STIR THE POTS

Paulie Gee's

Pizza is as New York as it is Italian. Even within those geographies, it comes in all sizes, shapes, doughs, sauces. But there is one Big Apple pizzaria that struck me as particularly interesting... Paulie Gee's.

Since first hearing about it on SkeeterNYC's Vimeo on Food Curated, I've been hankering to try Paulie Gee's. It's located in Brooklyn's Greenpoint section, which is a short subway ride from Manhattan's Union Square. On a recent sunny Friday evening (luxurious with spring blossoms and soft warmth) I ended up venturing out that way. Greenpoint has been a Polish neighborhood for the last 100 years. Today the area breaths Kielbasa-plus-yeasty wafty old world air, and the emerging scent of new restaurants that sing bohemian chic.

 

 

Walking in to Paulie Gee's, the first thing I noticed was the deliciously dim-lit bar, wooden planked bar, tables and antique bar chairs. And it has a great array of shuffled music, played just at the right decibles, loud enough to hear but never blaring, great soundtracks for great pizza. 

The menu seems chock full of pun-intended pizza names, with a nod to salads and soup and even one pie giving hommage to an off-premise partner, Sea bean goods. My eyes made quick friends with something called "Red,White and Greenberg." 

 

Red, White and Greenberg, cheesy but really packed with flavor and the dough, that's the key. A pie with guanciale and pickled onions, meeting of all good old school with light crisp dough.

 

 

Paulie Gee's doesn't feature the classic Neopolitano pizza with puffy fat edges, but a thinner, less doughy creature characterized  by charred flatbreads, with a tender but still slighty thin, puffy crust. It lends itself to sharing the toppings. It's also less filling (in a good way). You'd almost think, wow, one more please!  So charmed, it begged to be savored and simultaneously demolished, washed down with a really satisfying crafted beer. And besides great beers, it offers wines and sodas, including Mexican Coca-Cola.

In the main dining area, you could see the wood burning stove with the distinct Napoli tiled oven and the pizzaiolas working each pie with care and precision.

 

 


What's nice too, I met Paulie as I snapped photos. He's a charmer, likes to chat pizza, and a real host. I'll definitely be back...

 

 

Breads from Turkey - in honor of the Arab Spring

In Egypt today most people are concerned with getting bread to eat. Only some of the educated understand how democracy works -Naguib Mahfou, Egyptian novelist

 (Thanks to Jean-Philippe de Tonnac for posting these timely words by Naguib Mahfouz!) 

 Watching the Arab Spring Revolution, it makes me wonder about the impact of food on politics, especially bread. It made me think of their classic breads, basic sustenance that suggests cultures that are enduring, imaginative, and rich.

My closest experience to Egypt comes from visiting Istanbul, where I quickly grew to admire the local pide or pizza vendors. Working with just a stove and small island to prep, along with a long peel to feed the dough into the ovens, I remember wanting to ask them if they would teach me. Their output was consistently delicious. 

Thinking about their baking this weekend, I decided to see if I could replicate some of them. Below are shots of some of the creations. They turned out well. It's worth a try on your own. 

What intriguing about pide and lahmacun ( a spiced meat paste on pide dough), are the flavorful toppings and the oddly attractive shapes. The pizzas are not your usual rounds. Rather they are oblong, shaped like a canoe with folded edges holding the filling.

Lahmacun, on the other hand, is a round meat pie that is covered and baked. The various toppings can be whatever you like, but traditionally it's sumac-smothered onion slices. Or sometimes it is topped with coriander and parsley.

 

 

Finally there is the versatile and wonderful "khubz Za'atar," a flat bread from the Levantine. A variation of pide, it's a close cousin to pizza, and a great wrap or dipping bread.

 Brushed with oil and scattered with the heady zataar spice, it's either baked on a stone or a pan.

 

It's also a great foil for my favorite lamb and beef kofte.

 

Pizza of the week

One of my job perks is working on an old-school broiler oven. It burns as hot as a wood burning stove. Very hot! That oven is used for most anything cooking on our line. One of my favorite uses is making a seriously singed and crusty pizza, the type you'd find at a great pizzeria. The intense heat leads to a uniform and rapid cooking of the pies, far more satisfying to bake and eat than anything made on a typical home oven.

Last Friday, having some dough already made, I set out to bake a pizza for that evening's staff dinner.  While trying to decided what type of pie to make, I got a tweet from Montreal chef Marc-Andre Royal, a pizza suggestion with potato and truffles. And so I took it as inspiration, guilding it a bit with duck confit, some ramp puree, upland cress and, finally, a bit of shaved parmigiano cheese.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bo Bo's (Colony Grill Pizza)

Pizza, I make it, I eat it, and I have always enjoyed it. It's finger friendly food, made for simple pleasure or a family gathering or just with friends. Over the years, pizza has evolved via artisanal  style pies. But my real favorite started in a town I lived in during my junior high and high school. I wrote about it here.

It's called the Colony Grill, or Bo-Bo's, named for the founder, the good Jimmy Bohannon, an Irishman living in Stamford, Connecticut.

While pizza and the Irish may not seem connected, Bo Bo's did the Gaelic proud, with a warm, friendly blue collar bar and adjacent family room for the ladies and the kids.  The staff was led by Fitz, a barrel chested (former Marine), slicked back dippy-do style of a man, who welcomed the guys and always said, "hey, girls" to the ladies. I loved this place.

