Guest Post - Suspending Persnicketiness on Sunday: The McRib

By Nicole Zeoli

After non-stop morning radio show banter and endless TV commercials for what felt like months, the build up for the “re-release” of the McDonald's McRib sandwich finally got to me. Bobby heard enough of my “let’s go get a McRib, I really want a McRib, hehe, just kidding", and I was at the point where if I didn’t try one I might regret it the rest of my life. OK, I am being a little dramatic, but I literally had become obsessed with wanting to try this thing.

What really put me over the edge was the “throwdown” that the Z100 morning show had hosted, featuring renowned chef Bobby Flay and his version of a rib sandwich vs. the McDonald's McRib. With the large cast of New York-based DJ’s as the judges, I was sure native New Yorker Bobby Flay would win this, hands (throw) down. But, to my astonishment, just as I was pulling off the exit on I95 for work that morning they announced that the McDonald's McRib had won the throwdown. Blasphemy I tell you! The only thing (Ronald) McDonald's should win over Bobby Flay would be a contest of who’s hair is redder.

My decision had been made, and there would be no more joking about this- I was just going to have to see for myself, what the heck all this hype was. So as Bobby and I (my Bobby, not Mr. Flay of course, although they easily could be mistaken for each other with their red hair and amazing cooking skills) were out running errands last Sunday and the hunger pains ensued we put the little black Jetta that could in route to the closest Mickie D’s we could find.

We could hardly contain ourselves as we pulled up to the drive through menu board (which, of course we didn’t have to reference)- we knew exactly what we were there for… “Welcome to McDonalds” one voice said, “can I interest you in a chocolate triple thick milk shake today?” (Say that five times fast.) Before I could open my mouth Bobby had politely declined, “no thanks,” after which immediately following we heard, “how can I help you today?” in completely different voice than the previous… I guess only certain people are cut out to say, without stumbling, “chocolate triple thick milk shake.”

Although we passed on the shake, we did realize we’d need something to help wash down the McRib we’d just ordered… “and a medium diet Coke.” As we were pulling away after we heard our total, $5.59, I quickly glanced at the menu board, and smack dab front and center there stood a McRib value meal offer, including a medium drink AND fries, for a mere $.20 more than what we were about to pay. But we weren’t there for the award-winning French fries (which I had treated myself to only two weeks prior), we had to get down to business.

As Bobby handed me the bag to open, the smell of sweet and tangy barbecue sauce filled the small cabin of our little Jetter. The excitement was overwhelming, reminiscent of the feeling I used to get as a little kid opening my happy meal box to discover what toy I was getting. I managed to be patient enough to snap a photo quickly, before I took it from the box (that had BBQ sauce all over it and made a mess on my hands) and took the first bite (Bobby was driving and while I was patient, I wasn’t about to wait for him to find a good place to pull over or a stop sign)!

I chewed it well and tried to taste all the flavors it was supposed to have… It was covered in raw onions, and the BBQ sauce seemed to be more of an afterthought (along with the two tiny pickle slices) as it was certainly lacking on the rib patty. I handed the sandwich to Bobby as we pulled up to a stop sign with no other cars in site… He got lucky and snagged one of the pickles with his first bite. However, he too felt the lack of BBQ flavor, and the raw onions just completely overpowered anything else. 


The actual pork patty itself wasn’t as “McDonalds-like” as we expected--it wasn’t fatty or really chewy; it seemed to be a pretty decent texture by fast-food standards. But we still didn’t find the pork flavors we were looking for--I’d compare it to the blandest of a “white-meat” pork chop. Maybe it’s because lately we’ve been really big on slow-cooked pork dishes that involve a vast array of flavors and an extremely tender and “melt in your mouth” texture. But if the pork flavors weren’t there, at least they could have supplemented with some extra BBQ sauce- or even a BBQ sauce that resembled actual sweet and tangy BBQ sauce we’re used to. The one used on the McRib fell extremely short of zest as well, leading us to search and search for any pop of flavor as we chewed and chewed away. RATS!

