Firehouse Fra Diavolo BBQ

Porterhouse Steaks with Fra Diavolo Barbecue Sauce and Tomato-Pepper Salad, from Bobby Flay's Boy Gets Grill, page 206. The steak was great, but really the star of this show was the Fra Diavolo sauce, making this an Italian-American feast. It started with cooking some onions in olive oil in a pan over the grill. After they got going, I added garlic, red pepper flakes, tomato puree, tomato paste, brown sugar, honey, basil, kosher salt, ground pepper and some red wine for good measure. This all simmered on the grill for about 30 minutes becoming a thick paste-like sauce. I brushed the sauce on the steaks after they turned on the grill. Meanwhile, I roasted some red peppers and threw them in a bowl with diced roma tomatoes, red wine, garlic, pepper and parsley. I wrapped the "crusty" bread in foil and let it heat through on an upper grill grate. It all came together on the plate with the Tomato-Pepper salad over the top. This was very hard to beat!


Bobby said that he grilled this same meal for the fireman at the Arthur Avenue firehouse in the Bronx. Somehow that reminded me of the one day I spent as a fireman. I had a student once, Mike Skapura, who went to college in the day and fought fires at night. We made a bet - I really don't remember what the bet was about, but I lost. As a result, I had to spend 24-hours as an on-duty fire fighter. He got permission for me to do this from the top brass at the fire department after I signed a waiver that if I got hurt or killed on the job, I would not sue the city. The daytime part of my 24 hours was hard work. We went out to a housing development and flushed out the hydrants (Dorothy would call it the Johnny Pump).  Then we rolled out hose along a dead end street. I was carrying tools, loading the truck, sweeping the floor - the guys were really having fun with me. For dinner Mike cooked up some firehouse spaghetti - Mike was authentic Italian and so was his spaghetti! Then it happened - an actual fire call. The guys were disappointed when they learned it was only a car fire and not a fully engulfed "structure fire." I rode in the back seat with two junior firemen. Mike sat in the right front seat. Sirens blaring we streaked across town. When we arrived at the fire, Mike jumped out of the truck cab, came around to my door and said "YOU STAY IN THE TRUCK!" Then he was gone and I didn't argue - I stayed behind. Mike's team had the fire out in less than five minutes, but that excitement drove these fire fighters the rest of the shift. I don't think anyone slept. I left with new respect for these hard working guys who never thought twice about putting themselves in danger for total strangers. Thanks Mike (where ever you are now) for the spaghetti, for the education, for the rush and for keeping a rookie safe in the truck.


More firehouse grilling to come!
Paul