ludja

Dress cooked green beans and cooked gnocchi with basil pesto... This is one of my favorite summer dishes. Add some halved cherry tomatoes. If you don't have gnocchi at hand you can also substitute a short stubby pasta with crannies like a gemeli (sic?) (a short, "twinned" fusilli-type pasta) or oriechette. Cubed, boiled potatoes can also be added to the mix.

The roasters are already up in Albuquerque at some of the little produce markets and on the northwest corner of Montgomery and Wyoming. I haven't actually seen chiles being roasted yet, but the roasters are set up and waiting. Christine ← We just picked up some freshly roasted green chile at the Corrales Farmer's Market yesterday. The farmer said they were his first batch of the year. I'm trying to decided what to do with them... I also picked up some fresh Big Jim green chiles and am eyeing various rellenos recipes. I think I want to try a roasted version stuffed with piccadillo.

I haven't been in awhile but enjoyed it very much up for several years. I think I was last there about 2 years ago though for a full dinner... In the last year I've popped in a few times for drinks at the bar. The restaurant has a nice vibe and the lamb chops were indeed excellent. It was difficult for me to order much else but others have also had good experiences with their fish dishes. They had a dessert I really enjoyed as well--a parfait type dish with tangerine granita and yogurt sorbet. i've been wanting to recreate that at home. I'd be interested to hear any more recent reports including docsconz if he ends up trying it out.

Bravo, amapola! That looks wonderful and I'm so glad that your friend enjoyed it! I like the flavor combination you decided on and it is so pretty as well. I think the amount of frosting is perfect and that you did capture the zeitgeist of a classic type of American cake-- moist, layers and frosting! If you ever feel like trying another American cake; a classic and wonderful one is the coconut layer cake. We have a few good discussion threads on egullet; I'll try to find them. I love coconut cake and fresh coconut so much that I like doing the extra work to shred fresh coconut for covering the cake, but it's very nice even with pre-shredded coconut. (I prefer unsweetened.) Well, anyway, the cake typically has 2-4 white cake layers (soak with the slightly sweetened water inside the coconut if you use a fresh one), fill layers with lemon curd, coconut cream or more of the frosting which can be a vanilla buttercream or a swiss meringue. Heavily shower the outside of the cake with grated coconut (toasted or not; I like untoasted just b/c I love the snowy white look and fresh taste.) edited to add: This mental picture is as good as the photo of your cake!