Though we both were extremely disappointed with the McRib, we proceeded to finish the sandwich, halfsies style, and consumed the 500 calories and 24 grams of fat as planned. All of a sudden, a strangely familiar feeling hit me, and I was once again brought back to my childhood days… And there’s that Happy Meal again… Oh, it’s only a paper doll. (How come Joe always got the cool toy cars?!?!)

Jeff's Cuisine, South Norwalk

Hey Everybody!

Recently I had the pleasure of dining at Jeff's Cuisine in South Norwalk with Nicole, Gina, Melanie and James.  The link below takes you to a review I did for CTbites.com:

Jeff's Cuisine in Norwalk: Smokin' BBQ & Soul-full Food

Thanks and congrats to Leslie & Dean on baby Gia!

What Do I Want To Eat For Thanksgiving This Year?!

I've been on the outs with turkey for a few years now.  Last year for TG I burned the bridge and made Cornish hens for everybody, but even those left me totally unimpressed.  My problem is really with poultry.  I just don't hold it in high enough regard to serve it on special occasions.  You get a few good helpings of dark meat and  then you're stuck with pounds of big breasted'd white meat that can't be helped that much even by the briniest of brines.  Maybe I should try it deep fried before I give up on it for good, but otherwise... 

My lack of regard for poultry as a holiday centerpiece is that it's so ordinary.  I eat rotisserie chicken once every couple weeks as an affordable and easy grocery store pickup, which I enjoy, and I eat sliced turkey on sandwiches for lunch pretty often, also good.  Then there's ground turkey, again something I like, but something I eat on a Tuesday night rather than the biggest food holiday on our calendar.

This isn't a revelation for most people who readily acknowledge that they come for the fixins. Getting down to brass tax, turkey is the beast of burden on which the gravy, sauce, and hodge podge of sides ride.  What I'm saying is for my money I'd like to diverge from the turkey trot to have a protein more dynamic, more pleasing in and of itself, which to me means almost anything but poultry.  What about the issue of staying true to the original pilgrims and what they would have or might have eaten?  Well, why not roasted fish or even lobster?  They probably had those things readily available in 1621.      

I like the idea of trying to observe an early settlers' meal, but I think it's open to interpretation, and getting people together to share good local, seasonal food in a harvest festival is how it began and why we celebrate.  Besides, most of the dressings and accompaniments people liken to Thanksgiving tradition were probably invented in the 1950s or 1960s.

The influence of the Food Network and our increasing awareness of what we eat has changed my mentality over the past several holidays to promote quality over quantity.  People are sometimes incredulous at the idea of this dish or that being omitted from the menu simply because it's been there as long as they can remember, but when six pretty good things are replaced by three real nass things and you even take the time to have distinct courses, it's a proper celebration to me.

I'm not Italian [american] enough to have had a pasta course as a starter during my Thanksgivings growing up, but I really like the idea.  You may think it's way too untrue to the pilgrims, but few people know that one of the original Mayflower passengers, John Tilley, was really born Gianni Puzzaculo, from Agrigento.  You don't have to go Italian though to have a multi-course meal; it's just a way to break up the eating and give people time to enjoy the spectrum of flavors usually present. 

I'm not trying to be preachy, so if you really look forward to turkey every November, good for you and enjoy.  

