New Haven Style Pizza Rules!
Considering I went to college in Hartford, CT it is crazy that it took 10 years and a wedding on the CT coast to get me to try some real New Haven pizza. I wish I had tried to sooner, when it would have been a short road trip away.
New Haven style pizza, refereed to as apizza (pronounced /əˈbiːts/ ah-Beetz) if you actually from there, is similar to Neapolitan style pizza and reflects the areas Italian heritage. The pizza is baked in brick, coal fired oven resulting in crisp crust and slightly charred on top.
While there are lots good places to get pizza… sorry, apizza, there are two places that are considered to be the originals, atleast by tourists: Pepe’s and Sally’s. We gave Pepe’s a try and ended up getting two pies. One was a pepperoni and the other is a style popular up there, a white pizza with clams and lots of garlic. Clams on a pizza may sound a little crazy, but they were nice and fresh, and cooked perfectly so they were tender. There is no tomatoes or mozzarella cheese, instead just a grating of cheese. The story behind the pizza is that it came to be because Frank Pepe was allergic to both cheese and tomatoes… that story comes from Wikipedia, so take it with a grain of salt.
Needless to say, the pizza was amazingly good. The pies were not perfect circles, but instead nice, bubbly ovals, with a random protuberance or two. As you can tell, we did a good job of eating and earned desert privileges… cannolis from the Italian pastry shop down the street.
Another great place we tried while up there was The Place in Guilford, CT. It is an open-air clambake. You can sit on tree stump or picnic tables under a tent. We tried BBQ Chicken, corn on the cob, and shrimp… all of it cooked over a large grill a couple feet away.
Luckily for us there is a great “New Haven Style” apizza place around the corner, Pete’s Apizza. They turn out a great pie, not quite as good as the originals, but some of the best in DC. I think the originals use a lot more olive oil, either in the dough or drizzled on top. As you can see from the photos way up above, they are pretty greasy, in a good way of course! Another part of the charm of the originals is that they have been doing this for such a long time. The history is literally baked into the walls. Pete’s is in a condo building, and is clean. Cleanliness is a good thing in a restaurant, but a gently worn restaurant has character.
Pete’s has a great tip for reheating pizza right on the box. Heat the pizza in a pan over medium heat, with a lid on. I used my cast iron pan and a random lid and it worked great. The crust stayed crisp and the cheese got melty. My tip is to make sure you keep an eye on it or else the crust with get really charred. Trust me.
Saveur Thinks We’re Special…
As you may know, we kind of have a thing for Saveur Magazine… heck we based our Thanksgiving around their Lamb Rules issue. My uncle even shot photos for one of their articles on goat cheese. Well, you will be happy to hear that they have returned the love and featured our Pickled Zucchini post in their Best of the Web. We are so happy to see that this isn’t just a one sided relationship!
We Roll Where the Lobster Rolls
So Saturday night, I was ideally staring out the window, ponder what to make for dinner… when I spotted the Red Hook Lobster truck! They are the latest Truck in the DC food cart scene, serving up delicious Lobster & Shrimp rolls. I rushed over to Twitter to find their destination (hashtag = @redhooklobster ) and learned that they were going to be landing in Adams Morgan in 10 minutes. After a bit of frantic page refreshes, I got their final location and ran over, camera in hand… only to find myself at the back of a very long line.
Somehow in the time it took me to get around the corner, a line about 50 people deep had formed. Luckily it was moving, and a very motivational Wendy from the Truck kept things light hearted. We learned that they have two styles of lobster rolls. The first is a traditional Maine style roll, with chunks of lobster lightly dressed in a house-made lemon mayo and served cold. The other is a Connecticut style roll, where the lobster quickly sautéed and dished up warm with a butter sauce. Most importantly, both are served in a authentic, New England style, top-split bun from JJ Nissen, which is lightly buttered and toasted. I also unfortunately learned that they were all out of whoopie pies, which in my opinion justifies a trip back sometime.
It took about 30 minutes of waiting to get to the front of the line. I got a pair of traditional lobster rolls, for Carolyn and myself, and a bag of Cape Cod chips. We ate out on a stoop, which is just in range of the baby monitor, and had some watermelon. Take it from a couple of New Englanders, that is some lobster and a great way to spend a Saturday night. My photo even made it up on to their Facebook page!
Lambcetta and Lamb-L-Ts
With all the bacon loving going on, I surprised it has taken me so long to come across bacon made out of something else besides pork. I found lamb bacon recently at the most excellent White House Farmers’ Market. Pancetta is an Italian style of bacon. Unlike American bacon, it is not smoked and instead of being in a flat slab it is rolled up into a cylinder.
This lamb bacon is labeled as Lambcetta and it is between the American and Italian style. It is pretty heavily smoked, but is rolled up like pancetta. I think they decided to roll it up because the cut of meat is a bit thinner than the one from pork.
The predominate flavor is smokiness with a fair amount of salt, but I think you can taste the lamb. With all the smoky, saltiness it isn’t best to have it as a standalone side. I decided to try it is a sandwich instead and that is where it really shined. Because of the Lambcetta’s extra smokey meaty flavor, I was able to got with a little more flavor in the other items. I went for some potato bread and arugula. All of this combined to make a great summer sandwich.
If you would like to acquire a little lamb-bacon of your own, swing by the White House Farmers’ Market in DC one Thursday and stop by the Garden Path Farms‘ stand. They also have a store if you are ever in Newburg, PA, on a Friday… because they are only open on Fridays.
I still have about a quarter of a pound left. My current thought on how to use it is: a butterflied leg of lamb, all wrapped up in Lambcetta. It would be an extra lamby delight. Do anyone of you out there in blog-land have a better idea on how to use it?
Chorizo and White Bean Soup
There is no reason a summer soup can’t be hearty… and this soup is! Between the beans and the chorizo, you’ve got a meal in a bowl. The spiciness from the sausage and the lightness of the broth keep it from weighing you down though. While soup may not be the first thing that comes to mind on a hot, muggy summer day – this one is worth a try.
The original recipe on Apartment Therapy calls from a mix of canned chickpeas and great northerns. Canned beans suck, and great northerns are an inferior white bean. I went for dried cannellini instead. When you cook dried beans with the minimum amount of water, the cooking liquid makes for a great flavor enhancer that can perk up any broth. You can also control how firm you want your beans to be. I like mine with a little bite left in them. If you want to really green things up, try tossing in some sliced kale or other green towards the end.
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Chickpea And Chorizo Soup
Ingredients:
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 1 can Great Northern beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 2 tablespons fresh thyme, minced
- 6 cloves garlic, minced
- 4 stalks of celery, chopped
- 1 large white onion, chopped and thinly sliced
- 12 ounces chorizo sausage
- 1/2 cup white wine
- 1/4 cup Italian parsley, chopped
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- Salt and pepper
Directions:
- Chop or crumble the chorizo into bite-size pieces. Film a heavy pan lightly with olive oil and put over medium-high heat. Cook the chorizo for about five minutes or until it starts browning and and smoking. Lift out and drain on a plate lined with paper towels.
- Pour a little more olive oil into the pan and turn the heat to medium. Add the onions and celery and cook for about ten minutes, or until soft. Add the garlic and thyme and cook for another couple minutes, or until golden and fragrant. Add the chorizo back in, along with the chickpeas and beans. Cook all together for a minute, stirring, until the beans are well coated with the onions and oil.
- Add the broth and white wine and bring to a boil. Lower to a simmer and add the parsley and olive oil. Simmer for about half an hour, or until slightly reduced. Season to taste with salt and pepper before serving.
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