Macarons; Russ Parsons' Ragu; Jonathan Gold

Guest Interview

Market Report ()

David Sanfield is the co-owner of Pit-Fire Artisan Pizza.  They have three locations around Los Angeles, with a fourth opening soon in Culver City. They use farmers market ingredients on their pizzas.  Their winter special is a pumpkin pizza with toasted pepitas, greens and fontina cheese.  They sprinkle brown butter for a decadent finish.  They sell uncooked pizza dough at their stores.

Pitfire Pumpkin Pizza

Mix together the following three cheeses:
1 oz shredded fontina cheese
1 oz shredded mozzarella
2 Tablespoons Parmesan-Reggiano

1 6-7 oz ball pizza dough* (While we can’t give away our secret dough recipe, here’s a link to a perfectly respectable crust)
1 1/2 oz brown butter
2 oz blanched red chard (or other dark leafy green) squeezed dry and chopped
4 oz well roasted butternut squash, scooped out of skin and cut into 1.5 inch chunks (squash should be rubbed in olive oil, seasoned and sprinkled with fresh sage leaves before roasting)
1 oz toasted pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
Drizzle of toasted pumpkin seed oil
Sea salt

Stretch pizza dough of your choice and spread with brown butter.  Lay half of the cheese mix.  Scatter the Swiss chard and butternut squash evenly. Lay on the other half of the cheese mix.  Scatter the pepitas.  Drizzle with pumpkin seed oil.  Bake on a pizza stone in an oven pre-heated to 500+ for 7-10 minutes or until puffy, golden brown and delicious.  Sprinkle with sea salt as needed and eat as hot as you can stand it.

Ernest Miller is a Master preserver who is at the farmers market three Wednesdays a month and at the Hollywood Farmers Market one Sunday per month.  He answers questions about canning and preserving.  Right now he's making pickled kumquats, kumquat marmalade and grenadine from fresh pomegranates.

Guest Interview

Ragu ()

(Photo: Glenn Koenig / Los Angeles Times)

Russ Parsons is the food editor at The Los Angeles Times.  He makes a slow-cooked Neapolitan style ragu with pork belly, sausage and prosciutto.  

Neapolitan-style Ragu
Servings: 6 to 8

Note: From Russ Parsons. The pork butt cooked in this recipe is not part of the final dish; it flavors the sauce as it cooks and is to be served separately.

2 lbs boneless pork butt, in 1 piece
2 tsp salt, divided, more to taste
Pepper
2 Tablespoons finely minced parsley
1 lb onions, chopped
4 cloves garlic
1/3 cup chopped pancetta
1/4 cup chopped prosciutto
1/4 cup olive oil
2 cups dry red wine
1 (6-oz) can tomato paste
1 cup crushed tomatoes or tomato puree
1/2 lb Italian sausage, crumbled
1 lb dried pasta, such as rigatoni, penne or fusilli
2 Tablespoons butter
3 Tablespoons grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, plus more on the side

1. Season the pork all over with 1 teaspoon salt and pepper to taste.

2. In a food processor, chop together parsley, onions, garlic, pancetta and prosciutto to make a very coarse paste. 

3. Heat the olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium-low heat. Add the seasoning paste and another teaspoon of salt and cook until the paste is fragrant and no more liquid appears when it is stirred, about 7 minutes.

4. Add the pork roast, cover and reduce the heat to low. Cook, turning every 15 minutes, until the meat is lightly browned and the onions have begun to color, about 1 hour.

5. Add the red wine, loosely cover and continue cooking until the wine reduces to a thick sauce, about 1 hour, stirring occasionally. If, after 1 hour and 15 minutes, the wine has not reduced sufficiently, remove the roast to a plate, increase the heat to medium-high and cook the sauce until it thickens.

6. Over low heat, stir in the tomato paste, 2 or 3 tablespoons at a time, stirring in each addition until it mixes into the sauce and darkens to a brick color. Stir in the crushed tomatoes, return the roast to the pan if previously removed, and cover and continue to cook, turning the meat every 30 minutes and stirring the sauce until the meat is tender enough to be easily pierced with a meat fork, 2 to 2 1/2 hours. If the sauce dries out too much and the meat begins to stick to the bottom of the pan, stir in a tablespoon or two of water.

7. Remove the roast to a plate and keep warm until ready to serve. Crumble the Italian sausage into the sauce and cook until the sauce is extremely dark, unctuous, shiny and thick, stirring occasionally, about another hour. (The dish can be prepared to this point and refrigerated overnight.)

8. Cook the pasta in plenty of rapidly boiling, heavily salted water. Warm the sauce if it has been refrigerated.

9. When the pasta is cooked but still slightly chewy, drain it and toss it in a bowl with the butter. Spoon over half of the sauce and toss just to coat lightly. Transfer to a serving bowl and spoon more sauce over the top. Sprinkle over the Parmigiano-Reggiano and pass more on the side.

Guest Interview

Macarons ()

Paulette Macarons

Lesley Balla is the Los Angeles editor for TastingTable.com.  French macarons are meringue sandwich cookies that come in a variety of flavors.  Many places in Los Angeles are serving these cookies including

Paulette Macarons
9466 Charleville Boulevard, Beverly Hills

Jin Patisserie
1202 Abbot Kinney Boulevard, Venice

Euro Pane
950 East Colorado Boulevard, Pasadena

Lemonade
9001 Beverly Boulevard, West Hollywood

Milk (macaron ice cream sandwiches)
7290 Beverly Boulevard, Los Angeles

Pastry chef David Lebovitz has a wonderful recipe with instructions for making macarons at home.

Guest Interview

The Lazy Ox ()

Jonathan Gold is the Pulitzer Prize winning food writer for the LA Weekly.  He recently reviewed The Lazy Ox, a new restaurant in Little Tokyo from restauranteur Josef Centeno.  Jonathan recommends the fried pigs ears.

The Lazy Ox Canteen
241 South San Pedro Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012
(213) 626-5299

Find all of Jonathan Gold's restaurant suggestions on the Good Food restaurant map.