') ); twitter && $social.append( $div.clone() .addClass(`afb-${subsite}-${twitter}`) .html( `Tweets by ${twitter}
The Link Lonk
GODFREY - The Village of Godfrey Stimulus Voucher Program designed by Mayor Mike McCormick and partnered with John Hentrich and Riverbender.com, has been a huge assistance to businesses in Godfrey. One success is Joe’s Pizza and Pasta at 5775 Godfrey Road, Suite A, Godfrey.
Joe’s Pizza and Pasta features pizza, pasta, sandwiches, salads, appetizers, and desserts.
Mike Cool general manager of Joe’s Pizza, said the stimulus voucher program has meant so much to Joe’s Pizza. Cool did a shout out to both McCormick and Hentrich for their community efforts during the tough COVID-19 Pandemic for businesses.
“I love the guy,” Cool said about McCormick. “The whole idea is brilliant. It has had a big impact during a time when it might have been slower than normal. It has been great not only for us but for the community as well. It has also been managed very well by John Hentrich and Riverbender.com staff.
"The Stimulus Voucher Program helped a lot of people in the village in this time of uncertainty with COVID-19. It helps gives us a little cushion and also helps us keep people employed.”
Cool considers McCormick a mentor. McCormick was the owner of Imo’s for multiple years in the Village of Godfrey and Cool said he truly understands how small businesses are supposed to work. He said when he was working as a manager at a restaurant in Edwardsville, McCormick gave him advice and helped him to advance much more quickly.
Cool said he is thankful for a pickup window that has been a “real blessing,” during COVID-19.
“You can call your order in and pay for it over the phone,” he said.
Cool described Joe’s Pizza as follows: “It is delicious and second to none,” he said. “We make our dough and sauce in house sauce and chop our own vegetables. We use fresh raw meat that cooks into the pizza.”
To order from Joe’s Pizza and Pasta, contact (618) 433-8000.
Joe’s has an Order Online button at https://ilovejoespizza.com/godfrey%2C-il
Half-Price vouchers are still available for purchase at https://deals.riverbender.com/
The Godfrey Voucher Program has enabled shoppers the ability to purchase half-price vouchers to many restaurants and retail stores and the dollars go directly back into businesses. Funding for the program was made possible through allocations from the Godfrey Business District, established in 2011. Within the business district, retailers collected an additional 1 percent sales tax. The additional sales tax is used to fund economic development initiatives within the business district.
$10 for $20 Half Price Deals at deals.riverbender.com
If you have a news, human interest or sports idea, e-mail Danbrannan@riverbender.com or call or text 618-623-5930. Follow Dan Brannan on Facebook and on Twitter.
Print Version Submit a News Tip
The Link Lonk
Seasoned bakers know that crust can make or break a pie. A crisp, flaky crust elevates a dessert, while a pale (or burnt) pastry tends to have the opposite effect. Whether you're baking for a special feast or a regular Wednesday night, you no longer need to leave the quality of your crust up to fate. There's a simple trick for getting amazing, golden pie crust every time.
According to The Kitchn, the key to achieving pie perfection is a brown paper bag. After preparing a pie according to your favorite recipe, take a brown paper bag, puff out the edges, and slip the pie inside it. If you can find one, a food-grade bag with no branding is your best option. You can also fashion a makeshift bag by folding parchment paper around the pie.
Once the pie is covered, place it on a sheet pan and bake it, making sure the flammable paper isn't touching the top or sides of the oven. Food52 recommends cutting a circle out of the top of the bag toward the end of the baking time for best results. When you remove your pie from the oven, you should see a blonde crust that's perfectly baked from edge-to-edge.
The paper bag method works by distributing heat evenly across the pastry. Instead of a crust that's burnt around the edges and pale in the middle, the result is a pleasingly consistent golden-brown color. This method first appeared in the Amish cookbook The ABC’s of Paper Bag Cookery, and The Elegant Farmer in Mukwonago, Wisconsin, has since popularized it. Though the bakery refuses to share the details of its recipe, there are plenty of copycat versions online.
Now that you know the secret to incredible pie crust, all you need to do is pick a pie to bake. Here are some forgotten pie recipes worth bringing back.
[h/t The Kitchn]
The Link Lonk
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — It’s time to ring in the new year with a classic seafood and pasta dish!
Except, I don’t cook much seafood. And sometimes my pasta is a little too “al dente.”
However, I do like throwing it at my refrigerator.
So to help me prepare the perfect “Linguine Pescatore,” I recruited Chef Massimo Felici from Vinum Bar NYC in Stapleton to help me recreate this delicious Italian dish.
Full of fresh shrimp, clams, muscles and scallops, I knew his his recipe would taste amazing. But how simple would it be for me to try out on my own?
Find out by watching this episode of “Recipe For Disaster,” our new show where we take your family recipes and local Staten Island dishes and try to recreate them in my kitchen.
Hence, “disaster.”
New episodes of “Recipe For Disaster” post every other week. Here’s how to check them out:
Want me to try your family recipes? Email me at silivestudios@siadvance.com.
Special thanks to our sponsor, Top Tomato, located at 4045 Amboy Road and 1071 Bay St., for helping us bring you this episode!
The Link Lonk
Katheryn Parker's love for pizza started as a young girl in Northern California in 1974. At just five years old, her parents Connie and Dave, began their journey into the pizza business, eventually moving to Boise, Idaho, and opening the first Flying Pie Pizzeria in 1978.
Today, Parker owns and operates her own Flying Pie Pizzeria in Issaquah and continues to carry on her family's legacy of creating unique, delicious pizzas using their secret family recipe.
