Guest/Restaurant Attempt: Osteria Mozza's Orecchiette with Sausage & Swiss Chard

Dear Readers:

Have you had the extreme pleasure of dining at Mario Batali's Osteria Mozza? Were you fortunate enough to order the orecchiette with sausage and swiss chard?

OK, well, our friends Sara and Sean had and decided to take on the challenge of recreating it.

Being the rare (never done before) restaurant attempt, we had to get a little unorthodox when it came to the "their version" photo. We found this one via Food GPS and it's taken of the actual dish served at Mozza.

Osteria Mozza's version:

Sara and Sean's version:

I wish every attempt were like this attempt. Not just because Matt and I didn't have to do everything or because it was delicious, but because it was picture perfect, and by that I mean: Sara knows how to take a picture that is perfect.

This recipe is mainly about the homemade pasta. And the homemade pasta is mainly about hard work and semolina flour, the latter of which Sean was worried about procuring but ultimately did at Surfas in Culver City.

Once the dough was made, it was rolled into a long tube and sliced into thin ovals.

Then, Sean and Matt placed each of the little ovals in the palm of their hands, one by one, and pressed with their thumbs from their other hand, forming the "little ears."

The sauce was interesting because, despite the reddish hue in the Batali picture, no tomatoes were involved. Swiss chard, on the other hand, is involved. Big time.

Much like our last Batali attempt, the sauce in comparison to the pasta seemed relatively simple: you remove the casings of both hot and sweet sausages and cook the meat with the chicken stock, garlic, swiss chard and hot pepper flakes, adding the olive oil and parmesan cheese at the end.

OK, so truth be told, there's more to why this attempt holds a special place in my heart.

1. Sara made these little menus that deemed the meal my birthday "feast attempt."

2. They served us burrata and heirloom tomatoes as the salad course.

3. Sara made tiramisu and made me blow out a candle, which I haven't done since I was sixteen, possibly longer.

SIDEBAR. I'd like to quote an email just in from Sara: "Go ahead. Rip on the tiramisu. That sh*t was truly dismal. And I blame Batali." OK, so I won't go crazy on the tiramisu (which was also a Batali recipe), but I will say that I think Batali's brandy proportion was a bit off. Every few bites you'd run into what one might call an extreme brandy situation.

4. We topped off the night with a few intense rounds of Memory with this amazing modern / designy version of the game, which reminded me that I have the memory of Izzie Stevens on last season's finale of Grey's Anatomy. Speaking of which, I missed the premiere this season. Did she die or what?

RECIPE via Cook's Illustrated

Note: Osteria Mozza does not just give out their recipes. So, according to readers on chowhound, this is as close as it gets to Mozza's version.
Another Note: We substituted swiss chard for broccoli rabe.
Triple NOTE: We tripled this recipe.

INGREDIENTS

Table salt
1/2 pound orecchiette (any from-scratch recipe should do if you are going for homemade)
4 ounces hot italian sausage , casings removed
3 medium garlic cloves , minced or pressed through a garlic press (1 tablespoon)
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 pound broccoli rabe , thick ends trimmed, remaining portion cut into 1 1/2 inch lengths
1/4 cup low-sodium chicken broth
1 1/2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

INSTRUCTIONS
1. Bring 4 quarts water to a rolling boil in a large pot. Add 1 tablespoon salt and the pasta, stir to separate, and cook until al dente. Drain and return the pasta to the pot.
2. While the pasta is cooking, cook the sausage until browned in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat, breaking it into 1/2-inch pieces with a wooden spoon, about 3 minutes. Stir in the garlic, red pepper flakes, and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Cook, stirring constantly, until the garlic is fragrant and slightly toasted, about 1½ minutes. Add the broccoli rabe and chicken broth, cover, and cook until the broccoli rabe turns bright green, 2 minutes. Uncover and cook, stirring frequently, until most of the broth has evaporated and the broccoli rabe is tender, 1 1/2 to 2 minutes.
3. Add the sausage-rabe mixture, oil, and cheese to the pot with the pasta and toss to combine. Serve immediately.

Gourmet's Georgian Cheese Bread

This recipe caught my attention for a number of reasons.

