Grab the Good Life with Rocco DiSpirito
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December 13, 2005 - WOR 12/13/05
WOR 12/13/05
***IMPORTANT***
Rocco's Cookware has RETURNED to QVC! Please go to:
ROCCO'S KITCHEN
Grab The Good Life everyone! Today, New York City food "guru", Ed Levine, will be your host. We have a great show lined up: Susan Spungen with her new book Recipes is on the show!
And YOU at 800-321-0710! The show rocks with you so give a call!
Ed Levin: Hi everyone, I am Ed Levine, Author of "Pizza Slice of Heaven", filling in for my friend, Rocco. I just went to Anthony's, this new pizza place in Park Slope – Exceptional! Exceptional pizza. Nick Angelis just opened it. Beautiful Neopolitan style pies. Do you guys know I have a food "blog"? It's at Edlevine.blogspot.com and it has been helping me. I called one of the entries in the "blog" the "Fat Food Writer's Blues". Now our guest today is Susan Spungen. And if anyone needs tips on how to stay in shape while getting through the holidays, give me a call. I'm sure Susan Spungen is going to have some tips for us as well. I've known Susan for a while and she worked for Martha Stewart for a long time. Now before I bring Susan on, I want to remind you all about the WOR Christmas Contest. Later on in the show the WOR sleigh bells will ring and the 7th caller at 212-732-4WOR will celebrate the holidays in style with $250 worth of instant scratch-off tickets, courtesy of the New Jersey Lottery.
Now, I've known Susan Spungen for at least 10 years and when I first met her, she was the recipe 'guru' for Martha Stewart Living Magazine.
Susan Spungen: Yes, I was known as food editor, a/k/a 'queen of food'.
Ed: Exactly. And Susan has a new book out, "Recipes, A Collection For The Modern Cook", and may I say it's one of the most beautiful books that has come out in a long time. The photography is stunning. There is more to read in this book than there is in most cookbooks.
Susan: Well thank you.
Ed: But in reading the book, I never realized that you have a background in art, and that's why the food you make for the book is so beautiful. And you say in the book that presentation is an important part of even every-day food.
Susan: Yes, absolutely.
Ed: So I want to talk a little bit about your art background. And boy, the recipes sounded great, and most of them the home cook can make.
Susan: Yes, and there are some great party dishes in there as well. And despite the work, the payoff is worth it.
Ed: Yes. So tell us, you were involved with Martha Stewart Living for a long time but you were also involved with art.
Susan: That's right, I took a year off and worked in a restaurant first, mostly because I wasn't sure where I wanted to go to school or what I wanted to do.
Ed: And you grew up in Philadelphia.
Susan: Yes, and I really had my first exposure to food in that year between high school and college. And I worked at a place called the "Commissary", which was well-known but is no longer there. And then I went to art school after that, the Philadelphia College of Art which is now called University of the Arts. I studied Fine Arts and became a print-making major – actually, I didn't quite finish school and left in the middle of my junior year. I thought of writing a book called "the college dropout's guide to success". But I like art and never really thought about doing anything else when I was a kid.
Ed: And then you basically became a self-taught cook.
Susan: And there's no shame in being a self-taught cook. I mean, working in restaurants 'is' cooking school and working with chefs who have gone to cooking school helps. I also read a lot of cookbooks every night, especially when I was working.
Ed: Right. And then you became a pastry chef.
Susan: Yes, but that was sort of my "big time" job since I also worked in retail food and catering and then I took the pastry chef job at Coco Pazzo in 1990 when the restaurant opened. And that was great fun.
Ed: Tell me how you hooked up with Martha Stewart.
Susan: It's a short story. I basically became interested in food styling before I worked at Coco Pazzo and I worked a little bit with the magazine before I took that job. And I wanted to become a food stylist, combining my art and visual skills with my cooking skills and tried something that seemed interesting to me. And then I was out one night at a party and I met a woman there who was and still is Martha's publicist. And I started bending her ear about the business and publishing, asking her lots of questions. Then actually a year later she called me and said Martha was starting a magazine and was looking for good food people and did I want to meet her. And that's really how it started.
Ed: Okay Susan. I have to take a few phone calls since Josh has been waiting very patiently to talk to us about filet of fish
Josh: Hi Mr. Levine, Hi Susan. I have about ½ lb. of filet and all I have is a small toaster oven, so what can I do with it?
Susan: Ok Josh. I'd probably wrap it up in foil with a few herbs, maybe some lemon zest, salt and pepper, fold the foil over and cook it that way because I'm not sure hot it would do with direct heat. You could also try just doing the top brown too and putting some bread crumbs on top. I really think a toaster oven is a great way to cook, especially in dorms and places like that.
Josh: Thanks. And one more thing. Cooking fascinates me and I was wondering if there is one simple book that would teach me how to cook the basics.
Ed: Well first of all, I think there's one book Susan would recommend, "Recipes, A Collection For The Modern Cook". But seriously, Susan's book is actually a great primer. She talks about the implements you will need to get started and I actually think it would be a pretty good book for that. Traditionally, you could certainly buy "The Joy of Cooking" but actually, Susan's book would lend itself to somebody just starting out to cook.
Susan: I definitely think so, and I definitely had the novice cook in mind when I did this book. I mean, the Joy of Cooking is a great reference but it's not going to really help you out with what to make if you're having friends over, it's almost too dense…
Ed: It's overwhelming…but Susan's book is more specific. Thanks Josh and good luck. Let's go to Carol on Long Island…
Carol: Hi. I'm wondering if Susan has a recipe for chicken for a party crowd of about 20 people.
