hathor

We had one of those "it all came together' dinners last night. Even the wine was special, and simpatico, and wonderful. No particular occasion, which sometimes makes it even better. Roast spiced poussin served with roasted pear. The spices were: cumin, coriander, Chinese 5 spice, smoke adobe chili, salt and pepper. The sweetness of the roasted pears was a gorgeous compliment to the heat of the spices. Sauteed parsnips and swiss chard. 1993 Gigondas.

I think that you still need to skin them. I've been told, at various times, that the skin can be either toxic, or that many people are allergic. Either way, the skins don't taste good and IMHO need to come off. I just skinned a whole bunch, and its a pain in the neck whether they are fresh or dried!! I like to cook them in salted water until they fall apart....then puree them while incorporating some good olive oil. Finish with sea salt. mmmmmm.......

Here's a mini-review of the interview from NY Magazine.

What puzzles me is the source of the compulsion to say "That's not Italian." It seems bizarre and exclusionary, especially against the backdrop of a constantly evolving, globally influenced set of regional cuisines. ← In my experience, in Italy, what I hear is more along the lines of, "that's not Tuscan" or 'that's not how we do it".... The emphasis here is on very localized cooking. The 'Italian' identity rests lightly on their shoulders, while regional identity is the essence of their soul. I disagree with this sentence: "It seems bizarre and exclusionary, especially against the backdrop of a constantly evolving, globally influenced set of regional cuisines." My neighbors, in Umbria, have no interest, whatsoever in 'global influences' on their cuisine. My friends in the Marche, would smile sadly because they know that their produce, fish, meat, wine, air quality, etc. is superior to anywhere else. It is somewhat bizarre. It is certainly exclusionary. But it exists, nonetheless. Russ, you are the third or fourth person to recommend "War comes to the Val d'Orcia", so I guess it's time to track this book down! Thanks for the reminder.

I'd like some potato dauphonaise with a side beef with tangerine peel, please. Peter, nice gnocchi! Where did you get the truffles from? No pics, but last night was red wine braised bunny with pureed fava beans. Pureed fava beans are delicious, but peeling those dried beans is just as much of a pain as peeling the fresh beans.

Often lumped together with Umbria, Le Marche (lay mar-kay) stands very tall, all on its own. It’s got it going on: great coastline, beaches, hills, mountains, wine and lots of fabulous food. Let’s crack open a bottle of Verdicchio and enjoy this month! I need to make a disclaimer: I went to chef school, Ital.Cook, in Jesi, in the Marche, so I come to this month with lots of enthusiasm and with certain prejudices. The people and producers that I met in the Marche were spectacularly proud of their food and wine. They take their food seriously, almost religiously seriously. The Marchigiani, or people of Le Marche, have a long history of respecting the land and the sea. No piece of land goes untilled or forgotten; they are thrifty people by nature and use every bit of every animal that is raised. It is a naturally beautiful region, and is very simpatico with the Slow Food philosophy. The Marche is fantastic in the spring, the markets are literally bursting with produce. Fava beans by the ton, artichokes, fresh peas, early lettuces, it’s a cornucopia of delights. Spring is also the time to head into the hills to forage for wild asparagus and herbs. In the fall, we go back to the woods for porcini, truffles and wild boar. The Adriatic supplies the fish, and it’s a lot of the same varieties that we found in the Veneto, only they seem cheaper, more abundant and fresher. The fresh anchovy is venerated here, there are a bazillion recipes for anchovies, but the raw, marinated ones are the best. The town of Senigallia is a big fishing port and home to two very well respected fish restaurants: Uliassi and La Madonnina del Pescatore. A fish soup, by any other name would be a brodetto, a zuppa or a cacciucco; but whatever you call it, in the Marche, a brodetto is divine. As with any fishing village, the brodetto’s were made with the left over or damaged fish of the day, and each of the coastal towns of the Marche has their own variety, which they claim is the most ‘authentic’, or the oldest, or the best. The most classic brodetto is probably the “Brodetto all’Anconeta”, with its main ingredients including: olive oil, onion, garlic, vinegar, parsley, strained tomatoes and chili peppers. Once you go south of Monte Conero, the brodetto of Porto Recananti incorporates saffron and is more creamy in texture. North of Ancona, the Brodetto di San Benedetto del Tronto, includes green and red peppers and green tomatoes. The brodetto alla Fanese uses tomato concentrate or tomato paste and vinegar. All of these brodettos include as many varieties of fish as you can find that day, the only rule is that the fish must be very, very fresh. Another classic Ancona fish dish is stoccafissa, or air dried cod, baked with potatoes and tomatoes. This dish is one of those that benefits from being left over night and tastes better the next day. When you get tired of fish, head inland; there it becomes more like Umbria, with game and courtyard animals served frequently. And we are certainly in the land of the pig, Fabriano, which is known for papermaking, is also known for some of the finest salumi’s produced in Italy. Le Marche produces both soft and hard wheat, so you will find a tradition of fresh and dried pastas. An interesting pasta is “maccheroncini” which uses an incredible number of eggs, and cooks in under a minute. As in Umbria, pecorino and other sheep cheeses are prominent; however there are a number of thriving buffalo mozzarella producers located near Jesi. The two principal wines of the region are Rosso Conero and Verdicchio dei Castelli de Jesi. The full bodied red wine, Rosso Conero, is produced south of Ancona, using Montepulciano grapes. Bob Dylan is a part owner of vineyard that produces Rosso Conero, anyone remember the name of the vineyard? Verdicchio is the name of the grape that produces Verdicchio wine and there are two “schools” of Verdicchio wine: dei Castelli de Jesi and from the small microclimate of Metallica. Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi tends to be more fruity, more buttery, while the Metallica version is a bit more flinty and mineral tasting. Dolce anyone? The Marche has a solid repertoire of biscotti, and ciambelle. The desserts are more of the dunking cookie type, than a frothy Venetian confection. All in all, you may have some challenges finding cookbooks from the Marche, but it will be worth the trouble. Enjoy!

