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Monthly Archives: September 2014

Best Tomato Sauce Ever (Vol. III)

25 Thursday Sep 2014

Posted by Leah in RECIPES, TRAVEL, TV / POP CULTURE

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Barefoot Contessa, Ina Garten, J-Date, Match.com, Nick & Toni's, Penne Alla Vecchia Bettola, Rachael Ray, Vodka Sauce

 

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Why am I still single if I can make this sumptuous, irresistible tomato sauce?  Let me explain. Years ago, a friend gave me the recipe for Rachael Ray’s “You Won’t Be Single For Long Vodka Sauce,” which promises that if you make her sauce for a guy, he’s sure to pop the question.  Um, still waiting. Then I went to Nick & Toni’s in NYC and had their version, called Penne Alla Vecchia Bettola, and after discovering the recipe online, I am now convinced I will land a prince.  A gorgeous, food-loving, Jewish prince at that!  It’s that good, and the best vodka sauce I’ve ever had, hands down.

If you can’t get to Nick & Toni’s, make it at home. (Thank you, Barefoot Contessa!) While it needs to bake in the oven for an hour and a half and yes, there’s a heck of a lot of cream, its comforting aromas and super-concentrated spicy/sweet flavor will more than make up for the extra calories and cooking time.  This is the third of my three-part “Best Tomato Sauce Ever” posts, yet it might be the first thing I’ll note if I ever join Match.com. (“Or J-Date!” my mother just screamed.)

Nick & Toni’s Penne Alla Vecchia Bettola

Adapted from Ina Garten, aka The Barefoot Contessa

  • 1/4 cup good olive oil
  • 1 medium Spanish onion, chopped
  • 3 cloves of garlic, diced
  • 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
  • 1 cup vodka
  • 2 (28-ounce) cans peeled plum tomatoes (San Marzano are best)
  • Kosher salt
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  • 3/4 pound penne pasta
  • 4 tablespoons fresh oregano
  • 3/4 to 1 cup heavy cream (Feel free to use half ‘n half for a slightly less rich taste)
  • 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus a little more for presentation

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Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Heat the olive oil in a large oven-proof saute pan over medium heat, add the onions and garlic and cook for about 5 minutes until translucent. Add the red pepper flakes and dried oregano and cook for 1 minute more. Add the vodka and continue cooking until the mixture is reduced by half.  Meanwhile, drain the tomatoes through a sieve and crush them into the pan with your hands. Add 2 teaspoons salt and a pinch of black pepper. Cover the pan with a tight fitting lid and place it in the oven for 1 1/2 hours. Remove the pan from the oven and let cool for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook the pasta al dente. Drain and set aside.

Place the tomato mixture in a blender and puree in batches until the sauce is a smooth consistency. Return to the pan.  Reheat the sauce, add 2 tablespoons fresh oregano and enough cream to make the sauce a creamy consistency. Add salt and pepper, to taste, and simmer for 10 minutes. Toss the pasta into the sauce and cook for 2 minutes more. Stir in 1/2 cup Parmesan. Serve with an additional sprinkle of Parmesan and a sprinkle of fresh oregano on each plate.  Good luck!

Serves 4-5

(small photos courtesy of Alexandracooks.com – a great foodie website)

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Travel + Food + Balls = Anthony Bourdain

21 Sunday Sep 2014

Posted by Leah in TRAVEL, TV / POP CULTURE

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Anthony Bourdain, CNN, Kitchen Confidential, Parts Unknown

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Anthony Bourdain Parts Unknown

Sundays on CNN

Remember when Anthony Bourdain wrote the restaurant exposé “Kitchen Confidential,” cementing his stature as culinary bad boy for the ages?  Turns out, he brings the same sort of bad-ass intrigue he brought to the literary world to CNN, where his travel/food show “Parts Unknown” begins its fourth season next week. “Holy mother of Santa Muerte, please protect my stash of cocaine,” he begins in Mexico, where he dives head first into the world of drug cartels and government corruption, stopping along the way, of course, at the hottest table in Mexico City and the hippest mescal bar in Oaxaca.  In Jerusalem, he re-examines the Arab/Israeli dynamic with aplomb, or rather, over plums, apricots and zucchini from a restaurant’s garden in the West Bank and a watermelon field ablaze with gunfire in Gaza.  And in Detroit, though he likens the abandoned and decaying streets of the once-fabled Motor City to Chernobyl (!), he flaunts its irrepressible entrepreneurship and ends the episode defiantly believing in its comeback. (And its ribs.).

Unlike the dearth of predictable travel and food shows littering cable, “Parts Unknown”  takes you to places, and kitchens, really unknown, and all with Bourdain’s keen eye and voracious appetite.  Think you know Tokyo?  Think again.  Been to Vegas?  Not this Vegas, I assure you.  Bourdain may still be an arrogant celebrity chef with a penchant for eating the balls of a bull, but word has it he goes to Iran and The Bronx in the coming weeks!  I’m going too.

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Woo-ha woo-ha! (Song of the Summer)

16 Tuesday Sep 2014

Posted by Leah in MUSIC

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Tags

Bjork, Cat Power, Merrill Garbus, Nate Brenner, Talking Heads, Tune-yards, Water Fountain

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Water Fountain

by tUnE-yArDs

“Woo-ha woo-ha!” I heard on the radio back in May when tUnE-yArDs’ new song “Water Fountain” was released, introducing me not only to a very cool band but to a very very cool tune.  As summer finally winds down, I find myself still listening to it, the cheeriest song to hit the airwaves since, well, last year’s “Happy.”  tUnE-yArDs (yup, that’s how they spell it) is actually Indie darling Merrill Garbus and her partner Nate Brenner, who compose some of the most eclectic music out there; equal parts Afro and Indie pop, funky percussive beats and odd rhythms. And all featuring Garbus’ soulful and incredibly unique voice, which really shines on “Water Fountain.”

Most of all, though, the song is just plain old FUN!  It hooks you in fast, builds momentum, and adds layer after layer, leaving you almost dizzy.  Is this Bjork, you think?  Cat Power?  The Talking Heads with a new singer?!  Nope, it’s tUnE-yArDs, no matter how you spell it, and since I can’t seem to get it out of my head nor stop dancing to it, it’s my nomination for Song of the Summer 2014!

Like it?  Check out more tUnE-yArDs, ie. the bluesy “Powa,” and “Gangsta,” explosive and sultry and recently heard in the Netflix hit “Orange is the New Black.”

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