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01/23/2005 Archived Entry: "News and a New Pasta Recipe"

Come drink with me
There is still time to register for a program I am doing this Tuesday evening, Jan. 25, to inaugurate Stony Brook University’s new Manhattan Center for Food, Wine and Culture. My program is called “The History of Drinking in New York,” but it sounds a lot drier that it will be. (Get it?) For instance, besides my talk, we will be sampling a few classic cocktails contrived in New York City. And together we’ll invent a new one we’ll call the Stony Brook. And there will be food – hot dogs, cheesecake, and other iconic New York stuff. In addition, we’ll be tasting some great New York State wines. On top of it all, you’ll receive an autographed copy of “Arthur Schwartz’s New York City Food,” a $45 retail value. Come join me. Cost of the evening – 6:30 to about 8:30 p.m. is $85. The address is 401 Park Avenue South, at 28th St. To register, call Ginny Clancy at (631) 632-9404.

Back on the radio
Please don’t forget I am back on the radio. That’s Tuesdays on WWRL, 1600AM, at 11 a.m. The program is re-broadcast at 11 p.m., too. And can be heard on the internet at both www.wwrl1600.com and www.invitehealth.com.

New in the Theater District
As you well know, the restaurant question I am most often asked is where to eat in the Theater District. My new answer – and I am so happy to have a new answer – is Bond 45 Italian Kitchen Steak and Seafood. It’s opening Wednesday night, slowly. That means they are taking only a few reservations a night until they get some kinks out. But it is going to be smashing. I know that’s an old-fashioned word, but it is an old-fashioned Broadway kind of place – a 250-seat restaurant that evokes the heyday of the Great White Way, when the Bond clothing store had its grand sign with the waterfall on Times Square. Bond 45 is truly Italian, with lots of antipasti and Italian “piccolo” portions of pasta so that you can have room for their main events – platters of roasted meats, a great grilled shellfish platter, osso buco and braised veal short ribs. I am getting too hungry. More news of Bond 45 after the opening.

A new pasta recipe – well to me
During my recent travels in Calabria, I ate a dish of pasta that has been haunting me. It was in a mom and pop trattoria in Sila, a tiny hill town I went to because it has a 10th century (that would be 900s!) Byzantine church modeled after Aya Sofya in Istanbul. It’s a tiny and exquisite building that was built by monks. The brick work is gorgeous. Like all churches of its day – including St. Marks in Venice – it has five domes, a central high dome amidst four lower domes. And there are still sections of colorful murals inside. I wish I could post a picture at this moment, but it’s not possible in the maven’s diary.

Anyway, after visiting the church, we asked the caretaker, and a few people in town, where to eat. Everyone pointed to Da Mario, which had Mario in the kitchen and his wife and two children – a teenage girl and slightly younger son – in the dining room. Mario makes his own macaroni, a long tube in the tradition of fusilli, which is to say it is formed on an iron rod from dough made only of flour and water. The sauce was easy, and Mario told me how he did it. I made it yesterday and, I think, except that I made it on commercial penne, not his silky macaroni, it was just as good. You can actually buy dried macaroni like Mario’s in specialty Italian markets. It is a so-called “artisinal” pasta, meaning it is made by hand. Artisinal fusilli would be excellent, too. Or commercial rigatoni – any tubular pasta. I believe this to be Mario’s own concoction – from his local tradition. Anything with a chili pepper presence – the Calabrese’s favorite seasoning – could, I think, be called alla Calabrese.

Macaroni alla Calabrese
Serves 4

20 3-inch long, chunky strips of eggplant
Olive oil for frying
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 heaping teaspoon minced garlic (about 2 large cloves)
2 links Italian sweet sausage, meat removed from the skins and broken up, the skins discarded
1 cup chopped canned plum tomatoes
1 inch dried hot pepper sausage (what we call pepperoni), cut into 1/8-inch slices and cut into half rounds
Big pinch hot red pepper flakes (optional)
Salt to taste
Olive oil
8 ounces macaroni
Pecorino or ricotta salata

The eggplant strips should be about ½-inch around. In a small skillet, heat about ¼ inch of oil and fry the eggplant until fully tender and beginning to brown. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.

In a medium skillet, combine the oil and garlic and cook over low heat until the garlic begins to brown. Add the sausage meat, increase the heat to medium-high and, with the side of a wooden spatula or spoon, continue to break up the meat into little pieces as it browns.

When the sausage had lost its raw color, add the tomatoes and the pieces of dried hot sausage. Let simmer a couple of minutes, reducing the heat if necessary to a maintain a slow, steady simmer. Taste and correct for red pepper and salt. The sauce should be at least slightly hot.

Add the eggplant strips, toss them with the meat and tomato and continue to cook another minute. Remove from heat.

Cook the pasta in plenty of salted boiling water until al dente. Drain the pasta and turn it into the pan with the sauce. Toss the pasta in the sauce over medum heat until well mixed.

Divide the pasta and sauce among four pasta bowls and top with grated pecorino cheese or shredded ricotta salata.