GASTRONORMOUS

Ain’t this pie a beaut’? The photo accompanies a story on the Bitten blog about a pizza made with Vermont-made Ricotta di buffala and fresh, local asparagus. Yum! The ricotta sounds a lot better than the Polly-O variety, light a fluffy, rather than dense and curdy. Asparagus is on of my favorite vegetables, and (good) pizza is one of my favorite meals. If ever I am inspired to make my own pizza dough, I will just have to give this combination of flavors a try.

I have never eaten at the Shake Shack at Madison Square Park, though have always wanted to go (mostly for the sundaes, which I saw a picture of in a magazine story after the place first opened, and I have been dreaming of since). Every time I stop by the lines are horrendously long enough to discourage me from staying, but Artichoke Heart reports that there is a Shake Shack outlet at the new Citi Field and though the line can be long, it moves quickly and offers a view of the game. I am not a baseball fan, though I do occassionally enjoy a live game. It might just be the time to take me out to the Shake Shack, er, ball game.

This olive oil and herb tart crust from Chocolate & Zucchini looks like a divine way to start a summer vegetable tart: say, one made with tomato and basil, zucchini and goat cheese, or, dare I say, asparagus and ricotta di buffala? I can also see the tart made with less salt, a bit of sugar, and either thyme or basil, with a sweet lemon filling (I love sweet lemon with those herbs). Now, if only I had a tart pan…

In case you have been saving parmesan rinds because Lidia Bastianich told you to, but have no idea how you actually might use them, why not give this delicious-looking soup from over at Cook, Eat, Fret a try? I love simple, homey soups like this one. It doesn’t exactly scream “summer,” but is nonetheless appealing.

Eat It: Brooklyn had a good lookin’ meal over at the BKLYN YARD last weekend; a meal featuring my favorite pizza from the entirety of 2008, which I enjoyed siting on an Atlantic Avenue curb last fall. Pizza Moto (f/k/a Lunetta’s pizza truck) is at the YARD, along with some of the seemingly omnipresent Red Hook ball fields vendors, a juice purveyor that whips up some intruiging concoctions, and! the Van Leeuwen Artisanal Ice Cream Truck, which I have been itching to seek out. (What I want to know is, though, are the food vendors there every Saturday and Sunday? And what are the hours? Neither of these pieces on information are on the poorly designed website for the YARD. Harumpf.)

A few weekends ago, the Hubs and I decided on a lark to walk from the Borough Park area of Brooklyn, where we were shopping for baby stuff, over to Bay Ridge to see what Middle Eastern delicacies we could find for dinner. Along the way, and quite by accident, we happened across the bustling Circus Fruits (who I was shocked to learn have a website!), located on Ft. Hamilton Parkway. Having no decent vegetable market in or neighborhood, we were drawn to it like the most seductive of siren songs.

It was truly a wonderland of not just fruit, but all sorts of vegetables, with in-season goodies prominently displayed. Baby artichokes were 99¢ a pound. They were in really good shape, though, unfortunately, the stems were cut to the quick, but hey, whaddya want for 99¢ a pound? We bought about 8 of them. They also had some gigantic–I mean larger than a large grapefruit–purple globe artichokes that were gorgeous and perfect. We picked up one those as well. They also had some lovely, slender, spring asparagus. (By the way, when you are at the store, go for the slim stalks of asparagus. The American credo that “bigger is better” does not hold in the case of asparagus–trust me, I am from the asparagus capital of the world, or maybe the country, or at least California. Oh, just trust me on asparagus, ok?. Thick stalks of asparagus are woodier and not as green and flavorful as young, thin asparagus. So I guess you should stick to that other American credo that young and thin is better.) We bought a bunch of that as well. Our total bill came to $2.70. What a deal!

