My Bluefish catch ready to be filleted with ingredients nearby

One of my favorite things to do growing up in Brooklyn was to go fishing in Jamaica Bay. My parents, having grown up in a fishing village, saw it as a way to keep me busy and a way to bring home some food to last us for a week or two. My family did not believe in the “catch and release” concept, unless you count the numerous undersize Striped Bass we let go in the 80s. Yes, I ate the fish we caught and I still have all 10 toes and have grown used to my webbed feet.

The fish here was a lot different than Istra so my family had to adapt. There were no Sardines, Branzino, Cuttlefish or Scorpion fish. Instead we had Porgy, Blackfish, Flounder and Bluefish. Out of all of these fish Bluefish was the one my family gravitated towards. Its flesh reminded them of the oily sardines and mackerel they grew up on and reacted the same way to cooking. On top of that it was one hell of a fish to catch especially when in the 10-18 lb range. Now we only caught one every other time we went out from Canarsie Pier. But once we bought a 17 foot Bayliner we were trolling up and down Jamaica Bay and bagging them like no tomorrow and giving them out to our family every weekend.

It was always a rite of passage to catch the first one of each season, usually around mid May. In the past three years I have re-ignited that rite and caught one each year surf fishing. This year I figured I would beat the chase and get on a boat. So on May 1st, the one year anniversary of my quitting smoking after 23 years, I decided the celebrate by heading out of Sheepshead Bay. I was reliving the tradition my dad taught me feeling the sea wind in my hair as we headed out to Breezy Point. Ahead of us a swarm of seagulls right over a slew of Bunker with Bluefish underneath for sure. And just like when he first took me out there when I was 8 years old I caught my first Bluefish of the season. A nice 13 lb one hitting the same jig I used 30 years ago, thanks Dad for the fish.

My family’s favorite thing was to grill it the night we caught it, and for good reason. Bluefish flesh deteriorates very quickly, a matter of 36 hours or so, and becomes too fishy for most people. And because of that oily flesh it reacts very well to an open flame and develops the perfect crust on its skin. Grilled whole you can seal in all the flavor, as long as you pay attention to flame ups, and have a juicy inner fish meat that tastes of the ocean. I wanted to stay true to what my family had taught me but also put a new spin on it. I decided to go for a cedar plank smoking method but I wanted to add another level of textural and spice complexity. The logical route was to go with a Mexican inspired Chili & Pumpkin coating to give the fish another level of texture and flavor.

What follows is much more than a fish recipe to me. It’s a tribute to a local fish which doesn’t get enough respect and usually is served horribly. By the way, never order Bluefish in a diner… that’s gonna be a bad seafood experience all the way around. This is also a tribute to all the pier and shore fisherman in Brooklyn and NYC who have been over looked for years. Lastly this is a tribute to Gino and the skills he taught me with fishing and cooking that I hope to one day pass down to my child.

Chili, Pumpkin Seed & Cedar Smoked Bluefish

I want to preface this with saying a few things about the fish. If you are catching this on a boat or from the shore make sure to cut the bloodline under the collar of the fish immediately after catching to bleed it out. I know this sounds nasty but its going to eliminate some of those enzymes that deteriorate the fish flesh and give you a much better texture and flavor when cooked. Then fillet it yourself, don’t let the deckhands on a boat use some sloppy knife they have been using for bait all season long. Have them just scale and gut the fish and you can do the rest home. If you are buying the fillets to make this recipe just go to a reputable place. One good option is to actually go to Sheepshead Bay when the boats come in from their day trips and buy straight from the boats. And overall try to get this fish cooked pretty soon after you bring the fish home, I would say within 24 hours. This isn’t a piece of Salmon so don’t teach them the same.

You will have a much cleaner fillet if you do it yourself

Ingredients:

• 2 medium size Bluefish fillets
• 1 tbsp kosher salt
• 1/2 tbsp Mexican oregano
• 1 tsp Chili Piquin powder
• 2 tbsp whole Cumin seeds
• 2 1/2 tbsp Ancho Chili powder
• 1/4 cup hulled pumpkin seed
• 2 limes thinly sliced
• 1 cedar grilling planks
• salt & pepper to taste

Take the cumin seeds and pumpkin seeds and lightly toast in a skillet. You will smell a citrus aroma with a bit of sesame coming through the air, that’s when you know they should be taken off the flame. Take the seeds and drop them into a spice grinder or mortar & pestle. Grind them up a bit bit just to get them started. Next drop in all the other spices into the spice grinder and give it a nice grind until you get a pretty fine mixture. It should feel like beach sand when rolled in between your fingers. Take the spice mixture and rub it all over your topsides of your fillets skin side down. Pat the mixture into the fish fillets and make sure you have nice and even coverage. Brush off any excess and discard into the trash. Place the fillets in the fridge for at least 4 hours, this will allow the spice rub to penetrate the fish and give it a light cure. Next you will want to soak your cedar plank for two hours in cold water. When you are ready to cook get a charcoal grill ready with some really hot coals. You want there to be a nice medium high flame towards the  two thirds of the embers fire cycle when you put the plank on the grill. Take out your fish and let it get to room temperature for 15 minutes. Place the fillets on the planks as shown bellow and cover with lime slices.

The Bluefish fillets on the cedar plank ready to be grilled

Place the cedar plank on the center of the grill and cover with the vents slightly opened on the bottom and almost completely closed on top. This will allow for the smoke created by the cedar to be captured in the grill and permeate the fish and at the same time feed the flame. Check every once in a while for flame ups and make sure the plank doesn’t burn up too much. The total grilling time should be about 15-20 minutes. Depending on your heat you might want to give a “fork flake try” 15 minutes in to check for doneness.

