My Fave Bites: Pizzeria Mozza

Lazy Afternoon Lunch at Pizzeria Mozza

What can I say about Pizzeria Mozza that hasn't already been said?

Not much, that's for sure!

Yes, they serve up some of the city's best pizzas, fired in a wood-burning oven. Yes, the antipasti and insalate are to die for. Yes, the olive oil gelato garnished with sea salt must be tasted to be believed. Yes, everything is great here.

The food literally speaks for itself. Observe...

While Pizzeria Mozza is a fun spot for dinner, I much prefer if for a lazy late afternoon lunch, like the one that I had with my in-laws a few weeks ago.

We noshed on everything from the Asparagus with Speck & Parmigiano Reggiano; to the Mozza Caprese (my favorite incarnation of this dish) with thick rustic slices of fresh bread slathered with olive oil; to a multitude of pizzas.

We tried a smaller pizette laden with ricotta, fresh peas, leeks, and guanciale, as well as two classics: the Squash Blossoms, Tomato & Burrata pizza and the Egg, Bacon, Yukon Gold Potato pizza (literally, breakfast on a pizza).

This is truly one of the great restaurants in Los Angeles, and one of the reasons that the food in this second largest city has improved by leaps and bounds over the last many years.

Bravo to Nancy and Mario for crafting up such a bright light in the city of angels. If you haven't eaten here yet, now is the time!

Meatless Monday: Fresh Rosemary And Olive Oil Cake

Happy Meatless Monday!

Now, I'm not typically a big dessert person.  But the other day, I had some gorgeous fresh organic rosemary lurking in my fridge, and it happens to be strawberry season here in California.  So I decided to make a Fresh Rosemary And Olive Oil Cake, which I'd had in restaurants and loved, but never attempted at home. 

As desserts go, this one is on the healthier side, combining fresh rosemary (contains potent anti-inflammatory and antioxidant compounds) and olive oil (healthy fats that help lower cholesterol).  I also used some whole grain flour to add fiber. Finally, I served it with a little whipped cream and fresh strawberries, and boy was it delicious!  Fresh and light, the perfect spring or summer dessert.

Fresh Rosemary And Olive Oil Cake (adapted from "The Babbo Cookbook")

Serves 8-10 people
Prep time: 15 minutes; Bake time: 50 minutes

Ingredients
4 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh rosemary leaves, finely chopped
3/4 cup whole grain flour
3/4 cup unbleached, all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

for garnishing
fresh whipped cream
2 cups fresh strawberries, halved

Directions
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  Spray a 10-inch loaf pan with non-stick cooking spray and set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, use the whip attachment to beat the eggs for 30 seconds.  Add the sugar and continue to beat until the mixture is very foamy and pale in color.  With the mixer running, slowly drizzle in the olive oil.  Using a spatula, gently fold the rosemary into the batter.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.  With the mixer on low speed, gradually add the dry ingredients to the egg mixture.  Pour the patter into the prepared pan. 

Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through for even color.  The cake is done when it is golden brown, springs back when touched, and a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean.  Allow the cake to cool briefly in the pan, then tip out onto a cake rack to continue cooling.

To serve, place a slice on a place.  Top with a little whipped cream and a generous portion of strawberries.  Enjoy!

Source For Ingredients
organic eggs, organic rosemary, organic strawberries and Mission olive oil from Hollywood Farmers Market

organic whole grain spelt flour, organic all-purpose flour, baking powder and Kosher salt from Whole Foods

organic sugar and organic heavy cream from Trader Joe's

Mario Batali Adopts Meatless Monday In All His Restaurants! Plus, The Winner Of The Domestic Divas Avocado Giveaway!

I have breaking foodie news!

Mario Batali has decided to adopt Meatless Monday, not just for himself, but in all 14 of his restaurants across the country!  And this is coming from the guanciale king himself.  As most of you know, I'm a huge supporter of Meatless Monday, posting weekly recipes on my blog in support of their effort.  I also happen to love Batali (I've been working my way through the Babbo cookbook this year, and just made a reservation at his restaurant, Osteria Mozza yesterday). 

From the article on HuffPost:

"The fact is, most people in the U.S. eat way more meat than is good for them or the planet," maintains Batali. "Asking everyone to go vegetarian or vegan isn't a realistic or attainable goal. But we can focus on a more plant-based diet, and support the farmers who raise their animals humanely and sustainably. That's why I'm such a big believer in the Meatless Monday movement."

Click here to read the rest of this great article!

And here's even more exciting Tuesday news!  I just pulled the winner of the Domestic Divas Avocado Giveaway, and it's ARIANA!  Big congrats and thanks to everyone who participated.  I loved all the ideas for recipes, and maybe I'll have to try some soon.  After all, my fridge is loaded with avocados right now.  I'll be getting those wonderful prizes to Ariana this week.

