by Guy Fieri
½ cup frozen sweet peas, thawed
Rice
46 ounces (5¾ cups) low-sodium chicken or beef stock
1 pound arborio rice
1 teaspoon butter
¾ teaspoon ground saffron
¾ cup grated Parmesan cheese
Freshly ground black pepper
Salt
IT’S GONNA BE A GREAT DAY WHEN THE GIFT IS BIGGER THAN YOU!
Assembly and cooking
Vegetable oil, for frying
1 cup all-purpose flour
1¼ cups warm water
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 cups fine unseasoned dried bread crumbs
About 2 ounces very fresh mozzarella cut into 1-inch cubes, at room temperature
Hot marinara sauce, for serving
1. FOR THE MEAT SAUCE: Heat the olive oil in a medium skillet over medium heat and sauté the celery, carrot, and onion, stirring occasionally, until the onion is translucent. Add the ground beef and stir with a wooden spoon to break down any chunks; the beef should be as fine as possible. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
2. Stir in the tomato paste and water. Once the mixture begins to simmer, turn the heat to low, cover, and cook for 30 minutes. If the mixture begins to stick, add a touch more water. Remove from the heat and add the peas. Cool to room temperature.
3. FOR THE RICE: Bring the stock to a boil in a medium pot over medium heat. Add the rice, butter, and saffron and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the liquid is absorbed and the rice is tender but al dente, about 18 minutes. Stir in the cheese and pepper, taste, and add salt if necessary. Spread the rice on a rimmed baking sheet and cool to room temperature.
4. TO ASSEMBLE AND COOK: Heat the oil in a deep-fryer or large pot until a deep-fry thermometer reads 330°F. Whisk the flour, water, and a pinch of salt and pepper in a deep bowl to make a smooth batter. Put the bread crumbs in a shallow dish.
5. Divide the rice into 8 portions. Flatten one in your palm while forming an indent in the middle. Place about 3 tablespoons of meat sauce and a mozzarella cube in the indentation. Mold the rice up around the filling. Once all the arancini are formed, dip each into batter and then coat in bread crumbs. Fry the rice balls until golden brown, about 11 minutes.
6. To serve, ladle some hot marinara sauce on a plate, and top with an arancini.
NORTHEAST AND MID-ATLANTIC
G & A RESTAURANT
EST. 1927 HOME OF OLD-SCHOOL CONEY ISLAND HOT DOGS
In 1927 Greek immigrants by the name of Gregory and Alex Diacumacos opened a hot dog stand in Baltimore, serving Coney Island–style dogs with their own chili sauce recipe. Now, it was a hit—I mean a big hit—and eighty-two years later it still is.
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TRACK IT DOWN
3802 Eastern Avenue
Baltimore, Maryland 21224
410-276-9422
www.gandarestaurant.com
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It all began when owner Andy Farantos’ great-uncle Gregory partnered up with his cousin Alex and started a tradition. Andy’s father, James, took it over in 1966 with his brother, and then Andy’s turn came in 1988. They’ve kept all the old recipes and all the crowds packing in, too.
They’ve got the old chili sauce going on the dogs. Andy starts with fresh ground beef and water, adds paprika, celery salt, and chili powder, and mixes it all up in a big pot while standing on milk crates for leverage. He brings it to a hard boil, then simmers it for about two and a half hours. It’s a nice and juicy dog with a crazy meat concoction on top. The chopped white onions are perfect; the bun’s nice and steamed—and it costs a dollar ninety. If I were a college student I could live there.
OWNER’S NOTE: Enjoy all your cooking endeavors and follow Guy around the country. When it comes to old-school eats… Guy is the goods!—Andy Farantos
They’ve got quite a verbal shorthand system going for ordering: they’ll be yelling it out across the room and Andy’s making it right then, no writing it down. For example, three up means three with everything (which is chili, onions, and mustard: that’s standard). If you hear “two hold the chili,” he’s making two with onion and mustard. He lines up twelve dogs along his arm and has them dressed in ten seconds flat. They serve fresh-cut fries with homemade gravy. Nothing wrong with that at all!