The Bluefish is ready to eat

When you bite into the fish you will have a slight smoke from the cedar followed by a nice chili and nut crust that gives into the flesh. The inner flesh will be moist and not overdone with some of the lime finishing off the flavor profile. This can be eaten as is or used as filling for fish tacos, as we did. It’s an easy recipe to follow and I suggest trying using any locally caught fish. I think Striped Bass season is right around the corner so give it a try with that.

Grilled Mushroom Polenta topped with Tomato Sauce and a Poached Egg... it's a winner!

I have been experimenting with a few recipes lately for a future food venture with some friends. Sometimes I just don’t like cooking first thing in the morning. Especially if it’s the night after you are having a send off for your best friend’s move to the west coast and you thought it was a good idea to drink a bunch of Hawaiian Punches at Winnie’s.  Sidenote: Don’t order the Cookie Monster at Winnie’s. That would explain why I decided to test out one of the Brunch recipes at 7:30pm. So here it is… Grilled Mushroom Polenta with Basil Tomato Sauce topped with a Poached Egg sprinkled with Black Sea Salt. How did it go over? Excellent… definitely a little tweaking but this is gonna go on our menu. Stay tuned for some of the recipes…

Weeks later we see an episode of Chopped and there is Justin Bazdarich in the thick of competition. Everything he was making looked really good and I figured this will bode well for his new place he told us about opening. He almost won that episode with some very to the point flavors. He also spoke some more about Speedy Romeo, shit I almost forgot the name by then, and it got us interested again. I did a little research and started to follow all the buzz about this place. I told Erin as soon as they open we were in there. One week after opening we decided to take my mom and dad there to check it out… and were we ever so happy we did.

As you get to the corner of Greene and Classon in Clinton Hill you will notice this old facade of an auto parts store with a “liquors” sign on the corner. Yup, you are at the right place. As you walk in there is a very nice and warm feeling from the decor. Open kitchen and bar to the right and seating on the left. It’s a perfect and cozy layout. It was a Friday night and it was really busy but the staff took care of us right off the bat very well. They had a table for us within 15 minutes. I do suggest though that if you are coming on a Friday or Saturday night get there by 7:30.

The Speedy Romeo pie... a must have

My mom, dad, Erin and myself sat down and made a selection of drinks from their varied beer and wine list – The list is nice and a well rounded compliment to the menu. We then decided to go with some appetizers, a pizza and our main entree. The first pizza we ordered was their house special Saint Louie. This is a great example of what this place is all about. Midwest meets Italy with a slap of new Brooklyn thrown in for good measure. This brick oven pie had Provel (a type of mixed cheese from the Mid West), Italian Sausage, Pepperoni and the best pickled chilies (btw they give you these on the table to put on everything… my dad and I couldn’t stop eating them). The creamy cheese with the sausage and amazing spicy chilies gave it this perfect blend of tart, spicy and creamy that I wish every one of my meals started off with.

I am not going to bore you with every single dish, even though they were all amazing and I will be back for more, but I will pick some highlights. Besides the Saint Louie there was the Speedy Romeo pizza. Grilled dough, amazing ricotta, basil with a splash of lemon and chilies. Such a perfect pizza in its simplicity and execution. The Mozzarella salad is a must have too. The combination of the eggplant and mint gave the home made mozzarella a perfect contrast to shine it’s home made creaminess. Don’t sleep on the grilled octopus appetizer either. Its exactly how I expect grilled octopus to be done…simple and to the point. I don’t need no fucking foie gras melted on mine… I want it straight up with a little almond romesco…period…donezo.

Grilled Short Rib with baked potato and whipped Lardo... whipped Lardo!

Speaking of grilled… get anything that is grilled. We ordered three things off the grill and were all so happy. Look, if you cook anything over a wood grill its alot better than that blue flame garbage you get off of your cousin Joey’s Weber backyard grill. My mom ordered the Whole Branzino which she likened to how she gets it in the Adriatic in Istrian restaurants… simple and perfect. My short rib was exactly how I like to cook it for myself… done through, with a little tooth to it. Sorry but this trend of mush style shortrib is a joke, I still want it to look and feel like meat and here it did. Add the baked potato and whipped Lardo and damn this is just over the top goodness. My dad ordered the steak and said it was one of the best steaks ever. This is coming form a guy who eats at some of the best steak houses in NYC on the regular.

Olive Oil Cake with citrus salad and pine nuts...yummers

And just when you think the meal is over the deserts come. Now most of these new Brooklyn eateries tend to just throw whatever onto the menu when it comes to deserts. Now I ain’t expecting them to do some El Bulli madness but give me something to end my meal on. Put the effort into it already people. The folks at Speedy Romeo not only put the effort into it but hit you over the head with deserts that are a perfect end to the meal. The highlights included the olive oil cake with citrus salad and pine nuts. This desert, in its weird combination of ingredients, reminded me of Venice for some reason. The flavors all together reminded me of cakes I had there as a child on family visits. Moist, crunchy and tart all together. And even though it was an olive oil cake it never felt heavy handed at all. The other highlight was chocolate cake with branded marshmallow and graham crumbs. This is basically the cake equivalent of a camp fire Smore. All those familiar textures and flavors you remember from your camping trips put onto this one little plate with a cake that is off the hook. If you are a chocolate freak this one is for you.