Kevin...I was thinking about what you said about fresh pasta and fish. Could that be because most of the fish concentrated dishes that we've made were more Southern Italy, and that's dry pasta territory? Just a thought.

That bigoli looks pretty darn good, Elie! It reminded me of passatelli as well. I LOVE passatelli, with a little bit of orange peel thrown in. It's certainly Umbrian, but I bet those Marchigiani (sp??) eat it as well. I also was reminded how right you are about cleaning the dye after you make the bigoli. Now that is one of the definitions of tedious. Kevin, I just went back and looked at your seafood risotto. You had good reason to be proud....that looks beautiful.

I'm thinking that courtesy and graciousness are not bad things, they sort of grease the wheels of civil society. Your personal freedom and convictions can still remain, but knowing when to yield or bend, can make all the difference. I_Call_the_Duck: whew!! Those are some wicked stories! YIKES!! I started traveling to the Far East when I was 21, and I learned very quickly the skill of looking like you like something, of always tasting what was presented to you. And I'm grateful to have this skill because you always collect more bees with honey..... In our house, the 'suck it up' motto is 'pull up your socks' which was told to us by a very nice man in Nairobi, where they have lots of reasons for pulling up their socks.

Excellent and entertaining article. Supertaster is probably a bad choice for a name, maybe hyper-taster? Especially in view of the silliness of the linked quiz that started all this, we can't go around having the anointed supertasters thinking they are superior tasters, can we?

In the song, "macaroni" has nothing to do with pasta. It was a reference to a club of dandies in London. http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_..._18/ai_95150309 ← The Dandy part is correct, but there is a pasta connection. This chap was quite American wasn't he? ← Cool...that's a torchio, and it's just what they need over on the Veneto thread for making bigoli.

Amazing meals everyone..as usual! Chufi, you just reminded me that I'm out of verjuice. That's one of those sneaky ingredients that you can't always identify but it acts as a bridge for different flavors...if you know what I mean. I'm back! I have BTU's!! Last night was quick, easy comfort food. I dug out some duck confit from the crock, garlic/parsley potatoes and an argula salad with orange vinegarette dressing. I love duck confit, especially when the skin gets that crackle like glass texture....mmmmm.....

