We're Back

Wow! It's been a long time since our last blog entry of May 18, 2010, but in the past 7 months a lot
has happened.
      For Frank, a June cousins reunion in North Carolina.....and buying a rowhome in South Philly, rehabbing the house in July during the hottest summer in several decades....finally moving in early August....then, taking a quick vacation to visit friends on Cape Cod....and moving the business to our home in October. For Charlie, completing an addition to his home, not to mention numerous trips to NJ to visit the folks.
      And through this busy period, we always managed to enjoy some great food with our families and friends, some of which we prepared, including desserts like sour cherry pie, strawberry-rhubarb pie, whoopie pies not to mention great southern cooking like North Carolina-style pulled pork. Throw in some baked country ham, candied sweet potatoes and sweet tea. Yes, it’s been a busy 7 months and we're thinking the next 7 will be just as busy completing our second cookbook Philly's Best Sweets. We are always experimenting with a vintage recipe we have found or with the desire to find a new food venue or finding a new or existing food destination. Which brings us to:

Christmas in Port Richmond

Welcome to Czerw’s, home of ‘The Kielbasy Boys’

      For any food junkie, one of the great joys of this and any holiday season is the abundance of food and drink and the ability to share it with family and friends. Each nationality brings their unique twist to a holiday, Christmas being no exception. While Charlie’s root are Italian, my family heritage is a combination of the French, English and Polish cultures. While I enjoy French and English foods, my real love is for Polish Food.

Just wait until you get inside!

     When I moved to the city several years ago from the suburbs, we needed to find a place that sold genuine, homemade Polish food. It didnt take long before we discovered Port Richmond and Czerw’s, home of the Kielbasboys (John, Jeff and Dennis).

Jeff preparing a big order.                    John and Jeff ‘hamming it up’

      The week before Christmas, I ventured over to Port Richmond to check out this icon of authentic, home-cooked polish cuisine. As I got closer to their street, I saw a long line of people standing in single file, stretching around the block. I parked the car, walked to the end of the line and just like everyone else, spent the next 2 hours talking with fellow patrons about the weather, food, the Phillies, the Eagles, the mayor and whatever else to pass the time. When I finally approached the door, I realized the attraction to this place — the aroma of freshly smoked kielbasa.

It takes a lot of wood and a smokehouse to get that authentic flavor

      Obviously, Czerw’s isn't just an ordinary neighborhood store selling pre-packaged kielbasa and frozen pierogis. This is the real stuff, the authentic foods you were raised on, the food your parents ate and enjoyed. Forget about a classy store-front entrance, you come to this place for the smoked kielbasa, sauerkraut and fresh pierogis. Homemade with the flavors and aromas you remember. Delightful, just the way you remember it all tasting. Fresh, solid peasant food and nothing fancy.

Fresh pierogis, just like Grandma made!

      One of the boys, John, Jeff or Dennis will wait on you, smile and thank you for your patience and if you’re really lucky you’ll get some of the free samples of kielbasa or roast port. But take it from someone who knows and appreciate good Polish food, every minute you have waited in the cold is worth it. Under one roof no bigger than a single car garage, you’ll get fresh homemade pierogis wit cheese [sic], sauerkraut, potatoes, whatever ever your fancy, including a philly cheesesteak pierogi, golumpki, fresh sauerkraut in a wooden barrel, bogos and chrusciki.
  
      Even if you’re not Polish, a trip to this is establishment is a real treat, a food experience that you'll remember and want to share with everyone you know. In today's impersonal, fast-paced, multi-tasked, super-sized market environment, it's great to find a place like Czerw’s that knows first-hand how to bring back those memories of great ethnic food that we have shared with friends and family.

      Look for our new cookbook this Spring, Philly’s Best Sweets, which will contain a receipe for dessert pierogi's from the kitchen of John, Jeff and Dennis, the kielbasyboys (www.kielbasyboys.com 3370 Tilton Street, Philadelphia, PA 215-423-1707)

Charlie and I want to wish you all a great holiday season and a healthy 2011.

Best wishes,
Frank and Charlie

www.ourbestfood.com

A Spark of Creativity

As with you, our passion for home cooking keeps us grounded to our homes and families and actively pursuing new adventures in the kitchen. Those occasions when we roll up our sleeves in the kitchen to create something new and exciting gives all of us a satisfaction when we share our food passions with the ones we love. That’s the time when the possibility of home and family is at it’s best.

Now I cannot argue that the creative impulse that drive us in the kitchen usually requires 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration or there-about. Yet it’s that tiny spark of inspiration that keeps our feet planted in the kitchen, mixing, blending, and stirring.