"My mother is Mexican, and my father is Polish," said Parker. "When I was a young girl, my parents came up with this bright idea to open a pizza restaurant in the Bay Area. We eventually ended up in Idaho, where they opened another pizzeria, and that's where the Flying Pie got its start. I grew up in the industry, so when I tried to go a different direction in college, I learned my love for making pizza never really left me."
When she was 28, Parker decided to open her own Flying Pie in Issaquah.
"We've been here ever since, and it's been a wonderful journey," she said. "The best part of being in this industry is getting to know the community while growing together as family and neighbors. I'm so happy to be a part of it all."
<="" sd-embed="">
Parker and her partner of nine years, Phoebe, are active members of the Issaquah community and generously support local charities through their business. Parker is somewhat of a celebrity in the Issaquah School District for her "Art of Making Pizza" enrichment classes she hosts for grade school students.
"Our program, 'The Art of Making Pizza,' is an after-school program we participate in [pre-COVID], where students get to make their own pizza, then take it home to bake and enjoy," said Parker. "It's predominately for K-5th grade, and sometimes we have groups of over 100 kids at a time participating."
<="" sd-embed="">
Flying Pie's dough is made from scratch and hand-rolled daily. The fresh vegetable toppings are prepared fresh every day, and they use only 100% whole milk cheeses. One of the stand-out preparation styles Parker uses on her pizza is how she prepares the sausage toppings for her pies.
"When we put sausage on our pizza, we put it on raw, which is unique in our industry," said Parker. "Most people pre-cook the sausage, then put it on the pizza. However, when it cooks on the pizza itself, it really changes the whole flavor of everything cooked below. It's a technique my mom came up with back in the mid-80s, and it's super tasty. I've had the opportunity to travel all over the world with Phoebe and try pizza in different countries. I've never had anything with a flavor similar to ours. It's just unique."
<="" sd-embed="">
From feeding volunteers on "Make Issaquah Beautiful Day" to bringing pizzas to the hard workers at the hatchery on "Salmon Days" every year, Parker is the famous pizza lady of Issaquah. Who doesn't love seeing a pile of full pizza boxes headed your way after a long day of volunteering for your community?
<="" sd-embed="">
"Flying Pie is a great place to come and enjoy a beer and pie, or grab some carbs after a long day hiking," she said. "During COVID, we have a tent set up outside and some heaters to keep you toasty and warm. Downtown Issaquah is a great place to spend the afternoon and stop by for some pizza."
Flying Pie is located at 30 Front St. in Issaquah. You can order online or by calling 425-391-2407.
The Link LonkI can’t cook. Like ... at all. If it wasn’t for my live-in chef (aka my boyfriend, who took up cooking as a quarantine hobby) my diet would pretty much consist of cereal, toast, quesadillas and a whole lot of takeout.
And baking? Never heard of her. If I can’t even make myself three basic meals a day, why would I even bother trekking down a path of nonessential, sweet treats?
The answer: 2020. Though I didn’t hop on the quarantine baking trend back in March, I did develop a year-long obsession with TikTok while stuck at home. And last month, the app is where I came across the trending “Sprite Pie” made by @kitchentool. The intriguing pie recipe sparked a crazy idea: to use my kitchen. ‘Tis the damn season, after all.
While researching how to make this delicacy, I learned that Sprite Pie is (very likely) an adaptation of Water Pie: a dish from the Great Depression, created out of necessity due to scarce resources. Since the two pies have nearly identical ingredients, that led to an intriguing shower thought the morning of my scheduled pie bake — what if I swapped Sprite for something else? Say ... hard kombucha?
As soon as the idea came to me, I knew I had to commit. And since I was going rogue anyway, I decided to skip the drive to the supermarket and challenge myself to only use ingredients and supplies available at my local grocery store/beer shop downstairs from my apartment.
The small store had the basics: flour, sugar, butter, salt and — of course — hard kombucha. But it didn’t supply the final ingredient: a frozen pie crust. So, like the expert baker I am, I decided to make one from scratch. Easy as pie, right? (I promise that’s the only pie pun in this article.)
Ingredients for my homemade “Hard Kombucha Pie”
(Sara Butler)
Miraculously, I found a simple pie crust recipe on YouTube that only used four ingredients. Yet as glorious of a tool as the internet is, it couldn’t give me the physical tools missing from my kitchen, like a wooden rolling pin or a pie plate. And neither did the shop downstairs. Whoops.
But nevertheless, I persisted. Once the ball of dough was ready to flatten, I went on the hunt for a rolling pin dupe. I evaluated my cupboards and gathered up all my cylinders: from glasses to Hydro Flasks to NutriBullet cups. In the end, I settled on a metal water bottle.
Replicating the pie tin — where the flattened dough is placed before baking — proved to be a harder hack. Since it had to be oven safe, my container options were limited. But among the ceramic plates and plastic platters in my kitchen, I found one glass bowl that looked durable enough to survive the heat. And though the large bowl was a little too tall to form the traditional pie shape, beggars can’t be choosers. (Confession: I had to Google if I could put glass in the oven. After my search, I still wasn’t entirely sure if my unlabeled bowl was oven-safe, but decided to risk it.)
I followed this eight minute tutorial from Frugal Family Home, which was super straightforward and easy to follow. Simply mix the ingredients, add water to create a moist ball of dough, then flatten it out with a flour-covered rolling pin (or in my case, a water bottle, which worked surprisingly well).
However, once you place the pie crust in the tin, the video ends without further instruction. Was I supposed to freeze it? Bake it? Refrigerate it? Throw it out the window?
After frantic-Slacking my editor and scouring online articles, I still couldn’t find my answer ... until I looked at the first pinned comment under the video, in which the YouTuber offers some (vague) post-plate instruction. For baked pie shells, she suggested baking the crust for eight to 10 minutes before adding filling.
