Friar's Beard Bucatini

Agretti, also known as Salsola Soda, saltwort, friar’s beard or “land seaweed” has a high salt tolerance and has been traditionally cultivated in coastal areas of the Mediterranean. It also has a notoriously poor germination rate. I was lucky to get three plants out the 24 seeds that I sowed. So this dish of sautéed agretti, fresh garlic, twisted together with bucatini and topped with cayenne salt cured egg yolks and breadcrumbs was completely savored. It’s always fun experimenting with new varieties in the garden.

For the cured egg yolk, I used a common recipe found online which involves curing the yolks in a mix of sugar and salt for up to one week in the refrigerator. After a week you remove the yolks, gently rince them off with cold water, and place them on a wire rack and back them at a very low temperature (150 F) in the oven for 1.5 hours. That’t it, super easy. Where I modified the recipe was with the introduction of hot cayenne powder in the mix, which really infused a spicy flavor to the yolks.

Chicken & Eggs: Wild Mushroom Carbonara

After almost giving up on a morning mushroom foray, I stumbled into a beautiful specimen of Chicken of the Woods on my way back to the car.

After deliberating about how best to prepare it, I came up with the idea of a wild mushroom carbonara using the COTW instead of traditional guanciale. It’s not quite the same thing as real carbonara but it was a fun way to use the wild ingredient and is a solid vegetarian option. In the absence of the rendered pork fat I used a generous amount of olive oil to lubricate the pasta. Below is a video of the process, which details how to make a homemade semolina spaghetti, the creamy sauce, and the preparation of the mushrooms.

The Spring Fling Pie: Seasonal Toppings from Garden and Forest

Before we hit our stride in mid to late summer I started to brainstorm what kind of pizza to make with early season ingredients. What started off as a late spring garden pie took on a new form after a successful day foraging for spring mushrooms.

Tatsoi greens, Egyptian Walking Onions, wild Crown Tipped Coral and Chicken of the Woods mushrooms, sweet and sour chive blossoms, tatsoi blossoms and a blend of mozzarella, fontina, and provolone cheese all on a sourdough crust - wood fired with the Ooni Pro.

Perfect specimen of Laetiporus Sulphureus.

Brief History of the Arancini

Arancini translates into “little oranges.” The arancini I grew up with were gigantic softball sized balls of rice and filling that could be a whole meal in themselves, although they never were. Their origin goes back to when Sicily was under Arab rule in the 10th century, and traders devised a way to transport meals consisting of rice and meat long distances on horseback. Today, they are one of the highlights of Palermo’s street food scene and not terribly difficult to make yourself. What you fill it with is up to your imagination but here we’ll do something classic.

INGREDIENTS

• Starchy short white rice or risotto

• Parmesan cheese grated

• Butter

• Saffron

• Plain bread crumbs

• 2 cups of flour

• Canola or corn oil

• Salt

• Pepper

• 1 can tomato paste (6oz)

• Frozen peas (1 lb)

• 2 lbs ground beef

• 1 Yellow onion

• Garlic (diced)

• Sharp provolone, cubed

RECIPE

Cook rice according to directions with the addition of one stick of butter and a few pinches of saffron. Stir constantly on a low flame. Cube the provolone. Once cooked, put rice in a large aluminum tray and sprinkle with grated cheese, and add more salt and pepper if needed. Mix well. While rice is cooling you can make the filling.

For the filling, saute onion and 2-3 cloves of garlic in olive oil. Add ground beef, salt, pepper to taste. Cook thoroughly and add can of tomato paste. Mix well and add frozen peas. The mixture should be somewhat dry. Drain off any excess liquid and put in bowl to cool off.

Set your deep fryer to 350 F. Slowly mix two cups of flour with warm water to make a paste the consistency of pancake batter. This is the glue for the breadcrumb coating. Put the breadcrumbs in a tray and set aside. Now you’ll begin forming your balls. Scoop some rice in your palm and shape it like a bowl. Add a large spoonful of the filling, and 4-5 pieces of cubed provolone. Carefully work another small scoop of rice on top of filling and shape into a ball.

