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We've Moved!

To catch up on all things MAD Hungry go to:

http://www.madhungry.com

Pizza, pasta and polpette

Decided to pretend we were on vacation in our own town for a few days. NYC is a dream on holiday weekends in the summer. You can get into restaurants, movies etc etc--all those things ordinarily so crowded. Always on the pizza quest, we are-- with best ones rotating in and out of favor. Loved the sopressata pie at Motorino http://www.motorinopizza.com/ but was knocked out by their meatballs; a light and airy variety with the loveliest most elegant and unadulterated sauce.

On the pasta front, I've now been back to Maialino http://www.maialinonyc.com/ three times in the last week for their pasta. This is true Roman trattoria eating at its finest.

The agnolotti with corn and sungold tomatoes is the absolute pinnacle of a seasonal pasta but what I can't get out of my head and what keeps sending me back there is the malfatti al maialino; suckling pig ragu with wide misshapen noodles, topped with baby arugula. This isn't the tomatoey ragu one's used to rather it has a lemony sauce which is eyes-rolling-back-in-your-head good. Sipped randomly off the nebbiola wine tasting menu but was loving the white Chiavennasca Conti Sertoli Salis 08 from Lombardi which I plan on hunting down and buying a case of for home.

Italian Plum time....

Any regular reader of The New York Times food coverage in the 80's who was also on the lookout for easy baking ideas probably remembers this recipe. It's since become a bit of a cult classic republished often with different subtle changes. Every year at this time, when the Italian plums show up in the market, I find myself hunting down the recipe. Here it is posted by Lynne Rossetto Kasper from NPR's Splendid Table with a little history too: http://splendidtable.publicradio.org/recipes/dessert_plum.html

This is the simplest recipe ever and every time I make the batter, I pause because there is so little of it (making me think I've forgotten something) which is spread very thinly on the bottom of a baking pan. Here I use a 9-inch cast-iron (because I never met a recipe I didn't want to try in it). Then, the plum halves are embedded on top and it always seems strange, like it'll never rise into a proper cake buried underneath all that fruit! But it always does. This is my kind of dessert, easily whipped up just before dinner--baking and scenting the room during dinner and served warm for dessert, melting ice-cream pooling into the crevices.

Leftovers also make a fantastic breakfast pastry.

Been Fishin'

After a busy working summer, I am so happy to be out of the city with the family hanging at the beach, on the water, in the kitchen, at the bookstore, on my bicycle--all on a ten day holiday. I disconnected for all but a few of those days which I highly recommend now and then for those of you are are wired to the teeth with your blackberry's

iphones, ipads, cell phones. It is very therapeutic once I got the hang of it but took some conscious effort since I've become really accustomed to connecting with everyone!

Meanwhile, back on the boat, we went fishing for strippers and had the best time. Problem is--there was a 4 day nor'easter storm which jumbled up the ocean. Until then folks were catching them left and right using live bait (mackerel) which you just take a bit of time to catch before heading out for the big fish. Captain Nick knew something was up when the mackerel were no where to be found. And on our maiden stripper trip the only thing we caught was our shadow!!!

It's the first no-fish-catching-trip Nick has had in several years. Bummer.

So--we went home, made a trip to the fishmonger and Miles rocked our taste buds with an amazing meal anyway which I'll post next time.

Meanwhile, I'm glad to be back--all psyched up for the fall and a whole new project with Mad Hungry TV about to launch on September 13th at noon on the Hallmark Channel. The boys join me on a few episodes too! Check it out.

BLUEBERRY AND CUTIE PIES

My brother Peter's family spends a lot of time together around activities that lead to delicious eating. Last week they went blueberry picking on Cape Cod and made this blueberry pie. My first question was about the crust--which recipe did they use because the crust came out so nice. They went to the MSLO website and got the Pate Brise which is made entirely in the food processor. Sometimes this dough can be difficult to handle because of all the butter but if Pete and three little hands could manage it than so can you. It has the best taste to flake ratio of any dough I know. But, I usually stick to the slightly easier (for me) basic pie dough in the Mad Hungry book.