Here are the winners for the 2007 James Beard Awards for books in 2006: click Winners indicated with highlighted red text Asian Cooking: Cradle of Flavor by James Oseland Into the Vietnamese Kitchen by Andrea Nguyen The Sushi Experience by Hiroko Shimbo Baking and Dessert Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan Heirloom Baking with the Brass Sisters by Marilynn Brass and Sheila Brass King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking by The Bakers at King Arthur Flour Cooking from a Professional Point of View Alain Ducasse’s Desserts and Pastries by Frederic Robert Happy in the Kitchen by Michel Richard with Susie Heller and Peter Kaminsky The Professional Chef, 8th Edition by The Culinary Institute of America Entertaining The Big Book of Appetizers Meredith Deeds and Carla Snyder The Big Book of Outdoor Cooking and Entertaining by Cheryl Alters Jamison Opera Lover’s Cookbook Francine Segan Food of the Americas Dishes from the Wild Horse Desert: Norteno Cooking of South Texas by Melissa Guerra Kathy Casey’s Northwest Table by Kathy Casey The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook by Matt Lee and Ted Lee General The Family Kitchen by Debra Ponzek The Improvisational Cookbook by Sally Schneider Tasty: Get Great Food on the Table Everyday by Roy Finamore Healthy Focus The Diabetes Menu Cookbook: Delicious Special Occasion Recipes for Family & Friends by Barbara Scott-Goodman and Kalia Doner EatingWell Serves Two by Jim Romanoff Whole Grains Every Day, Every Way by Lorna Sass International Arabesque by Claudia Roden The Soul of a New Cuisine: A Discovery of the Foods and Flavors of Africa by Marcus Samuelsson Spice by Ana Sortun Reference Culinary Biographies: A Dictionary of the World’s Great Historic Chefs, Cookbook Authors and Collectors, Farmers, Gourmets, Home Economists, Nutritionists, Restaurateurs, Philosophers, Physicians, Scientists, Writers and Others who Influenced the Way We Eat Today by Alice Arndt The Organic Cook’s Bible by Jeff Cox What to Eat by Marion Nestle Single Subject Braise by Daniel Boulud The Essence of Chocolate by John Scharffenberger and Robert Steinberg Vegetable Soups from Deborah Madison’s Kitchen by Deborah Madison Wine and Spirits Keys to the Cellar: Strategies and Secrets of Wine Collecting by Peter D. Meltzer Romancing the Vine by Alan Tardi The Wines of France: The Essential Guide for Savvy Shoppers by Jacqueline Friedrich Writing on Food Heat by Bill Buford The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan The United States of Arugula: How We Became a Gourmet Nation by David Kamp Photography Kaiseki: The Exquisite Cuisine of Kyoto’s Kikanoi Restaurant, Photographer: Masashi Kuma Michael Mina, Photographer: Karl Petzke Tartine, Photographer: France Ruffenach and the Cookbook Hall of Fame award: MOOSEWOOD COOKBOOK by: Mollie Katzen

Here is a thread discussion on David Lebovitz' The Perfect Scoop : click Also, one for another new book by another egullet member, Robb Walsh The Texas Cowboy Cookbook click (I've really enjoyed his previous book on TexMex Cooking...)

I'm thinking of trying the salted butter caramel recipe rom the book that Lebovitz has on his blog: http://www.davidlebovitz.com/archives/2007...d_butter_c.html]click

A two or three layer cake with frosting would probably remind him of home. K8memphis' cake sounds nice and I think yellow cake wiht chocolate frosting might be more generally popular than the red velvet unless maybe he's a Southern boy! I think a yellow cake with lemon curd filling and lemon buttercream frosting would be great! And of course the candied lemon peels would go well with it.

Thanks for the info, apronstrings. That is pretty neat that she uses ground walnuts for these classic cookies. (There is another type of Austrian "walnut crescent" cookie which is why I asked for more detail.) Almost all the cookbooks I've seen use ground almonds. The lattter are also very traditional but our family always uses walnuts for these "crescents" or Vanillekipferl. The use of walnuts is popular in the part of Austria we come from which is abundant with walnut trees. (south and easten Austria) I think the walnuts really give them that great melt in the mouth texture that you describe. They're related to Mexican wedding cakes but the I think the ground walnuts and vanilla (see below) add so much. The recipe I use has an egg yolk or two in ithe dough but it might be interesting to also try Maida's recipe. One thing that is surprising about her recipe though is that these are traditionally drenched in Vanilla powdered sugar, hence "Vanillakipferl' or Vanilla Crescents. She may have omitted it b/c it has been more dear to get vanilla pods to flavor the sugar in the past . Another way to flavor the sugar is to add some Vanilla Sugar (the concentrated stuff in a little packet, made in Germany). Make these a week before and let them ripen. Hands down the favorite (Christmas) cookies in our family and for almost all tasters of my Mom's Christmas platter of 10-15 different Austrian cookies. I love that Maida has such a nice selection of Austrian cookies in her collections. There are a bunch of recipes that I've not seen elsewhere.

