Valentine's Treats for your Sweet

 

Whether you're a serious monogamous lover or more of the booty call type player, we've got plenty of awesome V-day treats for your significant others, your friends with benefits, and your soul mate. We're even doing something super special this Valentine's day with Mast Brothers Chocolate. They generously donated a bunch of their amazing chocolate to our Valentine's Day charity event. We'll be making and selling goat cheese chocolate truffles and 100% of the proceeds will be donated to Sandy Relief Funds. For two days only, the 13th and 14th, you can come in and buy our altruistic V-day treats. Not only do they taste good and make an awesome present, but buying them is like killing two birds with one stone. It's like, double giving in a way.

We've also got a bunch of other treats from Butter + Love, The Good Batch, and Biscotti. Come in and check out our treats, we know we've got something for everyone!

The Ultimate Slider Party

I'm just gonna put it out there. I'm one of the few people who doesn't give a shit about football. And even though this sport doesn't make me excited in any manner whatsoever, I fucking LOVE the Super Bowl. I always spend the upcoming week dreaming about creamy dips, loaded nachos, warm crock pots full of bubbling goodness, and wrinkly hot dogs covered in ketchup, mustard, and relish. I'm getting giddy just thinking about it.  

Last year, my party consisted of a smorgasbord of dips, a million different types of chips, and ice cold Sixpoint beers. This year, I'm switching my game up and making my party extra fancy and Brooklyn-themed. Instead of making all of the food beforehand, I'm letting my guests demonstrate their creative by setting up the ultimate DIY slider bar. This way, my guests will have the ability to be creative and make their own mini concoctions. Below, you'll see my tips on how to make the ultimate burger spread and if you have any questions, feel free to comment below and I'll answer them before the big food game day!

Meats

Since this is the only thing you'll really be making yourself, it's your time to shine! Hit up The Meat Hook or Marlow & Daughters and grab some ground beef, chicken, pork, and/or fresh fish and grill them up into tiny little patties. The protein will shrink up as it grills so it's important to make your patties about a half inch wider than the buns, and super thin. I would recommend using a little bit of Maldon sea salt and Stuart & Co's spice rub for beef and pork burgers. It's the perfect all purpose seasoning and it really brings out that nice umami flavor.

Vessels

This is how you transport the patties into hungry mouths. Be creative here! Small English muffins, tiny yeast rolls, mini bagels, buttery biscuits, or butter lettuce (for people who are watching their carbs…chumps) are all super fun and tasty ideas that make your guests feel like they have endless slider opportunities. And everyone wants endless slider opportunities. Duh.

Condiments

Here's where we come in! Dude, we've got sooo much good stuff to make your spread even more dank. I'll name a few of my favorites - Empire Mayonnaise's black garlic - holy shit. Empire Mayo's bacon - it'll change your life. Empire Mayo's smoked paprika - add an over-easy quail egg and a little bit of this and you'll probably win the best sandwich award. Then there's First Field Ketchup that uses local Jersey tomatoes. And of course, Brooklyn's own Tin Mustard - the tiny mustard seeds burst in your mouth like caviar!

Cheeses

Just like any cheese plate, variety is key, so go with cheeses that come from different animals and have different textures. I suggest having some sliced manchego, a cheddar-blue such as Wisconsin's Red Rock, fresh lemony chevre, and if you want to get real American, some Kraft Singles.

Toppings

The opportunities are endless. Seriously. I'll spout out a few but do your thing when it comes to this category. Shit, you could even clean out your fridge this way. McClure's pickles and relish, caramelized onions, avocado, Nueske's bacon, sliced tomato, arugula, chutney, basil, cilantro, apple, pineapple, grilled peaches, jam, peanut butter…yeah peanut butter! And potato chips, you've got to have McClure's spicy pickle chips or else your party will suck.

Drinks

There's only one drink that I'm going to be serving this weekend and that's McClure's Bloody Mary's. I'm totally obsessed with the mix and I always use Absolut Peppar vodka and an over the top garnish with McClure's pickles, Brooklyn Brine chipotle carrots, celery stalks and if you're brave… top it with one of the sliders - just like this [one].

Poschiavo Spaghetti and Nonna's Spicy Tomato Sauce

It's Monday again and with the rest of the work week looming ahead, tonight's dinner calls for something quick, easy and relatively mindless. I'm talking about a recipe that's quicker than an episode of GIRLS and that could be done by a 12 year old. Something comforting, warm, and spicy to make this snowy day not so depressing. A meal that could be made when you're half alive, recovering from a massive weekend of partying.  