Pete has also become a very reliable rib cooker (now rivaling his older brother Jim). His rub is fantastic and he's got the cooking down so nothing is burned but everything is caramelized beautifully. Still we never let him forget the time he mistook cayenne pepper for sweet paprika in the rub. There is no greater buzz kill than waiting all afternoon for the slow smoking ribs--aroma driving you crazy , only to put them to your lips and burn your face off. No one, not even the spiciest hot food eaters could eat those ribs. He may still get relentlessly teased by his siblings, brother-in-law and nephews but his ribs now speak for themselves. Aren't they beautiful?

Hitting the road....

The first ten shows of MHTV are wrapped.

It's been, crazy, comfy, cozy,

challenging, delicious, embarrassing, entertaining

enveloping and enlightening,

funny and humbling,

illuminating and invigorating,

mad fun, mad hard, mad cool, mad cap

nourishing and naughty

quieting, quixotic, quinnifying

rambling, rambunctious, reaffirming

solidifying

taxing, tiring, tremendous,

verifying, vexing, voluminating

wonderful

yummy

zany..........

and I can not wait to come back for more after VACATION--yeah!!!!

GREG'S EGGS

The best breakfast serving idea ever comes from Greg Lofts where two hard boiled eggs come presented in a recycled carton. Salt and pepper have their own little nooks and there are even a couple extra spots for the discarded peels too.

MAD HUNGRY TV

After our major duoma, Martha dropped by the MHTV set this morning and took her own twitpics, I figured it's time to show you a glimpse of what we have going on at the new MHTV show. It's day 3 of shooting and I was psyched to have her stop by and put her stamp of approval on our new home/set which is so freakin' awesome and I love it!! We have a central kitchen island, a desk area to the left, a kitchen living room to the right and books stacked everywhere. All the real life items (like bikes and balls, pictures and collections of stuff) that have been acquired in our very lived life are out in the open for all to see.

And the recipes, straight from the pages of Mad Hungry are executed in the way we all have to cook, meaning--juggling multiple pots and pans at once. On Friday, the boys helped me cook and it was a crazy-happy scene. We pulled together one of our favorite meals. The whole crew who work on this show are members of the nicest-people-to-work-with club and I just have the sneakiest feeling that this show is going to rock the house!!

CONFIDENT COOK RECIPE DEVELOPMENT

The September issue of Martha Stewart Living is the "home issue"--which is an appropriate place to debut our new cooking column, The Confident Cook because--the ideas come directly from home and the real life meals that spring from daily family cooking. Here is the springboard/inspiration for the focus of our first column, the fabulous flat steaks. These are really affordable and delicious steaks that you might not have considered buying before: Flank, Skirt and Hangar.

Check out the issue for all the how's and why's on my favorite steaks (not to mention a huge array of home decorating and styling tips, something I desperately need) AND--more fantastic recipes from our crazy talented test kitchen crew of food editors at Taste of the Test Kitchen.

COZY WINTER AUGUST MEAL

I know I know--I shouldn't look a gift cook in the mouth, but--I'm just saying....

My hubs said he'd cook dinner last night for the fam which made me happy. He knows what I like

to eat in the summer-especially on a really hot summer day. Predictably, it's salad, fish, vegetables: light fresh, seasonal. Yah. When I got home and snooped around the kitchen finding one pot on the stove, I asked him what's for dinner. Bolognese Sauce, he said--and his plan was to cook thick rigatoni noodles for the thick meat sauce. But, it's 95 degrees out, I said--not February in the Italian mountains! And, where's the vegetables anyway?? (Plus, I'm trying to loose a little weight here too and he knows it).

I made the veg--some sauteed spinach and tucked into the air conditioning for what could have been a cozy winter night by the fire. And, the problem is that it was just so darn good and I loved every bite of it, and had seconds too boot.

I'm just saying--only a man cooks a winter dinner on August 10th!!

BEER PONG

As everyone MUST know by now--at MSLO we had the greatest event here at our offices last week where we hosted hundreds of bloggers, in town for the annual BlogHer convention, for Martha's Blogger's Night Out. They came to get a taste of all the bloggin' we have going on here.

What everyone who was there probably DOESN'T know is what happened afterwards, as the party wound down and most guests had left. Just when I thought were done and packed up for the night-- one of the MH boys whispered to me, "wish Kevin (MSLO's Illustrious Head Decorating Guru) would let us play beer pong on his fancy pool table." And Kevin, never one to miss a potential fun-fest thought it was a great idea. But here's the thing: he had no idea what beer pong is. And, I must admit--I'd never played it either. Although as the mother of college students, its not a term I'm unfamiliar with, to say the least.