To apply the glue it’s best to use your hands. Take a palm full of the glue and rub it around the riceball. Roll the rice ball in the breadcrumbs and continue to press firm to form into a nice smooth compact ball. Set the rice balls in a tray as the deep fryer heats up.

Once the fryer reaches temperature it’s time to fry. Rice balls should be almost completely submerged in the hot oil. Cook until golden brown, turning once or twice to get an even color.

Transfer the cooked rice ball to a sheet of brown paper to absorb oil and let dry before serving. Enjoy biting into the crunchy exterior and sinking your teeth into their creamy center. It doesn’t get much better.

Homemade Cavatelli with Wild Ramp Pesto

Ramp season is fleeting. Next year I plan on making a few extra batches of pesto to keep in the freezer to extend the season a little longer.

Ramp pesto is so simple and tasty. I puree the ramp leaves (stems removed and bulbs left in the ground) with good extra virgin olive oil, toasted pine nuts, salt, and pepper. If using right away I’ll finish it by incorporating a healthy amount of grated parmesan and a little melted butter to make it creamy. If freezing, I’ll leave out the cheese and butter and add this in fresh after it is defrosted. I garnished this plate with fresh chive blossoms and more toasted pine nuts. The pasta was a handmade semolina cavatelli which are deceptively easy to make. See video below for the whole process.

Pheasant Back Mushroom and Wild Ramp Risotto

It was another unsuccessful attempt to find morels but I ended up with a basket of young pheasant backs and ramps.

The risotto was cooked simply with chicken stock, sherry and a hunk of parmesan rind. The mushrooms were first sauteed with thyme and folded into the simmering risotto. Ramp pesto was incorporated at the end to keep it’s brightness and color. I reserved a few crispy slices of the mushrooms to add as a garnish on top along with more freshly grated parmesan. See video below.

Detroit Style Pizza

After a few months of making Neapolitan style pizzas in my new wood fired oven I wanted to try something a little different. It was a little more challenging than making a quick 60 second pizza right on the stones and maintaining steady temperature over a longer period of time. Ultimately the pizza tasted really good but I definitely need to work on the temperature regulation next time around. Some areas got a little too charred.

In the process I learned a lot about the origin of Detroit pizza and how it relates to Sicilian pizza. I made a short video that dives into the history of Detroit Style and the evolution of Sicilian pizza.

Spring Ramps Pizza

I stumbled into a patch of young ramps on an early morning turkey scout and the menu suddenly changed for the evening’s pizza party. Video below.

I’ve been really happy using the naturally leavened pizza dough recipe from the Ken Forkish book Flour Water Salt Yeast.

Sfincione : Traditional Sicilian Pizza

When thinking about pizza and New York City I doubt many people would consider a sfincione pie, but as a child of Sicilian immigrants it was an essential part of my pizza experience. When visiting relatives in Brooklyn, we always stopped at @rosas.pizza because they made some of the best sfincione around. It wasn’t until recently that I decided to make it myself. This version is wood fired in a cast-iron skillet using a naturally leavened dough and it brings me back to those long car rides on the BQE with the smell of a warm sfincione hanging in the air.

The Hunter & Gatherer Pie: Venison and Wild Mushrooms

All winter I had been thinking about making this pizza and it exceeded expectations. Minced venison, fennel seed, homegrown dried chili flakes, fontina, mozzarella, confit of winter oyster mushrooms, with a drizzle of balsamic reduction to add a little acidity. I will definitely add this to the pizza rotation. Video below.

The Sunday Pie: Meatballs and Ricotta

A few months ago I came across an article about an outdoor cookware company looking to contract a small group of bakers and home cooks to become “Official Pizza Taste Testers”. And if there is one thing I’m good at, it’s eating pizza. So I applied along with over 5,000 other people. Fast forward a few months and I get notified that I was officially selected. A years-long obsession with being able to make proper wood fired pizzas became a reality. It’s an unusual opportunity but one that I’m excited to explore. So over the course of the next few months I’ll be developing and testing recipes, and making short videos about the process - some of which you can find over at @oonihq. This first video is an homage to my family of Sicilian immigrants and to the women who orchestrated our Sunday suppers.