While I appreciated the direction, I still didn’t know if a frozen pie crust dupe needed to be baked — and once again, the internet proved to be no help — but it seemed like the right next step? So I baked it for double the amount of time (after the initial 10 minutes, the pie didn’t look any different), let it cool, then bam! A golden pie crust!
With my baked pie crust ready, it was time for the main attraction. I poured in my can of hard kombucha, sprinkled in the sugar and flour mix, skipped the vanilla extract, and threw the butter pieces on top. Then, I added foil to the top to create a pie shield (seen in the video, and explained here), though it was a little wonky considering the shape of my makeshift pie tin.
After baking for an hour, I took it out and it looked ... almost like the TikTok version? To be honest, I was feeling pretty smug and eager to sneak a taste. But before truly comparing, I had to chill out and let the pie cool.
The TikTok recipe doesn’t specify how long the pie should cool before serving, so I opted for 15 minutes on the counter, followed by 30 in the fridge and 15 in the freezer. An hour should be more than safe, right?
But when I checked on the pie’s progress, it didn’t look like anything had changed. Why was it still soupy? Shouldn’t it be condensed by now? Where was that jelly-like consistency? Are these even accurate baking terms?
When I asked for a second opinion, my sous chef/boyfriend encouraged me to put the pie back in the oven. After an hour with constant checking, I pulled it out to reveal a slightly less watery interior ... but my golden crust was now two shades darker. Not wanting to damage my beloved exterior any further, I turned off the oven (for good this time) and started the cooling process once again; this time, I left it in the fridge overnight.
The next day it was finally time to consume my laborious creation. As I cut into the pie, it was clear I overcooked the crust, as it was a bit too hard for the knife ... causing it to crack and separate from the filling. With a little effort, I managed to scoop out a decent looking slice.
The final version of the pie, after baking and cooling twice
(Connor McBride)
The filling was still slightly soupy, but solid enough to chew. Despite the amount of sugar in the recipe, it was far more tart than sweet — and since the general consensus of “Sprite Pie” reviews was how sweet it was, I’m 90 percent sure the tart flavor came from the hard kombucha. And the filling very much tasted like hard kombucha, with an alcohol-forward flavor that’s hard to articulate.
So ... was it worth it? Undecided. Though I did surprise myself by having the confidence to experiment with the recipe — including substituting the recipe’s main ingredient — it would probably have tasted better if I had stuck to the instructions, written by folks who have spent more than just one day in their kitchen.
A sliver of the mess in my kitchen from the baking process
(Sara Butler)
And considering the amount of anxiety I felt during the entire process, not to mention the massive mess I left in the kitchen, I don’t feel inspired to tackle another pastry endeavor anytime soon. (I’m still baffled baking is a stress-reliver for so many people.)
I’ll leave you with a review of the novel “Hard Kombucha Pie” from a seasoned chef (my boyfriend): “It’s really not that bad.” In my beginner’s cookbook, I’d say that’s a modest success.
The Link Lonk
In honor of the 60th anniversary for Little Debbie's iconic Oatmeal Creme Pie, the cereal company has created a cereal version of that snack cake.
"At Kellogg, we are always looking for delicious ways to surprise and excite our fans. The original Little Debbie snack cakes, Little Debbie Oatmeal Creme Pies, have delighted millions of kids and adults alike for generations," said Erin Storm, senior marketing director of Kellogg All Family Cereal. "With Kellogg's Little Debbie Oatmeal Creme Pies Cereal, families can experience the iconic snack in a whole new form, building new breakfast memories while paying homage to the beloved childhood snack."
Copyright © 2020 WTVD-TV. All Rights Reserved.
The Link Lonk
When Rules (pictured)opened in Covent Garden in 1798, it was primarily known for porter, pies and oysters, and although it’s now famed for its game dishes, it still pays homage to its roots with a menu of magnificent pies. As well as steak and kidney pie, made with 28-day aged beef and topped with puff pastry, there’s a steamed suet pudding with steak, kidney and oysters.
Located by the Stratford Canal in the village of Lowsonford, the Fleur de Lys pub is a cornerstone of British pie history. Mr Brookes, the pub’s landlord between 1950 and 1958, began serving chicken and mushroom, and later steak and kidney, which became so popular he started distributing them nationwide. Eventually he sold his recipes to a company that became the now ubiquitous Pukka Pies. The pub recently revived its pie-making tradition, including its legendary steak and kidney, encased in shortcrust, with a puff pastry lid. It’s served with chips, veg and gravy.
A family-run business since 1890, when it opened down the road in Deptford, Goddards is still going strong, serving pie and mash close to Greenwich Park. As well as the minced beef pies and jellied eels associated with Victorian pie shops, there’s a classic steak and kidney version, made with all British ingredients, served with mash and a healthy dose of gravy. And at just £5, it’s definitely one of the best-value pies around.
This pub is fanatical about pies, with around 50 types on the menu, some of which have garnered awards. They’re all named after breeds of horse (although none contain actual equines), with a range of fish, game, poultry and vegetarian options. The Native Pony is first on the menu, a classic steak and kidney encased in crisp flaky pastry, with gravy, mash and peas.
A family business that began in Bognor Regis in 1933, Turner’s Pies now has four delis on the South Coast. Its reputation extends much further, however, having won various awards over the years. The steak and kidney pie, which has been on the menu since Turner’s first opened, has won best in its class twice at the British Pie Awards, and if you don’t live near one of the stores you can try it for yourself by using the company’s ‘Pies by Post’ service, which delivers nationwide.
Set in a 17th-century thatched building in the village of Denchworth, The Fox Inn is a real community hub for locals, as well as drawing visitors from further afield. They come for the traditional ales and pub grub, especially the steak and kidney pie, made to the same recipe for more than 40 years.