 

 

Bo-bo's pizza was thin crust. Kind of oily, it lacked buffalo mozzarella or San Marzano tomatoes or even a hint of basil. But it was delicious, napkin wiping slightly crisp pizza pie. Not for the cool crowd but very cool,  definitely a destination. So during a recent nostalgia trip to my old town, I stopped in for a Saturday afternoon meal. They don't do slices here. But they do have a record of how many can be devoured in a seating. I had a great time when visiting again. And if you're in the neighborhood, try it, as you will, too.

For the love of pizza!

You know those food warnings on labels; carbs, fat, etc.? All those media hyped stories on the evils of this and that - well, it's enough to make you just stop eating. Or you can do what I do, just live and pay less attention to the 24-hour media cycle. Yet there can be a lesson learned.

As some of you may know, I love pizza. Sometimes attempt more nutritious dough formulas, both yeasted or naturally leavened. But in truth, there's nothing better then an airy crust with some fabulous topping. It's simple and so comforting. Barraged by a big lunch at work the other day, and getting prep done for an evening event, I looked at what the staff was eating and headed straight for my pizza dough.

It was a great alternative to the regular over-cooked meat dishes my cooks usually prepare for staff meals. A  pizza made in my work kitchen's broiler oven (which can hit 800 + degrees Faranheit!) is a great alternative.  I stretched my dough, put on some tomato sauce, sliced up some leftover meatballs from the previous day's lunch, popped on some fresh mozzarella and boom.... ended up with a lovely pizza, though it did burn my lip and chin.

Holy cannoli, who would of thought a 3rd degree burn from a bit of dough, cheese, an excess of gluttony? Be warned, though it was worth the pain. 

    

Work in progress, a pizza.

There isn't a minute I am not thinking of a specific vegetable to cook, some bread I want to bake, a dessert I would love to eat, but pizza well, it's just one of those things. There, I just want to make the perfect dough; light, crisp, slightly bruciato (how I love that word!).

Certainly my goal is a sourdough based pie, sure a Napolatano with just water, salt and flour. Of course I know you need a 800 F oven, but I just don't have one, yet! This is my latest effort, a bit unorthodox, no sauce, just fresh tomatoes with cheese, basil and a bit of that nduja for some heat and salty pork goodness. 

I based the recipe on an assortment of wonderful information gleened from Pizzamaking.com And that information is based on the one time pizzaoila and blogger Foolish Poolish Bakes, who sadly is no longer blogging, but still inspires!

 

If I recall right, the dough has a 72-75 percent hydration, one percent salt and something around 30 percent levain (I used my 100 percent hydrated sourdough). My levain was already percolated so I used it straight from the jar. I made up the dough, which rose in bulk about four hours and then in the fridge overnight.

The next day when I got home I shaped two 270 gram balls and let them warm up for about three hours. Then I flattened and stretched the dough by hand, and baked it in my Cuisinart baker oven (pre-heated for about 40 minutes) at broil with the stone on the top shelf. And then it baked for about 20-25 minutes until browned and slightly spotted - mai cosi bruciato!

Pizza process, a redux

Lepard inspires pizza making...grazie Dan

pizza della patata, pancetta, finocchio, cipolla e del formaggio

Pissaladiere, that French pie!

French pizza, is much ignored but always beloved by Francophilic geeks like us (moi!), aptly  noted to me by an old friend today observing dinner I cooked and posted on my Facebook page. It was a Pissaladiere.

Pissaladiere is the maligned cousin of the more common la pizza Italiana, which itself comes in so many shapes and configurations nevermind the D.O.C.G or whatever? This particular pie, comes from Nice and its environs, including my mother's childhood home of the Var.

You ought to know this onion, garlic topped oil laden dough is a one of the pre-Colombian tomato type; this pizza was introduced into what was a region in both French and Italian hands throughout history, hence good taste abounds from both sides of the border. It's especially flavorful with additions of herbs, tomatoes, olives. Mind you no sane French guy would consider cheese on this pie. On the other hand some in San Remo put mozzarella on it. Sacre bleu! My mother used to make it for us when were kids, and that flavor hasn't left my taste buds since.

Motorino

Just like me to get on the pizza craze kind of late and miss out on Anthony Mangieri's famed Una Pizza Napoletano while he was still in NY. But not to worry, there is pizze  being made there again, that of Chef Mathieu Palombino at his new outpost  Motorino.

 

It's definitely made some waves, the likes of Rachel Ray anointing it amongst others with the seal of approval...at first I was sort of turned off, with the thought of a good thing turned out or spoiled by fame, plaudits and celebrity...but I was hungry the other day  and was itching to try some pizze! I had already seen Mike Colameco's recent show where he tried some pizze at  the flagship, Motorino in Williamsburg. Mike usually is a good indicator whats hot  and I like the places he goes to.

So upon entering the minuscule storefront that is well manicured and well tended by a sharp staff, I couldn't wait, just the first sighting of a charred, puffy and steaming pie made me even more hungry.

So my wife and I perused the menu and ordered the signature Octopus and warm potatoes flecked with pepporoncino, capers, celery, parsley.The wife ordered some non-descript mixed green salad, simple unpretentious, with some health factor or reasoning I suppose?

We ordered a pizze to share, the spicy sopressata pizze along with a fabulous barley ale from Sardinia.

 

We quickly polished off the first pie and I couldn't help but order an other.This time the special of the day with chopped ramps....my wife doesn't really enjoy pizze like I do, but she helped wipe out the two, exclaiming how good it was and so lite!

The acoustics were a bit loud with the peoples voices drowning out the old school playlist of Elvis and Sinatra, but I was entrenched in my birra and fabulous pie, oh yeah, the service was tops! Vespa, taxi, bike or whatever, get some pizze!