My first born son paired up with Deputy MSL Food Editor and Taste of The Test Kitchen's, Christine Albano. And second born had beer-pong-neophyte Kevin to partner with and teach. In what was possibly my favorite line of the evening, Kevin when asked incredulously why he'd never played beer pong, replied--"I went to ART school." You can see the stunned look on his face in this picture! Needless to say--Kevin lost his maiden game but to be fair to them both they were up against some fierce competition from the their highly competitive opponents who clearly have played a game or two of beer pong in their past!

By the way--special thanks to all the bloggers who stopped in at the Mad Hungry table.

Neesha at Greenista

Jessica at The Mom Creative

Jillian at Aspen Real Life & Isdisnormal

Olga at Sassy Radish

Stephanie at Queen of Quirky

Alice at Savory Sweet Life

Kristen at Culinary Snapshot

Holly at ArtistMotherTeacher

Esti at Traveling Mom

Is anyone loving their pan scraper yet???

SCALA FAMILY REUNION

This weekend my cousin Jed Scala and his significant other Paula Wardynski hosted a weekend family reunion for the Scala, Bachner and Alberti branches of the Ferlo/Scala clan at their beautiful home in the Berkshire's in Massachussets. When we were little, there were many of these hosted by the old timer Italians who brought endless trays of lasagna, sausages, pizza frite, cannoli's, played Baci, sang songs and idled away the day out at Lake Oneida in New York State. Those are fond memories.

For many of us--that was the last time we saw each other! Jed and Paula--managed to gather this group AND cook and serve food and drink Saturday lunch and dinner and Sunday morning brunch. Even though they both work full time--they had the meals organized, some things made in advance, others contributed by cousins but MOSTLY they pulled the whole thing off by themselves in one of the most effortless feasts of entertaining I've ever seen.

Anchored in part by the amazing smoked and cured meats of of Paula's family business, run by her brother http://www.wardynski.com/--the Polish sausages took the spotlight at this Italian family picnic! Check it out. Order the kielbasa and hot dogs (especially the chicken Asiago). They are really outstanding.

I admit to feeling a little shy about revisiting the past and seeing so many folks for the first time in years BUT--there was nothing but a feeling of goodwill and amazement at the generations--how family endures--how different we all are yet the connectedness of blood and marriage grounds you in this world. The youngest generation will delight--lovely fruits fallen from the same variety of different trees is a wonderful thing to behold. If you've been thinking about having your own extended family reunion, DO IT. Take a cue from Jed and Paula--serve an abundance of a few simple dishes featuring seasonal ingredients rather than too many different offerings. Crank up the grill and procure a variety of your favorite sausages. Everyone loves sausages and for the vegetarians in the group--the side dishes will satisfy.

MSLO BLOGGER"S NIGHT OUT

I'm looking forward to the first-ever Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Bloggers' Night Out! on Thursday, August 5. I, along with editors from Martha Stewart Living, Everyday Food, Martha Stewart Weddings and Whole Living will host a cocktail party and meet-and-greet where we'll have a chance to speak with a variety bloggers specializing in food, home, crafts, weddings, and more.

And, the Mad Hungry Scotchie cocktail WILL be featured. WIll post the recipe IF it's a fav.

We'll also give away Mad Hungry prize packs to three lucky @MadHungryLSQ Twitter followers at home. The prize pack includes:

1 MAD Hungry T-Shirt

1 MAD Hungry Pot Scraper

1 signed MAD Hungry cookbook

To be eligible, be sure you're following @MadHungryLSQ on Twitter along with the #marthablogger live Twitter feed during the Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Bloggers' Night Out event. Read the official rules here.

And, I will have a few mad hungry boys there too.

I can't wait to meet everyone at the event!

WEEK NIGHT DINNER

How happy I was to come home to dinner tonight--shopped for and cooked by hubs. Served and cleaned up for by first born son. SOmetimes--SOMEtimes things work out how you hoped and prayed they might. All that training, and I do mean good home training pays off now and then. THanks boyzzz. All recipes from Mad Hungry. Two pics of the same dinner are pictured here; flatroasted chicken (AGAIN!), rice pilaf, sauteed kale and avocado salad. One image a straight iphone photo. The other hipstamatic groovester app. Is the groove app cool or annoying?