Off we went to Bay Ridge, where we stopped into a store that sells nothing but Middle Eastern sweets, from baklava to pistachio nougat. We bought more than we should have and munched on a couple pieces of nougat as we moved up 5th Ave. We stopped into a simple grocery and bought some Cypriot haloumi cheese, and were intrigued by a haloumi-style cheese that was made in California of all places, and so picked up a package of that too, along with a can of fava beans and some pita for our meal that night.

By the time we got home we were starving, and so we got down to cooking right away. I started a pot of water boiling as I cleaned the tiny artichokes. Not much needed to be done, just a quick trim of the outer leaves and the brown base. Then I sliced them in half, and cleaned out (using a grapefruit spoon–one of my favorite kitchen tools!) the nascent choke that had formed in a couple of them. before dunking them in acidulated water to keep them from browning. After the water boiled, I fired up our cast iron stove-top grill, boiled the ‘chokes for a few minutes, drained them, tossed them with some olive oil, and threw them all on the grill. I also put some sliced haloumi on the grill to brown up. After the baby artichokes had browned a bit on each side, I tossed them with a mustardy vinaigrette I made while they were grilling. (A note: next time I would toss the artichokes with a dressing made without oil, as the oil from grilling added enough to serve as that component in the dressing.)

We ate the haloumi and baby artichokes (above) with the fava beans that the hubs had heated up with some olive oil and spices, some pita, and (store bought) hummus, then baklava for dessert. We started out our day with no thought to what would be for dinner that night, but ended up with a simple and delicious meal, all thanks to our serendipitous discoveries of some of the gastronomical gems that Brookyln has to offer.

Circus Fruits
5916 Ft. Hamilton Pkwy
Brooklyn, NY 11219
718-436-2100

Goat’s milk ice cream? Sounds gross, right? Well, um, it is. But let’s not go blaming the goat, now. The inherent goatiness in this frozen dessert is the least of its problems.

The first problem is the price: This pint (pint!) of ice cream cost a whopping $8.99 at our neighborhood market. We bought it on a whim. It sounded interesting and exotic, and in these recessionary times, splurging on a nine-dollar pint of ice cream seems a lot more reasonable than splurging on a Maserati, or heck, even a Kindle. Plus, the flavor was molasses tipsycake with bits of oatmeal cookie, which sounds very gooey and yummy. How could we not be enticed?

Other problems with this product were many. Flavor: I like molasses as much as, if not more than, the next person, but this tasted of pure molasses and nothing but molasses. It was overly sweet and one note, except for the slightly earthy aforementioned goatiness. Texture: Not creamy in the slightest. This dessert was nothing but ice crystals with some rolled oats dispersed throughout. Oh, that’s another thing. The “oatmeal cookie” mentioned on the packaging was not represented by chunks of cookie or cookie dough, but by flakes of oatmeal that tended to stick to the tongue like so much lint.

All in all, not a pleasant experience. I would not recommend La Loo’s at any price, but especially not at $8.99 a pint. We threw out about $7-worth of it. I have a cow’s milk intolerant friend who has tried a different flavor by this company and said it was alright, so who knows. But I am not sure I will give it another chance.

Ooh! Just in time for springtime brunches on the veranda (you have one of those, right?): Asparagus-Parmesan Pain Perdu (that’s french toast) with Tomato Jam! Sounds très bon, don’t it? The technique seems a bit tricky–I am not sure how well dipping bread topped with multiple aspargus slices into egg batter would work out–but I think I’ll have to make this some time very soon! Hopefully I will get asparagus from my CSA starting next month! [via Serious Eats]

Note to the Hubs: I am not expecting anything for Mother’s Day on account of the fact that I am not yet a mother, but if you wanted to get something for me (twisting toe into ground), I wouldn’t be upset at all if it were one of these Bouchon Bakery Strawberry Patties. Just sayin’. The Kitchn features a recipe, but why make these complicated confections when you can run over to Bouchon Bakery and buy one?