Susan: How about the chicken wrapped with panchetta baked in a big sheet pan. That would be great because you could get it all done ahead of time. I do the recipe in the book with what I call 'lemon fries' – they're really fried potatoes with a little bit of lemon juice squeezed over them.
Carol: Thanks.
Ed: Okay, seems we have a winner. Kevin of Middle Village, New York has just one $250 in instant scratch-off tickets courtesy of the New Jersey Lottery and WOR.
Kevin: That's fantastic. Thank you everybody. You are the pizza king Ed.
Ed: Why thank you. Where do you eat pizza in Middle Village?
Kevin: Well, there's Rosa's on Metropolitan Avenue.
Ed: Oh yes, I love Rosa's. Congratulations again Kevin.
Mike: Ed, you know I was born in Middle Village. And I used to go to Rosa's all the time.
Ed: Are you guys familiar with Adrienne's three blocks from here? They have thin-crusted Sicilian pizza -- excellent. It's on old Stone Street. Now Susan, I think everyone wants to know – how do you go about getting a cookbook published? What was your path?
Susan: Well it was something I've always wanted to do and I was exposed to the "in's and outs" of publishing…we worked on a lot of books when I was at Martha Stewart Living. So I had a lot of contacts in publishing. But really what you have to do for anyone who wants to publish a cookbook is to find an agent who will represent you rather than to pitch a publisher directly.
Ed: Well agents will also tease the idea out of you and figure out what is sellable. Cookbook publishing is multi-platform selling. You know someone like Rocco who had a television show and now has this show – cookbook publishers really care about that kind of thing. And you did a general cookbook – this is a fundamental cookbook. Publishers care about two things – whether the book will be good and there is a coherent way for it to be organized, but they want to figure out 'how do you sell this person?'. I mean, you were the food editor at Martha Stewart Living and that's a pretty strong sales pitch.
Okay, let's take a call. We have Mikey in Brooklyn.
Mikey: Hi Susan and Ed. You've got to check out a place in Brooklyn – her name is Lucy, she's a vendor, and she does the sausage and pepper heroes throughout the five boroughs, plus Jersey, during the summer. She's on 18th Avenue and 70th Street between 69th and 70th. She just opened up a pizzeria. And she makes a personal pizza and it's like $8.00. It'll knock your socks off. She also has all kinds of slices there too. I also wanted to ask – I have some pork cutlets and instead of breading them, can I sauté them in a lemon sauce or something? I'm doing it in a toaster oven, it's a big one and I can broil or bake.
Susan: Well, you can't really sauté in a toaster oven. First, use the pan but don't line it with foil. Broil them with a little oil or butter and season the pork cutlets first, then turn them and take them out when they're done. And then you can sort of de-glaze that pan – squeeze some lemon or a little white wine in the pan and then a little butter, put it back in the toaster oven for a minute or just scrape it around and you'll get a little bit of brown sauce. And then pour that over the pork.
Mikey: That sounds good. Thank you very much Sue, I'm going to do that. Oh Ed, can I ask you – I love the pizza over on 11th Street and Sixth Avenue, Ray's Famous…
Ed: I've got to tell you Mikey, you and I disagree on Ray's Famous. I just think there's way too much cheese…
Susan: The one by Bleecker and Sixth though I think is good – Joe's.
Ed: I'm not a big Ray's fan. There are a lot of good slice places – I would go to the Ray's on Prince Street between Mott and Mulberry and see what you think Mikey. Thanks Mikey. So let's talk to Becky – you want to talk Bronx pizza. Well you know, Susan has a pizza recipe in the book.
Becky: Hi. I don't want Bronx pizza but I live in the northeast Bronx and I'd like to know if you can recommend a place in Pelham, Pelham Manor, New Rochelle or lower Westchester.
Ed: Okay. Sal's in downtown Mamaroneck, and it's a very solid New York style slice place, probably my favorite one. And then another one in Pelham, a pizzeria that was in an old ice cream place…I'll try to get the name of it for you.
Becky: Ok, thank you.
Ed: Thanks for calling. Now Susan, the holidays are coming up and your book has some great holiday recipes – some a little elaborate and some not. Tell us about that frittata which I really love.
Susan: Oh yeah, that's the Provencal-layered omelet. It takes a little time to put together. The ingredients list looks long but really what you are doing is making three thin frittatas and sticking them together with some cheese. One is with tomatoes, one is with mushrooms and one is with asparagus…
Ed: And that can be a main course of a lunch or a brunch…
Susan: Yes, and all you need is a good non-stick pan, and you just layer them on a plate in the oven at 200 degrees, layering them and sprinkling a little cheese on each omelet so that by the time you're done, it all sticks together like a cake. And when it was done, I kept it covered with foil in a 200 degree oven for like two hours and it was fine. It'd didn't get rubbery or anything.
Ed: Okay, now we've got Ellen from New Jersey. Ellen, talk to us.
Ellen: Hi. I want to know where the best rugula is, the very best.
Ed: There are actually two great places in New York for the very best rugula. One is called "Margaret Palca Bakes" in Brooklyn in Red Hook on the Carroll Gardens border, and the other is a place called "Andre's" which is on Second Avenue between 84th and 85th Street in Manhattan but they also have a bakery on Queens Blvd in Rego Park, Queens. So those are my favorite rugula places Ellen, and you will love them.
So listen Susan, your book rocks. And you can buy it at Barnes & Noble and on Amazon.com. And you're doing "Chef on a Shoestring" on January 14th, CBS Saturday morning, I think between 8:30 and 9:00 a.m. You know, that's dinner for 4 for $40.
Grab The Good Life and se eya all tomorrow!
