Hickory Meatballs for the Holidays

The folks over at Hickoryworks asked me to formulate a recipe for the holidays utilizing their Shagbark Hickory Syrup and their Hickory Smoked Sea Salt, and I was glad to oblige.

Shagbark Hickory Syrup has a distinctively different taste than Maple Syrup. It’s not as cloyingly sweet, has a nice smoky flavor, and compliments well with savory dishes.

For the holidays I wanted to come up with something seasonal and we brainstormed and the result were these Turkey Meatballs, which are in a Hickory/Apple Cider/Mustard BBQ sauce.

The Red and Green chiles with the apple in the turkey mixture give the dish a nice holiday feel, and the hickory/apple BBQ sauce over the kielbasa rounds completes the dish nicely.

If you don’t make these for the holidays, don’t worry. I also had the Superbowl in mind when I came up with these too.

The meatballs in this recipe are cooked on a sheet tray for easier party prep, but you could just as easily pan fry them or even smoke or grill them using a meatball grill basket (you can find these at Williams-Sonoma and at other high-end kitchen catalogs)

Shagbark Hickory and Apple Party Meatballs

For Meatballs:
1 lb Kielbasa, sliced into rounds
1/2 cup finely diced Onion
4 cloves Garlic, finely minced
1/2 cup finely diced Red Pepper (Bell, Cubanelle or Jalapeno)
1/4 cup finely diced Green Pepper (Bell, Cubanelle or Jalapeno)
2 lbs ground Turkey (or a combination of Turkey and Pork)
1/3 cup shredded Apple (peeled first)
1/4 tsp Hot Pepper Flakes
1 Tbs dried Oregano
1 Tbs dried Parsley
Ground Black Pepper, to taste
2 Eggs
1/2 tsp Hickoryworks Smoked Sea Salt

For Sauce:
1 Tbs Cornstarch
2 Tbs Cider Vinegar
1 Tbs Dijon Mustard
1/2 tsp Hickoryworks Smoked Sea Salt
1/2 cup Apple Cider, natural unpasteurized is preferable
1 cup Hickoryworks Shagbark Hickory Syrup
Hot Sauce to taste

Preheat oven to 400F. Line a rimmed half-sheet pan with parchment or foil. If using foil, spray with non-stick spray or olive oil.

Cook the Kielbasa slices in a skillet to brown them and render some fat. Set them aside on a paper towel lined plate, leaving a tablespoon or two of fat in the skillet. Lower the heat and saute the onion and garlic for about 5 minutes.

Add the red and green peppers (use the type you like and spiciness desired) and continue cooking for 2 more minutes. Scrape out the skillet and allow the vegetables to cool.

Combine ground meat, apple, and seasonings (except salt). When the vegetables are cool, mix them into the meat, adding the eggs and smoked salt at the same time.

Form into 1 inch balls. Place the balls on the prepared sheet pan, leaving space around each one. Spray the top with olive oil. Place into the hot oven and cook for 10-15 minutes. Do not overcook as the white meat turkey can easily dry out.

While the meatballs are cooking, prepare the sauce. Mix the cornstarch with the vinegar to remove any lumps, then combine with the rest of the sauce ingredients.

Add to the skillet and whisk while bringing to a boil over high heat. Once the mixture comes to a boil, reduce heat to low and taste for seasoning. It might need more Hickory salt or cider vinegar.

When the meatballs are done, add them and the kielbasa slices to the glaze and carefully stir to coat and keep warm. Reserve the liquid that the meatballs exude. Strain and use to thin the sauce if it gets too thick.

To serve, first spear a meatball with a toothpick, then a kielbasa slice for it to sit on. Place on a warmed serving tray. The Kielbasa slices keep the meatballs upright, and they’re delicious!

New Orleans Dining: Crabby Jack’s

Note: While reading Brett Anderson’s quest for the perfect Roast Beef Po’ Boy series in the New Orleans Times Picayune, I realized that I had some un-published photos from a March 2010 trip to New Orleans which might be of interest. As I am going to be in New Orleans during Christmas week this year, I figured this would be a good a time as any to bring this to the top.