Clotilde’s homemade date-nut bars seem like a great (and healthy!) way to use the cacao nibs that the Predicate kindly brought back from Panama for me (directly from the plantation where the cacao was grown!). But who am I kidding, those suckers are going into some cookies at some point, too.

I have never made tortillas, though I have often heard that they are quite easy to make. But Half-Assed Kitchen actually writing out the recipe makes me see how east it really is. I don’t have a tortilla press, and I possess a serious aversion to rolling out dough, but still, if someone who admits to being half-assed can make them, I guess I should give it a try too. They do look much better in their imperfectness than the store-bought variety.

Technically not about food, this NYP article features the word “wiener” and mentions this pooch’s diet (chicken and whole wheat pasta), so I’ll give it a pass. At 21 years old, Chanel is the Guinness-certified World’s Oldest Dog. How could you not love a dog who wears sunglasses (to protect her catarachts) and one bootie? So mid-career-M.J.-enigmatic! [photo via NY Post, Dennis Clark]

For Christmas (yes, Christmas–over four months ago!), the Hubs and I received as a gift from my cousin and cousin-in-law, a crisp $100 bill. After reading a long ago post recounting a search for brunch, they had looked at the website for Buttermilk Channel, which I lamented not being able to go to for brunch on account of the fact that they were not open for brunch at the time (they are now, by the way, but only on Sundays), and so impressed were they by their menu that they indicated that the c-note was to be redeemed at Buttermilk Channel. Of course they would have been happy with me spending it at another restaurant, or, I imagine, on a crate of crazy straws. But, wanting to remain true to the spirit of the gift, I tucked the bill away into a drawer for safekeeping until we had a chance to go to the Carroll Gardens restaurant. Here is a picture of the Benjamin in question.

That chance arrived weekend before last, when we were finally able to commit a group of five people (this is a key number when it comes to Buttermilk Channel–with fewer people it is not possible to make a reservation, and the waits are more or less interminable without one). The restaurant is so popular that we had to make a reservation for 6:00pm, which might count as a late repast in Boca, but in a town where dinner at 10:00pm isn’t unusual, it seemed almost embarrassingly early. But, never mind, the light was great for my photos, so I didn’t complain.

We were seated promptly upon arriving. Our waitress was polite and attentive. In addition, there was a guy that seemed to be a manager of sorts, stopping at people’s tables occasionally. At least one of us must have looked perplexed for some reason, as he stopped by our table to ask if he could clear up anything for us. We asked a few questions about the menu, which he gamely answered. The waitress poured water and took our drink orders promptly, helping some of us with wine recommendations. Being pregnant, I softly whimpered into my water while others enjoyed vino from a great list of wines by the glass (their list by the bottle is more extensive).

After drinks came some complimentary popovers, which were light and popover-y, and drizzled with honey. Next came some house-made pickles (both sour and bread-and-butter style) and some sweet potato and goat cheese croquettes (photo above). The pickles were great, and the croquettes were addictively good–perfectly crisp on the outside, creamy and delicious on the inside. they were well seasoned, and lacked added sugar, something that ruins many sweet potato dishes in my opinion. I wish we had asked for two orders, so we each would have had one for ourselves. It seemed a shame to cut them in half. But there many other good things to come…

Next we had spring dandelion greens salad with red onion, chopped egg and buttermilk dressing, which was delicious, if a little over-oniony. I think there was something about the seriously pungent bitterness of the greens that would have been better paired with something less sharp than raw red onions, like maybe some marinated shallots. But, the creamy dressing helped mellow out the flavors a bit. A better starter was the butternut squash tart. Made with house-made buttermilk(!) ricotta, brown butter, and served with organic greens, it was huge winner. It was a perfectly balanced dish of sweet butternut squash (sliced and roasted squash, not mashed as you might expect in a tart), creamy ricotta, and flaky puff pastry crust. The Hubs raved that it was both “out-of-this-world” and “amazing.” The app was full of flavor that was much more than the sum of its parts.

