All photos by Kun KimBack in February, my friend Jason approached me with this crazy idea of starting a supper club on his back deck. Supper clubs had exploded in NYC – especially Brooklyn. But there would be a twist…we’d serve a family-style dinner on his deck and then show a movie on his projector for a “Dinner and a movie” night. And thus, Reel Tasty Brooklyn was created. At the time, there was snow on the ground and it was impossible to imagine that warm days would ever arrive, but the weeks quickly passed and the next thing we knew, it was May and our first dinner was upon us.
That first trial run meal with The Goonies seems so long ago – it’s hard to believe that it’s almost November and we just had our final Reel Tasty Brooklyn event of the season. And this one was a doozy…DeNiro…Pesci…Liotta…yep… you know it…Goodfellas.
Back at that lunch in February, Jason proclaimed that we “absolutely have to do Goodfellas”. Now I have a shaky history with mobster movies. I’ve never been a huge fan of the genre – in general, I find that with most mobster movies, I enjoy the coming of age portion (the first thirty minutes) but tend to lost interest once the main characters start taking hard-core drugs leading to their inevitable demise (the last forty-five minutes). The violence in the middle… I can give or take. Unfortunately, most gangster movies typically fall into some variation of this plot and so I don’t really watch them (a notable exception to this “mobster movie formula” is A Bronx Tale – which I love because it was all about the coming of age).
Although Goodfellas does, in fact, fall into this trap, I would never deny Jason one of his all-time favorite movies. Besides, I’ve had an on-going relationship with Goodfellas despite seeing it in its entirety merely three years ago (and, pathetically, on cable). During my senior year in college, after a night at the bars and a few slices later, my roommates and I would get home, crash on an ancient yellow couch, make Gleason cook us grilled cheese sandwiches (we ate a lot of these that year), and put Goodfellas in the VCR (yep, this was a l-o-n-g time ago). Inevitably, we would all be asleep after thirty minutes, but I always remember hearing “As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster.”
But back to Reel Tasty. Goodfellas was the perfect way to end out our dinner and a movie series. It was a little on the chilly side – perfect for a hearty Italian feast. We actually received some press through a listing in the BrooklynBased newsletter - so we had a mix of new and repeat guests to share in the festivities.
Our menu for the evening:Snacks
- Slow-roasted tomatoes with goat cheese
- Dry Italian sausage and Parmigiano-reggiano
Appetizers
- Fontina & prosciutto arancini
- Parmesan & pea arancini with spicy tomato dipping sauce
- Gorgonzola polenta with sautéed mushrooms
- Mozzarella-stuffed peppadews wrapped in prosciutto
Entrée
- Rigatoni with Anello family gravy and marscapone cheese
- Arugula salad with parmesan and lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil
- Beef and pork bracciole
- Whole roasted orata with garlic, lemon and olive
Dessert
- Frangelico hot chocolate with homemade marshmallows
- Cookie plates including: Chocolate-sandwich cookies with Nutella filling, pizzelles, pignoli cookies, almond and walnut biscotti, and pumpkin cookies with brown butter icing
- Olive oil ice cream
I may have gotten a bit ambitious in the dessert – baking five different cookies on top of the appetizers, snacks and takeaway bags of chocolate salted-caramels nearly killed me (yes, I realize I said that about the Mississippi Mud Pies from the last dinner, but I’ve cooked all day before and this was an entirely new experience…sheet pan after sheet pan in an oven that never turned off for two straight days). But, it wouldn’t have been an Italian feast without my cousin Carmela’s pignoli cookies, pizzelles and biscotti (although most of the cookies went home with the guests in bags since everyone was so stuffed from dinner and parmesan popcorn…however, the hot chocolate was quickly consumed by all) .
In the end, I could not be more thrilled that Jason and I had that lunch back in February. Reel Tasty Brooklyn has been an incredible experience – meeting new people, trying new recipes, sharing a kitchen with a fantastic partner and learning more about who I am as a cook. We’ll be taking a break for a while – after all, it was in the high 50’s by the end of Goodfellas and everyone was bundled up like they were at the Thanksgiving Day high school football game (is this just a Massachusetts thing?). Jason and I are still working on some other RTB things – like a possible indoor event and/or a cook-experience book.
And if neither of those works out, then I can always get my shinebox.
Gorgonzola Polenta with Sautéed Mushrooms
This recipe was supposed to be grilled polenta but I was using a beautiful organic red and yellow polenta from Cayuga Farms which had a different ratio of meal to stock than store-bought polenta. I actually made the recipe twice and cut the stock in half the second time as well as extending the cooking time…but it still wouldn’t solidify enough to be grilled or sautéed. So I made a game-time decision to just serve the polenta in a bowl topped with the sautéed mushrooms. And it worked out just as well.
Gorgonzola Polenta
4 cups chicken stock
2 sprigs of fresh thyme
1 large garlic clove – peeled and crushed
1 cup polenta (not instant)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
¼ pound gorgonzola - crumbled loosely
Sautéed Mushrooms
1 pound mixed mushrooms – I used a mix of cremini, shiitake and white button mushrooms – sliced
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 teaspoon soy sauce
2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
1 wedge fresh lemon
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Gorgonzola Polenta: In a heavy saucepan, bring chicken stock, thyme sprigs and garlic clove to a boil. Gradually whisk in polenta in a thin stream. Cook over moderately low heat (barely boiling), stirring constantly. This will become very thick and when it bubbles, it may spatter – so a grease spatter guard is recommended (I still have a polenta burn on my arm).
Cooking time will be around 30-40 minutes. If it looks too dry, add a little more stock. When finished, remove from heat and stir in butter, gorgonzola and salt and pepper to taste. Keep covered until ready to serve. To reheat, cook over low heat with a little more stock to ensure a smooth and lumpless texture.
Sautéed Mushrooms: Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large sauté pan over moderately high heat. Add half of the sliced mushrooms (depending on the size of the pan, you may need to do more than two batches).
Cook, tossing occasionally, until water is removed from mushrooms. Season with salt and pepper. Continue cooking until liquid is evaporated. Mushrooms should be tender but a little crispy on the outside. Remove mushrooms and set aside.
Repeat with remaining mushrooms.
Once all mushrooms are cooked, place back in the pan on moderate heat. Add butter, thyme and soy sauce and toss until combined. Check for seasoning.
Put polenta into serving bowl and top with sautéed mushrooms. Sprinkle fresh parsley on top.
Serves 4.
