RoccoDiSpirito.com

Grab the Good Life with Rocco DiSpirito

August 11, 2005 - August 11, 2005

WOR 8/11/05

It's Good Life time on Food Talk! It's Thursday and we have a MONSTER show lined up for you today! Today we have Steve Schrippa aka Bobby "Baccala" Bacalari, actor on The Soprano's and author on the show! We are going to do the Def Chef Taste Test with him later so stay tuned!

Plus your calls at 800-321-0710!

E-mail from a listener: Is a mix between white and red clam sauce called Macchiato?
Rocco: Macchiato is a sicilian dish that is a red sea food sauce. So I don't agree a mix of red and white clam sauce is called Macchiato! But,
a good recipe for Macchiato always includes a good liquor and natural juices. I like to use Lobster meat or Lobster carcasses for flavor. You chop them up, sautee them and deglaze them with something nice: White wine, garlic olive oil, red pepper flakes and parsley, Then I mix it with a tomato sauce/red sauce and serve it with a linguini or think spaghetti. You can use a variety of sea food like clams, lobster, calamari, scallops, muscles-whatever works for you. You can schuck the clams and puree them so that is mixes with the sauce well and coast the pasta. The brown some garlic, and deglaze the suateed clam with white wine. Try it out and enjoy!

Jane in Connecticut: I need a good caterer in Connecticut? Any ideas?
Rocco: Absolutely! Try our friend Debbie!

Aux Delices - Foods by Debra Ponzek
23 Acosta Street
Stamford, CT 06905
203-326-4540

or

CreativeEdgeParties.com
Chef - Bobby Spiegal
212-741-3000

Jane: Thanks so much Rocco!

Eva in Suffern NY: Hey Rocco, hey how are you!
Rocco: Hey is for horses Eva!
Eva: haha- looking for a great greek salad recipe.
Rocco: It's very easy: you need good Feta cheese, that is the key. You need it in the liquid, it makes it good. The Feta should crumble and be creamy. The crumbly Greek Feta is my favorite. You need tomatos, cucumbers, onions, a little oregano, lemon juice, olive oil and Feta Cheese to make a great Greek Salad! You can add red onions or cilantro to mix it up a bit. The most important thing that everything is diced or chopped the same size. It makes sure every spoonful or fork full has an even mix of all the vegetables. A quarter cucumbers, quarter onions and half tomatos. Then crumble about half Feta cheese over the plate.

Maria from Long Island: Let's talk black truffles - what can I do with them?
Rocco: I love Truffles - I am a huge aficionado of Truffles, white and black. It's an ethereal food.
Maria: What about white truffles?
Rocco: Well white truffles can be used for pasta and risotto, black truffles tend to need to be cooked. It is because they are slightly denser. Are they preserved?
Maria: Yes they are.
Rocco: Here's what you should do, make a risotto. Go to www.Dartagnan.com and get Truffle butter to really amp it up. Make some risotto or fettucine. Chop up the truffle as small as you can to distribute the flavor and toss it with your pasta or risotto. One preserved truffle will be only be enough for two people.
Maria: can we get truffles here?
Rocco: Well we do make them here but they are not really that good - it is a combination of air and soil that makes the truffle what it is. They are making them in Oregon, but they really are not worth it.

Lori from Long Island: I make Pesto sauce by using fresh basil, 2 cups of garlic chopped and a quarter cup of oil. When I add it to my pasta it clumps up-what am I doing wrong?
Rocco: How do you apply it to the pasta?
Lori: I drain and then add the pesto to my pasta.
Rocco: When it clumps up does it look like clumped cheese?
Lori: No - not really. But I do add Parmesian cheese.
Rocco: Well I'm not sure what is doing it, I think that you should try and add a little more olive oil. Make it in a seperate bowl because if you add everything in the same bowl the heat from the pasta pan might be cooking the pesto and adding to it clumping up. Maybe even use less Parmesian cheese. Good luck!

I'd like to welcome Steve Schrippa of the Sopranos to the show!
Rocco: What's going on Steve!
Steve Schrippa: Hey Rocco how are ya! Noe Rocco you're wearing a Boston Red Sox hat, that's a no no.
Rocco: I really only wear that hat cause I like the way it looks.
Steve: Ok - that's good, no Red Sox fans here.
Rocco: Well I don't really care for the Yankees either. You know where I'm from, I am from Queens.
Steve: You're a Mets fan? Oh God that's worse than Boston.
Rocco: So you're from Brooklyn?
Steve: I grew up in Bensonhurst in the 60's and 70's and I went to school there. I love the neighborhood and actually I had dinner
at Il Cortile the other night.
Rocco: It's the best place in Little Italy.
Steve: I like your picks, you know I always ask you where I should eat.
Rocco: I like Bar Pitty. Where else?
Steve: Jour Joni's and Gusto on Perry Street are ones I really like and try to eat at when I'm here.