As to entrees, let’s just get this out of the way, everything was good to great–there were no complaints. The duck meat loaf (left) was served atop a bed of creamed spinach and a pool of duck jus. That enormous bun-looking thing on top of it is in fact a single, perfectly fried onion ring. The plate was the smallest portion of all of the dishes, but was so exquisitely rich that it was perfectly filling. The buttermilk fried chicken was the most generously sized entree, with two enormous pieces of chicken served with cheddar waffles and coleslaw. It wasn’t the healthiest dish on the menu, but was really very tasty home cookin’. The chicken was tender, crispy, and flavorful to the bone. The coleslaw was made with savoy cabbage and carrots, and was delicious–not your standard throwaway side of slaw. The waffle was a yummy alternative to biscuits, and an unexpected southern touch in a place run by true Yankees. A vegetarian entree (no longer on the menu) featured the same waffle as the main attraction on the plate, along with some incredible mustard greens with mustard sauce (it possessed layers of delicious flavors you wouldn’t expect from that redundant-sounding description), roasted mushrooms (earthy and yummy), and the savoy slaw.

The bacon-wrapped trout, served with mustard greens and fingerling potatoes, was also good. How they managed to get the bacon crispy without overcooking the trout is a mystery to me, but one I wont question. The dish was deemed delicious, and every bite was finished. The Nantucket tilefish was served with black mussels, zucchini “noodles,” and basil broth. This was yet another great dish. The fish was perfectly cooked: flaky on the inside and well browned on the outside. Considering the mussels were a supporting player, they were top quality and very fresh. Also fresh were the herbs with which the dish was redolent. The portion was generous without being excessive.

After dinner, we were not so full that we weren’t tempted by the dessert menu. But, we had dessert from Veniero’s and some rum fresh from Panama (though for me, again, water!) waiting for us back at the Predicate’s apartment, so we departed without sampling the delicious-sounding sweets. I will be back, if only to sit at the bar and eat the pecan pie sundae (or perhaps the chocolate chip bread pudding with butterscotch sauce).

I would wholeheartedly recommend Buttermilk Channel. (Just try to get a group to go, and make reservations in advance!) The fact that they have a separate vegetarian and kid’s menu available, makes it a friendly place for a large demographic. No matter the menu you choose, the atmosphere, food, drinks, and service are all exceptional–I see multiple visits there in my future. And thank you, cousins, for giving us the one-hundred-dollar impetus to go!

Buttermilk Channel
524 Court Street
Brooklyn, NY
718-852-8490

Artichoke Heart reports that the pizza at Anselmo’s is both saucy and spicy, which happens to be just how I love pizza (I prefer a goodly amount of red on my pie). AH also mentions that the brick-oven-produced pie was not too charred, which is a problem I have encountered at other ballyhooed pizza places in Brooklyn, notably Lucali. Saucy+not charred=Gastronormous must try!

Cook, Eat, Fret actually made the Bittman broccoli rabe pasta dish I mentioned two weeks ago, and declares it “perfect.” Ok, I really must try it already.

It never occurred to me that some might view juicy tomatoes to be an insurmountable obstacle in the creation of a good sandwich–in fact, I would think that a juicy tomato would be preferred. Silly me. Genetic mutators in Holland have developed something they call a “non-leaking” tomato, which will leach only 2% of its juices onto the bread of a sandwich (as opposed to 12% with regular, leaky, tomatoes). Really? We have a disastrous worldwide recession going on, and this is what some see fit to spend money on developing? Egad. [via The Food Section]

I am glad Eat It: Brooklyn had a good experience at Paninotecca 275. for years, it was one of my favorite places in the Carroll Gardens, but the last couples times I went the food was lackluster. The menu looked different, the stafff was different, and the whole place just seemed off. I hope they have returned to their former glory. I still think about the last brunch I had there involving soft baked eggs with gorgonzola; two things I can’t have while pregnant. I think a trip to brunch at Paninotecca might be due shortly after I am!