What is this soul-saving meal you ask? Well even though jarred spaghetti sauce and cheap noodles might've saved you when you were blowing all your money on beer in college, this grown-up version is something of a different feather. Simple yet delicious, our recommended Monday meal takes about 20 minutes from start to finish and only has four ingredients. Just throw some Poschiavo Swiss pasta into a pot of boiling water, add it to New York-made Nonna's spicy sauce and top it off with freshly torn basil and grated parmesan. Store-bought tomato sauce really can't get any better than this and I bet you're already excited about dinner tonight. With Tuesday approaching, life can only get better from here.

Ingredients

1/2 package Poschiavo Spaghetti

1 jar of Nona's spicy sauce

1/3 cup parmesan, grated

6 big basil leaves, torn

Instructions

1. Heat up Nona's Spicy Sauce on a medium sized pot and cook pasta in salted water for 12-13 minutes until it's on the crunchier side of al dente. Before the pasta is perfectly al dente, gently transfer the spaghetti into the sauce pot and allow it to finish cooking in Nonna's spicy sauce; about 2 minutes. Stir in torn basil leaves and top with grated parmesan.

Fig, Olive Oil, and Sea Salt Granola

Now that we're all sitting at our work desks, realizing just how much our stomach is drooping over our pants, it's time to put those New Year's resolutions in action. These new life alterations aren't typically something that anyone ever really looks forward to but after this break, we think it's time to take action against everything bad that we did to our bodies during the last month. In our world, these regrets mainly revolve around the copious amounts of booze and the delicious grub that we've binged on during holiday parties. Normal people may join a gym, vow to stop drinking, or go on a juice cleanse to get ready for the sunny weekends at Rockaway that lie ahead, but we're not into changing our dietary habits in any extreme matter. Like at all. I mean, c'mon dudes, we have Empire Mayo on hand at all times so needless to say it's impossible. Instead, we're trying to change some of the little things like cutting down on eating that amazing crack butter from Roberta's, minimizing our intake of Hazelnut Whisky Sandwich Cookies by Whimsy & Spice, and chilin' out on all those elderflower and gin cocktails that took over our afternoons during the last intoxicating month.  

We're not the apple and wheatgrass type of crew here at Dep, but we do like to eat semi-healthy every once in a while. Because of this, we decided to share a homemade granola recipe to help inspire you to eat better and to…let's be honest here…make us feel a little bit better about ourselves. By using local and organic ingredients and not going overboard on certain things that probably would have made it even more delicious, we were able to make an insanely addicting sweet and savory granola that is packed full of protein and fiber. The sweetness from the muscovato sugar balances perfectly with the salty maldon flakes, and the olive oil, well, that just crisps everything up into perfect little golden clusters that we might just be obsessed with. If you can't tell, we're pretty proud of ourselves.

Ingredients

2 cups of Farm to Table Organic Pure Oatmeal

3 tbsp Bee Raw Maine Blueberry Honey

3 tbsp Salvatore BKLYN Olive OIl

2 tbsp Muscovato Light Brown Sugar

1/2 tsp of cayenne pepper

1 tbsp Maldon Sea Salt

2 tbsp dried figs, coarsely chopped

1/2 cup mixed nuts, coarsely chopped

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 300°F and place two cups of oats in a shallow baking sheet. Toast for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until oats begin to transition from a light pale white to a toasty golden-tan color.

2. Meanwhile, in a small sauce pan combine honey, olive oil, brown sugar, and cayenne pepper and heat over low until sugar is dissolved.

3. Add the nuts and figs to the toasted oats and drizzle liquid over top; stir thoroughly until all of the oats are coated. Spread granola into an even layer on the baking sheet and cook for another 30 minutes - stirring every ten minutes to create clusters.

4. After thirty minutes the granola will still appear wet but after you transfer the mixture to a sheet of wax paper and allow it to dry, it will become super crispy and full of clusters.

Welcome to the Dép!

Photo: Morgan Ione Yeager

We're proud to call Brooklyn home, and if you haven't physically stepped into our neighborhood and experienced how awesome it is, then let us tell you a little about what we've got going on.

We like to think of ourselves as a glorified bodega, hence our name Dépanneur, which is a French-Canadian term for convenience store. But we're not your typical corner store. Instead of slanging mass produced potato chips and high fructose filled chocolate bars, we strive to carry a collection of the smartest, delicious, and most innovative products from Brooklyn and around the world. From Mast Brothers chocolate, which is made on our very own block, to Almdudler, an Austrian herbal lemonade whose overseas popularity matches that of coca cola, we try to keep a curated stock that glorifies all that is awesome in the amazing world of artisinal food.

Our new website and online shop are meant to be a hub for like-minded foodies to shop, read, share, and of course, indulge. That being said, we're super proud of all the products we carry and because we feel like we have a personal relationship with our goods (don't worry, no one is doing anything weird with the curry ketchup), we're sure that you'll enjoy them just as much as we do.

Things truly are better when they're made by people who care.

Wecome to the Dép.

Ovenly Pies - Oh My!

