rabe, a couple good tomatoes and a lot of garlic. Get it all washed and prepped in advance because once we get started there is no time to pause. 
Everything ready? Andiamo!

Sauté your garlic in a good olive oil until it starts to golden and then toss the pasta in.

Mix it about, grate some pepper...

...and then add the broccoli rabe. We’re making a base for the veal roll.

Keep it moving and when the rabe is softened...

...add the tomatoes.

Now timing becomes critical. Work quickly and keep everything moving so nothing starts to burn.

The tomatoes will soften and get saucy and begin to coat the pasta. Add another good grate of cheese, salt to taste and toss it all again and then turn the heat off. We’re ready to plate the meal.

Go get your veal roll, it’s done and ready for slicing. Whoa. See that beautiful cross section? So festive!

And the taste is simply awesome. The meats and vegetables come together into a beautiful Italian blend with added protein from the egg, and it’s all presented on a classic base of pasta, tomatoes, garlic and the rabe. Wash it all down with a good Nero d’ Avola from Sicily or a well aged Barolo? 

Ha! We’ve got the world on a string.

Friday, September 30, 2016

tempus fugit on a Friday night



I really love “sittin’-on-the-sofa-huggin’-your-honey” kinda music. Late night, dark room, candles burning, like that.

1950‘s Chet Baker comes to mind. So does “Poetic Champions Compose” from 1987.



About three years ago Smokey Robinson layed down one of his best, 2009’s spectacular “Time Flies When You’re Having Fun.” 


Seriously.
Wait for the right honey, the right sofa and the right moment, then click on the YouTube below.



“Father time, won't you slow down tonight?
Mother Nature is taking her course.

You know I'm feeling more than alright.
And my lovin' baby, you're the loving source.

Have you ever been involved and doing something?
And you don't want it to stop,
you hope it's never done.

Like the old saying goes, everybody knows."


"Time flies when you're having fun.”

Thursday, September 29, 2016

be very afraid


the butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker


"Baker Street" is a ballad written and recorded by Scottish singer-songwriter Gerry Rafferty. Released as a single in 1978, it reached No. 1 in Canada and Australia, No. 2 in the United States and No. 3 in the United Kingdom. (wiki)


“This city desert makes you feel so cold
It's got, so many people but it's got no soul.”


“And it's taken you so long
To find out you were wrong
When you thought it held everything.”


“Another year and then you'll be happy
Just one more year and then you'll be happy.”


“He's got this dream about buying some land
He's gonna give up the booze and the one-night stands
 and then he'll settle down,
In some quiet little town,
and forget about everything.”


“And when you wake up, it's a new morning
The sun is shining, it's a new morning
And you're going, you're going home.”


Wednesday, September 28, 2016

nice rack

Remember this beauty from 1937?

I returned and there she was, but turned around.

The lumber rack in the back makes it appear she’s been working.
But that flat tire makes me wonder.

Tuesday, September 27, 2016

name dropper

The Roxy Midway Theatre was conceived in 1926.



Originally designed and built for vaudeville, it sold to Warner Brother’s Pictures and became a movie house on Christmas Eve in 1929.


It seats 2,894 in three tiers and is widely appreciated for outstanding acoustics.  


Everyone from the Grateful Dead, David Bowie, Duran Duran and the Allman Brothers, Eric Clapton, Boz Scaggs, the Rolling Stones and George Carlin’s HBO specials have all recorded here.


Designed in golden Grecian splendor, it features 30 foot tall Greek Goddesses flanking the stage...


...and a ceiling straight out of the National Register of Historic Places, a prize it garnered in 1982.


Today it is leased by CableVision and operated by the Madison Square Garden corporation.


It’s size fills the perfect performing space between little village night clubs and Radio City, which seats about 6,000.


But you know it better as the Beacon, 
on Manhattan’s Upper West Side.


Warners changed the name when they bought it in ’29.