Now I would love to tell you how this place sucks so that you never go there and I always have a seat…. but I just can’t do that. Speedy Romeo is such a great place on the Brooklyn culinary map. It’s exactly what it should be… an Italian inspired Brooklyn eatery with amazing food and a warm and friendly staff. Everything we had was on point and exactly how Justin described it that first night. You can tell the passion that goes not only into the food but also the entire experience of Speedy Romeo which has officially vaulted itself to the top of my list and winning the race.

All the ingredients getting ready for their trip to the Dutch oven

When Erin and I first started dating she told me about how she would love if we could cook something together one night. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t too into the idea at first. I tend to be a kitchen Nazi and like things done my way or you aint eating, I’m slowly working on overcoming that. But being that I wanted to make her happy, and we were still in that impressionistic phase, I said “Sure, lets give it a try, what do you have in mind”, with my most reassuring voice. At that point she proceeds to pull out this small pink leather cookbook that her mom had put together for her when Erin moved to NYC and says “Let’s take a look in here!”

I was in awe when I opened it. It was a collection of recipes her mom had perfected and written by hand into the pink lined note book. First off I was impressed, the penmanship was out of control, not like my mom’s scribble (we’ll leave that for another time). Second, there were so many different recipes that sounded so good and you can tell they were tried and tested. As we were flipping through it one recipe popped out right away… Cioppino. I looked over at Erin and I just let her know “We are gonna rock through this recipe together tomorrow afternoon!” with the excitement of a fat kid in a candy store. Erin seemed just as excited telling me it was one of her favorite dishes, as it is mine. Just then I realized maybe this wasn’t gonna be so bad after all.

The dish originates in San Francisco, it’s beginnings attributed to Istrian & Venetian fisherman who worked the SF Bay and would “chip in” their random scraps of seafood they couldn’t sell at the end of their long days. They took these scraps and would make a spicy tomato based stew that was reminiscent of Istrian & Northern Italian seafood brodetto. Side Note: The most authentic Cioppino is served in SF at Istrian run Tadich Grill, yeah my people are all over this dish. This of course is a match made in heaven for me. Fresh fish, shell fish, spicy broth with just enough of a brine to remind you that this is what the ocean should taste like.

That one night was the first of many where we made this dish and started a new tradition of cooking together, although I still won’t let her use the really sharp knives. When we make Cioppino we will  go out to a really good fish market together, stock up on fresh fish & shell fish and come right home to get it cooking. I have to say this recipe has become a staple in our house during the winters and early springs. If you like seafood and warm stews this is gonna be your go to after a few tries.

Cioppino (Special thanks to Denise Wolf)

Before I get into the recipe I want to stress one thing, make sure to buy good quality seafood. Don’t be buying some garbage from Associated, you know that scary half frozen fish wrapped in blue Styrofoam trays. There are plenty of really good fish mongers in Brooklyn. One of my favorites is Carroll Gardens Fish Market. Take the extra time speak to the people in the store, ask them what they have that is the freshest and inspect the fish. Also feel free to substitute for the actual fish part in the recipe. We tend to go with Flounder or Striped Bass, use whatever looks the freshest at the store.

Grill toasted baguette slices are a perfect addition

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tsp of red paper flakes
• 2 small tins of anchovies drained of oil
• 6 garlic cloves mashed in a mortar & pestle
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 stalks of celery chopped to 1/4″ pieces
• 1 medium onion chopped to 1/4″ pieces
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 4oz of chicken or fish stock
• 1 can (32oz) of crushed tomatoes
• leaves from 4 sprigs of thyme (stems removed)
• 1 handful of flat leaf parsley roughly chopped
• 1 1/2 lbs of flounder or stripped bass filets cut to 2″ x 2″ pieces
• 8 large peeled and cleaned jumbo shrimp (or do 12-14 medium size shrimp)
• 8 sea scallops
• 16-20 scrubbed and cleaned mussels
• 1/2 lb of lump crab meat (preferably dungeoness)
• salt & pepper to taste

In a medium size Dutch over medium-high heat the olive oil and drop in all the anchovie filets. Mix them until they “melt” into the hot oil. Next add the garlic, bay leaf and red pepper flakes. Let these sizzle a bit to bloom into the oil giving it some body & character. Add your chopped onions and chopped celery into the seasoned oil. Stir well until they soften and become a bit translucent, about 2-3 minutes. Turning the heat to medium slowly pour in your white wine. If there are any chunks stuck to the pot use the wine to deglaze it. Cook for another minute and then add your tomatoes, stock, parsley and thyme. Lower the heat to medium low and let the mixture simmer until you see tiny bubble on the edge of the pot, about 3-4 minutes. Ok now you are going to start to add the seafood. Don’t fuss with it too much after this part and don’t even be tempted to reach for a mixing spoon beyond this point. Season your cut up fish filets with salt and pepper on both sides and drop the individual pieces into the mixture in the pot. Simmer for 5 minutes and give the pot a little “side to side shake” every 2 minutes. DO NOT MIX IT WITH A SPOON, I know you were tempted to, if you do you are gonna mess this all up. Next add the shrimp, crab meat, mussels and scallops and cover. Simmer for 10 minutes shaking every 2 minutes or so. Lift open the cover and discard any of the mussels that have not opened. Turn the heat off and let the Cioppino rest covered for 2-3 minutes. During that time toast up some olive oil and garlic rubbed toast points or baguette slices. And you are ready to serve.

Once you ladle this into a bowl you will smell all the aromatics with that tinge of fresh ocean spray. The seafood will all be perfectly cooked, and not over cooked. The first bite should give you a taste of briny and spicy broth followed by the sweetness of the crab meat and mussels. This multi-layer seafood experience followed by the warm and tasty broth is one never to forget or deny yourself.