Place your order at Dépanneur for a scrumptious Thanksgiving Ovenly pie by November 18th, for pick up on November 21st! We're offering Apple Cranberry Spice (rated "Top Pie for Thanksgiving" by Time Out New York), a sweet-tart creation featuring cranberries, local apples, and gooey caramelized brown sugar, and Pumpkin with Brandy-Soaked Dried Plums, a pie where sweet pumpkin is complimented by boozy dried plums, brown sugar, cinnamon, vanilla paste, and cloves. Each pie is $35 and 9" in diameter. And duhhh, they're made with an all-butter crust. YUM!

Come Get Your Thanksgiving Sides

Thanksgiving is a day of many tasks, including (but not limited to) preparing a moist-on-the-inside-crisp-on-the-outside-bird, keeping certain relatives away from each other, cleaning the house, and cooking a wholleee lot of sides. Dépanneur wants reduce some of the stress that goes into preparing a Thanksgiving feast (and add some DELICOUS flavor), which is why we're whipping up scrumptious side dishes for you to pick up on the big day! Come to the Dép to reserve your sides in advance, at the delicious price of $8 a pint, $13 a quart, and $60 for five quarts! Then swing by on Thanksgiving (assign someone to babysit the turkey for a few minutes) to take them home. You're not gonna want to miss out on these super seasonal and satisfying prepared foods. If you want, you can even tell your guests you made them. Just pour the veggies into a pretty dish, heat up, and throw out the tupperware immediately.

Here's what we're offering:

• Purée of Pumpkin Soup with Austrian Pumpkin Seed Oil and Chili
• Brussels Sprouts, Grilled with Pancetta, Fried Capers, and Toasted nuts
• Straight Up Mashed Potatoes with a Touch of Roasted Garlic and Horseradish
• Glazed Winter Root Vegetables with Hard Cider and Herbs
• Cranberry Compote with Meyer Lemon Zest (available only by pint)

Sign up by November 19, 5 pm to reserve yours! Pay upon signing up. (If you forget to sign up by the 19th, you can try your luck and swing by on T-Giving to see what we have available.)

Bacon & Gouda Macaroni & Cheese

Whenever we get a new product in, we're thrilled to share some of our favorite ways to use them. As with our newest Marieke Gouda, straight from Wisconsin, we think it's best when melted into a rich, creamy cheese sauce and paired with some smoky bacon. This sweet, nutty, and somewhat salty cheese is just as good when it's not melted and placed on a cracker with a spot of tomato jam but we think you'll really enjoy it this way. Be sure to pair with one of our ice cold lagers and you'll have yourself a cozy little dinner, perfect for cold nights like these when the heat from your oven does more than just cook for your food.

Ingredients:

• 1 bag bow tie pasta
• 6 slices Nueske's Bacon, roughly chopped
• 3 tbsp Celles Sur Belle Butter butter
• 2 tbsp flour
• 3 cups whole milk from Battenkill Creamery
• 8 Fine Cheese Co Olive Oil and Sea Salt crackers, crushed
• 1/2 pound Marieke Gouda
• 1 cup Parmigiano Reggiano

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 375° and cook pasta according to the directions.

2. Meanwhile, over medium heat, cook bacon until it begins to crisp up. Remove from pan and dispose of all but 1 tbsp of grease. Add 2 tbsp of butter and let melt until it stops bubbling. Add in flour and whisk until a nice, thick, golden roux develops; about 5 minutes.

3. Turn up the heat to medium/high and little by little, add in milk, whisking constantly to avoid lumps. After about 6-10 minutes, sauce should begin to thicken. At this point, lower the heat and add in the gouda, a handful at a time, whisking constantly in a figure 8. Turn heat off and whisk in the parmigiano.

4. In a greased baking dish, combine the cooked pasta with the bacon and cheese sauce. Gently mix together. It should appear to be a bit soupy as it will absorb during the baking process. Coat the top of the dish with the crushed crackers and dot with remaining dabs of butter. Bake for about 30 minutes until bubbly and golden and remove from oven. Let sit for about ten minutes and serve.

Dép Party!

As the leaves turn crisp and the air, crisper, there’s no better to commemorate the changing of the seasons than with good friends, tasty drinks, and, most vitally, lots and lots of delicious snacks. This Friday, between 8 to 10, join us at Depanneur for some serious snacking—with such gourmet tastes as Mast Brothers chocolate, Sour Puss pickles, Salty Road taffy, Food Matters Again cheese (including new ones we’ll be offering soon), and Jeni’s ice cream! We encourage customers, friends of customers, even animals of customers to stop by our in-store get together; this is going to be a prime opportunity to sample some new and classic Dep offerings, as well as learn about the kickass people behind them. That’s right, the event will educational as well as delicious! Glenn from Food Matters Again is going to conduct some informal classes on cheese and charcuterie, Ali from Brooklyn Oenology is bringing organic Long Island wine, and word on the street is that Gabe the Fish Babe (of fish club fame) will be making an appearance. So put on your party dress (or party overalls, whatever, we don’t care) and come share some tasty nibbles with us. Come for the full two hours, or just pop in to say hi and eat a taffy. We want to see your beautiful faces!