Wow, I have a feeling that Cathy's blog and this thread will be very helpful for me! I'm looking forward to following her blog and making some comments there as well! click Chapter 4 - Rolled Cookies 9/4/2006 - Swedish Rye Wafers 9/11/2006 - Whole-Wheat Squares 9/18/2006 - Whole-Wheat Honey Wafers 9/25/2006 - Wild-Honey and Ginger Cookies 10/2/2006 - Honey Graham Crackers 10/9/2006 - Swedish Honey Cookies 10/16/2006 - Swedish Ginger Cookies 10/23/2006 - Viennese Almond Wafers 10/30/2006 - Ischler Cookies 11/6/2006 - Viennese Chocolate Cookies 11/13/2006 - Tropical Sour-Cream Cookies 11/20/2006 - Caraway Sour-Cream Cookies 11/27/2006 - Rum-Raisin Shortbread 12/4/2006 - Hot Butter Wafers 12/11/2006 - Caraway Hardtack 12/26/2006 - Arrowroot Wafers from Bermuda 1/1/2007 - Uppakra Cookies 1/8/2007 - Ginger Shortbread Cookies 1/15/2007 - Dione Lucas' Sablés 1/22/2007 - Cornell Sugar Cookies 1/29/2007 - Plain Old-Fashioned Sugar Cookies 2/12/2007 - Chocolate-Chip Pillows 2/19/2007 - Prune Pillows 2/26/2007 - Hamantaschen 3/5/2007 - Rugelach 3/12/2007 - Danish Coffeehouse Slices 3/19/2007 - Big Newtons 3/20/2007 - My Favorite Rolled Cookies

and/or visiting eGullet members from abroad or the Netherlands?

I also like to add parsley stems in here if I have them and a bay leaf. Other veg parts you can save for stock are the upper parts of leeks. Sometimes I'll add some fennel tops and stalks into the mix as well if I have them. Another herb I might add is some thyme if I have it around. In anycase, one can flavor the stock later as one desires. I go easy on the carrots, similar to waht Lilija described so that the finsished stock is not too sweet for my taste. One of my favorite tips for making stocks is to do as Lilija mentioned and cook the bones alone in water without adding the vegetables at the onset. Doing it this way makes it much easier to spoon off the scum than if you have vegetables floating in there. Another tip which is probably mentioned in the eGullet course is to cool the strained stock a bit in an ice water bath and with stirring so that you can get it in the fridge or freezer more quickly. I like to freeze the stock in a range of portion sizes ranging from 2-4 cups to 1 cup to some frozen in a ice cube tray. The last can be stored in a ziplock bag and are handy when you need just a little stock to finish a pasta sauce or some vegetables.

Thanks for sharing your comments, apronstrings. It really helps to hear people's impressions of the recipes! May I ask what the Austrian Walnut Crescent are like? (Cathy from the "Mondays with Maida" Blog hasn't reached them yet.) Are they filled with a ground walnut filling or are the ground walnuts a part of the dough? click Chapter 3 - Icebox Cookies 4/17/2006 - New Mexican Chocolate Icebox Cookies 4/24/2006 - Black-and-White Coconut Slices 5/8/2006 - Wienerstube Cookies 5/15/2006 - Maxines 5/22/2006 - Cobblestones 5/29/2006 - Neapolitans 6/5/2006 - Fruitcake Icebox Cookies 6/12/2006 - Butterscotch Thins 6/19/2006 - Pecan Butterscotch Icebox Cookies 6/26/2006 - Oatmeal Icebox Cookies 7/3/2006 - Peanut-Butter Pillows 7/10/2006 - Whole-Wheat Peanut-Butter Cookies 7/17/2006 - Icebox Nut Cookies 7/24/2006 - Sesame Fingers 7/31/2006 - Caraway Crisps 8/7/2006 - Almond Spicebox Cookies 8/14/2006 - Anise Icebox Cookies 8/21/2006 - Cardamom Cookies from Copenhagen 8/28/2006 - Pinwheels 8/29/2006 - My Favorite Icebox Cookies Besides giving newcomers to Maida Heatter's cookbooks a peek at the recipes on offer I'm hoping that seeing the list will prompt people to recall and share their favorites as apronstrings and Live It Up have so far.