1. I'd been looking to make bread again.

2. It reminded me of stuffed crust pizza. Do they still make that?

3. I had all of the ingredients on hand.

4. Sorry, I just passed out. What was that? All of the ingredients on haaaand?

 Gourmet's version:

 

our version:

First things first, gather up your coordinating color schemes of yeast and flour. Be sure they match your dining room chairs and look cool with the mustard-yellow wall.

The first part of this recipe told me to: Sprinkle yeast over warm water and stir in 1 tablespoon flour. Let stand until creamy, about 5 minutes. (If yeast does not activate, start over with new yeast.)

I've only worked with yeast one other time, and so I couldn't tell if it had activated or rather, if it was creamy, so I started over and compared the two. I ended up going with the second one, the one on the left, which basically looked the same as the one on the right if not a little creamier.

No KitchenAid with paddle attachment necessary.

Next, you knead the dough for about five minutes and then form it into a ball. By the way, if you have never made bread you should try it. It is one of the most satisfying cooking endeavors--from getting your hands in there and kneading the dough to filling your house with the smell of warm, freshly baked bread. Plus, it's hard to mess up (unless your yeast isn't creamy enough--so gross sounding, I can't stop saying it) but so far, it seems like bread always comes out amazing.

Matt didn't want me to mention this, but this was a tag-team attempt. See, at this point the dough just had to rise for a few hours, and I had to leave for work. I marked on the recipe where I was and Matt was excited to take over. From the pictures below, I'd like to say he was a little too excited. Check out how much flour he used. It reminds me of winter in Pittsburgh, which reminds me: go Steelers.

Basically, you take a bunch of cheese, press it into a ball and then wrap the dough around it. The recipe called for a mixture of havarti and mozzarella, but as previously mentioned, the major draw of this recipe was that it required exactly zero trips to the grocery store, so we used the leftover cheese we had on hand: swiss, mozzarella and provolone.

Then, you press it down again and cut a big X in the snowy terrain.

Turns out Georgian cheese bread is really just a fancy name for stuffed crust pizza. Needless to say, it was awesome.

Also extremely noteworthy: I just opened my birthday present and bon appetempt's pics are about to get a major upgrade moving forward thanks to my new and amazing Lumix LX3! So excited.

RECIPE via Gourmet

    2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast (a 1/4-oz package)

• 7 tablespoons warm water (105–115°F)
• 1 2/3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, divided
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1/4 lb Havarti cheese, coarsely grated
• 1/4 lb salted mozzarella, coarsely grated
• 1 teaspoon unsalted butter, melted
  

EQUIPMENT: a floured pizza pan (at least 12 inches) or a floured large baking sheet

- Sprinkle yeast over warm water and stir in 1 tablespoon flour. Let stand until creamy, about 5 minutes. (If yeast does not activate, start over with new yeast.)
- Stir together salt and remaining flour in a large bowl, then stir in egg and yeast mixture to form a dough.
- Turn out dough onto a well-floured surface and turn to coat with flour, then knead until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Form into a ball and dust with flour. Let dough rest in a bowl, covered with plastic wrap, punching down with a wet fist every hour, at least 2 hours and up to 3.
- Preheat oven to 500°F with rack in middle.
- Turn out dough onto floured pizza pan, turning to coat, then flatten with your fingers into a 7-inch disk.
- Toss together cheeses and press into a compact 3-inch ball with your hands. Place ball in middle of dough, then gather dough up around ball of cheese, squeezing excess dough into a topknot. Press down on topknot with a damp fist to press cheese out from center. Continue to flatten dough and distribute cheese evenly, pressing outward from center, until dough is an 11-inch disk.
- Cut a 6-inch X through top of dough to expose cheese. Bake until pale golden, 10 to 12 minutes. Brush surface of dough with butter and bake until golden and cooked through, 3 to 5 minutes more.
- Serve cut into wedges.

COOKS’ NOTE: Dough can be made 1 day ahead and chilled in bowl (for a slow rise), covered with plastic wrap. Punch down and bring to room temperature before proceeding with recipe.

Lunch Attempt: Gourmet's Beefsteak Tomato, Butterhead lettuce, Bacon with Blue Cheese Dressing

It's been a busy week, so we cut ourselves some slack and went for the rare, less intense lunch attempt. The laws that govern lunch attempts are much more relaxed than those of regular attempts.

For example: the first two words of this dish are Beefsteak Tomato. Even if we hadn't had some of Jodi and Neal's homegrown Roma tomatoes they'd given us on hand, I know that--what with this being a teeny tiny lunch attempt--we wouldn't have suffered through this gross sounding type of tomato.