Now this dish will set you back a few bucks, do not buy cheap seafood, so its best to invite 4 other people over to eat it. I recommend making this for an intimate late fall or early spring dinner party. Or you can just be greedy that Saturday night and stuff your face full of amazing Cioppino… trust me you won’t regret it one bit… we do it all the time.

Whenever the word “fusion” is used in cuisine its a bit of a turn off to me. Face facts people, all food is fusion by definition of the word. So when a place opens up and say they do a fusion of this and that I really am not in the mood to swing by. Well SOCO changed my mind on that recently…maybe I need to rethink my stance on fusion.

SOCO is a new Southern fusion restaurant/bar that has opened up on Myrtle Avenue on the Fort Greene/Clinton Hill border in the past few months. I had a few friends that had gone and their reviews were up and down. So this past Saturday Erin & I figured “let’s take a walk and check it out”. To be honest, one of our favorite places was closed and we wandered down a bit farther on Myrtle. SOCO was open so we decided to drop in.

We got there between shifts and the super friendly staff said we could wait at the bar, have a drink and we should be seated in a half hour. Who am I to refuse a drink on Saturday afternoon. From first impressions the interior is really nice and modern. You can see alot of ironwork that seems be be influenced by the Brooklyn Bridge, so right off the bat I am sold. We sit down, are given a cocktail menu and told about the specials. Again, good staff make a good place even better. The cocktail menu seemed very interesting and had a nice list of signature cocktails that start to give you a hint how they like to mix and match influences on their dishes. Everything seemed to have classic Southern roots with Asian or European hints intertwined into each cocktail. Instead of a signature cocktail we went with a Moscow Mule & a Dark N’ Stormy, our two go to drinks. They made the drinks very nicely with some muddled ginger that took it up a tiny notch but wasn’t pretentious.

As we finished our drinks we were seated at our table in the back. One thing I liked was that there were multiple types of seating here. Big tables, small tables, stools…etc. This is always a selling point for me to come back for different occasions. Looking over the menu again we saw the different types of fusion they were doing with Southern cuisine and it seemed pretty subtle and clean. We ordered our dishes and couldn’t wait to see what was in store.

Crawfish Dumplings with Green Curry Sauce

For appetizers I went with the Crawfish Dumpling and Erin went with the Mac N’ Cheese. Erin tells me that you can tell how good a place is based on their Mac N’ Cheese, she has a great point here. The Crawfish Dumplings with Green Curry sauce were amazing and light. The dumpling wrapper was made from a piece of blanched spinach, rather than dough, and made them such a  light appetizer. The sauce was perfectly seasoned and had just the right amount of ginger to cut through the coconut milk. This is a very inventive appetizer I will order again.

Mac N' Cheese in a skillet... always a winner

Erin tried to test out her Mac N’ Cheese theory as an appetizer. This was a pretty good Mac N’ Cheese, probably like a 9 out of 10. I wouldn’t go crazy about it but they used the right noodles, a good cheese mix and it was crispy on the edges. I would go back to this but wouldn’t write home about it. She said her theory was write and that this place was a good place to eat at, I was still a little cautious. So onto our main dishes.

Buttermilk Friend Chicken & Red Velvet Waffle

When I saw this on the menu I couldn’t refuse the Buttermilk Fried Chicken & Red Velvet Waffle. I mean c’mon that is just asking to be ordered… for the waffle alone. Just like all the other plates it looked very nice, and that is something that stood out about every dish we saw coming from the kitchen, so I just dug into it. I think because we came right as dinner service started the fryer wasn’t on for long enough because the tasty batter did not stick to the chicken. And its a shame because the chicken itself was really juicy and the batter was tasty. but because it wasn’t adhering I had to pick it up off my plate. But man, I did love the taste of that batter. Now onto the waffle… this was really, really good. Its a nice hybrid of a red velvet cake and a warm waffle… something I just love with fried chicken. I want to go back and try this a little later in dinner service to see if its better…I have a feeling it will be.

Lobster, Shrimp & Creamy Grits

Erin went with something we found really interesting on the menu, the Lobster, Shrimp & Creamy Grits. This was a winner in both our books. First off its a full lobster tail cooked perfectly. Second the shrimp and sauce is nice and spicy but not over powering. And lastly the grits are some of the creamiest we have ever had. I mean these were so buttery and a perfect compliment to the bright seafood. I tend to think of myself as a Shrimp & Grits expert, I make it a few times a year, and this was right up there with my favorites I have had in the South. This was such a great, well rounded dish and a perfect example about the fusion they are doing here which gets two thumbs up from us.

Overall I am very excited about this place opening up in our neighborhood. The atmosphere and decor are perfect for the neighborhood, & a great reflection of Brooklyn. The staff is very warm, friendly and knowledgeable. And lastly, and most importantly, the food was really good & interesting. It did have a few subtle flaws but I think that had more to do when we came in the service. We will be hitting this place for brunch as well is later in the dinner service very soon.

Colorful ingredients of jerk chicken

One of my favorite Brooklyn traditions is to go to the East Indian Day parade with my friend Josh Fruhlinger. We do this every year without fail. We meet up around 11am, make sure we don’t have too much money in our pockets (too much cash leads to over eating), and head out to the food carts. It’s our one time of the year to get what we call “the real deal” and to experience the Caribbean influence on our Brooklyn neighborhoods in it’s full glory. If you live in Brooklyn you have to do this at least once for the shear visual craziness… trust me.