Slideluck Potshow

Do you like booze? How about an overwhelming amount of delicious food? We thought so. That's why we're inviting you to join the Dep and all the wonderful peeps participating in the Slideluck Potshow tomorrow night (July, 19th) at 6:30 at the Brooklyn Brewery. Tickets cost $15 and include ALL-YOU-CAN-DRINK Brooklyn Brewery Beer and tons of free, totally awesome food. It's going to be a shit show, in the best way possible, of course.

You can buy your tickets HERE and we can't wait to see your pretty drunk faces come by the table! Cheers, yeah!

Martelli Pasta

For some of us, spending more than just a weekend with our family seems a little overwhelming. Not for the Martelli family though. Nope, these kin-loving folk are the only ones that work in their middle-of-nowhere factory in Lari, a teeny tiny Tuscan town filled with olive trees and beautiful, sprawling grassy valleys. And when we found this bright, eye-catching package of yellow pasta, we had no idea how bad ass this family actually was. The Martelli's spend no money on advertising and the the factory that they've been occupying for almost 100 years prevents a certain trendy store from manufacturing in their quaint little town. Pretty rad, huh? We think so, and what's even better is how awesome their pasta is.

By using old school techniques, this pasta, which comes in four classic shapes, has a super-porous finish that is absolutely perfect for soaking up sauce while still maintaining a nice al dente bite. Not only do they use the finest hard durum wheat flour but they actually grow it on their own property. And unlike mass produced pasta, which is dried in a giant heated air blaster, the Martelli's dry their pasta for fifty hours using a low temperature that allows the pasta to retain a beautiful flavor and a perfect texture. We recommend tossing the cooked pasta with olive oil and freshly grated Parmigiano for a simple and quick meal that is surprisingly opulent.

Frankies Olive Oil

"The warm Sicilian sun, the rich volcanic soil, and the steady saline breeze from the Mediterranean come together to make this extra virgin olive oil one of the best in Italy every year." If that's not olive oil poetry, we don't know what is. Frankies DOP certified olive oil tastes just as smooth as that last sentence rolls off the tongue. The trees from their vineyards are between 300-400 years old and because they own almost all of the acreage in their own DOP, Frankies has complete control over the regions production, which ensures that you get the highest quality olive oil possible.

When this olive oil is served at room temp, the flavors are bright, fruity, clean and crisp tasting but when it's heated the entire flavor profile changes to release a butter-like oil that could even fool Paula Deen. We like to infuse Frankies with thai chiles (check for the recipe on Wednesday!). It's a perfect topping to drizzle over pizza or mild Thai dishes that need an extra kick. Or if you'd like to use it for something more refreshing, drizzle it over fresh watermelon and finish with flakes of sea salt. Or just pour it in your mouth. We won't judge.

Gift Cards!

There's no need to stress about Christmas shopping anymore! We've got gift cards available in any monetary increment you can imagine - as long as you have the funds to back it, of course. And with cows in little celebratory hats printed on the gift cards themselves, what's not to love? We're sure that this gift will make any foodie or neighborhood local righteously happy and will fill the bellies of your loved ones for months to come. You remember how much they love the #4 sandwich, right? I mean who doesn't? Well this is the way to give them a gift that keeps on giving.

Christmas Special: A Sweet Brooklyn Gift Basket

Here's our second gift basket which is absolutely perfect for any of your loved ones that have an insatiable sweet tooth and a special place in their heart for the neighborhood. With Spatzi's granola, Spoonable caramel, and our favorite salted almond chocolate that's made right down the street at Mast Brothers, this Christmas special is sweet in more ways than one. We can put these sugary goodies in a variety of styled gift baskets; from rustic wood to industrial wire - whichever you'd like. If you're interested to know more about the products, pricing, and/or other holiday gift baskets, stop by the shop or call us at 347-227-8424.

Recipe: The Pickleback

For our first Friday Get-Fucked-Up Special, we’re making Picklebacks. This one’s easy. All you need is a jar of Mcclure’s Pickles and a Bottle of your favorite whiskey. And if you’re a badass, do it right and use the Spicy Spears. The acidity from the pickle brine totally kills the burn from the whiskey and it tastes good, too! This is totally not a homeless person thing, I swear.

The Pickleback

 

Ingredients

1.5 oz of McClure’s Pickle Juice (or Brine)

1.5 oz of Whiskey

Directions

Pour each ingredient into a shot glass. Slam the whiskey and chase it with the pickle juice. Repeat.