Can't wait to see the rest of your recipe; le petit boucher. Thank you for sharing it and the photos are very helpful also. I haven't tackled making tongue at home myself yet although my Austrian Mom made it several times a year when we were growing up. The tomatoes and cornichons sound like an interesting combination.

Some interesting ideas in this discussion thread on "A More Complex Chocolate Chip Cookie" started by lisa_antonia: click I'm intrigued by ideas for adding buckwheat and another for adding coffee liqueur.

Great write up; thanks for the general comments as well as the mention of some of your favorites. I think I will definately need to get the older books or maybe the new "collection" which I guess includes many but not all that you would get from collecting the older books. It could drive me mildly crazy wondering if I was missing some great cookie recipe not in the collection. Hope to hear of other people's favorite Maida Heatter cookies too... Here is the list of Bar Cookies... Chapter 2 - Bar Cookies 9/5/2005 - Petites Trianons 9/12/2005 - All-American Brownies 9/19/2005 - Greenwich Village Brownies 9/26/2005 - Cream-Cheese Brownies 10/3/2005 - Fudge Brownies 10/10/2005 - Chocolate Mint Sticks 10/17/2005 - Dutch Chocolate Bars 10/24/2005 - Viennese Chocolate-Walnut Bars 10/31/2005 - Supremes 11/7/2005 - Dark Rocky Roads 11/14/2005 - Light Rocky Roads 11/21/2005 - Butterscotch Brownies 11/28/2005 - Florida Cream-Cheese Squares 12/5/2005 - Florida Lemon Squares 12/19/2005 - Palm Beach Pineapple Squares 12/26/2005 - Christmas Fruitcake Bars 1/2/2006 - Hermit Bars 1/9/2006 - Brittle Peanut Bars 1/16/2006 - Hungarian Walnut Bars 1/23/2006 - Butterscotch Walnut Bars 1/30/2006 - Cinnamon Almond Cookies 2/6/2006 - Georgia Pecan Bars 2/13/2006 - Pecan Festival Bars 2/20/2006 - Pecan Chews 2/27/2006 - Aspen Oatmeal Bars 3/6/2006 - Texas Cowboy Bars 3/13/2006 - Honey Date-Nut Bars 3/20/2006 - Aspen Date-Nut Fingers 3/27/2006 - Viennese Linzer Cookies 4/3/2006 - Polish Wedding Cakes 4/10/2006 - Viennese Marzipan Bars 4/11/2006 - My Favorite Bar Cookies

Sounds nice; I might serve this as a palate cleanser and salad after the main course and side dishes. Toasted walnuts and/or feta or goat cheese are also a nice component to add to the salad.

If you can get the two key ingredients this is a nice appetizer I made recently: small new potatoes (a mix of red and yellow is nice) taramosalata Boil pototoes unilt just done (i.e. fully cooked but not falling apart). It doesn't take long since the potatoes are small; about the size of golfballs. Let potatoes cool; chill in fridge. Cut in half, use the small end of a melon scoop to create a divot or depression in the cut side of each half. Fill with taramosalata. Tasty, fresh and easy. Another idea is to fill small "cups" of butter lettuce with a mixture of tuna, chickpeas and mayonnaise. Spike with some lemon juice, salt and pepper and with some cayenne or smoke paprika if you like. Prunes filled with blue cheese. Warm slightly in toaster oven, etc (You want the prunes and cheese softened a bit but you don't want the cheese anywhere near melting). Place on a platter and cover with a shower of chopped parsley. edited to add: Sounds like a wonderful menu, by the way.