Swordfish Involtini Alla Siciliana (Adapted From The Babbo Cookbook)

Ever since my first trip to Osteria Mozza (and meeting Mario Batali on a subsequent trip to Pizzeria Mozza with my Top Chef Brother), I've been in love with his regional approach to Italian cuisine.  In most cities, the streets are littered with Italian restaurants, most of which server what I consider to be Americanized Italian food (c'mon, we've all eaten it!).  While it can be tasty, it doesn't get my heart all pitter-paterring in food excitement.  Osteria Mozza did - and The Babbo Cookbook by Mario Batali likewise has been a goldmine of cooking inspiration.

I've been steadily working my way through it, whipping up fresh pastas, and now tackling several of the seafood dishes, including Sauteed Skate And Rock Shrimp In A Saffron Clam Cironette and Halibut with Carciofini Al Mattone And Tomato Anchovy Vinaigrette, but my favorite seafood dish so far has to be Swordfish Involtini Alla Siciliana.  To prepare this dish, you must first make a basic tomato sauce, and then it's laden with olives, capers, red pepper flakes, pine nuts, currants and white wine.  Into the braising pan the sauce goes, followed by Swordfish fillets topped with a yummy herb/bread crumb mixture.  The whole thing gets baked together, and then served with the sauce ladled on top of the fish.

Holy cow!  This sauce is something to write home about!  The combination of briny capers and olives, spicy chili flakes, sweet currants and rich pine nuts sets off a chain reaction of flavor that will have you licking your bowl.  The Swordfish with the bread crumbs is also fabulously moist and meaty, and goes amazing with the sauce.  I've since made this dish several times, and it's quickly becoming one of my favorite household staples.

Swordfish Involtini Alla Siciliana (Adapted From The Babbo Cookbook)
Serves 4 people
Cooking time: about 1 hour (including making basic tomato sauce)

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups basic tomato sauce (see below)
4 swordfish fillets (totaling about 1 1/2 pounds)
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup Gaeta olives
1/4 cup salt-packed capers, rinsed and drained
1 tablespoon hot red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons pine nuts
1/4 cup currants
1 cup dry white wine
1 cup fresh bread crumbs
1/4 cup flat-leaf parsley, chopped
salt & pepper

basic tomato sauce (makes 4 cups)
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 Spanish onion, finely diced
4 garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced
3 tablespoons fresh thyme, chopped, or 1 tablespoon dried thyme
1/2 medium carrot, finely shredded
2 28 ounce cans peeled whole tomatoes
salt

Directions
To make the basic tomato sauce, heat the olive oil over medium heat.  Add the onion and garlic and cook until softened (8-10 minutes).  Add the thyme and carrot and cook for 5 minutes, until carrot is very soft.  Crush the tomatoes with your hands (I love this part!) and add them and their juices.  Bring to a boil, stirring often, and then lower the heat and simmer for 30 minutes.  Season with salt.  This sauce keeps for 1 week in the fridge and 6 months in the freezer.

To make the swordfish, preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

In an oven-proof skillet or braising pan, combine 1 1/2 cups of the basic tomato sauce with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil, the olives, the capers, the red pepper flakes, the pines nuts, the currants and the wine.  Bring to a boil over medium heat and then remove from heat and set aside.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine the bread crumbs, parsley, the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil and season with salt and pepper.

Rinse the fish and pat dry.  Season each piece with salt and pepper.  Place each piece of fish in the oven-proof skillet and top with a heaping spoonful of the breadcrumb mixture.  Transfer the skillet to the oven and bake for about 10-12 minutes, or until each piece is cooked through.

To plate, place a piece of fish on a plate and spoons the sauce over it.  Enjoy!

Source For Ingredients
wild-caught swordfish, organic onion, organic garlic, organic carrot, organic thyme, organic flat-leaf parsley and local Mission olive oil from The Hollywood Farmers Market

organic whole-peeled tomatoes, olives, capers, red pepper flakes, pine nuts, currants and Ezekiel bread (for making bread crumbs) from Whole Foods

Cookbook
The Babbo Cookbook by Mario Batali

This is hands down, my favorite recent cookbook purchase.  Inspired by a trip to Osteria Mozza and at the urging of my Top Chef Brother, I purchased it along with my pasta attachments for my stand mixer.  Since then, I've been cooking up a storm and loving ever minute of it!  This is exciting food bursting with flavor and made accessible to the home cook.  I gave it to my mother, The Original Diva, for Chrismtas, and she loves it, too.  I may not be able to afford to eat at Osteria Mozza every day - but now I can bring the Osteria to my house.

