Top 5 Favorite Sandwiches (in no particular order):

1. BLT from Stone Park in Park Slope (Renda)
2. From Holland: cucumber, peanut butter, sambal (spicy indonesian paste) (Renda)
3. Bahn Mi: We found out that Nicky’s will deliver Bahn Mi to Dumbo if we order more than $20 worth – we will try this out next week.
4. In Philly they make some really great Italian hoagies (Sarcone’s is the best, maybe?). (Holly)
5.  Chicken Tikka Kati Roll (or the potato one for vegetarians). A Kati roll is like an Indian burrito. There’s one on 39th Street, check it out when you’re in midtown. (Thanks Jody aka sandwich number one for introducing us!)

The Taking of Pelham 123 has “taken” over Dumbo!
Check out these crazy photos from my lunchtime stroll. Were the Office of Emergency Management people who gave me dirty looks real or actors?

Fake (or “picture”) police cars on John Street.

A pileup of fake police cars in the lot next to 10 Jay.

Does anyone know who this actress is? She’s not on IMDB. She looks pretty glamorous though.

Get your police uniforms! They’re in front of Jimi’s Fine Food.

I saw this truck on my way in this morning. Again, real or fake?

The Office of Emergency Management comes to John Street.

An aerial shot of the spectacle on John Street.

“Thieve’s Highway” (1949, Jules Dassin)

Nick Garcos comes home from war to find that his father has been crippled by a crooked produce distributor in San Francisco. He sets out to take revenge, but gets wrapped up in a plan to drive a truck full of Golden Delicious apples from Fresno to San Francisco, running into more than a few troubles once he gets there. Directed by later-blacklisted director Jules Dassin (“Never on Sunday,” “Topkapi”) this is another one that takes on our corrupt system, scrutinizing it at its most basic level, the selling of food.

Though you may not be in Brooklyn during your lunch hour, I’m hoping you might be willing to train or bike out here for a “10 Minute Lecture” this Thursday. We’ll be doing these lectures all summer as part of an ongoing series.

“The Price of Money”
by Lewis Lapham

National Correspondent, Harper’s Magazine
Founder, Lapham’s Quarterly

Thursday, April 24th
Come at 1:00pm
Talk at 1:15 with a Q&A to follow

At THE MELVILLE HOUSE BOOKSTORE
145 Plymouth Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201
DUMBO, at the corner of Plymouth and Pearl

A/C to High Street; F to York

Call 718-722-9204 for more info

Image: Garfieldminusgarfield

Recipe courtesy of Carl. We ate it during the thrilling conclusion of Project Runway. Everyone was very happy.

A WHOLOTTALASAGNA (VEGETARIAN)
Ingredients
1/4 cup olive oil
1 box lasagna noodles (can be more if your pan is larger or you want more starch?)
1 medium onion, diced
2 cloves garlic minced
2 cups sliced shitaki mushrooms, sliced into thin strips
1 large eggplant, diced into 1/4 in cubes
1 large carrot, shredded (optional and annoying to shred)
1/2 cup red cooking wine (a really old bottle as long as its not vinegary works fine, it doesn’t have to be good wine)
1/2 cup chopped flat leaf parsley
24 ounces canned whole tomatoes
1 1/2 cup canned tomato sauce
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 cup fresh basil (half diced / half whole leaf)
1 large 16 ounce container ricotta cheese
1 1/4 cups shredded parmesan cheese
4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1 egg

Prep:
Chop all your vegetables before cooking everything. Dice all that Parsley, Basil, carrots, mushrooms, eggplant, onion etc. Also get out 2 baking sheets (with wax paper or oiled if not non-stick) for the lasagna noodles to rest on after cooking (this is really important).

You will also need a 9 x 13 or 9 x 12 pan to cook this in. It’s a WHOLOTTALASAGNA.

Directions
1. Heat olive oil in a large skillet until shimmering.

1a. As olive oil is heating also put on a really large pot of water to boil lasagna noodles.

2. Add onion, garlic, eggplant, and mushrooms to skillet. You will cook all of this for 15 – 20 minutes, or until all ingredients are soft. Make sure the eggplant gets really well cooked, as its much tastier that way.

2a. When water in the large pot is boiling dump in all the lasagna noodles into the pot.

3. Add carrot, wine, parsley, tomato sauce, and whole tomatoes to skillet with eggplant and mushrooms. I cut up tomatoes in the can with a clean pair of scissors.

3a. Follow instructions on the box for cooking the lasagna noodles, (8 – 10 minutes). When the lasagna noodles are done, drain them and take tongs or a fork and lay them all out on the baking trays, or plates. If they stay in the colander they will stick together and you will be FUCKED. Seriously.