Thanks for sharing your good experience with the coffee! I've only been to Demel's once but I had an excellent slice of cake there. I can't remember what type it was but it definately was not a Sacher Torte because I tend to usually order non-chocoalte options. I may have ordered an Esterhazyshnitten (nut meringue slice filled with kirsch buttercream...) It's described in more detail in this thread and post here where we've been sharing some of our baking experiences from Rick Rodger's Kaffehaus : Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafes of Vienna, Budapest and Prague. I have had Sacher Torte at the Sacher Hotel when I was a kid, but I just can't remember it well enough. I'm actually tempted to order Sachertorte from either Demel's or the Sacher Hotel just to see if it's really as disappointing for me as it has apparently been for some others! I'll have a week and a half to eat pastries and cakes there this summer so I'll probably be at Demel's more than once. With some research I've turned up a lot of Konditorei (patisserie) options in Vienna though so I suspect I'll be busy each day indulging my Austrian sweet tooth.

Here are the Drop Cookies from the book (and the dates they were made): click Chapter 1 - Drop Cookies 11/8/2004 - Chocolate Chocolate-Chip Cookies 11/15/2004 - Santa Fe Chocolate Wafers 11/22/2004 - "Chocolate Street" Cookies 11/29/2004 - Big Old-Fashioned Chocolate Cookies 12/6/2004 - Key West Chocolate Treasures 12/13/2004 - Chocolate Applesaucers 12/20/2004 - Coconut Grove Cookies 12/27/2004 - Chocolate Raisin Cookies 1/3/2005 - Chocolate Banana Cookies 1/10/2005 - Chocolate Peanut-Butter Ripples 1/17/2005 - Chocolate Peanut Cookies 1/31/2005 - Whole-Wheat and Honey Hermits 2/7/2005 - Connecticut Nutmeg Hermits 2/14/2005 - Mountain-Honey Gingersnaps 2/21/2005 - Sour-Cream Ginger Cookies 2/28/2005 - Giant Ginger Cookies 3/7/2005 - Sunflower Coconut Cookies 3/14/2005 - Date-Nut Wafers 3/21/2005 - Lemon Walnut Wafers 3/28/2005 - Praline Wafers 4/4/2005 - The Farmer's Wife's Pecan Cookies 4/11/2005 - Route 7 Raisin-Nut Cookies 4/18/2005 - Nut-Tree Walnut Jumbles 4/25/2005 - 24-Karat Cookies 5/23/2005 - Indian Figlets 5/30/2005 - Hawaiian Pineapple Cookies 6/6/2005 - Pumpkin Rocks 6/13/2005 - Banana Rocks 6/20/2005 - Date-Nut Rocks 6/27/2005 - Blind Date Cookies 7/4/2005 - German Oatmeal Cookies 7/11/2005 - Norman Rockwell's Oatmeal Wafers 7/18/2005 - Oatmeal Snickerdoodles 7/25/2005 - Oatmeal Molasses Cookies 8/1/2005 - Raisin Oatmeal Cookies 8/8/2005 - Butterscotch Molasses Cookies 8/15/2005 - Poppy-Seed Wafers 8/22/2005 - Tijuana Fiesta Cookies 8/29/2005 - Vanilla Butter Wafers 8/30/2005 - My Favorite Drop Cookies