The Caribbean influence in Brooklyn is undeniable, from Canarsie to Prospect Heights, the Caribbean people have been such a strong part of the Brooklyn identity for the past 30 plus years. The people, music, culture and cuisine has seeped it’s way into every neighborhood of Brooklyn and livened them up. I remember having my first roti when I was 12 years old somewhere off of Eastern Parkway and falling in love immediately with the richness of the goat curry wrapped in a hand made flat bread. This was a cuisine I never experienced at home and was hooked from the start. But the one part of the Caribbean cuisine that back then, and every time I go to the parade, I yearn for is Jerk Chicken. A really good homemade Jerk Chicken has no other rivals as far as I am concerned. You can’t even step to it… period. The spice, aroma, char and juiciness is a perfect balance of island style and spirit in one simple dish. Each bite grows more and more complex and makes you feel like you are sitting on the beach even in the coldest North East winter.

Josh and I try at least 3 to 5 different types every year and for days later discuss what we liked and what we didn’t like. Which vendor had a “gringo jerk chicken” and which vendor was “the real deal”. From all those experiences I developed my own taste meter for Jerk Chicken, that mango jam some of these guys put on it is straight up nasty. I found the things that work for my palette and the things that just don’t do it for me. The recipe that follows is my own version of Jerk Chicken that combines some traditional Caribbean spice blends and also incorporates some new Brooklyn cooking techniques. Hopefully you will find this recipe a perfect blend that has you begging for a Dark n’ Stormy on the streets of Eastern Parkway during the East Indian Day parade.

Cast Iron Jerk Chicken

I will say first and foremost that this recipe is a mix of things I have tried and things that I like. It is not meant as an authentic recipe but it comes pretty damn close, in my eyes. I think the cooking technique helps to add another layer of texture and taste that is a bit surprising. The pan sauce helps to carry the ginger counterpart flavor with some lime to level out all the spices. Give it a try on a cold weeknight and you will be warmed up instantly and transported to a much brighter place…even for a mere few hours.

Cast Iron Jerk Chicken with lime & shallot collard greens

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup lime juice
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1 tbsp. soy sauce
• 2 tbsp. dark brown sugar
• 1 tbsp. dried thyme
• 2 tsp. ground allspice
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 4 habenero chiles, stemmed and de-veined (Scotch Bonnet chiles are even better)
• 4 scallions chopped
• 2 shallots chopped
• kosher salt and cracked pepper
• 2 limes
• 2 tbsp. butter
• 1 16 oz bottle of ginger beer
• 1 whole small chicken halved
• 1 cast iron skillet that both halves of the chicken can fit into
• 1 heavy pan to cover the chicken as well as some cans or weights to weigh the chicken down.

Take the first 12 ingredients and pulse in a food processor until you get a well combined paste. It will have a “gray” looking consistency with flakes of brightness. Get a good sized bowl and cover the chicken completely in the paste. Rub it in really well and make sure to get into every crevice and crack, cover with plastic wrap and put it into the fridge. Do this a day to 12 hours before hand to get the optimum flavor penetration. Here I like to go with an overnight rest to get the best flavor intensity. Make sure to take the chicken out about an hour before you are ready to cook so you can bring the chicken back to room temperature by letting it rest on your counter. When you are ready to get this all cooking get your skillet on a high flame and put about 1 tbsp. of canola oil in it. Make sure to try and wipe off any clumps of the paste that may still be on the chicken. When you see a little smoke rising from the pan put your chicken skin side down. Ah… the lovely sound of searing. Place the other pan and weights (you can used other canned foods to do this) on top of the chicken to “press” it down into the skillet. Reduce the flame to medium as not to burn the chicken. Let the chicken cook for about 11-13 minutes on the skin side without moving it. Take off the weights and the other skillet off the chicken and turn the chicken over to cook for another 4-6 minutes or until an instant read thermometer reads 165 degrees. That should be a perfect amount of doneness. Don’t be tempted to cook it more than that. Remove the chicken from the skillet and place on a cutting board to rest. As the chicken is resting raise the flame to medium high and pour in half of the ginger beer in the pan and scrape up all, as we say, “the good bits” from the bottom of the pan. Add the butter and the rest of the ginger beer as well as the juice of one lime. Lower the heat to medium and let it reduce till about 1/3 of the liquid remains. Turn the heat off and be ready to serve. Put the chicken on a serving plate, pour your pan juice and sprinkle the top of the chicken with the zest of one lime. Jerk Chicken is served.

You will get all those same island favors and aromas that you have come to expect from Jerk Chicken with a little added punch from the pan sauce and searing. The lime and ginger from the sauce will be a nice companion to the spices of the rub that have seared off perfectly. I suggest you mess around with the heat level by adjusting the chiles if you are not a fan of heat. When I make it your lips tend to have a post meal “tingle” to say the least. But then again that’s the whole point of Jerk Chicken, to wake and heat you up at anytime of the year…especially when it’s cold as it tends to get in Brooklyn in the winter.

NOTE: I will be posting the recipe for the Collard Greens soon…

Sunday mornings, just like most people in Brooklyn, I wake up a bit hazy from the partying the night before. Clothes are scattered through out the house, Erin is dead asleep, somehow there is an empty bag of chips on the coffee table and the sheets are not on the right way at all. Yeah, we had a good night last night but we need food badly…and my head is spinning like a wooden merry-go-round. So I, and many of you, have that classic Sunday hangover dilemma.. “Do I order in or do I just brave the kitchen and cook myself?”