Crabby Jack’s
428 Jefferson Hwy, Jefferson, LA 70121
(504) 833-2722

Crabby Jack’s is Jacques-Imo’s little sister in Jefferson, specializing in Po Boys and fried seafood platters. It’s a little lunch-only place situated right next to the Louisiana Seafood Exchange, so you can be assured that the oysters and shrimp and crawfish you are getting are as fresh as can be.

Owner Jack Leonardi manning the fort. Since Katrina, he’s been a bit short on help, and he’s quite obviously a few crawfish short of a boil.

This big pile of crawfish is left out for customers to pick on. Samples!

Photo of main dining room, circa May 2005.

Menu, 2010

This handsome guy is pushing his luck eatin’ that po boy right over his nice new white business shirt.

Shrimp ‘n Okra.

Shrimp with Fried Green Tomato and Remoulade

Fried Oyster Platter with Jambalaya. We ordered so much food we had to give more than half of these away to the security guard protecting the Seafood Exchange on the way out.

Fried Shrimp Po’Boy.

Fried Paneed Rabbit Po Boy (May 2005)

Duck Po Boy (May 2005)

“Un-Ferdi” Po Boy (May 2005)

Fried Oysters (2010)

With Dirty Rice (2010)

Sweet Potato Chips

Dining Room (2010)

“Un-Ferdi” 2010

“Un-Ferdi” cross section

Now that’s a man-sized po’boy.

Ugh. So full.

NJ Dining: Amici Family Restaurant

This was originally posted in June of 2011. I’ve added some new photos and raised it to the top given the restaurant’s recent review by Elisa Ung in the Bergen Record.

Amici Family Restaurant
127 S. Washington Ave. (Entrance and Parking on East Clinton Ave.)
Bergenfield, NJ 07621
(201) 374-1996

Those who are familiar with this blog understand that I have a love/hate relationship with Italian-American cuisine.

As I have said on previous posts, while this is an area of culinary specialization that Northern New Jersey is particularly known for, that doesn’t mean that we do it particularly well.

When people ask me “What Italian restaurant or what Pizza do you like to eat at in Bergen County” I usually say “None, I go to the Bronx and eat on Arthur Avenue.“

The reasons for this are numerous, but it comes down to the fact that the Italian-American restaurant and pizzeria as it is represented in this part of Jersey is usually pretty awful. SYSCO tomato sauce, cheap commercial mozzarella and tired owners that no longer care about the food they are making anymore. That about sums it up.

Forget about what you’ve seen on the Sopranos, Italian-American food in Northeast Bergen County is uniformly mediocre.

And thus explains why it is difficult for a restaurant that serves this kind of food to distinguish itself. You rarely see these neighborhood places written up in the Bergen Record or the New York Times because Pizza places and red sauce joints are a dime a dozen.

Sure, you might get the occasional gem like Di Palma Brothers (which is actually in Hudson County in North Bergen) or a solid pizzeria like  Lodi Pizza, Trattoria Sorrentina (again, North Bergen) or Bartolomeo in Englewood but these are rarities.

It’s nearly impossible to get me into a new Italian-American restaurant or a pizzeria, because I’m expecting right from the start that it’s going to suck.

So when I saw that the aging, failing Terrana in Bergenfield — which never produced more than just serviceable Italian-American food and was a restaurant we avoided eating at for the 10 years we’ve been residents of nearby Tenafly — was being taken over by new owners and being re-launched as Amici Family Restaurant, my interest was piqued.

I’m willing to try a new Italian place at least once, especially if it’s just five minutes from my house. If it was bad, I just wouldn’t go back, just as I have done with 90 percent of the ones I’ve been to in the immediate area.

Amici Family Restaurant looks like a typical red sauce joint that serves average pizza from the outside. Don’t make the mistake of passing it by. Click on the “Read the rest of this entry” link below for more.

NJ Dining: Brick Lane Curry House (UPDATED)

Brick Lane Curry House
540 Valley Road, Upper Montclair NJ 07043
(973) 509-2100

Web Site: http://www.bricklanemontclair.com

It’s a cute little Indian restaurant, with warm and attentive staff. It’s family friendly.

Sounds like a great place to take the kids, right?

Indeed, I’d recommend this place for Indian food in a heartbeat. But at this Upper Montclair charming little British-style curry house lurks an EVIL. One that should not be tampered with. Not even by the most adventurous, veteran foodies such as myself.

