k3v0.net

south philly bakery crawl

A couple Saturdays ago I organized a South Philadelphia Bakery Crawl. This consisted of meeting a bunch of my friends and walking to South Philly bakeries to sample their delicious goods.  The grand finale of the event was the cannoli taste test challenge, where cannolis from the bakeries we visited were pitted against each other in a battle to the death. Well not quite the death, but the ravenous consumption by my friends. A mini keg of Warsteiner helped us wash it all down.

Our first stop was at Artisan Boulanger Patissier at 12th and Morris. We stopped here to get a little fuel for our walk . I got the almond crescent which is always amazing (especially the chocolate one). It was light and flaky on the outside with sweet soft almond paste inside. I’ve also had the bread here before which is also delicious if you can get it before they sell out

Our next stop was Varallo Bakery at 10th and Morris. The inside of the bakery is inviting and old school. The case full of cookies and confections stretches all along the side of the bakery, it looks quite majestic. Here I just got some cannolis for the taste test challenge.

Next stop was Termini Brothers Bakery on 8th st. near Dickinson. As far as the building goes Termini is the most impressive. It looks like you are stepping back into 1950, made even more believable by the old Italian dudes rocking It’s Amore on a guitar and accordian. At Termini’s they have an island in the middle full of delicious confections and helpful ladies come to take your order.  I got some cannolis and some Florentine cookies which blew my mind. The lady also gave me a little taste of the peanut butter cheese cake which was so sumptuous I would fail hard to try to even attempt a description of its deliciousity.

The next stop was at Isgro’s . The smell of the bakery wafts all down Christian St. if the wind is right, and it was as we walked closer and began salivating uncontrollably. The shop is small but full of a wide variety of delicious cookies and pastry. Also worth checking out is their Easter ham pie when the season is right, it will blow your mind.

We then walked back to the cannoli showdown arena and prepared for the main event.

I began by marking the bottom of the plates so we would know the bakery. Then I chopped the cannolis into bites for all to judge.

Everyone grabbed a bite from each plate as it was passed. Our discriminating taste buds were alight with sugar, flour and ricotta. The criteria was simple: taste, texture, and overall yumminess. All three options were good, but one stood out. After voting it was decided… drum roll…. Isgro’s has the best. The texture of the shell was crisp but not overdone, the filling was light and not too sweet, and overall was the top cannoli. As a side note Warsteiner goes excellently with cannolis

Tags: Bakeries

resist prohibition

The other weekend I went to the Victory Brewing Company brewery/brewpub with Dan, Aimee and some others. We got the tour of the brewery and ate some food in the pub after the tour.

Everyone on the tour gathered in the big vat room where the magic happens.

our knowledgeable tourguide

big vats full of wart (i think)

After the room with the big tanks we got to the room where the yeast works its magic:

Next step was the room where they work with the yeast which wasn’t too interesting so I didn’t take any shots.

Finally we ended up in the bottling area.

some weirdo

Next came some beer and food. The beer is great (of course), I got a couple Storm Kings. Their food is tasty and reasonably priced too. I could easily see becoming a degenerate lush if I lived in Downingtown

Aimee and Dan

It was altogether a nice place and it made me want to drink even more Victory beer than I already do ( <3 Golden Monkey).

cheesey meat

Sunday was the farewell cheese steak tour with Dan and Lene. We tried to hit Dalessandro’s but they were closed so we hit Chubby’s across the street. Tasted my first cheese steak with bacon and it failed to disappoint. I got one with provolone and broccoli rabe, it was okay.
Second stop on the tour was Phillips near my place in SP. Got a provolone with and it was excellent, I have found my late night cheese steak spot. Best delivery so far is Talk of the Town, they use ribeye and you can get the meat whole or chopped. I am going to try one of theirs with extra sharp provolone, rabe and bacon. I’m certain it will be an enlightening experience.

k3v0.recipe: ravioli

Making fresh pasta is fun. It was cold outside so I wanted to be stuck in the kitchen for a little while but it was totally worth it. In this case I ended up making three different fillings: veal, beef, and a combination of the two. I ended up only making and cooking the beef so I froze the rest of the dough and the 2 bags of filling. I know some day those will come in handy.