Also, we didn't have a bug plate for the picture below, so we substituted a ceramic piggy bank (obviously). Again, it's a lunch attempt--all bets are off.

This salad looked awesome and it's close to being the only dish from the insane September issue of Gourmet that we have yet to attempt. So, here goes.

Gourmet's version:

Our version:

As mentioned, these are the roma tomatoes from Jodi and Neal's garden. Better name for tomato type: Roma or Beefsteak? Puhlease. Also noteworthy: according to wikipedia, common varieties of Beefsteak tomatoes include Beefmaster, Big Beef, and the Bucking Bronco. Who comes up with these?

Proof positive that Bon Appetempt washes their Butterhead lettuce.

The prep for this dish is pretty labor-intensive (on opposite day)--it amounts to little more than chopping scallions.

The bacon is the only element that requires actual cooking, but it's an essential component as, and here's a surprise (I mean, Gourmet talks about it like it's a surprise, but I really don't think so considering my last bacon-related attempt), the fat is used in the blue cheese dressing.

Matt's motto is if it's food, it can be paired with Blue Cheese dressing, though this was the first time we actually made our own, which, in keeping with the theme, was pretty simple: milk, sour cream, blue cheese, scallions, cider vinegar, bacon fat, salt and pepper.

Lunch attempt success.

RECIPE via Gourmet:

Ingredients

• 6 bacon slices, chopped
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 3 tablespoons whole milk plus additional if necessary
• 2 tablespoons cider vinegar
• 1 scallion, chopped
• 1 cup crumbled blue cheese (1/4 pound), divided
• 1 (1/2-pound) head Bibb or Boston lettuce
• 1 large beefsteak tomato, cut into wedges

Preparation

Cook bacon in a 10-inch skillet over medium heat until crisp. Transfer to paper towels to drain, reserving fat in skillet.
Whisk together 1 tablespoon hot bacon fat, sour cream, milk, vinegar, and 1/4 teaspoon each of salt and pepper until smooth. Stir in scallion and 2/3 cup blue cheese. Thin with additional milk if desired.
Quarter lettuce lengthwise (through stem) into wedges, then remove core and arrange each wedge on a plate with tomato wedges. Stir dressing and spoon over top. Sprinkle with bacon, remaining 1/3 cup blue cheese, and pepper to taste.

Kenny Shopsin's Chicken Tortilla Avocado Soup

Due to popular requests, we did another Kenny Shopsin attempt.

In case you're out of the Kenny-Shopsin-Soup-Philosophy-loop, he believes that "taking two or four hours to make a soup just because the broth takes two to four hours to cook makes no sense whatsoever." So at Shopsin's General Store, he makes each soup to order, by scratch, with the stock being the only element made ahead of time. Wrap your head around that, and then wrap your head around this: In it's heyday, Shopsin's menu had close to 300 soups on it.

So for this attempt, we tried our hand at preparing the most popular soup on Shopsin's menu in the style of Kenny Shopsin.

Shopsin's version:

our version:

Kenny on making soup: "When I'm making soup, I always add the vegetables to the pan as I chop them, so the soup and I are working simultaneously toward the same end." In this soup in particular, he's keen on making sure the cabbage gets nice and brown before you add the prepared stock.

Cooking in the style of Kenny Shopsin definitely pushed me to the limits of my comfort zone in that I tend to pre-chop everything and am all about organization in the kitchen. But I was going Shopsin style, so while the cabbage browned, I started chopping the onions and jalapeno.

OH and all the while, the chicken was grilling.

With chopping, grilling and sauteing all going on, my head was close to exploding, but I also felt like a real cook in some hectic commercial kitchen, which was kind of cool?

Bon Appétit's Pork Chops with Chiles Rellenos and Ancho Sauce.

Remember the cold cucumber soup post where I mentioned how I was waiting for my mom to follow through and get me that subscription to Bon Appétit that she told me she was gifting me three months ago?

WELL, the kind people at Bon Appétit emailed me to make sure there was nothing wrong with my subscription, which made me finally ask my mom point blank: what's up with my B.A. 'scrip? and well, long story short, she "forgot to send the thingy in." Thankfully, she's assured me that she's now on top of it.

