Lievito Pizzeria, West Village

They call themselves pizzeria, but it is far from being just a pizzeria - it is a little taste of Italy in the West Village neighborhood.

 

 

 

Check out the new website of Lievito Pizzeria – Gourmet Marketing designed and I took the photos:

http://www.lievitopizzeria.com/

581 Hudson Street New York, NY 10014

T. 212-645-5811 F. 212-645-0186

A recipe – Meatballs with Spaghetti

New York timing is even worse than “Sinai time” or “Ethiopia time”. In Sinai (Egypt), everything takes l o n g e r, shwaye shwaye (slowly slowly) and there is no reason to rush. With the Ethiopians (at least my Ethiopian friends in Israel) it is simple: they are always late. It can be 10 minutes late or even an hour.
Here in New York it is a mix, nothing starts on time (the subway is great excuse, and also great example), and most people run late as a routine.
And what keeps surprising me is that it looks like they don't really care - they don't care they are late and they don't care that they made you wait.


So take a deep breath and lets start to cook.

Ingredients

Whole-wheat Spaghetti (amount for 4 people)

For the Meatballs:

1 pound ground beef

1 egg

3 tablespoons bread crumbs (or - semolina, wheat germ)

1 tablespoon cumin

Salt and pepper

For the sauce:

2 big onions – chopped

4-5 tomatoes - chopped

2-3 cloves crushed garlic

1/2 cup of water

salt & pepper

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon dried oregano or basil (or – bunch of fresh leaves)

Directions

1.     Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Cook the pasta in boiling the water for 8-10 minutes or until done; drain and wash immediately with cold water (to stop the cooking process).

Meanwhile:

2.     Put all the ingredients of the meatballs in big bowl and mix together. Put the bowl aside (best in the refrigerator).

3.     Heat the oil in a large wide saucepan; add the onions and garlic and fry while stirring.

4.     Add the tomatoes and stir for 3 minutes. Add the salt, pepper and the dried oregano or basil (if you use fresh leaves – add them just before serving).

5.     Lower the heat and cover the pot. Cook for about 10 minutes (until you get a nice sauce and not just chopped tomatoes).

6.     If you don’t have enough sauce, add the water and bring to a boil.

7.     Lower the heat.

8.     Shape small balls from the meat mixture and add them gently into the pot.

9.     Bring to a boil again, cover the pot, lower the heat and cook for 20 minutes.

10.  Serve with pasta and Parmesan cheese

A recipe – Pasta with Young Zucchini

The funny thing about pasta recipes is that it takes longer to write the recipe than to cook it!

For this recipe I have two “rules”:

1.     Food that is cut in the same shape is more esthetic. I mean, if we use penne pasta, it is better to cut the zucchini in the same way – 2 inches long, in thin strips. If we want to add some vegetables to rice, it is better to cut them to small cubes. It applies to salads, cooked food, desserts – everything. Try it!

2.     Zucchinis are so tasty raw, and they cook so fast. So to keep the zucchinis fresh and not too soft (or even mashed…), buy the small green zucchinis. I know that it is not acceptable and maybe even rude in supermarkets here, but check they are hard. Just squeeze them slightly. We do that in Israel all the time. You can’t buy fruits and vegetables just from looking at them.

Ingredients

Whole-wheat Penne or Tagliatelle pasta (amount for 2 people)

6 medium green zucchinis – thin slices

3 cloves of garlic

Freshly squeezed juice from - 1/2 lemon

A small bunch fresh basil leave

Salt and pepper

Olive oil

Freshly grated Parmesan

Directions

1.     Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Cook the pasta in boiling the water for 8-10 minutes or until done; drain and wash immediately with cold water (to stop the cooking process).

Meanwhile:

2.     Chop the garlic and sauté in olive oil for few seconds.

3.     Add the zucchinis and stir gently for 2 minutes. Add the lemon, salt and pepper and cook for 2 more minutes.

4.     Add the pasta to the zucchinis and then add the basil leave.

5.     Stir all together just to mix all the taste.

6.     Serve with grated Parmesan.

A recipe – Pasta with Fresh Tomatoes and Tuna

I found myself with dozens of boxes of pasta.

For me, going to the supermarket is a big deal. There are preparations to make: making a list, checking it again and updating the list, taking the cart, coat, bags, sneakers, and here we go.

It is a journey. 15 minutes to get there, about 90 minutes there (I never understand how it gets so long) and 15 more minutes hiking the crazy hill back home.

Though I have a list, I walk down every aisle, observing every shelf or refrigerator. I only skip the cans, soft drinks, and the pre-made food. 

And in the end, the cart is full mostly with things that never mentioned in the list, like pasta. I always have a feeling that I will run off pasta, and just in case, I get a few more. 

So, I find myself with dozens of boxes of pasta; and that means we are going to cook a lot of pasta in the following weeks…

Ingredients

Whole wheat pasta * (amount for 2 people)
1 onion - medium size

4-5 tomatoes – sliced into cubes

3 cloves of garlic

1 can of tuna in water

Freshly squeezed juice from - 1/2 lemon

Chili - a little bit (not a must)

Salt and pepper

Olive oil

* For this recipe I prefer spaghetti, but you can use any other type of pasta

Directions

1.     Chop the onion and garlic and sauté in olive oil until golden.

2.     Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Cook the pasta in boiling the water for 8-10 minutes or until done; drain and wash immediately with cold water (to stop the cooking process).

3.     Add the tomatoes to the onion and garlic and stir for 1-2 minutes. Cover and cook for about 5 more minutes (keep stirring every few minutes) until you get a nice sauce. 

4.     In a small bowl, mash the tuna with the lemon juice, and add to the tomatoes. Add salt, pepper and chili.

5.     Stir all together for 2 minutes.

6.     Add the pasta and mix all together, just until the pasta is hot enough (2-3 minutes, don’t over cook!), and serve.