Ingredients:

Pasta -

• 3 cups semolina flour
• 5 eggs (4 for dough, 1 for sealing the ravioli)
• 1/2 cup of water
• extra flour if needed
• 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil

Filling -

• 2 lbs. ground veal
• 2 lbs. ground beef
• bread crumbs
• 3 eggs
• grated parmigiano reggiano cheese
• salt
• pepper
• garlic powder
• basil
• 3 medium sized onions
• 3 bunches green onions
• olive oil

Tools:

• pasta machine
  

  pasta machine

• ravioli wheel
  

  ravioli wheel

resting dough

I made the dough first since it needs to sit for a while so the wheat can get hydrated. I first mixed the eggs, oil and water and slowly poured it into the flour. My dough started out a little sticky and needed more flour. Once it got a nice smooth consistency after kneading for a while I put some flour on the bottom of a bowl, then put the dough in and covered the bowl with plastic wrap.

browning meat

After the dough was resting I began browning the meat in some olive oil. I only added a little salt at this point since the whole filling will need to be seasoned later. Once all the meat was browned I let it cool for a while so it wouldn’t cook the egg. After that I sauteed the onions and garlic and added those to the meat. Then I added some salt, pepper, garlic powder, basil, egg and cheese to mixture. I then added a tiny bit of breadcrumbs to soak some of the moisture in the mix.

filling mixture

dough ball after resting

Once the mixture was all set it was time to roll out the dough in the pasta machine. After resting the dough should be nice and elastic and impress nicely if you push on it with your finger. I only needed the roller section, not the fettucini attachment so I removed that. Each time i put the dough through the rollers i patted it in some loose flour to keep it nice and pliable. Once it was rolled out I tried to make 2 even lengths and I brushed some egg on one side.

Once the dough is rolled out I portioned out small filling balls for each ravioli. I then placed the egged length of dough on top and made sure it was well aligned to the bottom length to ensure even raviolis. I then used the flat blade on the ravioli wheel to section off each individual ravioli. I then pressed down on the top of the dough to flatten out the filling and remove the air. Next I pressed on the edges around the ravioli to seal the whole thing. For the final seal I ran the edging wheel on each side to acheive the nice ravioli look. When the ravioli is well formed I patted it in flour and then put it on a drying rack so it wouldn’t stick to the others.

I only boiled them a couple at a time so they had space to move and the water didn’t cool down too much. Fresh pasta cooks much quicker so they only took around a minute each. I was being lazy so only canned sauce and some fresh grated cheese was used, but it was certainly delicious.

final product

k3v0.recipe: lamb stew

This is a tasty lamb stew I created from a conglomeration of recipes I found on the web.

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs or so of lamb
• 2 bay leaves
• rosemary
• oregano
• basil
• dried minced shallots
• thyme
• garlic powder
• crushed red pepper
• a can of white kidney beans
• a large can of peeled tomatoes
• i cup of lentils
• 1 tray of baby bella mushrooms
• 1 fennel
• 1 large or 2 medium yellow onions
• 2 large shallots
• 6 cloves of garlic
• 4 red potatoes
• olive oil
• salt
• pepper
• balsamic vinegar
• 4 slices of bacon
• chicken stock
• 2 medium sized zucchinis
• butter

The first step is to make a marinade for the lamb. I did this the day before using some olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder and balsamic vinegar. I first trimmed excess fat from the lamb and removed the tough connective tissue. Then I put the meat in a freezer bag and added the spices and then shook it up to ensure even distribution. I then left this in the refrigerator overnight.

The next day I heated up my stew pot with some olive oil, then I put in the slices of bacon. Once the bacon was fairly cooked I began browning the lamb in the beautiful bacon grease. Make sure not to put all the lamb in at once because it won’t brown as well if the pot is crowded. I browned it all in 3 batches or so, removing the browned meat as I went.

After the meat was browned I began working on the aromatics. I added some olive oil and butter and began sauteeing the onions and fennel, then the shallots. Once those were almost done I added the garlic. When the garlic was nice and fragrant I chopped the mushrooms and added those to sautee for a little while.

Once the mushrooms had softened I threw in the can of tomatoes. I increased the heat and began to simmer the mixture with the tomatoes and paste they came in. After they simmered for a while I added the chicken stock, beans, chopped zucchini and chopped potatoes.  I also added a little salt and pepper, as well as basil, thyme, oregano, crushed red pepper and rosemary. Once all the seasonings were added it was time to put the lamb back in the pool. I then put the heat on low and covered it with a lid, stirring occasionally.

After 2 hours or so add the lentils. I added mine too soon and they didn’t stand up well to the 3 hour simmer. At this point I removed the meat so I could take it off the bone. Please note the meat will be really hot so you should let it cool until it’s safe to handle.

After taking the meat from the bone put it back in the stew. I let it stew for around 3 hours total, until it reached a nice thick stew consistency. The meat was super soft and delicious. At this point it is primed and ready for you to enjoy with some bread and butter.

Tags: recipe