He also makes sliders starting with clarified butter, hits them with cheese, and uses onion water for steam. And the Coney Island burger is like a meatloaf, with onions, eggs, garlic, Worcestershire sauce, bread crumbs, salt, and pepper; he breads the patties with cracker meal, fries them up, and lets them sit overnight to tighten up. He steams them and tops them with onion and paprika before serving. Hit those with some onion and chili sauce on a bun and it’s rockin’.
QUIZ
Andy says he’s got three up, five hold the onion, two hold the chili. What does that mean? (See answer below.)
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[GUY ASIDE]
I didn’t know about Coney Island dogs until my father-in-law, Bob, took me to a place in Providence, Rhode Island, for a hot wiener with meat sauce. Since then, you know I’m in.
This restaurant is another Baltimore gem. Andy works his butt off—I mean, the dude works hard, six days a week, sixteen hours a day. Anytime I go into a place and see people working hard it’s a natural attraction to me; I’ve come to the right place. He says he wants to keep it a family environment; he has a liquor license, but you can’t have more than two beers per meal, even though the greatest margin in the restaurant biz is booze.
It was funny—at G & A we were finally able to finish the giant hamburger cake Duff Goldman and his team had made for us on Ace of Cakes when we visited Charm City Cakes here in Baltimore. We’d been hauling this cake around with us from location to location!
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MAD “DOGS UP DA ARM” SKILLS…
Old-School G & A Sliders
ADAPTED FROM A RECIPE COURTESY OF ANDY FARANTOS OF G & A RESTAURANT
Note from Andy: You know, this was Guy’s favorite item when he gave us a visit. It seems very easy at first, and really it is. The keys are 80/20 ground beef (which is 80 percent lean), the rolls, and the grill. Being from a little village of Sparta, Greece, our main source of cooking, without a doubt, was Grandfather’s brick oven. The oven was fueled by charcoal and dry wood collected in the mountains of his olive fields. Here we use a seventy-five-year-old cast-iron griddle. We clean it with butter and a grill screen. This preserves the flavor in the cast iron. The difference is in the taste…quite noticeable.
MAKES 8 BURGERS
1 large Spanish or white onion, grated or chopped fine in a food processor
1½ pounds 80/20 ground beef, at room temperature
¼ cup clarified or melted butter
Fine sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
8 slices American cheese
8 mini burger rolls, buttered and lightly toasted
Ketchup, mustard, pickle slices, and any other condiments and garnishes you prefer
1. Wrap the grated onion in damp cheesecloth and wring out as much liquid as you can into a small bowl. Add about ¼ cup water and set aside. Discard the solids.
2. Preheat a griddle or cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Portion the ground beef into 8 balls. Do not ball up tight. Pat the balls loosely to avoid pushing the fat out of the meat. This will allow all the natural flavor to be absorbed into the meat as it cooks.
3. Pour a few tablespoons of clarified butter onto the griddle. Spread it evenly with a spatula. Lightly sprinkle the burgers with salt and pepper. Cook the burgers to order—we prefer medium. The trick here is to sear the ground beef on both sides, about 1 minute on each side, to lock in the juices. Then move the patties to indirect heat, or turn the heat down, if you want them cooked more.
4. Top the burgers with American cheese. Pour a little bit of onion juice around the burgers; the steam will melt the cheese into the meat. This truly makes the diff
erence in the taste. Put the burgers on the buns and add your favorite condiments.
Fresh-cut Fries
ADAPTED FROM A RECIPE COURTESY OF ANDY FARANTOS OF G & A RESTAURANT
Note from Andy: My family used vegetable oil and a single-propane-tank stove with one eye to make our French fries. Although we harvested the best olive oil in the world in Greece, vegetable oil is our preference for fried potatoes. There’s nothing that complements good ole diner food better than fresh-cut fries. I should know because we go through five hundred pounds a day. A great option would be to top them off with hearty beef gravy, which is also homemade.
