Dorie Greenspan

Linda, your china is just perfect!

B'stilla from leftover turkey -- not heresy, but a bonne idee! I think you'll be fine using a springform pan and whatever you use, I wouldn't worry have a smooth top: lumpy, bumpy, wavy and a little cracked is just fine-- sprinkle over some cinnamon sugar. And who doesn't like rustic?

I made a stuffed pumpkin last night and used a 3-pound sugar pumpkin, although the pumpkin wasn't as sweet as some others I'd had. Ah, Mother Nature -- she sure knows how to mix things up. Still, it was delicious -- this is a hard dish to mess up.

Linda, your whole plate looks so come-and-get it. I love the way you cut the carrots and the contrast between the pointy carrots and the elegantly striated skate. I'm seeing skate in the market more and more in Connecticut -- I remember asking for it once on at mid-week, and the fishmonger told me "Skate is not a Wednesday kind of fish!" -- something which really pleases me. I'm glad you liked the sweet-fish-with-salty-condiments mix, I think it's one you can play around with easily.

Greetings from Dallas. It's been hard to comment from the road, but I have been reading and loving what you've been cooking. In fact, when I get back to my own kitchen, I'm going to pull out my crock pot -- I like the idea of doing the beef for the hachis parmentier in it. Merci. Oklahoma City tomorrow and Tuesday, then back to NYC. It's been an incredible trip, even if I did overpack.

So funny, I'm on the road with AMFT and last night I dreamed of hachis Parmentier. Woke up this morning craving it.

Sorry to have gone silent -- blame it on book tour, a wonderful whirlwind that leaves me with no free time and not an ounce of clear-headedness when I finish the day. I haven't had the oomph to respond, but I have been lurking and your food is looking very,very good. I'll comment more when my brain and I return to New York late next week. In the meantime, keep cooking! And a shout-out to Laniloa and Dana for coming to see me. I *loved* meeting you!

I started a long catch-up reply this morning, pressed some button and had the whole thing disappear -- aarrrgh! Anna -- so many dinners! So many friends! I know you live in the middle of nowhere (it's true, right?), but I think I want to be your next-door neighbor. Would you let me come over and try your Thermomix? I've never played with one, but I love the way you made the Olive Sables in it. Like you, I often can't wait to cut into the Back-of-the-Card Cheese Cake. I'd never think to serve it with the daube, but seeing them kind of together, I wonder ... Chris -- I'm sorry that you didn't like the Pumpkin-Gorgonzola Flans, especially since yours were beautiful, but my guess is that, like you said, it's a matter of personal taste. Now that Boeuf a la Mode ... it looks great and I like that you served it with peppered noodles. What's funny is that you said that the thickened sauce might not be French. Well, I think it would be French, a more traditional French. These days, you're more likely to find pan sauces and jus than thickened sauces, but the pleasure of cooking is being able to make something just the way you like so, so I'm glad you fiddled with teh recipe. Linda K -- I loved your comment about not taking a picture of the spinach because, well, it looked like a pile of spinach. I'm so glad you liked it. I was so excited when I figured out that I could season the spinach first! And I'm really, really happy you made the Swiss chard pancakes -- my husband keeps asking me to make them for him. In fact, he would have loved to have had the pancakes and the carrots for dinner, just as you did. Two of his faves. Dana -- you're right, the Veal Marengo made with shanks did look 'elegant'. There are no hard-and-fast rules about the cut of meat you should use when you're cooking at home, you just have adjust the cooking time to get the texture you want. I love that you made it with shanks.

Guess what I just pulled out of the oven? A Cauliflower-Bacon Gratin. I like mine, hope you like yours.

JBN, my husband just walked past my screen, saw your rice and said, "That's what I want for dinner!"

Anna N -- I'm so glad you made the Speculoos. Since that's the recipe with the Errata (for those of you who don't know: you must beat 1 large egg into the butter and sugar mixture before adding the dry ingredients), I'm spooked about it. It's a cookie I love, but the missing egg has made me nuts! Chris -- I'm not sure why your chicken clumped together,it's an issue I"ve never had. Perhaps you did pack it too tightly -- you need to leave puff space in the papillote. Hmm. Stumped. Dana -- happy you liked the carrots. And I'm glad that you added a little brown sugar on your own because you thought your carrots weren't so sweet. It's so important to taste and make adjustments, because it's impossible for an author to know the quality of a cook's ingredients. Nice work!

Anna, at first I was concerned, but then there was the line about the second serving : - )

So great to see so much great looking food. Chris, I love the quiche maraichere for being more vegetable than custard and really loved your picture of the vegetables in the crust. Becca, I'm so glad you like the chicken and so happy that you commented on how much flavor you got from the pan juices by just adding water. It's interesting to me how often the French use water where we would use a broth or stock. Anna, the bread looks perfect -- I hope the staff like it. JBN, the spice coating on the tuna -- as well as the doneness -- can be varied, but you know that. I'm sorry that you were called away just as dinner was almost ready, but happy that you were in the middle of preparing this dish which, as you discovered, is good at almost any temperature.

Chris, once again your food looks beautiful. Of course, you can cut the apples smaller, if you'd like, and I'm sure small pieces would look nice witht the mushrooms and onions. I kept them a bit chunkier so that they would hold their texture a little better, but in a dish like this, it would be fine to have smaller, softer apple pieces.

Mike and JBN, I'm so glad to see you cooking from my cook. Mike, you said exactly what I feel about the Endives, Apples and Grapes -- you have to make it. I'm in love with that dish. JBN, I'm in chilly Kingston,Ontario today on the first chunk of my book tour, so seeing your corn and tomatoes made me a bit wistful. They won't be in my market when I get back, but I'm glad they were in yours.