Food Specialties of Central New York

We take a lot of our food around the Central New York area for granted.

This is probably partly true because we have an incredible Regional Market (locals call it the Farmers' Market) where you can find almost anything and everything every Saturday morning from May through November, from around 6 to 11.

 We also have a really diverse group of restaurants, but if Syracuse specializes in anything (besides the Dinosaur Barbecue!!) it's Italian.

Until this summer, I'd never had one of the region's most famous dishes, Utica Greens.

No matter which recipe you use, this is pretty much how they should look.

The first time I tried them, it was on a delicious sandwich, the blank, at Hullar's, in Fayetteville. (They also have fantastic French onion soup and the best fried haddock around).

I had them again with friends at Frankie's Piccolo Bistro, on North Salina Street, where they also serve an absolutely exquisite Espresso Martini.

 But I digress....

After that, I was hooked.  On Utica greens, that is. You can also find a good example at Delmonico's, on Erie Boulevard.

Joey's doesn't list Utica greens on the menu at his classic restaurant, but he does have an escarole appetizer that looks pretty close, and at his Pronto restaurant, you can get steak and greens. Joey's Cookbook is where I found my favorite Utica greens recipe. I don't follow it exactly, but it's a good place to start. You can find Joey's recipe as a PDF if you Google JoeysItalianRestaurant.com + Utica Greens. If you don't have this cookbook, you might just want to order it. The recipes are great, and nobody beats Joey's Butternut Squash Soup.

The first recipe I tried was from the Ridiculous Food Society of Upstate New York Blog. 

Here's another one from the December 2011 Saveur. I'm including it, even though I don't like potatoes in my greens.

If there's controversy about how to make Utica Greens, there are a couple of places where cooks have a difference of opinion.

First, whether to use bacon, prosciutto (Italian ham) or pancetta (Italian bacon). (I don't think it matters.) The second is whether to add sausage. (You might as well.) Third, people might also disagree about the bread crumbs. Diced, or crumbled. Diced, definitely. Don't look for them with the breadcrumbs, look for them in the aisle where they keep the stuffing.

Finally, how to cook the greens. In my quest for the perfect Utica Greens recipe, I've tried just about everything. Since you're going to want to eat a lot of them, you might as well keep the calorie count as low as possible. Steam them. They wither down no matter how you cook them, so it makes no sense to soak them in olive oil.

Okay, here's my recipe. It's been approved, even though I'm not Italian.

Utica Greens, pig-out style

• 3 good heads of escarole, around 3 pounds. Any less is a waste of time. 
• Olive oil, lots.
• 2-3 Tablespoons chopped garlic. I don't care if it comes in a jar. Add it to the onions.
• 2-3 good sized onions, 2-3 inches across, each, diced, stirred with 1 teaspoon oil, then microwaved for 3 minutes, with the garlic, or until meltingly soft
• 1/4 lb bacon or pancetta or prosciutto, whatever, chopped and cooked. Save the fat.
• 1/4 Italian sausage, hot, sweet, I've even used maple flavored breakfast sausage, chopped and cooked. You can cook them together, but save the fat in the pan.
• 3 hot cherry peppers in vinegar, drained, stemmed, seeded, and chopped, (or not, or use only two if you can't take the heat. Or one, if you're a sissy.)
• 1/2-1 cup of chicken stock
• 1/2-1 cup of diced, seasoned stuffing style bread cubes (crumbs make it gummy)
• At least 1 cup of grated Asiago cheese

Escarole is pretty sandy, so you'll have to wash the daylights out of it. Try dunking it upside down in a big pot, then swish it around, then go over the leaves individually. Twice. No kidding. This is why I say three heads. Better to do one big batch then two small.  Before you put them in the pot, roughly chop them into 4 inch chunks. If you're in a hurry, or you don't mind spending extra, you can buy the washed and chopped escarole in a bag at Wegmans.

Everything you need to make Utica Greens can be found here.

Get out your biggest pot and your steamer tray. Fill the bottom couple of inches with water and stuff the escarole in the pot with the lid on. It will take 5-10 minutes to soften up. Chop up those onions, add the garlic and the oil, stir, and put them in the microwave while you're waiting. Don't let them brown, just cook til they're nearly translucent.

Add everything except the bread cubes to the fat in the skillet, cook on medium high heat until the broth is mostly absorbed, and then add the bread cubes.

If you're using an oven proof skillet you can stir in the cheese and let it bake at 350 for 15 minutes until the cheese melts, or you can transfer it into a baking dish and layer the cheese, then put in the oven. It's time consuming, I admit, but it's not really fussy.

Let me know how it comes out. The leftovers are great in an omelet, BTW.
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