STEAK DINNER

I took one whole week off of blog/facebook/twitter etc. No special reason--just a little vacation from the techno-frontlines because I want these activities to stay fun--not burdensome. And, this is the first time all year that--with sons all out of town, hubs and I ate out four whole nights which is very unusual for us. It was fun--kind of like being on vacation or a honeymoon. I wouldn't want to make a steady diet of it but--with NYC 97 degree heat--it was worth the expense. We ate our favorite NYC resto's: Marea http://www.marea-nyc.com/, Porterhouse http://www.porterhousenewyork.com/, Locando Verde http://www.locandaverdenyc.com/ and Yakitori Toto http://tottonyc.com/.

But, I cooked all weekend up at my moms--here is a little steak dinner, Asian style: porterhouse and portobellas marinated in teriyaki sauce and grilled, plain steamed bok choy, ditto the fresh corn and cilantro rice. I've been on a kick of stirring fresh cilantro into things: butter for corn, tossed into rice, scattered over steamed greens. Most of the fish, meat and veg I've been cooking has been such pure natural product that just a little hint of spice or herbs is all that's needed to enhance.

BEING WITH TEENS

In case you don't know (and if you care)--Laura Munson exactly sums up the challenging, beautiful nuances of being with teens today in this NYT's article today.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/25/magazine/25lives-t.html?ref=todayspaper

BUT THERE'S NOTHING iN THE HOUSE TO EAT!

Once again, it's dinner time. No one can figure out what to eat 'cause, well--"there's nothing in the house." So the inertia builds until I come home from work and try not to get irritated because there's ALWAYS something to be made. Even a heel of cheese and some tortillas can be whipped up in to a respectable quesadilla with a little hot sauce to sprinkle on.

Here, a chopped up old head of bok choy comes together with some leftover Chinese take-out brown rice sauteed in scallions and garlic. Hit with some miso tamari (pantry) whipped with a few eggs and voila-there's enough for 5 bowls of food. Scrounge a cucumber and some cilantro form the crisper, squeeze on some lime and you're good to go. A little leftover rose saved my day and night too, I admit. And, I'm reminded that I must stock up the freezer and pantry for the next, "there's nothing in the house"dinner.

ROAST CHICKEN AND POTATOES

Roasting a perfect chicken is a never ending quest. Even many chefs, when testing new candidates for a cooking job give them this task to. As a home cook, it seems like I've made thousands. For a while there I had to get food out so quickly to the hungry hoards that I'd spatch cock the bird (remove the backbone)--otherwise known as Flat Roasted chicken in the Mad Hungry cookbook (a recipe many folks have been making too, I hear). It cuts the cooking time by 20 minutes. Meanwhile, what makes this chicken here so amazing is the bread that is used as its cooking platform. About five pieces of day old whole wheat bread are gathered together, salted, peppered and olive oiled to form a raft for the chicken. As the bird roasts, the bread soaks up the chicken juices making it sort of soft in the middle but also crunchy around the edges. It is one of my most favorite guilty eating pleasures. The 3-pound bird was stuffed with a quartered lemon, seasoned and cooked at 425 for 55 minutes. For a side, oven roasted organic French new potatoes (share the same oven)--beautifully colored and tasting like the essence of potato. They were expensive at the farmers market but worth it. And, if I had a big garden, I'd grow them. On the plate I also served a plop of fresh made pepper jelly; a spicy sweet accent for the salty savory chicken. Nothing more but a fresh green salad made this basic, simple meal memorable.

THAI FRIED RICE

It is impossible to describe what it means for me to have a new stove. All of you must think I have the latest and the greatest of all appliances in my home. Truth is, I have the oldest, the worst, the last legs-until-there's-nothing -left appliances. All these boys of mine: their education, athletics, medical etc etc has taken precedence over everything. But I have been patient and I have not despaired. Night after night of delicious meals AND four cookbooks have come out of my tired little kitchen. Finally I relented (had to)--my fridge lost light and had 2 broken shelves and the stovetop had no power, no heat, no nothing. I purchased all new appliances from GE--every one run-of-the-mill except my stove which is the crown jewel. I love it. Its amazing and you'll hear more from me to come on this one.

Here is the beginning of Thai Fired Rice, starting with chicken (cause thats what I had in the fridge). It built from there ith scallion, garlic, ginger (minced)--cabbage, rice, fish sauce, yum yum. Finish with Lime, cilanto and cucumber.