3b. Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

4. Add oregano, parsley, salt, pepper and a the diced fresh basil to the sauce. You can also add ‘italian seasoning’ if you are lazy. Just make sure it tastes how you like your sauce to taste and probably it should be a little bit saltier since the ricotta is pretty sweet.

5. Simmer sauce uncovered until its thick and delicious. You still want there to be some moisture, but not too much. It should take about 45 minutes to an hour in total to finish the sauce.

6. Grease the bottom of a 9 x 13″ baking dish with non-stick cooking spray, or butter if you are feeling it.

7. Sort your cheeses into bowls. Combine all of the ricotta with the the egg and a 1/2 cup of parmesan cheese. Leave the rest of the cheeses in bowls so you can layer with them.

Building the Lasagna
8. Spread about 1/4 of the sauce in the bottom of the pan. This is your base.

9. Layer 1/4 of the lasagna noodles on top of the sauce base.

10. Grab a silicone spatula and scoop 1/3 of the ricotta / egg / parmesan mixture on top of the noodles. Spread it around awkwardly. Layer remaining basil leaves on top of the cheese mixture.

11. Sprinkle 1/3 of the parmesan and 1/3 of the mozzarella on top of the ricotta mixture.

12. Now throw down 1/3rd of your chunky sauce and go back to step 9 and repeat this 2 more times.

13. You should now have a 4 layers of lasagna with a layer of sauce on top. Add the remaining noodles on top and put more sauce on top. If you have run out of sauce, grab the canned stuff you have laying around in your fridge and throw it on top.

14. Sprinkle your remaining Mozzarella and Parmesan on top of the sauce layer and cover with foil. (Some people suggest you coat the foil with more cooking spray… whatever).

15. Put it in the oven.

16. Bake for 25 minutes and then remove the foil.

17. Bake for another 25 – 30 minutes.

18. Remove from the oven and let cool for 15 minutes. It’s molten hot inside.

19. Enjoy.

Vanderbilt Ave, originally uploaded by sloatie.

]]> http://801a.info/blog/archives/454/feed 0 http://801a.info/blog/archives/443 http://801a.info/blog/archives/443#comments Wed, 26 Mar 2008 17:02:40 +0000 Holly http://801a.info/blog/archives/443

Emily shared this recipe for Wisconsin Mac n Cheese with us. We tested it out – amazing! Definitely more than 2 servings….

In order to prepare for — or perhaps offset — forthcoming financial disaster, 801a is bringing you tips to safeguard your business and savings account against the seemingly inevitable recession.

Tip #1: Cook your own meals.
Cooking your own lunch or dinner can save you up to $50 a week for one meal alone. Cooking your own lunch and dinner could save you $100 a week or more! Today’s Lunch Order will now be supplanted by the recipe of the day.
Check out this recipe for Sauteed Kale. I bet it’s almost as good as the $6 version at Egg in Williamsburg, but substantially more affordable.

It’s Restaurant Week here in the bountiful borough of Brooklyn, and so today we upped our lunch level. For a very reasonable flat fee, we took advantage of the finest restaurant floating on a barge underneath the Brooklyn Bridge (a neighborhood we lovingly refer to as DUBBO), the River Café.

Notes on living large:

• Although there is an initial shock of the fancy fancy new (men’s outfits varied between suits with pocket squares and suits without, and then Sloat and I) that quickly fades away. Although they do play opera in the entrance foyer.

• When you get up to go to the bathroom, a server suddenly materializes at your table and quickly places a cover over your food to keep it from getting cold. I can only assume the cover is made from silver, possibly platinum.

• Crumb scrapers are used to prepare the table for dessert, which frankly isn’t so fancy our servants used to do this all the time back when I was little.

Let’s break our orders down! All photographs taken (covertly, so as not to look gauche like picture-snapping peasants) with Andrew’s iPhone.

Pressman:
1 glass Merlot
Smoked Salmon with Crispy Scallops
Crispy Duck with Sweet Potato Purée

Renda:
1 glass Pinot Noir
Beef Salad
Crispy Duck with sweet potato puree

Andrew:
1 glass Iced Tea
Beef Salad without beef
Scottish Salmon

Holly:
1 glass Dolcetto
Lamb Meatballs
Scottish Salmon
1 espresso

And for dessert, we all had a medley of creme brulee, some sort of chocolate mousse, and pineapple sorbet.

Then Holly got on her motorcycle and made us all walk home.

Sweet ride, Gressley.

My conference buddy Teddy Blanks, currently employed at Winterhouse, stopped by for a visit. He didn’t bring a lunch, so we ate in front of him.