Donna Moodie
Claim to foodie fame: Owner, Marjorie
Quote: The first taste I remember is that of food from Jamaica: oxtail stew, mangoes, mashed green bananas with butter and salt.
What is your earliest memory of cooking?
I remember my grandfather cooking the green bananas for dinner, and slipping me extra in the kitchen before we put them on the table. Green bananas are starchy and delicious with butter and salt, and my grandfather used to love to spoil me with extra.
What is your idea of comfort food?
Pizza.
Food or meal you would happily die eating, or, what is your last meal and testament?
It would be pizza, beautifully made with fresh mozzarella, fresh herbs, toppings like handmade sausage and basil, potato and thyme, figs and pork belly, prosciutto and pear. If it is in fact my last meal, there is a party, prosecco and red wine are flowing, and the pizza is accompanied by amazing salads and followed by fabulous dessert.
If you had to eat only one food for the rest of our life, what would it be?
Sadly (I think, as it is not too adventurous), I could eat pizza for the rest of my life. Do you see a pattern here?
How did your family honor food traditions in your household?
Food was highly regarded in our house when I was growing up. Our traditions were simple and often non-traditional. We would mix Jamaican food with traditional American holiday items. They seemed ironic on the table together: roasted turkey, mashed potatoes, coconut rice and peas… Scratch-baked birthday cakes every year. And, of course, the infamous Christmas pudding (steamed English pudding, soaked in lots of rum, port and sherry, served with hardsauce).
Who first taught you how to cook?
My mom. She loved to putter in the kitchen, read cookbooks, challenge herself with recipes that were completely different than what we learned how to cook culturally, shop for the perfect, often hard-to-find ingredients for dinner parties, and entertain. The best meal, made better by the perfect dinner party, a crowd so big, we sat on the floor, plates on our lap, until the wee hours.
Share an example of one of your family food traditions.
At holiday time, my mom loved to cook something different. A seafood Christmas would start with crab quiche, ackee and saltfish (a Jamaican tradition); dinner would be curried lobster. I never missed the turkey or ham!
What is your favorite dish or meal to cook?
I love to make pizza (of course!) and I love to make a slow-process Bolognese with handmade pasta and great parmesan. It is simple, but so reliant on exceptional execution.
If you could invite anyone to your holiday dinner — living, dead, or imaginary — who would it be?
I would invite the women from my salon (there are four of us, who got together to enjoy food and wine while discussing politics, art, and the state of our society several years ago) and Barack Obama (with no secret service).
Donna Moodie's Favorite Pizza
At Marjorie, we make our own dough, but these days, you can prepare a great pizza at home with dough from Essential Bakery, Whole Foods, etc.
The following is one of my favorite pizza combinations:
Let dough rest for one hour at room temperature. Stretch and roll out. Place on a surface dusted with semolina flour.
Brush with oil (lightly)
Spread with becahmel*
Top with mozzarella di bufala
Sprinkle with really good sea salt
Top with extremely thinly sliced potatoes.
Top with fresh picked thyme and a little more sea salt.
Bake on a pizza stone in a pre-heated oven at 450 for 10-20 minutes.
Brush the edges with olive oil.
Place fresh arugula, tossed in olive oil, salt, pepper and aged balsamic in the center.
Slice and serve.
*Bechamel:
1Tbsp. butter, melted
1/8 cup flour (add to butter, stir to cook)
Add 1 cup heated whole milk, stri until thick, season to taste.