Some things swirling around my mind:

Appetizers/1st Course
Butternut squash soup with fried polenta croutons
Butternut squash ravioli with sage and brown butter
Ricotta gnocchi with brown butter
Cavatelli with parsnips and pancetta
Roasted beet salad with bleu cheese and toasted walnuts
Spinach salad with bacon, bleu cheese and pomegranate
Schiacciatta (focaccia) with grapes and robiola
Spiced roasted nuts (Nicolee Zeoli Special)

Main Course
Roasted loin of lamb with rosemary
Red wine braised venison with juniper and dried cherries
Oven roasted seabass filets with roasted root vegetables
Roasted pork belly alla porchetta (fennel, garlic, herbage)
Coffee braised pork shoulder with apricot and caramelized onion relish
Fettucine with duck ragu

Sides
Roasted sweet potatoes and parsnips with rosemary
Mashed sweet potatoes with vanilla
Roasted brussels sprouts with garlic and hazelnuts
Good old mashed potatoes
Mashed potatoes and celeriac 
Dressing with sausage, apples and chestnuts
Sauteed kale with dried cranberries
Sweet rosemary and olive oil bread
Sweet potatoes au gratin
Spinach and wild mushroom dressing
Spiced pears cooked in wine

I don't think there's anything wrong with the tried and true desserts so I have nothing to add there.  Although a pumpkin panna cotta is nice.

Why Fresh Pasta Was Invented: Tagliatelle alla Bolognese

Called "La Grassa", Bologna is "the fat one" of Italy.  Animal fat that is, the saturated kind.  Nowhere else is food more unctuous, more savory and verging on gluttonous.  Ironically, the region is not known for the character of its wines, so you have to bring the barolo or amarone with you.   

As you head north in Tuscany and Le Marche the hills become steeper and composed of coniferous forests rather than arid and Cypress laden, then it begins to flatten out as you near Bologna and the heart of Emilia-Romagna.  Ecco the Po River Valley, a big stretch of pretty flat land unlike most of the boot.  Olive groves dwindle and are replaced by fields of corn, wheat and grazing land for cattle and swine.  This is the historical basis for the increased use of butter and lard for cooking in this region and further north as opposed to olive oil.  And not that it has always been wealthy, but there is a longer history of egg pasta than in the regions to the south, which produced factory made semolina and water pasta for the masses.

Of all the regions of Italy, Emilia Romagna is where fresh pasta is elevated to its highest degree of refinement.  Silky egg noodles and shapes like fettuccine, pappardelle, tortellini and cannelloni are dressed with rich sauces of pork, butter, cream (maybe ketchup) and inevitably topped with another of the area's great contributions to food, scratch that, to mankind, Parmigiano Reggiano.

So bolognese sauce is the essence of the region's cuisine, encapsulating all the elements I've just mentioned in one dish.  I could eat it all year, but the chill of mid Autumn stokes the appetite for hearty dishes like this one.  A sauce, yes, but not a runny one really...and a tomato sauce with meat in it is a misconception since it's the other way around.

Bologna, like so many italian towns, looks proper in the Fall when it takes on its most medieval appearance.  Something about seeing your breath, grey overcast skies against the stone and brick buildings, bare trees, street vendors roasting chestnuts, the smell of burning wood...

As you can imagine, there is no universal recipe for the sauce that all Emilians abide by.  Some recipes call for a bit of tomato paste and that's it, others for canned tomatoes, some use chicken stock while others beef, etc.  Everyone is sure their recipe is the just one, but nobody can say...the beauty of italian food and parochial uber-pride.  There is, however, a decree by the town of Bologna as to the width of Tagliatelle;  8 millimeters.  As you can see from the first picture I took some artistic license and mine are somewhere between tagliatelle and pappardelle.  

The last time I made this dish we pulled out a bottle of "Planet Waves" 2002 from Fattoria Le Terrazze that I'd been saving.  From Le Marche, it's comprised of 75% montepulciano grapes and 25% merlot.  They are kind of a cult producer, growing mostly montepulciano but blending some labels with international varieties, naming their wines things like Chaos and Visions of J.  Bob Dylan collaborated on some level for this wine and so his signature is on the back.

It was deep purple with aromas of mocha and dried fruit, a long finish and really smooth.  We were ready for another bottle in about 10 minutes.  The  pasta was rich with layers of flavor developed over time by cooking and deglazing repeatedly, and because it's on the salty side a tannic red would not be a good match.  Fortunately with age the tannins of this wine were soft and mellow yet it was full enough to hold its own against the fattiness.  Noice!