I tend to go with the later. I just force myself to drink down a Gatorade, take a few Advil, play some old Massive Attack, and get to work in the kitchen. Now this is not to say that I get all El Bulli up in this piece and cook up a dehydrated egg with a bottarga foam over a hash of purple potatoes & truffles, although that sorta sounds good right now. I look in my fridge and try to come up with something that I wont have to use too many pots, can just throw together and will satisfy me as well as give me some nutrition. This particular Sunday my brain was mush and I felt like I was doing calculus computations looking into my fridge and then all of a sudden… solution… Country Style Baked Eggs.

Here is why I tend to go with baked eggs over omelets or French toast. Baked eggs can be done zillions of ways to your liking. You just take whatever veggies you have in the fridge, saute them, crack some eggs over it and bake it. Trust me, it’s such a great hangover cure, plus it’s easy as pie to make. You get some veggies, some protein, some savory, some dairy… its perfect. One of the big advantages to making this is you only use one pan to do it, preferably a cast iron skillet, thus eliminating clean up afterwards when you are in a brunch coma.

So wake the hell up, make yourself a bloody mary and try my recipe for Country Baked Eggs. It’s super easy and hits the spot on those fuzzy Sunday mornings, well most likely after 1pm.

Country Baked Eggs:

This is a recipe I modified based on what I saw in the fridge that morning. Yes, I usually have Cremini mushrooms and leeks in my fridge because I am a food dork. But you can use whatever you have in the fridge, saute it to the flavor profile you like, and add the eggs. This is just my version of the dish that if you go out to brunch they are gonna charge you $15 per person. Meanwhile this version costs $10 for 2-3 people and you don’t have to put your jacket on for. You do the math…

Ingredients:

• 4 large eggs
• 2 cups of thinly sliced Cremini mushrooms
• 2 leek stalks (just the white and light green part) cut to 1/2″ pieces
• 1 shallot finely diced
• 2 garlic cloves finely diced
• a handful of cherry tomatoes quartered
• 1 bunch of baby spinach rinsed clean
• 2 tablespoons of soy sauce
• 1/2 cup of dry red wine or dark beer
• 1/4 cup Parmigiano Regiano cheese
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon butter
• salt and cracked pepper
• 1 tablespoon chopped chives

Preheat the oven to 350. Get your cast iron skillet on a low medium flame and get your olive oil started. After 2 minutes drop in your chopped leeks and saute them until they soften a bit, no more than 3 minutes. Add the shallots and garlic and saute for another 2 minutes. Next add the butter and mushrooms, turn the heat to medium high and saute for about 6-7 minutes. You want a lot of water coming out at this point and a little bit of browning on the mushrooms. Next add the soy and wine/beer and let this reduce down quite a bit. You want the sauce to reduce and penetrate all the veggies. Once there is barely any liquid left throw in your baby spinach and reduce the heat to medium. Toss the ingredients together and get the spinach well sauteed. Salt and pepper to taste. Now you will want to “flatten” out all the ingredients in your pan and make 4 wells for you to crack the eggs into. Be careful and crack each egg into each of the wells. Next make sure to salt and pepper the tops of each egg slightly, if not you will have an unseasoned egg which is just nasty. Place the tomatoes all around the skillet without disturbing the eggs. Sprinkle half of the Parmigiano cheese on top of the entire thing and put it on a middle rack in the oven. Now here comes the bake… If you want nice runny yolks leave in for 10-11 minutes, if you want more set yolks leave for 13-14 minutes and if you want it more well done than that then you really don’t like eggs. Be careful and take out the skillet and sprinkle with the rest of the cheese and the chives and there you go… brunch is served.

That’s as easy as it gets in your hazy hangover mode at this point. The aroma will be fresh and earthy with just a little touch of brightness from the tomatoes & cheese. The eggs will be perfectly cooked with nice runny yolks.  Sit down and wake up your significant other, or that hook up from last night who happened to sleep over your place, and start chomping. That hangover should be gone within an hour or so and you will be ready for whatever the rest of your weekend has planned for you.

My fiance and I always wind up in Redhook on the weekends. Usually it’s to attack the Country Boys huaraches cart or to grab a random picture frame from Ikea. As much as we wind up there we never really go out to eat there. This past Sunday we were at a friends’ party out there and we were starving. I really felt like we were going into a blood sugar coma after all the drinks and lack of food we had. So actions had to be taken.

We decided this would be a perfect time to check out one of the places we were looking to check out of our New Brooklyn Cookbook. We went through the mental list and went with one recommended by many of our friends… The Good Fork.

Now a lot of people talk this place up, but just as many talk it down so it felt like a crapshoot. I hate playing craps with my stomach but the odds were being bettered by my extreme hunger and slight drunkenness. As we stepped up to the front of The Good Fork it immediately gave off a warm and friendly vibe, a big plus in my mind. You can see people in the tightly packed dining room in a cozy way, not in the least bit overcrowded. We were drawn in from the start.

We both decided to continue the wine train and purchased a nice bottle of Gewurztraminer while our table was being prepared. Don’ t knock good white wine, it’s perfect pre-meal palette refreshing. Would you want to drink a Pina Colada before going to a Whiskey tasting?…. I think not. Keep your pre-eating drinking on the light side. The choice was a good one and their wine list offered a lot of possibilities. Plus they have a full bar with some great signature cocktails that are worth checking out, and I will do so next visit.

When we go to a new place we like to split an appetizer, order an entree each, and then split a desert. That way you don’t get too full and you give yourself a sample without stuffing yourself. Give it a try next time you try out a new place. It’s also a good gauge of the entire meal experience from a restaurant. I am sorry, if you cant make a nice desert to finish a meal off then you don’t provide a well rounded dining service.