As for me, my own personal spark of kitchen-creativity can be ignited by the simple experience of trying a new bakery, butcher shop, cheese store, or pasta shop in Philadelphia. The curiosity of discovering what ingredients are in a delightful new food are enough to get me searching on the internet for a recipe to make this new discovery at home. Philadelphia, the food-city where I work, truly offers a new adventure in every neighborhood I pass through. What adventures can you seek out where you live and work? I’ll bet you too can find a new food discovery to explore where you live.

Another source of inspiration can come from TV. The Food Network is today’s resource of impassioned mentors that encourage us to experience the creativity we seek to explore in the kitchen. A few weeks ago, Frank and I had the pleasure of meeting Mary Ann Esposito, one of Frank’s inspiring mentors, at her recent book signing at Fante’s Kitchen Wares shop at the Italian Market in Philadelphia. How can you not smile as your celebrity-mentor personally signs your copy of her new book, while sharing conversations of a favorite recipe. And here is a picture of Frank and myself, with Mary Ann Esposito enjoying a moment of creative inspiration.

I’m sure you have your mentors too. We can all look back into our own family trees and discover an aunt or grandfather who would love to share (that is, pass down) their favorite foods and recipes with a new generation. Really, the possibilities are endless. OK, enough reminiscing. Time to get into the kitchen. Dinner awaits.

Best to you,

Charlie

Another Reason to Celebrate!

Greetings food lovers,

     The Easter and Passover celebrations are officially behind us for this year. Another celebration with family is now simply a fond memory. And while the basic origins of these two celebrations have established religious and ethnic attachments in all of our communities, we all observe and honor the rituals close to home, celebrating and feasting with our families and friends.

     In my Italian-American family, we enjoyed many of the foods and traditions that for three generations have remained time-honored elements associated with the Easter celebration. And we look forward to sharing them every year we celebrate a new Easter. I find it amazing that we never find dull or uninteresting the same old recipes. On the contrary, I find the anticipation of waiting to savor my favorite dessert, Ricotta Pie, an experience that gives the Easter Celebration a personal joy shared with my family.

     This recipe for Easter Pie, also known as Ricotta Pie, was my contribution to the dessert table. But don’t wait for next Easter to try this delicious dessert. By all means, test it out now and savor the light, creamy texture. It is simple enough to make for dessert tonight. Mangiare!

Ricotta Pie (Easter Pie)

Ingredients

4 eggs

1 cup sugar

3 cups ricotta cheese

¼ cup flour

2 tablespoons orange zest

2 tablespoons lemon zest

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1/8 teaspoon salt, optional

1 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips, optional

1 10-inch unbaked pie crust

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Beat eggs until foamy. Gradually add sugar, beating until mixture is thick.

In a large mixing bowl, combine ricotta cheese, orange and lemon zest, salt and vanilla. Stir in the egg and sugar mixture and beat until well-blended and smooth. If you are adding the chocolate chips, stir them in now.

Pour into the unbaked pie shell. 

Sprinkle a few additional chocolate chips on top before baking. 

Bake for 50 to 60 minutes. Do not overcook or the texture will be dry. 
Allow to cool for one hour before serving.

Spring Is Here!!

Wow!!....Spring has finally arrived. After a long winter with its long days,cold nights and grey skies we can celebrate its passing and the beginning of warm weather. This weekend looks like a harbinger of things to come. As we celebrate Easter with our family and friends we look forward to delicious brunches and family dinners. Since we're all kids at heart, we'll also sneak candy from baskets, bowls and candy dishes. Our recipe this week is a timely time-tested heritage recipe - Butter Cream Easter Eggs. As a child growing up, I remember well these butter cream candies and their variations - Coconut Cream and Peanut Butter. Our thanks to Barabra E. from Chester Springs for this classic home made candy. If you have children and want to try a family cooking session, this recipe is fun and enjoyable for the entire family. Photos and cooking instructions follow for the Butter Cream Easter Eggs. One note: the recipe calls for parafiin wax (sometimes called baker's wax or canning wax), paraffin wax is edible and is often added to chocolate. When added to melted chocolate, it gives the finished piece a glossy finish and helps it remain solid at room temperature. You can purchase the wax at your grocery store where canning supplies are sold. Its use is purely optional.

Have a great Easter, enjoy the warm weather and the great food you will experience this weekend!

Butter Cream Easter Eggs

8 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 pounds confectioners’ sugar
¼ cup melted butter
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
Semi-sweet chocolate, melted

Refrigerate prior to serving.

Note: For Coconut Cream Eggs add 8 ounces flaked coconut. For Peanut Butter Eggs add 1 1/2 cups smooth peanut butter. Add either after you have blended the confectioners’ sugar with the cream cheese and butter.