OK, so to thank Bon Appétit for the kind words said about my blog and checking up on my subscription, Matt and I decided to go for a doozy. I know what you're thinking. Pork chops? But Bon Appetempt, Pork chops are simple! A) Stop yelling at me, and b) Not always.

Bon Appétit's version:

our version:

See those potatoes? They are going to end up INSIDE the peppers. Believe it.

Preparing the peppers was a process. First we had to roast the peppers which involved taking their skins off. Though I'm not exactly sure why the skin needed to be removed. Anyone know? Anyone??
The filling was a process too, one that involved chopping the potatoes into tiny 1/3 inch pieces. And for cautious people like me, this can be time consuming--but I don't want to complain. (This is a gratitude post?) I mean, we're talking about some delicious ingredients: cheddar cheese, potatoes, and oregano.And these guys did not disappoint. They're what I imagine royalty gets when they order jalapeno poppers.

I once messed up saying the word ingredients by saying ingrediERTS. Matt will not let me live it down.

Strangely, the trickiest part of all was finding some organic bone-in pork chops. Some sort of event cleaned out three different stores in our area. So, Matt was forced to step out and hit up Huntington Meats in The Farmer's Market.

To everyone's surprise, Matt came home with extra "panties," apparently given to him after bonding with the butcher in a conversation that, from what I've gathered, went something like this:

Matt: "Can you French two of those pork chops?"

Jim the Butcher: "No problem. Special guests comin' for dinner tonight?"

Matt: "Nah, we just Bon Appetemptin'."

Jim nods, knowingly.

Jim: "I'll throw in extra panties!"

Matt shoots Jim a concerned, confused look.

Matt: "Panties?"

And then he handed Matt these:

So, uhm, here are the chops in their unders?
Seasoned with ancho chile powder and salt, resting at room temperature for 2 hours before they're to be cooked:
The finished dish was one of the most satisfying meals we've had in weeks. The chile relleno was decadent and the pork in the ancho sauce sauce was so flavorful.
Matt says it's his favorite savory attempt to date, but I disagree. What about that crazy lemongrass broth with fried tofu and the poached egg? How quickly he forgets. Also: The EAT LOCAL t-shirt giveaway is accepting entries until SEPTEMBER 16th. Get in there!

RECIPE via Bon Appétit.

INGREDIENTS

6 large fresh poblano chiles, stemmed
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
12 ounces unpeeled Yukon Gold potatoes or baby Dutch potatoes, cut into 1/3-inch cubes (about 2 1/2 cups)
1 1/4 cups coarsely grated sharp white cheddar cheese (about 4 ounces)
1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano plus oregano leaves for garnish
1 cup low-salt chicken broth
1/2 cup orange juice
5 teaspoons ancho chile powder, divided
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon Italian double-concentrated tomato paste*
1 cinnamon stick
1 garlic clove, pressed
1 tablespoon coarse kosher salt
6 1-inch-thick pork loin chops on bone, frenched
Olive oil

*Available in tubes at some supermarkets and at Italian markets.

PREPARATION

Char chiles over gas flame or in broiler until blackened all over. Place chiles in bowl; cover tightly with plastic wrap and let steam 15 minutes. Peel, leaving stem intact (do not tear flesh of chiles). Using small sharp knife, cut 1 long slit down side of each chile; carefully remove seeds. Toast cumin seeds in small skillet over medium-high heat until slightly darkened and aromatic, 1 to 2 minutes. Set chiles and cumin aside.

Line rimless baking sheet with foil. Cook potatoes in large saucepan of boiling salted water until just tender, about 8 minutes. Drain. Transfer potatoes to medium bowl; cool. Add cheese, chopped oregano, and toasted cumin; stir to distribute evenly. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Carefully fill chiles with potato mixture, about 1/3 to 1/2 cup filling for each. Working with 1 chile at a time, hold in palm and squeeze gently to compress lightly. Place stuffed chiles on prepared sheet. Combine broth, juice, 2 teaspoons chile powder, and next 4 ingredients in heavy medium saucepan. Simmer over medium heat until slightly thickened and reduced to 2/3 cup, 8 to 9 minutes. DO AHEAD Chiles and sauce can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill separately. Let chiles return to room temperature before continuing.