As a former East Coaster who has lived in the Bay Area for over 15 years this restaurant has been on my list. The innovative Middle East/Arab Mediterranean cuisine seems to be quite different than anything I'm aware of in the Bay Area. My sister and brother in law had a great dinner their last fall and ever since hearing the menu descriptions I've been interested. The restaurant also seems to have some non-obvious but intriguing sounding desserts which is a major plus for me as well. Spring 2007 Dinner Menu PRET A MANGER Warm Organic Kalamata Olives with Rigani & Sesame Seeds 4 Spicy Carrot Puree & Egyptian Spice Mix with Nuts & Olive Oil 4 Armenian Bean & Walnut Pâté with Homemade String Cheese 4 Deviled Eggs with Tuna & Black Olives 5 Warm Buttered Hummus with Basturma & Tomato 4 Whipped Feta with Sweet & Hot Peppers 4 APPETIZERS Fried Mussels & Hot Peppers with Turkish Tarator Sauce 10 Red Wine-Barley Rusk with Cucumber Jus, Tomato, Whipped Ricotta & Kalamata Olives 10 Cacik—Salad of Spring Greens & Cucumber with Thick, Garlicky Yogurt 11 Asparagus, Green Almond Pesto, Fava Puree & Soft Boiled Egg 12 Walnut & Sesame Fatayer with Homemade Mozzarella & Rhubarb Jam 10 Lamb & Beef Borek with Wild Leeks, Orange & Cumin 10 Spinach Falafel, Tahini, Yogurt with Beets & Mâche 10 Sultan’s Delight; Tamarind Glazed Beef & Smokey Eggplant Puree with Pinenuts 12 GRAINS & GREENS Spicy Fideos & Chick Peas with Green Chard & Orange Aioli 8/15 Ricotta & Bread Dumplings with Red Wine, Porcini and Kale 8/15 FISH Halibut & Rice in Vine Leaves with Pine Nuts, Muscat Grapes & Sorrel butter 26 Hake Kibbeh Stuffed with Crab & Peas. Nettle broth with Hot Mint Butter 23 Lemon-Ginger Split Lobster with Sunchoke & Spring Onion Shish market price Tuna, Barley Couscous, & Spinach Salad with Sesame & Green Olive 26 MEAT Lamb Steak with Turkish Spices & Fava Bean Moussaka 24 Flattened Lemon Chicken with Za’atar & Turkish Cheese Pancake 24 River Rock Beef Kebob with Finger Bread, Green Garlic & Fiddlehead Fries 25 Free Range Veal & Almond Dumpling—Moroccan Style with Fava Bean Salad 24 Pork Ribs with Pomegranate Glaze, Bean Plaki & Parsnip-Coriander Slaw 24 Spring 2007 Dessert Menu MAURA'S HOMEMADE ICE CREAM Baked Alaska; Coconut Ice Cream & Passion Fruit Caramel 14 Nougat Glace with Pistachio Katmer & Sweet Apricot Dolma 12 Sicilian Almond Cremolata with Warm Chocolate Panino 11 Pineapple Granité, Frozen Yogurt Chiboust & Ginger Meringue 12 Espresso Ice Cream with Sticky Toffee Pudding & Espresso Caramel 11 Dondurma with Turkish Delight Crisps & Rhubarb-Rose Sharbat 12 Cocoa Sherbet with Chocolate Marquise & Sesame Pot de Crème 12

Bummer.... but thanks for the heads up so that I make sure I don't miss the last two episodes. I wonder if the food stuff will be prominent in the last two episodes b/c they'll have a lot of things to wrap up, etc. I was already looking forward to all the CA/SF food angles if Rorie got married and moved to SF.

Pretty cool! (...that you cooked systematically throught the book; not the five lbs... ) One of her "strategies" seems to include having a panel of tasters from her circle of friends and coworkers!

You may have already been looking through them, but I also have to make a plug for the excellent content on Japanese food and cuisine on the eGullet forums. There are so many great threads spearheaded by Japan forum host torakris and many other devoted posters to the Japanese forum.

I ran across an interesitng blog today where a person is baking through all the cookies in Maida Heatter's Cookies book: Monday's with Maida The blogger bakes a new cookie each Monday. She started in November 2004 and is still going strong each week! It looks like there about 30 recipes left to go! She has baked through Drop Cookies, Bar Cookies, Icebox Cookies and Rolled Cookies. She is currently baking through Hand-Formed Cookies and the last chapter is "Etcetera". I've taken this book out of the library numerous times and have considered buying it as there are many tempting recipes. This site could be a nice reference point for getting additional comments on a recipe before trying it. She has a panel of tasters for each cookie and they give an overall rating. There are also comments from readers. Any other with experiences or comments on the book?