If you have time make a chicken or meat stock in advance because it will make for that much better a dish (I ain't kidding, and it's not a big deal to do).  You can also grind your own meats or have the butcher do it rather than buying it already ground in the package.  For the pork pick shoulder and for the beef chuck.

Serves 6

Ingredients:
2 lbs. ground beef, 20% fat
2 lbs. ground pork
1/2 lb. ground pancetta (if not, finely diced)
2 medium onions, finely diced
2 carrots, peeled and finely diced
2 celery stalks, finely diced
1 cup whole milk
1 cup dry white wine
2 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 tablespoons butter
1 tube or small can tomato paste
1 liter low sodium broth or stock (chicken or beef or a blend)
Salt and pepper to taste
Parmigiano Reggiano to taste

Egg pasta dough for 6, recipe follows

Bring the stock to a boil in a pot, then lower to a simmer.

After cooking the meats through and allowing them to brown
you get these nice bits

Add the olive oil and pancetta to a Dutch Oven or other heavy pot and bring up to medium high heat.  Let the pancetta cook so the fat is rendered out.  When it starts to brown add the other meats and turn the heat to high.

Cook, stirring occasionally until the meat is cooked through and the liquid has evaporated, 10 to 15 minutes.  Let it brown some, stirring more frequently now, and then transfer to a bowl.  Try to drain the excess rendered fat and discard it (be careful though while it's hot).

After removing the meat and excess fat add the mirepoix to
deglaze and pick up deep meaty flavor

Return to the pot to the heat, lowered to medium.  Add the butter, let it melt, add the vegetables and deglaze the brown bits stuck to the bottom.  Sweat the vegetables until they are soft but not yet browning, 5 to 10 minutes.

Add the meat back to the pot along with the tomato paste and stir to distribute it.  Let it cook a couple minutes until the paste turns a rusty color.  Deglaze with the white wine, and let most of it evaporate.  Add the milk and let it cook a minute or so, then add broth to just barely cover the meat.  Bring to a boil and then lower the heat so it simmers gently.



Let it cook uncovered, adding liquid periodically as it fully evaporates, for 2 to 3 hours.  It can be made in advance and then refrigerated or frozen for several days.

Looks like Manwich filling but it's a slightly different recipe

To serve, bring a pot of water to a boil and season abundantly with salt (like the ocean).  Cook the pasta 3 to 4 minutes until begins floating to the surface of the water.  Drain and reserve some pasta water.  In a frying pan heat some ragu and toss with the pasta, adding tablespoons of pasta water if it's too thick. Or drain the pasta and place in a large serving bowl, then mix in the ragu.  Garnish with Parmigiano Reggiano and serve in pasta bowls.      

Egg pasta for 6:
6 jumbo eggs
600 grams or about 5 cups 00 or AP flour

Mound the flour on a work surface and make a well about 8 inches in diameter.  Add the eggs to the well and scramble with a fork.  Using the fork incorporate the flour from the inner walls into the egg.  Be careful not to break the wall and lose the eggs before you have a fairly well composed mass of dough.  Put the fork aside when most of the wet and dry are mixed and form a rough ball.

Knead the dough for 8 to 12 minutes, adding flour conservatively if it's very wet and resting periodically, until the dough stretches and is supple and smooth.  Wrap it in plastic and let rest 20 to 30 minutes.

To make the tagliatelle, using a pasta roller or rolling pin roll out segments of dough until it's thin enough for light to pass through.  Cut it into a rectangle that's 10 to 12 inches long on one side (that'll be the length of the noodles).  Lightly flour the dough if it's sticky and roll it over itself from bottom to top.  Then take a knife and cut every 8 millimeters or thereabouts and unravel the noodles.  Form into little nests of about a serving apiece.  Lightly flour if you're worried about sticking.  Freeze it if you don't place on using it immediately.  To cook it later do not thaw--go from freezer to boiling water.