The best part about having a best friend who lives out of town is the excuse to explore the city with someone. I get to show her around my new home and familiarize myself with it in the process. Sometimes this leads me to new and delicious discoveries, like it did on Saturday.
After some wandering around Madison Square Park, I saw a large sign that read, "Gluten Free" below what appeared to be an Italian eatery. Mozzarelli's Catering Company, located at 38 E. 23rd St. served gluten free pizza, pasta, and desserts alongside regular artisan pizzas. They use dedicated equipment and pans for the gluten free, but there is some risk of cross contamination. I'm really sensitive to such things, and had no trouble, though, so I'm certain the risk is a small one. The artichoke and alfredo gluten free slice I had was both delicious and reasonably priced. At $4.95 a slice for the specialty gf pies, you can't really go wrong. And there was a nice selection of toppings. They also serve whole pies, and 5 varieties of gf pasta. When you first enter there's a wall of cookies, all of which are gluten free. And on the other wall is a refrigerator with more gf desserts, including the largest and most tempting strawberry shortcake roll I've ever seen. They offer samples of the cookies, so you can try without committing. I recommend the banana sandwich cookies. When it was all said and done, Cheryl and I both ate for around $17. Definitely a lucky find.
Showing posts with label fruit pizza. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fruit pizza. Show all posts
Monday, September 7, 2009
Monday, July 27, 2009
Family Affair
Summertime in my family means lots of picnics and barbeques because there are so many of us and because we all love to eat and be together. Saturday, it was my cousin Saul's turn to host the festivities. His annual barbeque goes something like this: he supplies homemade barbeque chicken, beef, and pork and the rest of us supply side dishes and drinks to share. This year, I made a side and a dessert. Cucumber salad at Dawn's request and fruit pizza:
Recipe for cucumber salad:
3 large cucumbers, peeled and sliced in half moon shapes
2 pints cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
1/2 vidalia onion, also sliced in half moons
8 0z. ciligiene mozzarella
3 tbsp lemon juice
3 cloves garlic
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tsp dill
coarse salt (sea or kosher is fine) and pepper to taste
Finely chop the garlic and sprinkle with salt. Using flat edge of knife blade, grind into a paste. Add to a bowl with lemon juice, pepper, and dill. Whisk in olive oil to emulsify. Pour over mixture of cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, and mozzarella. Toss to coat evenly. Refrigerate for at least one hour before serving (I made it the day before and left it overnight).
Recipe for fruit pizza*:
1 package of gluten-free sugar cookie mix (I used Namaste's cookie mix, but choose what you like best)
2- 8 oz packages of mascarpone cheese
1- 8 oz package of extra creamy CoolWhip
1 pint each of blueberries, raspberries, and black berries
12 oz. canned peaches packed in juice
16 oz. cherry preserves
1/4 cup sugar
Make cookie mix according to package directions and press into a standard sized cake pan. Bake until light brown on top (with Namaste mix that was about 28 minutes). Remove from oven and allow to cool fully. In the meantime mix the mascarpone cheese, CoolWhip, and sugar and wash and prep berries. Warm preserves until slightly runny ( 2- 30 rounds in the microwave on med-high heat worked for me). Once the cookie base is completely cool to the touch, spread the cheese mixture over it. Assemble the fruit on top. Drizzle preserves over the top. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving (again, I made it the night before and let it set overnight).
*This recipe can also be used with a variety of fruit, preserves, using cream cheese, or with any cookie base you'd like to try, so have fun and improvise.
The rest of the food there was amazing. Even better was the chance to catch up with family members I only get to see once in a while. That's what I call success.
Recipe for cucumber salad:
3 large cucumbers, peeled and sliced in half moon shapes
2 pints cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
1/2 vidalia onion, also sliced in half moons
8 0z. ciligiene mozzarella
3 tbsp lemon juice
3 cloves garlic
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tsp dill
coarse salt (sea or kosher is fine) and pepper to taste
Finely chop the garlic and sprinkle with salt. Using flat edge of knife blade, grind into a paste. Add to a bowl with lemon juice, pepper, and dill. Whisk in olive oil to emulsify. Pour over mixture of cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, and mozzarella. Toss to coat evenly. Refrigerate for at least one hour before serving (I made it the day before and left it overnight).
Recipe for fruit pizza*:
1 package of gluten-free sugar cookie mix (I used Namaste's cookie mix, but choose what you like best)
2- 8 oz packages of mascarpone cheese
1- 8 oz package of extra creamy CoolWhip
1 pint each of blueberries, raspberries, and black berries
12 oz. canned peaches packed in juice
16 oz. cherry preserves
1/4 cup sugar
Make cookie mix according to package directions and press into a standard sized cake pan. Bake until light brown on top (with Namaste mix that was about 28 minutes). Remove from oven and allow to cool fully. In the meantime mix the mascarpone cheese, CoolWhip, and sugar and wash and prep berries. Warm preserves until slightly runny ( 2- 30 rounds in the microwave on med-high heat worked for me). Once the cookie base is completely cool to the touch, spread the cheese mixture over it. Assemble the fruit on top. Drizzle preserves over the top. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving (again, I made it the night before and let it set overnight).
*This recipe can also be used with a variety of fruit, preserves, using cream cheese, or with any cookie base you'd like to try, so have fun and improvise.
The rest of the food there was amazing. Even better was the chance to catch up with family members I only get to see once in a while. That's what I call success.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
The South Will Rise Again
It won't really. But if it did, it would be because there's a lack of barbeque in the North. That's right kids, I'm talking about my gastronomically triumphant 4th of July.