This Mayfair pub has been known for its pies for decades, with a menu that includes venison and mushroom, and chicken, bacon and leek. The steak and kidney, however, has led it to pie stardom, three times winning top spot at the British Pie Awards. It’s made with skirt steak, ox kidney, beef dripping and Young’s bitter, all topped with suet pastry and gravy.
In a rural setting next to Cholmondeley Castle, this is probably one of England’s most unusual pubs. It’s a Victorian former village schoolhouse on Lord Cholmondeley’s estate, which first opened as a pub in 1988. It serves old-school dishes such as devilled kidneys and bakewell tart, plus a steak and kidney pie made with locally sourced ingredients. It comes with chips, gravy and minted ‘not so mushy’ peas.
Read more: Steak and kidney pie: the story behind the British classic
Published in Issue 10 (winter 2020) of National Geographic Traveller Food
Follow us on social media
Facebook | Instagram | Twitter
The Link Lonk
If you enjoyed a slice of cherry pie over the holidays, chances are you weren’t aware of the tyranny this delicious dessert suffers under, and the 15-year effort to unleash the poor, huddled cherries yearning to breathe free. At least, that’s what you would think if you read a proposed rule the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is on the verge of approving that seeks to revoke the definition of frozen cherry pie.
This proposed rule is based on an industry petition filed in 2005 that suggests bakers apparently are longing to include more cherries, more sugar, and bigger crust in frozen cherry pies, but have been prevented from doing so by supposedly burdensome regulations. The regulations in question allow the FDA to establish a reasonable definition and standard of identity or quality for any food in order to promote honesty and provide transparency to consumers. Foods for which standards of identity have been established include bread, fruit jams, certain vegetables and fruit juices, certain types of chocolate and, of course, frozen cherry pie.
On the surface, it sounds terrible, right? Big government is dictating what goes into cherry pies and preventing consumers from experiencing more deliciousness! Grab your dessert forks and let’s storm White Oak!
However, once the nuance of this issue is examined more thoroughly, you realize that the proposed rule has the potential of removing safeguards that are in place to protect consumers against food fraud. As we have seen over the years, standards of identity sometimes are asserted for pretentious reasons, which is usually disguising trade protection efforts.
Ultimately, however, the purpose of these standards is to protect consumers against food fraud — also known as economic adulteration — and reflect consumers’ expectations about food; for example, consumers expect fruit to be included in fruit jam, go figure.
Unfortunately, the need for these standards can be quite apparent. For example, according to separate studies from the University of California-Davis and the National Consumers League, more than 50 percent of the bottles of extra virgin olive oil sold at grocery stores would fail to meet International Olive Council standards or the voluntary standards established by the USDA. Unlike the frozen cherry pie industry, producers of olive oil are begging the FDA to issue a standard of identity for their product to prevent this seemingly wide scale fraud.
In the case of frozen cherry pie, the FDA wants to revoke the established definition and standards of identity and quality. “The standards do not appear necessary to ensure that these products meet consumer expectations, and the FDA has tentatively concluded that they are no longer necessary to promote honesty and fair dealing in the interest of consumers and may limit flexibility for innovation,” the agency declared in its announcement.
Whenever industry claims that flexibility for innovation is being limited, consumers should be skeptical. The standard of identity for frozen cherry pie describes it as unbaked, and as being comprised of a filling of mature, pitted, stemmed cherries contained in a pastry shell, which is frozen. It can contain other optional ingredients, but artificial sweeteners are prohibited. The standard of quality includes requirements for the cherries used in these pies, including that the cherry content cannot be less than 25 percent of the weight of the pie, and that no more than 15 percent of the cherries can be blemished.
Based on this definition, there doesn’t appear to be a barrier to including more cherries in the pie. However, the industry petition opposes the use of any food standards to establish quality characteristics and argues that food manufacturers and consumers should determine food quality and whether they wish to spend more on higher-quality products or less on lower quality products. The petition also observes that there are no standards of identity and quality for any other types of frozen fruit pies or any non-frozen fruit pies.
I suppose these are fair arguments. Consumers will ultimately determine which pies are awful and decide accordingly. They also may decide cherry pies are on the same level as pizza and ice cream in that when they are good, they are very good, and when they are bad, they are still pretty good.
However, the “innovation” that consumers should expect to see when this standard of identity and quality is revoked is a lower quality frozen cherry pie with fewer and blemished cherries, and artificial sweeteners at a lower price point. To suggest that manufacturers are eager to add more cherries and crust but are prevented from doing so by burdensome government regulations, as former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb claimed in this tweet, seems like fake bake news.
Now, who is hungry for cherry pie?
(To sign up for a free subscription to Food Safety News, click here.)
The Link Lonk
(WJW) — A popular snack cake has made its way from lunch boxes to cereal bowls.
Kellogg’s Little Debbie Oatmeal Creme Pies Cereal is now available at stores nationwide just in time for the original Little Debbie snack cake’s 60th anniversary.
According to a press release, the cereal includes crispy oatmeal cookie flavored cereal pieces made with cinnamon, nutmeg and a hint of molasses. They have a sweet creamy coating reminiscent of the cookies.
“At Kellogg, we are always looking for delicious ways to surprise and excite our fans. The original Little Debbie snack cakes, Little Debbie Oatmeal Creme Pies, have delighted millions of kids and adults alike for generations,” said Erin Storm, senior marketing director of Kellogg All Family Cereal. “With Kellogg’s Little Debbie Oatmeal Creme Pies Cereal, families can experience the iconic snack in a whole new form, building new breakfast memories while paying homage to the beloved childhood snack.”
For more, click here.
LATEST HEADLINES FROM FOX8.COM:
SILVER SPRING, Md. (
The recalled lots of food contain "potentially fatal levels of aflatoxin." It's a toxin produced by mold grown on corn and other grains.
and no new deaths.
The Link Lonk
This is an updated version of the story.