Click on the “Read the rest of this entry” link below for more.

NJ Dining: Patria

Patria Restaurant and Lounge
169 W. Main Street, Rahway NJ 07065
(732) 943-7531

Web Site: http://www.patrianj.com

Wow, what a wild and oppressive summer we had. Crazy rainy weather, outrageous humidity and a 20-year tropical storm that has caused devastating amounts of damage to our state.

Our house got knocked off the grid during Irene and we’ve been doing a bunch of home improvements that have been taking up a lot of our time, plus we got older parents to take care of.

I guess this is what happens when you hit your 40s. Life just creeps up on you.

I’ve also been working really hard this summer and cranking out the hours in the “Real Job”, so if you’ve been wondering where all the foodie posts have been the last eight weeks, now you know why!

It’s difficult to remember the fun times from the Summer of 2011, but we definitely did have some truly great meals.

One was a very memorable dinner I had in late July with the folks at Diaz-Schloss, who handle PR for Patria, a funky high-end nightclub/lounge in Rahway which serves Pan-Latino cuisine with classic Italian and French twists.

If the name “Patria” sounds familiar to you, it’s because it used to be the name of a Nuevo Latino restaurant in New York City, which earned accolades (3 stars) from the New York Times and Bon Appetit magazine. And the guy who made it all happen there was Chef Andrew DiCataldo.

DiCataldo may be Italian-American, but he has a Latino soul.

DiCataldo is one of the founders of Nuevo Latino Cuisine and has brought his experience and classical Italian and French cooking techniques to Patria.

After graduating culinary school at Johnson & Wales, he moved down to Florida and ended up at Scratch restaurant in South Beach the 1980s and then in Miami in early 1990s (alongside his close friend Douglas Rodriguez, which he has co-authored a cookbook with) at the Cuban restaurant Yuca, where he and Rodriguez experimented with Caribbean and Central/South American flavors and developed the refined “Nuevo Latino” style that is popular today.

He then was exposed to Mexican flavors at the famed Las Puertas in Coral Gables.

After returning to New Jersey and opening Mexicali Blues in Teaneck, DiCataldo then went on to Patria in the 1990s in New York City, branched out to Tapas-style small plate cuisine at Pipa and now has returned to bring this Pan-Latino style  to the New Jersey town of his youth, at a brand-new Patria.

Click on the “Read the rest of this entry” link below for more.

NYC Dining: Porter House New York (2011)

Porter House New York
Time Warner Center, 4th Floor
10 Columbus Circle, New York, NY
(212) 823-9500

Web Site: http://www.porterhousenewyork.com

When my wife’s birthday approaches, the question is always the same: “Where would you like to go out for dinner?”

There are certainly many fine restaurants in New Jersey and in New York City. Too many to choose from, actually. But Rachel wanted to go somewhere that the food and the service was going to be impeccable and where the ambiance and the sheer “New Yorkishness” was also outstanding as well.

Given that criterion, there aren’t a lot of places that fit all of those parameters very well. But amazingly, we both looked at each other and said “Porter House?”

Also Read: OTB in Depth — Porter House New York

I’ve covered Porter House New York before. When people tell me they want a really nice steak, that they’re going to be in the city dining with friends, and they want to be treated really well, the restaurant often pops up on the top my list.

The steaks are probably some of the best in the entire city, and they have a full compliment of other dishes including some very nice fish and seafood presentations that are fantastic if you don’t want to eat meat.

They’ve also got a great bar menu with outstanding burgers and other casual items in case you’re a single diner or don’t want the full formal dining room experience. We’ve frequently done that when we go out to a Broadway show on a weekend and want to have a nice leisurely lunch before seeing an early show.

And the view? Oh, the view. In the daylight, if you’re sitting in the dining room by the window, you get a full panorama of Columbus Circle and all the hustle and bustle that is New York City.

At night, everything lights up glorious.

And you can’t find a nicer chef on the entire planet than Michael Lomonaco. Who always treats me and Rachel like family when we go.

Porter House New York Main Dining Room.

Click on the “Read the Rest of this entry” link below for more.