Chicken Sausage Ragu with Homemade Whole Grain Spelt Pappardelle

If you ask me, there are few greater pleasures in life than homemade pasta. 

While the boxed stuff is a great shortcut, it pales in comparison to the flavor and texture of made-from-scratch pasta.  To this end, when dining out, I almost never order pasta unless it's homemade, and fortunately, a few of my regular restaurants do offer this option, including Pace in Laurel Canyon and Osteria Mozza, of course.

So, after months of promising myself to bust out my newly purchased Kitchenaid stand mixer pasta attachments, I finally went through with it and made my own pasta, inspired by my recent purchase of Mario Batali's Babbo Cookbook.

The Diva & The A-Girl Check Out Osteria Mozza!

Osteria Mozza's Cannolis

As many of you divas may recall, the last time I dined at Osteria Mozza, I was taken by the food, but not so much by the front of the house. I was forced to wait almost an hour for a reservation I'd made a month in advance. So while I thought the food and wine service were impeccable, my experience with the reservation process left a bad taste in my mouth. I couldn't help but recall one of my favorite Seinfeld episodes where Jerry goes up to the car rental desk only to be told they don't have the car he reserved.

Divalicious Restaurant Reviews: Lucques, Osteria Mozza & The Bazaar

Lucques' Suckling Pig

Last weekend, the Original Diva (my mother), The Wine Lover (my father) and The Top Chef (my brother), all arrived in LA in the spirit of family and food. To kick back, have a drink, relax by the pool and meet the Adorable Monster. And I must report that this time around, he behaved himself admirably! No humping. Ok, maybe only a little. No biting. Ok, maybe a lot of biting. The Top Chef remained unconvinced, telling the puppy, "you have to earn my trust!" Let's hope that by the end of the weekend, he did just that!

Books That Are Cookin'!

Look what I just ordered from Amazon!! Based on my Top Chef Bro's advice and a trip to Osteria Mozza, I'm adding Mario Batali's Babbo cookbook to my arsenal. I can't wait until it arrives and I can start trying out some of his food!

Spaghetti all'Amatriciana with Homemade Guanciale

Divas, as promised, I'm here to blog the divalicious pasta I made for dinner the other night from my neighbor, John's, homemade guanciale (cured pork jowl that can be used like pancetta - click here to read the article I wrote about guanciale!). I've made this pasta many times - it's one of Mario Batali's favorites, a specialty at his New York joint, Babo. "all'Amatriciana" literally means that the pasta originated in the Italian town of Amatrice. I love the rich flavor of this dish, but I've only ever used pancetta when making it because I've never had access to guanciale, a popular ingredient in Italy that's rare in this country.

Diced Homemade Guanciale

So thanks to John, I had my first chance to work with the protein. The result was spectacular, lending the dish a deeper, meatier flavor than I've experienced when using pancetta. If I had to give this dish a nickname, I would call it Face Bacon Spaghetti! How can you say no to that? Instead of the traditional bucatini pasta (a thick spaghetti with a hole in the middle), I used a whole grain spelt spaghetti that worked wonderfully with the dish, and made it a tad bit healthier at the same time! I served it alongside steamed cauliflower drizzled with good olive oil and sprinkled with sea salt. We drank a lovely bottle of Ampelos Santa Rita Hills Pinot Noir, a wine I've been wanting to try, so scroll to the bottom for my tasting notes.

Domestic Diva's Spaghetti all'Amatriciana with Homemade Guanciale

1/4 lb (125 g) guanciale or pancetta, diced
2 tbsp olive oil
1 small yellow onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
pinch of chili flakes
3 cups canned tomatoes, passed through a food mill
1 lb spaghetti or bucatini (I used whole grain spelt spaghetti)
salt and pepper
grated parmesan reggiano or pecorino romano, grated
Italian parsley, chopped

Directions:

In a large sauce pan, heat the olive oil over medium and add the guanciale or pancetta, sauting until golden (about 10 minutes). Add the onion and saute until tender, about five more minutes. Add the garlic and chili flakes and saute for 1 minutes. Add the tomatoes and simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally for about 15 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste.

Meanwhile, boil a large pot of salted water. Cook the pasta to al dente and drain, reserving some of the cooking water.

Add the pasta to the sauce, tossing to combine. If dry, add a little cooking water to the mixture.

To serve, place the pasta in a bowl and top with the cheese and parsley. Enjoy!