Ma and I road tripped it up to North Carolina on Friday. After dropped off our luggage we hit the grocery store to find gluten-free beer for yours truly, and the ingredients for gluten-free fruit pizza (yes it IS as delicious as it sounds), and sodas for the family barbeque. The gluten-free beer was a major fail. Three grocery stores later and not a sorghum based beer to be found. Instead I picked up a few 22oz. bottles of J.K. Scrumpy's Hard Cider. It's an organic hard apple cider that drinks like apple juice. Check it out at :http://organicscrumpy.com/ Delicious stuff. And thanks to a little research done by one Franklin Williams, it can be found at several restaurants in the Big Apple itself. So the beer fail turned out to be a cider victory.
Gluten-free fruit pizza ingredients was far more successful. One box of gluten-free sugar cookie mix, two packages of Philadelphia Cream Cheese, two tubs of Extra Creamy Cool-Whip, two fresh kiwis, one package of strawberries, two cans of pineapple rings, two cans of peaches, and one jar of apricot preserves later we were in business. The recipe's simple:
Follow the baking directions on the box of cookie mix, but spread in baking pans like pie crust. Combine the cream cheese and Cool-Whip. When the cookies are cooled, spread the cream cheese mixture over them. Arrange the fruit (sliced, washed, drained, etc.) over the mixtures. Warm the apricot preserves until slightly runny and pour over the fruit and cream cheese mixture. Chill and serve cold. You could use any cookie base, fruit, and preserve mix you'd like. I'm contemplating an almond cookie base with mascarpone cheese filling, cherries, and currant jelly variant.
At the barbeque, I was treated to my favorite Southern food of all time. North Carolina style pork barbeque straight from the pit. My cousin, Tony, has his own rig and he got the pig started at around 9AM. By 4PM the ribs were ready to be devoured. They're easily my favorite part of the pig, and this year was no exception. The skin was crackling and the meat was perfectly cooked. Slightly sweet, fall off the bone tender. By 5:30 the whole pig was ready to be served. Tony saved me some of the meat from the loin. Super tender and delicious, it hardly needed the vinegar based sauce he made to pour over it, but I used a little just for some extra flavor. To go with the perfection sitting on my plate, I also helped myself to some deviled eggs, potato salad, potatoes stewed in tomato, and a mixed bean salad with corn and cilantro.
When dinner was over and I thought I couldn't possibly eat anything else, I started on dessert. A slice of fruit pizza and homemade peach ice cream made fresh that morning with fresh picked peaches. My mother and uncle spent the better part of the morning blanching, peeling, and chopping the peaches. The ice cream came out exactly how I like it. Full of peaches and very soft, even a little runny.
Perfect. This is what I look forward to each year. Pork barbeque and homemade ice cream. Then a nap in the living room after too much food and too much sun. Even without the fireworks, which we skipped this year, this is what makes my summer. I even made off with two quart-sized bags of leftover barbeque the next day. Yankees be jealous.
Ma and I road tripped it up to North Carolina on Friday. After dropped off our luggage we hit the grocery store to find gluten-free beer for yours truly, and the ingredients for gluten-free fruit pizza (yes it IS as delicious as it sounds), and sodas for the family barbeque. The gluten-free beer was a major fail. Three grocery stores later and not a sorghum based beer to be found. Instead I picked up a few 22oz. bottles of J.K. Scrumpy's Hard Cider. It's an organic hard apple cider that drinks like apple juice. Check it out at :http://organicscrumpy.com/ Delicious stuff. And thanks to a little research done by one Franklin Williams, it can be found at several restaurants in the Big Apple itself. So the beer fail turned out to be a cider victory.
Gluten-free fruit pizza ingredients was far more successful. One box of gluten-free sugar cookie mix, two packages of Philadelphia Cream Cheese, two tubs of Extra Creamy Cool-Whip, two fresh kiwis, one package of strawberries, two cans of pineapple rings, two cans of peaches, and one jar of apricot preserves later we were in business. The recipe's simple:
Follow the baking directions on the box of cookie mix, but spread in baking pans like pie crust. Combine the cream cheese and Cool-Whip. When the cookies are cooled, spread the cream cheese mixture over them. Arrange the fruit (sliced, washed, drained, etc.) over the mixtures. Warm the apricot preserves until slightly runny and pour over the fruit and cream cheese mixture. Chill and serve cold. You could use any cookie base, fruit, and preserve mix you'd like. I'm contemplating an almond cookie base with mascarpone cheese filling, cherries, and currant jelly variant.
At the barbeque, I was treated to my favorite Southern food of all time. North Carolina style pork barbeque straight from the pit. My cousin, Tony, has his own rig and he got the pig started at around 9AM. By 4PM the ribs were ready to be devoured. They're easily my favorite part of the pig, and this year was no exception. The skin was crackling and the meat was perfectly cooked. Slightly sweet, fall off the bone tender. By 5:30 the whole pig was ready to be served. Tony saved me some of the meat from the loin. Super tender and delicious, it hardly needed the vinegar based sauce he made to pour over it, but I used a little just for some extra flavor. To go with the perfection sitting on my plate, I also helped myself to some deviled eggs, potato salad, potatoes stewed in tomato, and a mixed bean salad with corn and cilantro.
When dinner was over and I thought I couldn't possibly eat anything else, I started on dessert. A slice of fruit pizza and homemade peach ice cream made fresh that morning with fresh picked peaches. My mother and uncle spent the better part of the morning blanching, peeling, and chopping the peaches. The ice cream came out exactly how I like it. Full of peaches and very soft, even a little runny.
Perfect. This is what I look forward to each year. Pork barbeque and homemade ice cream. Then a nap in the living room after too much food and too much sun. Even without the fireworks, which we skipped this year, this is what makes my summer. I even made off with two quart-sized bags of leftover barbeque the next day. Yankees be jealous.
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