In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the softened butter and cream cheese until thoroughly blended and mixture has a creamy texture.  Add the salt, vanilla and confectioners' sugar to the creamed mixture.  If making peanut butter or coconut cream eggs add the ingredients to the mixture now.

The bowl on the left contains the chilled butter cream mixture and the bowl on the right contains the peanut butter mixture.

Remove bowl from mixer, chill for several hours or overnight.

Using a teaspoon, scoop out a small amount of chilled mixture and roll into a small egg shape. Put on tray, cover with plastic wrap and chill in freezer for several hours or overnight.

Melt chocolate in microwave or in a double-boiler.

With a small wooden skewer or large toothpick, dip each egg into the melted chocolate mixture, coating all sides.  Lay on a wax paper-lined baking sheet until the chocolate has set.  Use some of the remaining chocolate to fill in tiny holes left from toothpick.  Place eggs in container and refrigerate until ready to serve. 

Irish Soda Bread—Spring is almost here!

Greetings to all food lovers,

Can you believe that Spring is just about here. Of course our love for satisfying, flavorful comfort food has not decreased. That can only mean that we look forward to the next prospective sampling and tasting. As I look at the calendar, I can see the mouth-watering flavors ready to be experienced for St. Patrick's Day. Even though I'm not Irish, I'd be just as likely to dive into a steaming bowl of Irish Stew or savor a hunk of hot, Irish Soda Bread.

That brings me to Our Best Food's new recipe-of-the-week, Irish Soda Bread, the history of which is quite fascinating. In the early 1800's, bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) was introduced to Ireland and it's natural leavening characteristics quickly became popular in the average household kitchen. Traditionally made with just flour, salt, baking soda and buttermilk, this basic recipe for soda bread has become a staple of the Irish diet. Over the years, other ingredients such as eggs, butter, currents or raisins have been added to some recipes for additional flavoring.

Here is an interesting bit of folklore/scientific theory. Before baking, a cross was cut into the dough to “bless the bread” or “let the fairies out”. Today, we understand that cutting into the dough before baking actually enables air circulation which allows the bread to rise. And the buttermilk, which contains lactic acid, reacts with the baking soda to form carbon dioxide, the leavening agent in the dough. The buttermilk ingredient used for this traditional staple, was the slightly-sour liquid left after the butter was churned. So it was always available in abundant supply. Another useful tip is to use cake flour, which is made from soft wheat, and has lower levels of gluten than all-purpose flour.

Folklore and scientific theory aside, get into the kitchen and experience the joy and wonder of baking something that will become a tradition in your own home. With Irish Soda Bread, you get a simple, yet satisfying way to start.

As we fondly say in PA,
Good Appetite

Winter's End

With winter just about wrapped up, we can all breathe a collective sigh of relief to the end of a miserable winter. A trip to the Philadelphia Flower Show yesterday with it's summer smells and colors provided a brief but welcome relief to these drab grey days of winter. In anticipation of warmer days ahead, Charlie and I are having some friends over for dinner Saturday evening. On the menu, subject to some slight modifications will be an antipasti, consisting of various cheeses and meats, a winter salad, the main course - pasta with cauliflower (as presented in our cookbook, Philly's Best Food, Vol. 1) and for dessert, a flan served with poached pears.

Stay tuned over the next several days and we'll be posting the recipes that you can make for your next dinner party.

Food tells a story in First Person Arts

Though modern cladistics has largely discredited the possibility of the existence of a "missing link", the mythical transitional fossil that "vividly represents a particular evolutionary stage" where primates became men, the idea remains "lodged in the public imagination" (Wiki). I propose a new theory: the missing link was the first being to tell a story to a fellow-being, whether for practical or fantastical purposes.

Philadelphia's First Person Arts draws on storytelling, the first human art, to create programming throughout the year as well as an annual festival. According to their Web site, First Person Arts "transforms the drama of real life into memoir and documentary art to foster appreciation for our unique and shared experience."

Often our most cherished stories center around a certain family meal, an infamous birthday cake (with a single, anonymous bite missing) or a recipe made the same way for generations.

Share your favorite recipe and story with First Person Arts' Edible World program, which will host Suzan Colón, author of the new food memoir Cherries in Winter, for an afternoon at Bridget Foy's (200 South St., Philadelphia, PA) on Sunday, April 11 at 6 p.m. Three entrants will be chosen to share the stage with Colón, who will talk about her memoir.

Cherries in Winter recounts how Colón turned to her Nana’s recipe collection for home-cooked meals after losing her dream job. What started out of financial necessity became a source of comfort as the recipes revealed and deepened connections between memory, family, and tradition.

Send your heritage recipe and story to Karina Kacala, KKacala[at]firstpersonarts[dot]org, by March 26 for consideration.