Wine Tasting Notes: Ampelos 2005 Santa Rita Hills Pinot Noir

Diva Rating: 3 stars (out of 5 stars)

Kuzak and I have been wanting to try this wine for some time, so I picked up a bottle the other week, finally popping it open while I made the pasta. I should first confess that I'm a little bit obsessed with Santa Rita Hills pinot, having flipped head over heels for The Ojai Vineyard Santa Rita Hills I had last month. This wine, while not as explosive as The Ojai, had a lot of the same characteristics. Lovely bouquet of ripe cherries and florals, nice structure but still light on its feet. It opened up well over the course of the night, and I would drink it again in a heartbeat.

Manna from Heaven: Guanciale & Zingerman's

John & Nino's Homemade Guanciale

A wise man once said that you get back from the universe the energy you put into it, or maybe that was Oprah. I started this blog as a simple outlet for my passions in life: food, wine & the Adorable Monster. But so many people have been reading and saying the nicest things in the world. And just this week, gifts rained down on my doorstep and into my mail box like manna from heaven. I'm so blown away by the generosity of spirit that I just had to blog about it! I've always said that one of the best things about food is that it's meant to be shared with others, and this has never been more evident than this week.

The first gift came courtesy of the Adorable Monster. One of the best things about having a dog is that it's introduced us to our neighborhood in a whole new way. Since getting the Monster, I've met so many of our neighbors I never knew, but I've especially bonded with other dog owning peeps. There's Bowser, a pit bull mix, across the street, and then there's the Monster's favorite, Nino, a beautiful, furry black rescue dog that walks by our house frequently, often accompanied by one of his two owners. After weeks of small talk, I finally struck up a conversation about food with Nino's owner, John. As it turns out, we are both passionate cooks and foodies. John quickly described to me how he had an entire freezer dedicated to meat storage and that he was currently curing his own Guanciale, an unsmoked, bacon-like cut of meat made from pork jowls.

I've often read about Guanciale, an ingredient not often found in the U.S., but very popular in parts of Europe, particularly Italy. It's most well known for being the key ingredient in pasta carbonara. In the U.S. pancetta is typically used in its place, but recently Mario Batali's father has begun importing it to us (thank you Mario). I've often read about it, longing to try it, but have never had the opporunity, until this week when I opened my mail box to discover that John & Nino had generously left us a hunk of their prized, homemade Guanciale. After doing a happy dance with the Monster, I immediately snapped a photo on my phone and sent it off to my Top Chef Brother, knowing he was the only other person in my life that would appreciate my pork jowl gift, given that he regularly butchers his own pigs to make salumi. He wrote back calling guanciale "an amazing product" and urging me to make pasta with it. Trust me, I plan on it! So look for that dish coming up in the next week.

I thought my week couldn't get any better after the pig gift, but then yesterday I came home to discover a very exciting package laying on my doorstep. The label proclaimed that it heralded from Zingerman's, the best deli in the whole world, if you ask me. Just the day before, after my lunch at Clementine, I'd been pining after Zingerman's, wishing in vain for one of their world famous sandwiches. They're so good that even Gayle King ventured to Ann Arbor, MI on the Oprah show solely to eat one. I had the pleasure of dining on them frequently throughout my college years, as Kuzak, who attended college in Ann Arbor, both introduced me to Zingerman's and returned with me often. In fact, we have a wedding in Michigan in July, and I'm excited because I plan to sneak in a side trip to Zingerman's no matter how far I have to drive. It's that good.

Zingerman's Package - Reuben Sandwich Treasure Chest

Quickly, I rushed the package inside and discovered that Kuzak's brother and the Chicago Foodie had sent us a Zingerman's Reuben Sandwich kit as a thank you gift for hosting them over the weekend. This is one of the best gifts I've ever received! Shipped overnight and packed inside styrofoam with ice was: 1 loaf Jewish rye bread, corned beef, Russian dressing, coleslaw, swiss cheese, pickles, potato salad and 2 magic brownies! Also, included were instructions on how to prepare their famous sandwich. I literally can barely wait until dinner tonight (I confess that I've already eaten one of the brownies). I'll be assembling and blogging our sandwiches, so stay tuned. And for everyone looking for a great, unique gift, this fits the bill in spades!

Zingerman's Booty

Also, if you're not familiar with Zingerman's, now is the time. Check them out. Besides their sandwiches, they carry world famous artisanal products that you cannot find anywhere else. The Chicago Foodie, knowing my affinity for honey, also included a lovely specialty honey that I'm sipping my tea right now. So think you to everyone for their kindness - and gifts of food & love. I can't wait to enjoy them and to share them with you here. I'll be making Zingerman's Reubens and also Pasta Cabonara with Guanciale!

Zingerman's
422 Detroit Street
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
(888) 636-8162