Mix 3 teaspoons chile powder and 1 tablespoon coarse salt in small bowl. Sprinkle mixture over pork chops; let stand at room temperature up to 2 hours.
Prepare barbecue (medium heat). Brush pork with oil. Place pork chops on 1 side of grill. Transfer chiles on foil to opposite side of grill. Grill pork chops until just cooked through, about 4 minutes per side; transfer to plate and let rest 10 minutes. Grill chiles until cheese melts, about 15 minutes.
Rewarm sauce. Place 1 pork chop and 1 chile on each plate. Drizzle sauce over, sprinkle with oregano leaves, and serve.

EAT LOCAL t-shirt GIVEAWAY!

We've been talking about doing a giveaway for a couple weeks and well, it's finally happening! This hand screen-printed t-shirt celebrates eating locally (particularly in Los Angeles, but if you don't live in L.A., I think you could still wear it and look really really cool). These shirts and my other screen-printing adventures can be found via www.istomachla.com.

Once you win, you'll have an option between the unisex athletic grey/red:

or the unisex organic/green version:

You'll also have the option of posing like this once you put it on:

"Hey, I'm eating locally heahhh!"

2 WAYS TO ENTER:
1. leave comment below
(if your name clicks through to contact information, awesome. if not, please leave your email address.)

or
2. email bonappetempt@gmail.com with the subject EAT LOCAL.

BONUS ENTRY:

If you would like your entry to count TWICE, log onto etsy, go to my store, and convo me (this is etsy speak for clicking on the contact ameliapmorris button and sending me a message within etsy).

Entries valid through SEPTEMBER 16th.

Winner will be chosen at random via random.org.

Martha Stewart's Creamy Lemon Squares

Sometimes, particularly with Martha Stewart, the challenge lies more in the recreating of the picture than in the making of the dish. Martha's Lemon Squares are a great example. In fact, I don't know if you could follow this recipe and not come up with something delicious, but I knew this picture would be close to impossible--her bars look oddly perfect, too square-y, too yellow. And I guess it was a self-fulfilling prophecy because, well, see for yourself:

Martha's version:

our version:

Right before we got started on this bon appétempt, a package arrived at our door from my grandma (that's her in my blogger profile pic). Every once in a while, I get a mystery package from her, and it rarely disappoints. This one arrived with, you guessed it, a series of tea towel calendars from the early 90s. The one below seemed particularly special so we put it up on our wall, caddy corner to The Vivianne and stole glances while baking for inspiration.

Now back to the task at hand. For a recipe with a stated active time of 15 minutes, I expected less gadgetry to be involved, but the crust of butter, flour and confectioner's sugar called for an electric mixer.


Gadget number two was self-imposed. After the Figgy Piggy attempt, we started questioning the integrity of our oven's heat settings, so we finally invested in an oven thermometer. Turns out our oven is off by about fifty degrees. Here, the dial is set to 400.

But gadget number three really came in handy--the filling called for the juice of three lemons but since our lemons were teeny tiny, we ended up using about five, and so were thankful for our... mini juicer!

The mini juicer was another one of those purchases I made before we began cooking. You know, something I thought we needed.

The filling was the simplest part: just sweetened condensed milk, egg yolks and lemon juice whisked together.
The end result were super tasty, creamy lemon squares. And I have to say, even though it took me much closer to 45 minutes than 15 (especially considering dish washing), this recipe's work-reward ratio is probably as good as it gets. Now, only a few questions remain:
1. What, dear food stylists, did you do to make your creamy lemon bars so rectangular and sunny?
And 2. What am I going to do with all these freaky tea towels?

RECIPE via Martha Stewart

Ingredients
Makes 16

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pan
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar, plus more for dusting
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
4 large egg yolks
1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
3/4 cup fresh lemon juice (from about 3 lemons)

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter an 8-inch square baking pan. Line bottom with parchment paper, leaving an overhang on two sides; butter paper.

Make crust: Using an electric mixer, beat butter, sugar, and salt until light and fluffy. Add flour, and mix on low just until combined. Press dough into the bottom and 1/2 inch up sides of prepared pan; prick all over with a fork. Bake until lightly golden, 15 to 20 minutes.

Make filling: In a large bowl, whisk together yolks, condensed milk, and lemon juice until smooth. Pour over hot crust in pan; return to oven, and bake until filling is set, 25 to 30 minutes. Cool completely in pan. Refrigerate until filling is firm, about 2 hours or up to 3 days. Using paper overhang, lift cake onto a work surface; cut into 16 squares, and dust with confectioners sugar.