Bar Pitti
268 Sixth Ave btwn Bleecker and Houston sts, Greenwich Village
Phone 212-982-3300

Gusto Ristorant
60 Greenwich Ave., at Perry St.;
212-924-8000

Greg from Seacliff Long Island: What did your Grandma used to make you when you were a kid?
Steve: My Grandma used to make snails in a red sauce and I used to pick them out of the shells with a safety pin and eat them, right out of the pot, those snails were delicious.
Greg: Hey Steve you are the best man, great actor thank you!
Steve: You are the best!

Rosalinda from New Jersey: I need a great place in Coney Island to eat food!
Steve: How about Gargiulios? I used to eat there all the time - the food is delicious! My father used to take me there as a kid.

Gargiulios
2911 W 15th St, Brooklyn,
718-266-4891

Rosalinda: Thanks. One more question: where can I get stuffed Zucchini Flowers?
Steve: Go to Gusto! They have stuffed Zucchini Flowers - so delicious!
Rocco: Another place is Bar American, they have great stuffed Zucchini Flowers.
Steve: They are hard to make though?
Rocco: Not too hard-you can make them.
Steve: Nah you're a great chef I'm an idiot that's why it seems easy ahahaha
Rocco: Hey just because I'm a chef doesn't preclude me from being an idiot!
Steve: haha!
Rocco: Want to do some Trivia here Steve?
Steve: Sure!
Rocco: In Goodfellas, what did Spider serve Tommy Devito when he was killed?
Steve: Uh-Espresso?
Rocco: Yes! Next: It was claimed that at the time the real life gangster Jimmy Burke was so happy to have Robert De Niro play him that he phoned him from prison to give him a few pointers. Author/screenwriter Nicholas Pileggi denies this, saying De Niro and Burke had never spoken, but admitting that there were men around the set all the time who had known all of the principal characters very well.
Steve: I believe that was true!
Rocco: YES!
Steve: I can tell yuo a funny story about Deniro. I had one line in the movie Casino. So I worked with Pesci who is beautiful guy and Deniro for about 16 hours. So, about two eyars ago, I am at Katie Couric's charity dinner and we are up in a suite in a very small group. So i see Deniro and say "I know you don't remember me but I was in that scene with you in Casino." He says "Didn't you deliver food to us on the set?" and I said "uh no" and he said "are you SURE you didn't deliver us food?" and I said "no and I gotta go."
Rocco: Well at least he remembered you!
Steve: yeah yeah...I deliver food right.
Rocco: What other kinds of jobs have you done?
Steve: I was the entertainment director in las Vegas at the Riveira.
Rocco: Wow - that is amazing.

Paula from New York: Hey how U doin?
Rocco: No no, how U doin'?
Steve: How U doing Paula?
Paula: No no - how U doin! Let's talk about the snails in the sauce that your Grandma used to make.
Rocco: Get fresh snails from Arthur Avenue or in China Town and the secret is to starve them then feed them. Put basil in with them and leave them in the fridge for about two days. All the slime will come out of them, and then you are supposed to rinse them. Put them in a big pot and boil them. Then throw away that water and you are ready to cook them. Use a light tomato sauce to cook them in and don't remove them from the shells. It's a lot of work and they will be just as good as if you use a toothpick and pick them out. There are these marine snails called periwinkles that cook much faster if you want to try them.

Steve Soprano from Bayonne New Jersey: I'm Grabbing the Good Life here in New Jersey.
Rocco: You related to the Soprano's on TV?
Steve: Nah but I have a question: are the Soprano's returning to film here in Bayonne Steve?
Steve: You know I really don't know. I haven't been there - I would imagine we would be.
Rocco: You're currently shooting season...
Steve: Season 6 and I'm still alive.
Rocco: Speaking of the Sopranos, here is another trivia question: In the Sopranos, the very last episode Bobby Baccala Bacalari kills everyone and opens an Italian American Hot Dog stand?
Steve: Oh yeah that would be great! And then Andrea comes back and I marry her!
Rocco: Great! Ok it is time for the Def Chef Food Test! We are going to blind fold you and have you try these two items: Here is the first taste test: The Wine

Wine 1: Doobie Red Wine
Wine 2: Bartles and James Exotic Berry

Steve: Um...I have to say the first one!
Rocco: Very good! You chose Doobie Red Wine over Bartles and James Exotic Berry Wine Cooler!

Taste test number two: Food.
Food 1: Mommas Meatballs
Food 2: Chef Boy R Dee Meatballs

Steve: Oh God number two tastes like Gravy Train Dog food, number one was great what was it?
Rocco: Steve you chose Mommas Meatballs over Chef Boy R Dee! Thanks for playing Steve!

Rocco: Now there was an incident that you said you didn't like my Mom's Meatballs. So here is Momma!
Steve: I didn;t like them but I like them now.
Momma: haha-Steve!
Steve: No no, I take it back Momma, I LOVE your meatballs!
Momma: You didn't know better then Momma but Rocco showed me the error of my ways!
Steve: Thanks Momma!
Rocco: Steve thank you so much for being here and Good Luck with the Sopranos!
Steve: Thanks so much Roc!