I heart Dipalo's

Today I was inspired[1] to make the trip to Little Italy to find pancetta for the Minestrone recipe. I am so glad I did. I went to Dipalo’s on Grand street, well known as a family run Italian specialty food store that has been in the neighborhood since 1925. 

It was a stark contrast to my previous day’s shopping experience. I walked in expecting to wait a while, as is the reputation of the shop, but it wasn’t busy at all when I arrived. My number was called after less than 10 minutes. While I was being helped the store filled up and a few people greeted the guy helping me with enthusiasm “Louie’s here!” “Hey Louie, happy new year” etc. This guy is obviously very popular. I later found out he was one of the owners. I got my (beautiful) pancetta and ask what else he recommended. He offered me samples of aged Genoa salami and sopressa. Delicious – I was sold on both. I also bought some parmigiano after hearing the people next to me rave about it as they sampled it. Despite the store filling with customers, Louie didn’t try to rush me at all. I highly recommend this store. They also had cannellini beans but they were over priced ($5.99 for a lb?) and I didn’t want to wait another day to brine them. And there is a wine shop next door.

Once I had all the ingredients the recipe was a breeze. I did remember another reason why I don’t cook and that is because it usually means having to clean the kitchen first. Once I got the kitchen cleaned the preparations took about 45 minutes, and then the soup cooked for an hour. I think I could cut the prep time in half next time just by having done it once and if I reorganized my kitchen to make things more accessible.

The final verdict on this recipe is... DELICIOUS!! Well worth the effort to hunt down pancetta. The beans are creamy but not mushy and the veggies taste very fresh – which I think is due to good layering while cooking and preparing them separately from the beans to prevent overcooking. I would post a photo, but the photo simply does not do it justice!

Take away

• Pancetta is similar to bacon, but it is not smoked. Prosciutto is similar to pancetta, but it has much less fat.
• Proportions are important. I tend to throw everything in the pot when making soup rather than follow the quantities in the recipe. In general this is ok, but it can throw the flavor balance off if you don’t know what you are doing (which I don’t)
• Manhattan has the best and the worst markets.
• I need to reorganize my kitchen so that things are more accessible.
• Getting started in cooking requires a front loaded investment in time. Patience now will pay off down the road.
• A glass of valpolicella with sopressa and parmigiano is wonderful appetizer to snack on while preparing Minestrone soup.

For further investigation

• Why don’t my vegetables brown? Too much liquid? Wrong kind of pan? It is a mystery to me.
• I need guidelines for organizing my kitchen. NOT putting commonly used tools in the cupboard behind my daughter’s kitchen helper -- that she stands on while I'm cooking preventing me from being able to access it-- is an obvious one, but I’m sure there are some good insights on this topic out there.

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[1] A significant part of my inspiration was my husband’s offer to drive there while we were out this morning. His generosity in braving the Chinatown and Little Italy traffic, which is terrible, and waiting in the car while I shopped is much appreciated!