MAKES 4 SERVINGS
5 large Idaho potatoes
Water
Kosher salt
Vegetable oil, for frying
1. Peel the potatoes, leaving on thin strips of skin. Cut the potatoes in half lengthwise, then turn them flat and slice into ½-inch-thick slices. Turn the slices to a flat side and cut into ½-inch-thick fries. Soak the fries in salty water until you are ready to fry.
2. Fill a pot one-third of the way with vegetable oil and heat to 350°F. Be careful not to add more oil or the pot will overflow and cause a kitchen disaster.
3. When you’re ready to fry the potatoes, drain them in a colander and blot off excess water so the cut fries are as dry as possible. Fry the potatoes in batches; as far as doneness, this is your preference. Fry for 5 minutes for lightly fried, and up to 8 for well done. Drain the fries and sprinkle immediately with salt.
“FOLLOW ME IN HERE. YOU’LL SEE WHY I’M SMILIN’.”
Rice Pudding
ADAPTED FROM A RECIPE COURTESY OF ANDY FARANTOS OF G & A RESTAURANT
Andy says, “Please remember, the constant stir is not optional. It’s imperative. Just take your time and enjoy the feeling of good old-school homemade cooking. Nothing compares to that…”
MAKES 8 SERVINGS
1½ cups sugar
3 large egg yolks
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 quart (4 cups) whole milk, divided, plus a bit more as needed
½ cup medium-grain white rice
Ground cinnamon, for garnish
1. Put the sugar, egg yolks, vanilla extract, and ½ cup of the milk in a mixing bowl. Mix old-school style with a whisk—no electric mixers, please.
2. Put the rice and the remaining 3½ cups of the milk in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat and simmer, stirring frequently, until the rice is almost cooked, about 10 minutes.
3. Give one more brisk beating to the milk and egg yolk mixture and then pour it slowly into the hot milk while vigorously whisking. Bring back to a simmer, whisking the whole time, until thickened, about 5 minutes. The custard will thicken as it cools; you can add a little extra milk now if you think you want it thinner. (Alternatively, Andy’s method to thin it is to gradually add a few ice chips a little at a time, while vigorously stirring—do not use ice cubes or too many ice chips, as the sauce can break or become too liquid. When it looks like the consistency of a cream of broccoli soup, he says you know you’re done.)
4. Grab a ladle and spoon the pudding into 8 serving dishes. Sprinkle cinnamon over the tops and serve warm or chilled.
NORTHEAST AND MID-ATLANTIC
KELLY’S DINER
EST. 1996 WHERE THE OLDIES ARE NEW AND THE WAITRESSES ARE WITTY
It’s pretty amazing, but all over the country places like this one in Somerville, Massachusetts, are booming again fifty or sixty years after serving their very first meals. The all-American classics are as popular as ever, or even more so.
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TRACK IT DOWN
674 Broadway
Somerville, Massachusetts 02144
617-623-8102
www.kellysdiner.net
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Diners are places where you just want to hang out, soaking up that classic waitress attitude. As waitress Marion Birch says, she can say almost anything to the customers because they come in expecting that. And there’s nothing better than homemade favorites that won’t break the bank. For owner Jay Holmes, the diner is the perfect fulfillment of a childhood dream. As a kid he and his dad were obsessed. His dad had a Pepperidge Farm cookie route, and he’d wake Jay up early in the morning to ride with him. When it came to lunchtime they’d always find a different diner to go to. They’d talk about how it would be great to own a diner one day. So when this place became available, Jay and his dad went to take a look. By then it wasn’t even a restaurant anymore—it was a tree nursery in Newcastle, Delaware. They practically couldn’t see it through all the trees, but his dad had a good imagination and Jay was able to locate the walk-in, so they shipped it to Somerville and restored it, and more than thirteen years later it seems as if the corner it sits on was made for it. And the food is classic and fresh. They go through 150 dozen eggs a day, from crabmeat eggs Benny on down. Jay’s corned beef hash is made the way his grandfather did it, and it’s the bomb.