Food insecurity in central Illinois struck Melissa Hostetter, a seventh grade language arts teacher at Washington Middle School, as a major issue.
Hostetter said she sees it up close.
"I know many of my students are struggling (when it comes to food insecurity)," Hostetter said.
Hostetter decided to do something about it. Reading about a Chicago pie-tasting contest that had to pivot because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Hostetter has launched the Capital City Pie Challenge here to benefit the Central Illinois Foodbank.
Participants in the challenge are asked to make an initial donation to the foodbank and then bake a pie for a friend or neighbor and deliver it to the person under COVID-19 protocols.
Participants are also asked to post a picture of the pie on the Capital City Pie Challenge Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/capcitypie).
Those receiving pies are asked to pay it forward by making a similar donation and a pie to deliver.
Hostetter envisioned it as an activity for families to do together and while benefiting the foodbank.
"I feel this is also perfect for Boy Scout troops or Girl Scout troops, ladies circles at churches," Hostetter said. "I feel it could be a community service project for people.
"I chose it because it's something different."
The challenge runs through the end of February and Hostetter is hoping to raise $2,500 for the foodbank.
Hostetter said she planned to bake a pie each week. She also will post Facebook Live shots of her and her daughter, Rachel, 12, baking.
Hostetter's go-to pie? A Kentucky Derby pie, a chocolate and walnut tart in a pie shell.
"I'm a pretty good pie baker," she said, with a laugh.
Contact Steven Spearie: 622-1788, sspearie@sj-r.com, twitter.com/@StevenSpearie.
The Link LonkThe eye-catching facade of National Sawdust, a music venue in Williamsburg. Photo: Lore Croghan/Brooklyn Eagle
Thieves steal pasta from Williamsburg restaurant
Burglars cleaned out a Williamsburg restaurant of all its homemade pasta while leaving more valuable electronics and alcoholic beverages behind. Borsalia manager Cristiano Rossi said someone cut the lock to the restaurant’s sidewalk basement hatch and descended into a storage area the night of Dec. 23.They then punched a hole through a sheetrock wall that led to the refrigerators. All in all, they made off with 10 to 15 pounds of pasta, enough to create 150 meals. Owner Cristiano Rossi estimated the pasta’s value at around $4,500, according to the New York Post. Staffers had to cook up an entire new batch for Christmas Eve orders.
WWI memorial renovated in Brownsville
During the past two years, Zion Triangle Plaza in Brownsville has undergone an extensive renovation and expansion. This plot of land, bounded by Pitkin, New York and Legion avenues, sits next to the historic Loew’s Pitkin Theater. The renovation included adding new amenities and restoring the war memorial structure in the park. The structure was commissioned soon after World War I by a local committee of the American Legion and was dedicated in 1925. It features a relief carving of a sword-bearing winged victor figure flanked by the inscribed names of local servicepersons killed in World War I, according to Untapped Cities.
Cops shoot man who charged at them
Police on Monday night shot a man in Prospect-Lefferts Gardens who ignored their orders and charged at them while reaching into his waistband, police said. Officers responded to numerous calls around 5:45 p.m. about a man with a gun near Lenox Road and Rogers Avenue, according to Chief of Department Terence Monahan. When they arrived, police observed a man with a gun, although he did not match the description of the gunman from the 911 calls, Monahan said. Officers ordered him to drop the gun, which he did. The man was identified as Vlatamere Francois, he was taken into custody, and the gun was recovered. Soon afterward, another person, identified as Curtis McGarrell, rushed toward the officers and reached into his waistband, leading to an officer firing two shots. No gun was found on him. McGarrell was taken to Kings County Hospital with gunshots to the leg, according to NBC New York. Both suspects reportedly had a criminal history
Bichotte’s bill named after her late son
Assemblymember Rodneyse Bichotte (D-Flatbush, Ditmas Park) last week saw Governor Andrew M. Cuomo sign her Jonah Bichotte Cowan legislation establishing requirements for treatment when an expectant mother presents at a general hospital with concerns about being in pre-term labor. The law is named in memory of Jonah Bichotte Cowan, the late son of Bichotte. “Thanks to the work of Assemblymember Bichotte, all expectant mothers in New York will have their medical concerns taken seriously and the hospital of their choice will be prepared to admit, diagnose, and treat expectant mothers in emergency situations,” said Cuomo.
-->
COVID-19 vaccinations begin for firefighters
New York City Fire Commissioner Daniel A. Nigro has announced that COVID-19 vaccinations have begun for FDNY firefighters and other personnel. “This is a great day for the FDNY. Science has answered the call for help from our Department and all essential frontline healthcare workers and produced a vaccine to combat this deadly illness,” said Commissioner Nigro. “I strongly encourage all of our members to take the COVID-19 vaccine offered through the Department to protect themselves, their colleagues, and their loved ones.” On Monday, the FDNY received its first shipment of the Moderna vaccine. Vaccinations are taking place at FDNY headquarters in Brooklyn as well as the Randall’s Island Training Academy and the EMS Academy in Fort Totten, Queens.
Housing Works employees vote to unionize
Today, the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union’s (RWDSU), announced that by a vote of 88% to 12%, workers across all Housing Works locations voted to join the RWDSU. “We’re proud to finally and officially welcome the 605 workers employed by Housing Works into our union. These workers experienced a needlessly long fight to unionize their workplaces,” said Stuart Appelbaum, President, RWDSU. In Brooklyn, Housing Works has thrift shops on Montague Street in Brooklyn Heights and on 5th Avenue in Park Slope as well as an “outpost” on 7th Avenue in Park Slope.
