Have you been to fette sau yet? Oh man, we dropped by with some friends this weekend with the intention of only drinking. But to only drink would totally undermine it’s best asset and that’s meat. It’s worth a trip to Fette Sau if only for the smell. Once you walk past the outdoor picnic tables and into the garage like interior it hits you and there’s no way you can not get meat.

No one was really hungry, but I’m pretty sure everyone walked out with a tray with hunks of meat scattered about it. Everything is sold by the pound, so you can order pulled pork, spicy sausage, baby back ribs, just about anything you can barbeque and it all comes on a big old baking sheet. They also had a nice selection of sides, none of which I can really remember because I could only focus on the meat. An added bonus is they have an excellent selection of beer, which can be purchased by the pint, half-gallon or gallon.

Fette Sau is good stuff. You should probably visit and try it out for yourself. Mmmmmm.

Yup. I did it. And I’m so excited. I gathered all the ingredients last week and started preparing asap. I had never made bacon in the oven before, but I love the results. The bacon was flat and crisp and a touch less greasy. Yum. The making of the ice cream itself was pretty easy too. I just made the custard mixture and left it in the fridge overnight to chill. I woke up the next morning and got the ice cream maker going and let it do its thing.

The result: pretty tasty. The ice cream itself is actually a bit more boozy than I anticipated, which I think is my only complaint about the ice cream. I like the contrast of the smooth creamy and slightly sweet ice cream paired with the chewy, salty bacon bits. I’ll admit, bacon ice cream probably isn’t for everyone, and it’s no mint chip, but it’s definitely worth a try.

Woohoo! Good news for fans of the delicious food served at the Red Hook Ball Fields. It looks like they’ve secured a six-year permit to keep selling tastiness. Hmmm, so many things to try, I think there will be many trips in our future.

My friend Tom sent me this article yesterday and I couldn’t wait to share it. Brooklyn based chocolatiers and brothers Rick and Mike Mast are making some intriguing chocolate bars… from scratch. As in from beans. I think that’s pretty impressive, especially since they’re working out of a 200 square foot kitchen.

I’ve seen the bars when I’m out and about, but I rarely buy a bar of chocolate, so I haven’t picked one up. But with a story like that, plus beautiful packaging, I’m going to have to try one out.

photo by Michael Harlan Turkell via brooklyn based

My friend Jillian sent me this recipe for whole wheat bread and I’ve been waiting for the right time to try it out. I made a bit of a mistake in thinking that last night might be that time. You see, I seem to have a problem with reading the directions before I make a recipe. I had perused it several times, but overlooked the three separate rising periods when I decided to start it at 9:30pm. At first I thought it was only two rising periods and that maybe I could speed it up and still bake it that night, but instead after the eighteenth time I read it, I realized I would not have bread until the morning. With my head hung low, I left the bread on the counter, covered it with a towel, and crossed my fingers that it would make it through the night.

This morning, I rose a bit early and was happy to see the bread had survived. I warmed the oven and popped the bread in, hoping I hadn’t ruined everything. The apartment filled with the delicious scent of fresh baked bread, making the morning a little more cheerful. When I pulled the bread out, I could see that it had suffered slightly from my mistakes (it didn’t rise well), but overall it made it out mostly intact. I cut a slice and took my first bite. It was moist and pretty good, although a little bit of butter really helped it. I think I was looking for a little more umph in it. I can imagine it would be really tasty with a bit of fruit jam on it or something like that to sweeten it up a bit.

In the end, I think I’m spoiled by the no knead bread. It so easy and really delicious and you hardly have to think about it. Maybe I’ll try a whole wheat no knead bread.

Whole-Wheat Bread Hayes

2 cups warm water (105°-115°F.)
a 1/4-ounce package (2 1/2 teaspoons) active dry yeast
1/4 cup molasses
5 to 6 cups whole-wheat flour
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup canola oil
an egg wash made by beating 1 large egg white with 1 teaspoon water
3 tablespoons old-fashioned rolled oats for sprinkling loaves

1
In a small bowl stir together 1 3/4 cups warm water and yeast and let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. In a measuring cup whisk together remaining 1/4 cup warm water and molasses. In a large bowl stir together 2 cups flour, sugar, salt, and oil and add molasses and yeast mixtures, stirring until combined well. Stir in enough of remaining 3 to 4 cups flour, 1/2 cup at a time, for mixture to form a soft dough and turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead dough 8 minutes, or until smooth and elastic, and shape into a ball.
2
Transfer dough to a lightly oiled bowl, turning to coat, and let rise, covered with plastic wrap, in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about hour.
3
Punch down dough and let rise, covered, 45 minutes more.
4
Preheat oven to 400°F. and grease 2 loaf pans, 8 1/2 by 4 1/2 by inches.
5
Divide dough in half. Lightly knead each piece of dough and form into ovals. Transfer loaves to pans and let rise, covered with kitchen towels, 45 minutes.
6
Brush tops of loaves lightly with egg wash and sprinkle with oats. Bake loaves in middle of oven 10 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350°F. and bake loaves 20 to 25 minutes more, or until golden brown. Turn loaves out onto a rack to cool.