We took the bartender’s recommendation and ordered the gnocchi with mushroom appetizer. Gnocchi can either be done right or really, really wrong. These were done just right, in the new Brooklyn cuisine way. They were fluffy and light, pan seared with a rich and lovely porchini mushroom butter sauce. The finishing touch was a sprinkling of some aromatic herbs that rounded out the dish off so well. This was a winner for us in it’s simplicity and execution. If they have this on the menu when you go… get it fast!

Next came the entrees, which we were pretty amped for. I went with one of their signature dishes, The Korean Style Steak & Eggs. This dish represents what The Good Fork is all about… a perfect blend of Asian meets locavore new Brooklyn cuisine. The Kimchi rice is perfectly spiced and an excellent bed for the richness of the stacked steak & eggs. The steak was cooked perfectly medium and had been marinated in a complex Korean spiced marinade, a little sour & a little spicy but not overpowering. Lastly, you have a fried egg. Don’t sleep on a perfectly fried egg, especially when you break that yolk and it leaks all over that steak and rice. If that egg was over cooked this would be a disaster…. but obviously it was cooked to perfection and how it should be done.

Erin opted for the Atlantic Cod over Squid & Eggplant. This was a perfectly executed seafood dish. Nice piece of fish… check. Cooked properly… check. Squid and eggplant base that was a soothing vehicle for the Cod… check. Interesting flavored broth… check. Perfect complete dish from The Good Fork…check. This was a nice seafood dish that combined two interesting seafood flavors together in a perfect match. Give it a try and you will be surprised how this common Atlantic fish is elevated just enough.

And lastly came the desert. We opted for the Chocolate Bread Pudding with Vanilla Ice Cream. This dish had three of our favorite desert elements… chocolate, vanilla & bread pudding. You put any one of those three on a menu and I can’t resist… you put all three into one dish and it’s culinary crack to me. This was a great shared desert as it was presented in a long plate and was something one person couldn’t really finish on their own.. We took turns digging in to this dish with a passion. The chocolate bread pudding was rich and warm helped by the simple & flavorful vanilla ice cream melting into every nook and cranny. We loved how the chocolate had a powerful cocoa taste but wasn’t over powering, as many chocolate deserts can be. This was that perfect twist on Americana we were expecting in our meal and a great way to finish us off. Chocolate always is.

I would have to say that I was very apprehensive to come and eat at The Good Fork. I heard so many conflicting views on their food and that always turns me off. But we were pleasantly surprised at how great the food was and how warm and charming the staff were. These guys really made you feel at home, something a lot of the new Brooklyn restaurants forget to do. I highly recommend taking a day out to Redhook during the day, walk around and then end your afternoon here for a great meal that represents what Brooklyn is all about in this new era.

I love having sharp knives in my kitchen. I clean them, hone them & inspect them on a weekly basis. Most of them are a mix mash of popular knives found in high end kitchen stores but recently I got the mother load from my friend Josh. On a recent trip to Japan he bought me a Yanagi, but that’s another sordid tale. This is about my current cutlery quiver and how it bit me.

With the sharpness they posess I have a respect for them. Just like a tiger trainer, I know that at any given moment they can turn on me. They can slice and dice any piece of vegetable or meat and just as soon can turn on me and chop off a thumb or nick a nail. All the “curled finger” knife skills tips try to prevent 85% of injuries. But sometimes you just take for granted that the tiger does like to show its fangs as you look away for a second and get bit… or cut in this case.

And yes I looked away from the tiger today while making myself a snack. A fucking snack… not some dinner party fare or a thinly sliced piece of Hamachi but some piece of bleu cheese for goodness sake. I cut the tip on my pinkie chopping off the rind of some bleu cheese. The funny thing is I am usually careful when I do that because I hear horror stories. And as I was doing it was thinking “You know people who cut themselves doing this are idiots” and then bam… shock… blood… panic. It happened that fast. I thought to myself “Nice job moron you cut your finger like all those people you make fun of on Chopped… Now you’ve been chopped son!”

So let this be a word to the wise. Even if you have cut a million chifonades, diced a thousand onions and know your knives limitations inside and out at one point you are gonna take your eye off the tiger and get bit. Let’s just not get to cocky and keep it to a minimum. And yes, I am writing this from the emergency room in Brooklyn Hospital waiting to get stitches for cutting bleu cheese.

The first time I ever went to Texas was over a winter break many years ago. It was to be a quick trip but when I got to the airport to come back home my flight had been delayed for a few hours because of a snowstorm back East. Snowstorm… in NYC.. what a surprise. I was pretty pissed and just wanted to get back to my NYC apartment and get under the covers watching tv. Being that I was going to be stuck there for a few hours, I think it wound up being 6, I needed to eat. The person I was with, a native of Texas, took me over to the breakfast place they had in the airport. It smelled pretty good of sausage and carbs as we slowly walked over. I figured some scrambled eggs and bacon would hit the spot. Just as I was about to order she says “Have you ever had Biscuits & Gravy”. Now in my Yankee state of mind and upbringing I thought that meant some brown diner gravy with some Pillsbury instant biscuits. The thought kinda grossed me out and I wasn’t drunk yet to get into that. I said “No thanks, that sounds straight up nasty”. Then she proceeded to explain to me what real Biscuits & Gravy was. A very classic poor man’s dish from the South West found in truck stops where buttermilk biscuits are halved and covered with pork sausage cream gravy. It has both German and Cowboy influences and is a perfect example of the first American fusion food.