But Jay’s not shy about inventing things with new twists, like meatloaf topped off and baked with a mushroom Alfredo sauce. That’s some meatloaf with a plus. He does what the locals love, like Portuguese sausage and even a lobster sandwich. You see, he calls up his fish guy, Joe (not every diner has a fish guy Joe), and gets a deal on culls (one-claw lobsters) so he can make the sandwich at a diner-friendly price. See Lobster Sandwich for the recipe—fresh as can be. Keeping prices down is part of being a real neighborhood diner, and this really is the neighborhood place. But don’t try to come for dinner; they’re only open for breakfast and lunch. When you’re sitting in the middle of Kelly’s, it’s tough to remember the diner hasn’t been here forever.
HA HA HA, HE’LL NEVER BE ABLE TO EAT ALL OF THIS.
ONE OF THE FOUNDING FATHER JOINTS OF TRIPLE D.
Lobster Sandwich
ADAPTED FROM A RECIPE COURTESY OF JAY HOLMES OF KELLY’S DINER
Jay buys the one-claw lobsters, known as culls, because they’re cheaper than the two-fisted. If you can’t find them, you’ll just have extra meat for these well-stuffed rolls. (Or you can make two.) This is so simply made, but it blows your mind.
MAKES 1 SANDWICH
2 (1¼-pound) one-claw, hard-shell lobsters
1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
Large pinch of celery salt
Large pinch of white pepper
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
Romaine lettuce leaf
1 top-split hot dog bun, lightly buttered and toasted on a griddle
Chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves, for garnish
1. In a large pot, bring at least 1 gallon plus 1 quart (20 cups) water to a boil over high heat. Plunge in the lobsters, cover the pot, reduce the heat, and simmer for 6 to 7 minutes, depending on the size of the lobsters. Remove the lobsters with tongs and set them on rimmed baking sheets to cool. When they are cooled to room temperature, remove the meat from the claws and tails and rip it into large chunks (I do this with my hands; I don’t chop it).
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[GUY ASIDE]
Back when we were filming the original show—a one-hour special—we went all around the country. I had limited time, and David Page was flying us all around to shoot different areas. Every time we’d go to shoot at a new location he’d have contacted somebody to drive a different car; as you may recall, that’s when he learned that I’m a Chevy man. So this is where we got to meet the red 1967 that we currently use on the show: in Somerville, Massachusetts. Later on for my buddy Steve’s birthday we flew around for a few days to different places, and this is one of the places I took him. Wow, these cats are busy.
I’d like to throw a big shout-out to one of my diner favorites, a special character and one of the coolest waitresses in the world: Joanie Batzek. Whazzup, Joanie?
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2. Sprinkle the lemon juice, celery salt, and white pepper over the lobster. Fold in just enough mayonnaise to coat the meat and hold it together—not a lot. Put the le
ttuce leaf in the bun and top with the lobster mixture. Sprinkle parsley on top to garnish.
NORTHEAST AND MID-ATLANTIC
MIKE’S CITY DINER
EST. 1995 DINER NIRVANA IN THE SOUTH END
When I think of Boston I think of the Tea Party; I think of the Sox, of course; and now I think of a place called Mike’s City Diner. It’s not because the owner’s an immigrant living the American dream or because President Clinton has eaten here; it’s because of the way they’re cranking out an American favorite: turkey.
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TRACK IT DOWN
1714 Washington Street
Boston, Massachusetts 02118
617-267-9393
www.mikescitydiner.com
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They’re doing up and serving up four home-cooked turkeys a day here: the all-American meal from a guy who came to the states at age eight from Lebanon. Jay Hajj started working in the food business as a dishwasher in his teens, then worked his way up. He bought this place fourteen years ago and left the original name but got right to work on his own menu, filled with fresh, homemade local favorites. When he tried his hand at turkey it was an instant hit. He says it kinda happened by accident: that he had no place to put the turkeys but on top of the steamer, and because it was an open kitchen it grew and got out of control. People couldn’t believe their eyes—fresh-made turkey on the bone. He’s got platters, sandwiches, turkey salad, turkey meatloaf, all made fresh every day, Jay’s way.