I was never big into comics until I happened upon Rocketship on Smith Street. It’s a cute neighborhood comic shop that has tons of comics from Superman to Jimmy Corrigan. I love the more contemporary artists like Jeffrey Brown, Adrian Tomine, Anders Nilsen and Chris Ware. The illustrations are amazing and the writing is just as interesting.

Even if you’re not a comic book aficiando, these books are definitely worth a look.

I have long admired the menu, matchbooks, signage etc at florent after reading about them in Tibor, but I just recently tried the food for the first time. Unfortunately, I don’t have much time to make up for the lost years but hey, I’ll eat it while I can.

I gathered some friends a while ago to make my first trek. We went for a leisurely Sunday brunch, and apparently so did the rest of the city, as we had to wait a bit. Lucky for us, it was worth it. I’ve come to realize that brunch is a very indulgent meal, at least it is for me, and Florent didn’t let me down. I ordered off the Prix Fixe menu which included a boozy beverage (screwdriver), an entree (croissandwich, yesssss), potatoes (fries) and coffee (with milk & sugar). Oh boy, the croissandwich was just the way it should be, buttery and flaky and stuffed with eggs, cheese and ham.

The next time we went we tried dinner and sat at the counter, because again, it seemed like everyone else had the same idea we did. We started out with the boudin noir (blood sausage) served with apples and onions. I didn’t know exactly what boudin noir was and I tried to think happy thoughts, and I must admit, it was pretty good. However, I just confirmed my suspicions that it is actually made with blood, so I’m kind of creeped out. Anywho, for dinner Aaron ordered the Couscous with grilled chicken and sausage and I chose the Roast Chicken with whipped potatoes and mixed greens. The chicken was deliciously juicy with nice crispy skin and the potatoes were creamy and so dang good. Aaron’s couscous was good too, not as much my thing, but still tasty. It was served as soup, which came as a surprise, but it had a nice mix of vegetable along with the sausage and chicken.

Not only is the food good, the atmosphere just makes you want to sit and hang out forever and as an added bonus the staff is super friendly. I’m sad to see such a good place be forced out, but fingers crossed maybe they’ll find a new home. Closing day is March 31.

I got a little crazy this weekend and tried out a new out-of-the-ordinary recipe, Goan-Style Shrimp Curry. I saw it last week in the Times and it sounded amazing. So, I made a trip to my favorite spice store, Sahadi’s and got some of the required spices that I didn’t have. The recipe has a lot of ingredients, but it’s pretty easy to make, as long as you keep it moving. I decided to add potatoes to it because I didn’t have enough shrimp on hand, plus I like potatoes. The result is a delightfully spicy, but not too spicy, uber-flavorful soup. It’s great for a cold and blistery day.

Goan-Style Shrimp Curry
Published: March 5, 2008
Adapted from Suvir Saran and Hemant Mathur, Devi

Time: 25 minutes

1 1/3pounds large shrimp, peeled and deveined
Kosher salt
Ground black pepper
1/8teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4cup canola oil
4 dried red chilies
1 3-inch piece ginger, peeled and minced
1 medium red onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
2 teaspoons ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
3 cups canned chopped tomatoes, with juice
1/2 teaspoon curry powder
1 1/2 cups coconut milk
1 cup chopped fresh cilantro.

1
Place shrimp in a gallon-size resealable plastic bag, and add 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, 1/8 teaspoon black pepper and cayenne. Mix well and refrigerate.
2
n a deep skillet or sauté pan over medium-high heat, combine oil and chilies and stir 1 to 2 minutes. Add 1/4 teaspoon black pepper and cook for 1 minute longer. Add ginger, onion, 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon kosher salt and sauté until onion is soft and translucent, 5 to 8 minutes. Add garlic, ground coriander and turmeric and sauté until fragrant, about 1 minute.
3
Reduce heat to medium-low and add tomatoes. Stir, scraping sides and bottom of pot, for 1 minute. Increase heat to medium-high and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring often.
4
Stir in curry powder and cook for 1 minute. Add coconut milk, bring to a boil, and add shrimp. Bring to a simmer and cook until shrimp are opaque, 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in cilantro. If desired, serve with rice.

Yield: 3 to 4 servings.

oh boy! I found this recipe for Candied Bacon Ice Cream on David Lebovitz’s blog and it blows my mind. It’s hard not to run out to the grocery store right now to get the ingredients for this. I tried a bacon bar from Vosges and thought it was interesting, but thought that dark chocolate would have worked better. But still, I love the contrast of salty and sweet. I think I’ll be getting my ice cream maker ready for this one.