Woman slashed while walking in Crown Heights
Police are searching for a suspect after a woman was slashed while walking in Crown Heights. The incident happened around 4 a.m. at the corner of Fulton Street and Franklin Avenue. Police say the 24-year-old woman was approached by a man who slashed her I the back of the head with an unknown object. The victim was taken to the hospital in stable condition. Video of the suspect shows a tall, light-skinned, bald man with a beard wearing a blue jacket.
Woman raped in Brownsville
A woman was raped in Brownsville early Monday after a man threatened her with a knife and dragged her into a nearby apartment building, police said. She was walking near East New York and Ralph Avenues at around 12:15 a.m. when the man grabbed her from behind. He held a kitchen knife to her throat and said he would kill her if she resisted, police said. He then led her to 672 Ralph Ave., where he raped her, then fled. The woman was taken to Kings County Hospital where she was treated and released, according to the New York Post.
Six injured in Bay Ridge fire
Six people, including one firefighter, suffered minor injuries Monday night in a fire at 9215 Third Ave. Twelve units and 60 firefighters responded to the blaze, which broke out around 9 p.m. on the building’s second floor. The FDNY declared the fire under control around 10 p.m. The four-story building contains an eyeglass store on its first floor, according to published reports.
Moynihan Train Hall project almost finished
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo has announced the Moynihan Train Hall in Manhattan will complete construction on December 31, 2020, with AMTRAK and New Jersey Transit train operations beginning January 1, 2021. The 255,000-square-foot, $1.6 billion project transformed the more than 100-year-old James A. Farley Post Office Building into a modern, world-class facility that dramatically upgrades and redesigns America’s busiest transit hub, increasing the existing Penn Station rail complex’s concourse space by 50 percent. The idea for a train hall in the James A. Farley Post Office Building first emerged decades ago — but was mired in bureaucratic delays and faced repeated federal inaction. Construction on the project began in 2017.
Gillibrand announces SNAP expansion
U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand announced a vital 15 percent increase in SNAP benefits and her proposal to expand the Pandemic EBT (P-EBT) program is included in the latest coronavirus relief package. “As the country experiences another dangerous wave of coronavirus infections, and the economy continues to suffer, it’s critical that hard-working Americans have the resources to keep their families fed. For months I have fought to increase SNAP benefits and I’m proud that this vital increase is finally included in this current package,” said Senator Gillibrand.
Pets waiting to be adopted in Brooklyn
Despite the coronavirus pandemic, or possibly because of it, many animal shelters around Brooklyn are working to fulfill adoptions and place pets in new homes. One website that give information about furry friends is “Miss Pats Cats.” Another is the Kings Highway Cat Rescue organization. Petfinder puts together a list every week of cats and dogs recently put up for adoption in your area, according to Patch.
Compiled by Raanan Geberer.
December 30 | Raanan Geberer
December 30 | Brooklyn Eagle Staff
December 30 | Michaela Keil
December 30 | David Brand
During the Covid-19 shutdown, we’ve been recreating some of our favorite Syracuse foods at home, from Alto Cinco burritos to Dinosaur Bar-B-Que ribs.
This month, we tackled the famous spicy hot tomato oil from Pastabilities. It’s an iconic Syracuse staple, and pairs perfectly with Pasta’s beloved stretch bread. But it’s versatile, too, and makes for a fantastic, garlicky-sweet pasta sauce and sandwich spread.
Spicy hot tom oil has put Syracuse on the map more than once. Guy Fieri raved about it on “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” and it was featured in “Food and Wine” magazine as one writer’s “favorite thing at Wegmans.”
Pastabilities owner Karyn Korteling and her late husband, Pasta’s co-founder Patrick Heagerty, created the tomato oil with their staff after they tried a version of it at a roadside restaurant in Italy. Korteling once described the oil they wanted to mimic as having a “sublime sweetness” along with the fiery spice.
For several years, the restaurant kitchen made extra tomato oil and packaged it in containers, to be sold at Pasta’s Daily Bread, its bakery and shop across Franklin Street. The production of the sauce soon began to overwhelm the kitchen. Pre-pandemic, it produced more than 150 gallons a week for the restaurant alone.
Spicy hot tomato oil may be the restaurant’s special recipe, but the ingredients are thankfully printed on the side of each jar. So we played with some measurements (and subbed in some ingredients to taste, like lemon juice instead of vinegar) until we landed on a nicely balanced oil at home.
• 2.5 fresh garlic bulbs, peeled and sliced
• One cup of extra virgin olive oil
• 8 medium red chili peppers (we’ve heard Serrano or Thai chilis also work well)
• 1/8 cup of salt (we used Morton’s)
• 1/2 cup of honey
• 2 cans of Certo crushed tomatoes
• Lemon juice (we used bottled juice, but half a fresh lemon is better)
The recipe itself couldn’t be easier. First, slice the hot peppers roughly (don’t touch your eyes!) Then mix the peppers, crushed tomatoes, lemon juice, honey and salt in a blender until smooth.
Peel and thinly slice the cloves from two and half bulbs of garlic. Then heat up one cup of extra virgin olive oil in a sauce pot until it shimmers. Sauté the garlic until soft and fragrant, then pour in the tomato-pepper mixture and stir the sauce on low heat.
After a couple minutes of simmering, your homemade hot tomato oil is ready to serve with warm Pasta’s stretch bread. (We won’t try making stretch bread at home. Nothing we do could come close to the glorious real thing.) Keep some in the fridge and try it on fried eggs and toast for a great breakfast.
You can add more or less peppers (or use a variety of hot peppers) to play with the spice level. You can also double or triple the recipe to give jars away as gifts, or to feed a massive party someday when we can have massive parties again. Damn you, Covid.
Stretch bread and spicy hot tomato oil at Pastabilities.File photo
If you don’t want to make a mess in the kitchen, you can still get the real thing of course. Spicy hot tomato oil can be found at Wegmans, Pasta’s Daily Bread and many area gift shops.