I placed my order for 3 biscuits smothered in gravy. As I waited I could smell the familiar baked bread smell that is so penetrating to our primitive senses of hunger. The sausage in the gravy was rich with sage, thyme and pepper deeply penetrated my northern sinuses. As I sat down it wasn’t the most appetizing looking dish, it really never is, but I could tell I was in for a treat. The creaminess of the gravy that is loaded with black pepper and bits of pork sausage layered over flaky buttermilk biscuits is a match made in heaven. That first bite was an awakening in Americana cuisine and simplicity. I will never forget that experience and flavor profile as long as I live.

I had spent the next 2-3 years trying to find a similar experience in NYC and to no avail. I hate to tell you but the brunch places in NYC suck at making Biscuits & Gravy… I mean they are all really bad at doing it justice (that means you Enid’s). So I went on a mission to figure out how to make it myself. I tried all sorts of gravy and biscuit recipes and tried combining multiple versions together. Finally I came up with a nice balanced recipe that as many of my friends know has become a staple for brunches at my apartment. Below you will find the recipe that is my go to recipe It will really surprise you in it’s simplicity and turn you into an instant fan of this classic South West dish.

Butter Milk Biscuit Recipe:

I am not going to claim to know how to make the best biscuits. That I will leave up to Alton Brown. He has the best and simplest Buttermilk Biscuit recipe. The only thing that I do different, to make it even easier and faster, is that I do not roll them out but hand form them into little balls in a “drop biscuit” shape and method. I also freeze my butter and shred it in to make the biscuits even fluffier, another Alton Brown trick. This is just a reprint of his recipe which was his grandmother’s and is the best. I really suggest learning this by memory to impress your friends.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour (3 parts All Purpose flour and 1 part cake flour)
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons butter (I used butter flavored Crisco)
• 2 tablespoons shortening (I used regular Crisco)
• 1 cup buttermilk, chilled

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Using your fingertips, rub butter and shortening into dry ingredients until mixture looks like crumbs. (The faster the better, you don’t want the fats to melt.) Make a well in the center and pour in the chilled buttermilk. Stir just until the dough comes together. The dough will be very sticky. Turn dough onto floured surface, dust top with flour and gently fold dough over on itself 5 or 6 times. Press into a 1-inch thick round. Cut out biscuits with a 2-inch cutter, being sure to push straight down through the dough. Place biscuits on baking sheet so that they just touch. Reform scrap dough, working it as little as possible and continue cutting. (Biscuits from the second pass will not be quite as light as those from the first, but hey, that’s life.) Bake until biscuits are tall and light gold on top, 15 to 20 minutes.

Sausage Cream Gravy Recipe:

There are a couple of main things to keep in mind here. First make sure you buy really good pork based uncooked breakfast sausage. Something that has sage and thyme in it. I purchased mine from Fleisher’s not from the supermarket. Most supermarkets sell precooked breakfast sausage and you just wont get the right fat content to make this recipe work from that kind of sausage. Second using the right pan is important here. There are two schools of thought here… one going with a deep walled cast iron skillet and the other being a nice curved wall saucier pan. The cast iron skillet will give you a more authentic flavor but is not as easy to control heat with. I prefer the saucier pan because as you whisk, and you will be doing alot of whisking, you want to be able to grab up every bit of flour and sausage so that you dont have lump gravy. I mean who likes lumpy gravy… that’s straight up nasty. Lastly make sure to start the biscuits right before you start the gravy so by the time the biscuits are done you will be able to spoon the gravy onto the warm biscuits. Again, nobody likes a cold biscuit.

Ingredients:

• 1lb of pork breakfast sausage de-cased and broken up into little 1inch x 1inch bits
• 1.5 cups of whole milk
• 2 tablespoons of fresh thyme
• 1-2 tablespoons of fresh ground pepper (to taste and preference)
• 4 tablespoons of flour in a small bowl
• salt to taste

Preheat your pan over a medium heat for about 2-3 minutes. Once heated drop in your sausage bits and mix around as they sizzle. The goal here is to get all the fat rendered out and get the sausage bits semi-crispy. So make sure to take your time, about 5-7 minutes. Once you see a good bit of fat in the pan (about 3-5 tablespoons) remove the sausage onto a paper towel to drain. Bring the heat down to a medium low and sprinkle in the fresh thyme till it activates a bit with the fat, not burns, for about a minute. Next have your whisk in one hand and the flour in your other hand as you slowly sprinkle about 1/4 of the flour whisking it as it hits the fat. Once it is full incorporated do this 1/4 at  a time until you and a 1/4 left in the bowl and set aside. Make sure your “roux” mixture is not to dark or too light. Go for a yellow color not brown. Now slowly pour in your milk and whisk at a steady pace so that it does not lump up while reducing the heat to low. This should be done for 2-3 minutes at a steady pace. Keep whisking as it continues to thicken up and add in 1 table spoon of black pepper in. Keep whisking for another minute or so and put in the drained sausage bits. You will notice it thickening up a bit more but if it does not this is the time to add the remaining flour in and raise the heat a bit to “force” the gravy to thicken over the next 1-2 minutes. Once you get to a nice consistency give a taste and add more salt and pepper to taste. I tend to go a little buck wild with the pepper at this point because you can never have enough. To assemble simple half the biscuits with a  fork, place on a dish and pour the gravy over them.

You will notice that although not being very pretty this is pure Americana comfort food. It resonates of what we picture up southern food being about and the satisfaction it brings us. The fat, carbs and spices make up that perfect dish for a hangover brunch or when you just feel like cheating on your diet. Enjoy!