SUMMER SEAFOOD

I eat fish when it's fresh, local and of a sustainable variety meaning that that particular species isn't in any known, imminent danger of depleted stock. Check the Monterey Bay Seafood watch here http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/seafoodwatch.aspx for what is going in in your part of the country (USA). I've been really lucky lately to be in places where there has been a lot of great fresh seafood. It takes a bit of an altering of your mind set to eat produce-first instead of recipe-first. Recipes can have you running around to find all the right ingredients which works well sometimes. Other times, like with seasonal eating, it can be way more liberating to go to the market, see what's there and then make your cooking plan. Don't worry about anything. Just pick a few things that are of the moment, feel like you could see them together on the plate and inspire you.

At a uptown NYC farmers market yesterday--the first thing I did was head to the fishmonger who fishes himself and brings the fish directly after the catch to the market. There were many fresh choices but his first of the season striped bass was wildly overpriced as was a couple other choices that folks were buying out of familiarity. I noticed a few tiny black bass fillets (arguably my favorite eating fish) but, there wasn't enough...until I noticed several whole head and tail on ones (scaled and gutted) tucked in the ice. I got excited and especially at the price which was very reasonable. I got 4 of them, about 11/2-pounds each. Next, I chose the mussels which were tiny, wild, beautiful and very well priced especially compared to the clams. I got a load of those. Just next door at the vegetable stand, the corn and fresh shallots, parsley and cilantro stood out to me and just before leaving I noticed a giant head of Chinese cabbage.

When I got home, I was thinking of a Mediterranean angle for the dinner (capers, anchovies, basil etc). But, I had a big piece of ginger in the fridge and was really craving an light Asian-style meal so I worked it though in my head--how each thing could be cooked, consulted a few favorite cookbooks then put them away and went to work. I didn't want much fuss either.

I slashed each fish and placed them to mingle with a combo of soy, sherry and sesame oil topped with shredded scallion and ginger in a dish. Cleaning the mussels, I was just craving spice so the simple prep there involved mashing the shallots, some sambal chili paste and fish sauce together into a paste. And, an onion was sliced too--some sugar, salt and lime put aside for the finish. Two cups of Jasmine rice went on the stove to steam. Corn shucked, I mashed some butter, chopped cilantro, salt and pepper together and divided it between individual small bowls. All food prep aside, the cocktails were

made in bulk ahead of time watermelon juice (made by pureeing and draining the flesh), ginger, honey, lime was shaken together with Appleton's rum and stuck in the fridge for guest arrival. Fresh mint leaves made the garnish.

Just before dinner, I started the mussels; sauteed the onions, added the sambal paste, stirred a bit and dumped in the mussels which cooked about 8 minutes before being finished with the salty, sweet and sour flavors. Those went to the table while the fish, stacked in cabbage-lined steamer baskets over boiling water cooked on the stove next to the steaming corn BOTH of which finished just as we slurped up our last bits of salty spicy mussel broth. Dishes cleared and to the table came the fish, rice and corn. The fish was like firm custard, lightly scented by the marinated flavors but only ever so gently. But beware, whole fish is not to be served to any old guest. It takes patience and know-how to pick through the bones and remove the flesh bit by bit from the central skeleton.

I was sure my guests for this dinner could handle it. Otherwise, just go for fillets or steaks instead. And what better guests are there than those who can devour the entire fish AND come bearing the dessert. This included homemade fleur de Lait ice cream (made without eggs but instead with milk and cornstarch) and fresh gooseberry sauce. It was the perfect finish for this meal--a combo of sweet, sour, tangy and mysterious--at least to me, a gooseberry neophyte.

CHOWDER AND FISH

Here's my two year old nephew with his first fish. Very exciting.

And, for those facebook friends who've asked, here is the New England clam chowder recipe I use http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/new-england-clam-chowder-with-bacon. It was developed for a whole story I did on chowders so if Manhattan, fish, lobster or corn chowda's tickle your fancy you can find them in the same place.

JAPANESE DINNER FOR SUMMER

At a fav NYC restaurant Yakitori Toto http://tottonyc.com/ here is one of the meals I crave in the summer. Fresh, homemade udon noodles are chilled and served over a platform of connected ice cubes with shaved scallions and a light soy dipping sauce. We drink a chilled, strong, piquant sake. Plus a few charred skewers of chicken oysters too.