Pastabilities remains open for takeout and curbside pickup. You can find the menu at pastabilities.com to order by calling (315) 474-1153. It’s not the same as digging into a hot bowl of pasta downtown, but hey, it’s the little things.
The pandemic has been difficult for all of us. But one small ray of light during the shutdown is the gift of time. Home cooks everywhere can perfect a few new recipes during this time, whether it’s a Rochester garbage plate or a giant frittata from Mother’s Cupboard.
Cheers to all the mediocre cooks out there. We hope you stay healthy and safe this winter.
MORE from the COVID-19 COOKING SHOW
Make the Hofmann coney from Heid’s at home
Make the Rochester garbage plate from The Brine Well Eatery at home
Make the giant frittata from Mother’s Cupboard at home
Make the Calabrian pizza at Apizza Regionale at home
Make the catfish burrito from Alto Cinco at home
Make Eva’s famous pierogi at home
Make Dinosaur Bar-B-Que smoked ribs at home
The Link LonkIn a year as challenging as 2020, it's probably no surprise that the dish I kept turning to for comfort was pasta.
But it wasn't just because there's something immensely soothing about a big heaping bowl of noodles (although that definitely helped). Before this year, I was a terrible cook — and pasta was one of the few dishes that actually felt achievable.
So I looked to some of my favorite celebrity chefs — Ina Garten, Gordon Ramsay, and Martha Stewart — for guidance. In the process, I made endless pasta sauces, tackled my first carbonara, and discovered a penne that could warm up any soul on the coldest winter day.
There were some mishaps for sure, but now I've got pasta recipes in my repertoire for every season of 2021.
The Link Lonk
The pandemic has come for our carbs once again. Bucatini, to be precise—described by one overly exuberant maestro as “the most sensual of the pastas.” Didn’t know it went away? Writer Rachel Handler kept being thwarted in her search for the popular tubular pasta—known for its hole and ability to soak up sauce—and realized it wasn’t just a local New York shortage. Moving from lowkey panic to lowkey obsession in the matter of months, she investigated for Grub Street and “the rest of the people in the United States of America, who had been through too much for too long to then have insult added to injury via the spontaneous and inexplicable disappearance of the best noodle.” So what’s to blame? Possible runs on the pasta for use as drinking straws; general pandemic delays; makers’ choices to stick to more pedestrian pastas (looking at you, spaghetti); and a mysterious case against a Big Pasta corporation. We’re still waiting, with bated breath, on the Food and Drug Administration’s response to Handler’s FOIA requests about why it’s keeping a particular eye on Italian maker De Cecco.
The Link LonkSourdough and banana bread had their day in the sun but the real winner was always homemade pasta. This year has been a doozy and the saving grace of subsequent lock downs was, as always, the food. Whether you indulged in cooking classes, ready-made kits, or just lots and lots of takeout, new kitchen skills were put to the test. With a million shapes and flavor combinations, pasta is simultaneously comforting, celebratory and always a crowd pleaser.
Here, Chef Bill Dorrier, Altamarea Group’s Corporate Executive Chef, is happy to share his kitchen skills. With some expert direction, homemade pasta is a fool proof option.
ADVERTISEMENT
Hand made filled pasta from Altamerea Group
Liz ClaymanWith a score of restaurants in the Altamerea Group including Michelin Starred Ai Fiori, Osteria Morini, Marea and Nicoletta in New York, New Jersey and DC, Chef Dorrier knows Italian food. The restaurants specialize in whatever is in season, from land to sea as highlighted in a recent and traditional Christmas Eve special, Feast of Seven Fishes.
“When thinking about NYE dinner, you want to create something that pops. Saffron is a great addition to bring color into your pasta.” Says Chef Dorrier, who has a particular affinity for Osteria Morini Soho and the Emiglia Romagna region of food they specialize in. Chef Dorrier, once known for bringing a porchetta spit to Meatopia, a now defunct but all-meat festival, knows his way around regional cuisine. His pasta knowledge, from ravioli to orecchiette and back again, is unparalleled.
A homemade pasta kit to create special dinners at home.
MoriniMORE FOR YOU
With restaurants shuffling from takeout to curbside and back again, there are so many ways to support your local restaurants and grocers and make a New Year’s pasta dinner extra special. Read through for more tips and tricks for taking your noodle love to the next level and making your last bites the best.
“Incorporate a few strands of saffron with yours eggs while making your dough. This will add a beautiful red hue.” His saffron technique is two pronged. One for those making the dough and one used as an eye popping finishing touch. “Finish the pasta with a simple lemon butter sauce and bring it to the next level by topping it with caviar.”
Homemade pasta from Altamarea Group
Altamarea GroupADVERTISEMENT
Can’t find saffron? Head to the local fishmonger and snag some squid ink. As Chef Dorrier explains, “the pasta takes on a deep purple/black color. The flavor of squid ink is mild and does not have an overpowering fish taste. Same as with the saffron, add a tablespoon to your eggs while making your dough. Create a sauce with your seafood of choice. I recommend crab or lobster.”
What about those who really want to dig in on luxury?
“It doesn’t get more luxurious than truffles. For this, keep the pasta simple – tagliatelle with butter and parmigiana cheese and top with shaved white or black truffles. This is what you want eat for last dinner of 2020.”
Of course, dinner isn’t complete without a midnight toast. Chef Dorrier’s advice? “Pair any of the above with a glass (or bottle) of your favorite champagne and you have a perfect meal to help ring in the new year!”
ADVERTISEMENT
The Link LonkYou’re not going to find jello cups on the menu at Alaska Native Medical Center in Anchorage, Alaska. Instead, patients and visitors choose between reindeer pot pie, smoked hooligan, birch sourdough biscuits with fireweed jelly, herring roe, salmon-belly or seal soup, and Eskimo ice cream (made with animal fat, fish oil, and berries).