BLT Season

Mid-May is about when I start eating BLTs again. It begins when I start seeing decent imported tomatoes come in to the local supermarkets and produce stores, and reaches its peak in July and August when the farmers markets are in full swing and my own garden grown Jersey tomatoes start coming in. August is when my own tomato plants are in overdrive production mode and BLTs start to become major meals as opposed to just lunches.

Also See: Bacon, Lettuce and Tomatocast with Christine Nunn

The above sandwich was made with the amazing slab smoked bacon from the Swiss Pork Store in Fair Lawn, NJ, hand sliced, using vine-ripened Israeli tomatoes and romaine lettuce hearts.

NJ Dining: St. Eve’s

St. Eve’s
611 N. Maple Avenue, Ho-Ho-Kus NJ 07423
(201) 857-4717

Web Site: http://www.stevesnj.com

The first time I tried Steve Christianson’s cuisine was the night he closed his restaurant, the Citrus Grille, in Airmont, New York. It was simultaneously a delicious, yet depressing affair. But that cold February evening was also filled with hope, as we knew that soon, the CIA-trained chef would return, with a brand-new restaurant in nearby Ho-Ho-Kus, in a newly constructed space.

When it re-opened, Judi Christianson, Steve’s wife and front of the house majordomo wanted me to come over, have a nice meal, and provide them photographs for their new web site. Naturally, I agreed, since I was going to take photos anyway.

I’m a food blogger. It’s what I do.

Fifteen months later, I get an email from Judi. “We’re ready.”

I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect when I got there. Would it be a warm, intimate spot like the last restaurant? Or something different? Would the cuisine be a carry over from Citrus Grille, or a reboot?

St. Eve’s, which is simply a play on words on “Steve’s”, is in my estimation probably one of the most important destination restaurants to open in Bergen County in a very long time. It’s a beautiful, huge space, which utilizes a lot of reclaimed wood and has very much a tavern-style atmosphere and lots of natural light.

Aesthetically, it reminds me a lot of the tavern/casual dining part of Gramercy Tavern in New York City.

St. Eve’s Patio dining area.

The rear entrance of St. Eve’s, which has a large amount of parking available. Click on the “Read the rest of this entry” link below for more.

Big Apple BBQ Block Party 2011: Behind the Scenes Pit Tour

We go behind the scenes at the 2011 Big Apple BBQ Block Party and visit the pits at Memphis Championship BBQ, Blue Smoke, Martin’s, Ubon’s, Pappy’s Smokehouse, Dinosaur BBQ, Ed Mitchell and Salt Lick — all while the weather conspires against us. We promise there’s plenty of Hi-Def food porn in this 32 minute video.

For photographic coverage of previous Big Apple BBQs, I’ve compiled four years of it, over 900 photos worth, in this single Flickr album.

Eating Mazatlán

Mazatlán, Mexico was where Rachel and I decided to spend our most recent vacation. Situated in the state of Sinaloa on Mexico’s Pacific coast, Mazatlán has long been one of the country’s jewels, with a strong tourism and fishing industry as well as a unique cultural history, dating back to the Spanish conquest of Mexico as well as being the origin of  “Banda” music which was created by the town’s German settlers.

Mazatlán, however, like the rest of Mexico, has fallen on tough times. The local economy has been whacked just like the rest of the world, and due to recent security concerns regarding Mexico in general and Sinaloa’s role as a conduit for arms trade and violent gangs heading up the coastal region, all of the major cruise lines have ceased making stops at the port city, resulting in a loss of over 25,000 tourists per day.

In September of 2011, the cruise ships are expected to return once new contracts with the city have been signed, but nothing is a given.

The reality is, however, is that Mazatlán is still a very safe city, with a great deal of police protection. It is also an excellent value, particularly as it relates to food, as it has some of the best seafood in the world, due to its local shrimp and tuna fleets. The state of Sinaloa also is known for raising livestock and has a large amount of local agriculture, so you can get some of the best steak and chicken/pork dishes here and fantastic produce as well.

See my complete Mazatlán photo set on Flickr

An outdoor table at La Playa Bruja restaurant in Mazatlán, Mexico.

So without further ado — let’s go eat Mazatlán. Click on the “Read the rest of this entry” link below for more.