Depending on the season, the hospital’s Executive Chef, Amy Foote, receives boxes of fiddlehead ferns and spruce tips trimmed in the late spring, coho salmon and halibut caught in late summer, cloudberries and blueberries picked and packed in the fall, and whale or other game meat in late winter. They are all donations, sent in by a state-wide network of hunters and gatherers who keep ANMC’s traditional foods program stocked with the ingredients that Alaska Natives have routinely enjoyed for generations.
“It blows my mind that we’re able to do this,” Foote says. “Why would people want to do this, donate to people they don’t know?”
But patients at ANMC weren’t always able to enjoy the comfort of familiar foods. Up until 2014, federal law prohibited foraged food due to concerns over safety. This meant ANMC’s menu was heavy on ingredients common to big-city grocery stores but rare in the small towns and remote villages where many of the hospital’s patients reside. It wasn’t until former Alaska Senator Mark Begich and retired Alaska Native physician Dr. Ted Mala lobbied for a specific measure on traditional foods to be included in the 2014 Farm Bill that ANMC could use non-commercialized traditional foods such as caribou.
Foote has been running the traditional-foods program since shortly after its inception. While her walk-in coolers are now full of indigenous ingredients (since 2015 she’s received more than 20,000 pounds of donations, and more than 70 percent of her recipes include traditional foods), in the early days of the program, every little donation was a huge victory.
That is because while Foote can buy ingredients such as salmon, both hospital fare and traditional-subsistence foods are still heavily regulated. Due to cross-contamination and foodborne-illness concerns, the hospital can’t accept anything too processed. That means, for example, that moose can be quartered, but not ground. And most wild fish and game can only be gifted or bartered—the result of an Alaskan law intended to prevent anyone from commercializing a basic food source. Selling foraged vegetables and berries, meanwhile, is not necessarily illegal, but is considered taboo. Custom dictates giving any extra to family or community elders.
Tim Ackerman is one of the many individuals who donates to the hospital. “They’re more apt to relax and not feel so out of place in the hospital when they have these foods,” Ackerman says. “It promotes well being. It helps the soul.”
A few years ago, while a buddy of Ackerman’s was in Anchorage for treatment, he overheard someone say that seal was the most requested, but least received, donation for the traditional-food program. “He said, ‘I know someone who can help,’ and I’ve been donating ever since,” Ackerman says.
The retired resident of Haines, Alaska, spends the short winter days pushing his kayak into the waters of the nearby inlet and paddling around in pursuit of harbor seals. He keeps some for himself and his family, but a larger share he donates and ships to Anchorage, more than 500 miles away, to be enjoyed by folks he considers his people, even if he doesn’t know them.
“It’s part of their diet. They need it to heal,” Ackerman says. “No big box stores can sell it. They need someone to help.”
You don’t necessarily need to be a patient at ANMC to try the fare. The gifts of nature, after all, are for everyone—it’s not uncommon for out-of-town visitors to swing through the cafeteria. Alaskans sometimes joke that the reason villagers come into Anchorage is to go to Costco and visit the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium campus, which houses and acts as a cultural and community hub.
In non-pandemic times, Alaskans hang out on the campus, wander the hospital corridors to look at the thousands of pieces of museum-quality Indigenous artwork from across the state, and walk through the courtyard where hospital staff grow traditional vegetables such as rhubarb, currants, high bush cranberries, chocolate lilies, and blueberries. Started in 2018 as a college senior’s project, the garden is divided into three areas: tundra, bog, and birch forest.
“It’s like the village within the city,” Foote says.
Foote credits the emphasis placed on caring for elders in Alaska Native culture and the belief that traditional foods have healing properties for the success of the program. Having overcome the obstacle of procuring donations, she’s now tasked with perhaps the greater challenge of crafting a menu that speaks to the tastes of the various tribal groups.
Alaska is so vast that it resembles the Lower 48 in the breadth of regional fare. How salmon is prepared and preserved in the kitchens of Ketchikan, an island in a temperate rainforest near British Columbia, differs wildly from how it’s cooked in Nome, whose shores kiss the same frigid sea as most of Eastern Russia. Often that means combing through recipes to find similarities and common ground, such as seasoning with sea salt and smoking the protein in long strips.
Foote had processed game meat prior to accepting the job at ANMC, but seal was initially beyond her scope. Knowing that one of the kitchen workers was a hunter, she approached him about helping her butcher the first one.
“He said, ‘Oh, I don’t know how to do that,’” Foote says. “He explained that he only hunted them, the women butchered them. I didn’t know there was the cultural role, so I went to some of the Elder women on the line and they were able to teach me a lot.”
Because Foote isn’t an Alaska Native herself, she says she leaned on the expertise of Alaska Native Elders, getting their recipes and feedback to make sure the meals feel right. This proved key, since many early patients were skeptical that they could order a dish from their remote village while in a big-city hospital.
One time while Foote was going room to room and dispersing seal soup, a patient asked if she’d made the soup herself. He seemed doubtful, but once she confirmed that she had sought the wisdom of Elders, he softened.
“He started sharing these beautiful stories about how he remembered harvesting seal and hunting and fishing and cooking on the shore with his family,” Foote says. “And we watched this person who didn’t feel good, who was a little skeptical, all of the sudden feel comfortable and calm.”
These touch points are even more important now during the pandemic, Foote says. Because guests aren’t allowed in patient rooms, hospital stays can feel more isolating. Having something familiar is important, so the cafeteria staff takes requests. And thanks to a state-wide effort to stock the hospital’s pantry, they’re now able to meet requests for seal soup just as gamely as for chicken-noodle soup.
Gastro Obscura covers the world’s most wondrous food and drink.
Sign up for our email, delivered twice a week.