No rest for the bigoli dough. I went back to my Ital.cook recipe and its pretty simple: 125 gg Tipo 00 125 gg Durum wheat eggs as needed Great! As needed...that only works if someone is showing you what to do! We only let it rest for about 30 minutes, then put it in the press. Bigoli is great with a sardine sauce. Speaking of sardines, I didn't make stuffed sardines, I made them 'in saor'. But, my recipe is different from Franci's in that the sardines are barely, barely cooked. The heat from the hot onions finishes the cooking process and then the fishies have to marinate for at least 5 days. Or until you can't stand it and have to attack, I mean eat them. Pontormo, your dinner sounds fantastic! I've never had luck with gnocchi unless they go right into the pot, and then the mouth. Everytime I try to 'conserve' them, or hold them, I get mush. I went to the big Fairway in NYC...but no radicchio. So, I'll have to live vicariously thru yours and Franci's descriptions. Proseco! Sometimes you can find these little 1 or 2 glass bottles...some distributor in NJ imports them and every once in awhile you can find them. It's just the right amount! I finally have one of the cookbooks that everybody else has...I have the DellaCroce Veneto book, and in my wisdom, I forgot to pack it to take skiing with me. Now, that I'm reading it, I realize I've been cooking Veneto without realizing it: lots of meat and fruit combinations. I love that play of savory with fruity sweetness. There is even a recipe calling for pomegranates! Although it does call for 2 bottles of pomegranate juice...hmmmm....

But reading through all the examples that you've posted, I have no idea where any of these mountains are; no anchor to figure out the location, other than the NY Times article. This has been an interesting discussion, and conducted in a very Italian manner. All that's missing is a long table, late afternoon sunshine, some unlabeled bottles of wine and a hunk of cheese. I originally posted the article, and my rant, to see if I was becoming a self-righteous Ital-ophile (??). Seems that I am, and I'm ok with that. Now Adam has me wondering about spaghetti and meatballs....good questions, Adam.

Elie: PM me if you want a bigoli formula! I swear it never stuck together...I'm guessing its the type of flour used. But its so damn stiff that it really is a pain (physical arm pain) to work with! Kevin, you crack me up!! Mitch: next time you're cooking Italian, let me beg for an invite!! We got down from the mountains just a little too late for your big feast. It looks wonderful! What fun. Green apple risotto....what a great idea. And pairing it with pork....inspired! Franci: I would give anything for some of that radicchio, it just looks beautiful. We are back in the land of ingredients, and I don't care if its the end of the month....I still want to cook Veneto! P.S. Where are we going in March?

I don't have any of my notes handy, so I can't be specific, but there was quite a bit of variation or tolerance with the meat ban depending on your region. The land locked places didn't have to eat fish as much as the coastal places. What I'm trying to say is that geography played a role in the rules of when you needed to eat fish. There was also some interesting history tidbits about the fishermen petitioning the church for more meat free days. I know, I know....I have to back this up with some substance! But, all my notes are back in Italy!

Well, FG, can we agree to disagree? I'm still standing with all that Pontormo has said. She is far more eloquent than I. I found the article meandering and unfocused. For me, the key element is that a family was tied together by a spaghetti dinner and a particular dinner table. That is a beautiful thing. To try and represent it as 'cracking a spaghetti code', or trying to decipher an authentic link with her Italian heritage, it simply didn't work for me. As I'm sure you know, there is a group of us that have been studying, enjoying, celebrating and debating regional Italian cooking on the Italian forum. This article flies in the face of everything we've seen, and it perpetuates American stereotypical expectations. But, there is room and respect for all opinions here, don't you think?

In Umbria, a common home made liquor is made from only from the peach pits. Kills two birds: you get to eat the peach and use the stone. Very thrifty, those Umbrians.

Thanks for the different points of view. I was afraid I was just getting cranky up here in the mountains...maybe its the lack of fresh vegetables? Pontormo, I think you summed up my irritation precisely. It was the presentation. The basic premise is fine and good, but the relying on that Italian nonna crutch, with the DaVinci code thrown in...blech. This is a nice piece of generic fluff. You don't learn anything, and the uninformed reader is still thinking that those meatballs are genuine Italian. This summer, in Tuscany, we were with some guests, and one of the women, wealthy, well traveled, was complaining that she just wanted some 'real' Italian food. She was hungry for chicken parmigiana. Sorry, I must still be cranky.....

I'm with you Abra. Supertaster who loves coffee, brussel sprouts, spinach, grapefruit etc. The test seemed to be more about restaurant issues and etiquette, than taste.

Great looking ragu and pasta, Kevin! And all for a very good cause. You had to go and mention ovoli mushrooms....now, I'm craving them and it's a looong time before they are in season! p.s. We just finished off a big pot of bolognese as well. Works well as mountain food!

Anyone else catch this article in the NY Times: Cracking the Spaghetti Code? Did it bug anyone besides me? My problem with this article is that it shows no awareness of Italian cooking. Its a lovely article about a roaming family that is grounded by spaghetti sauce, but it has nothing to do with Italy. It only perpetuates the stereotype of Italian cooking. Chicken thighs? Dried basil? boh!

Beautiful!! Beautiful!! Beautiful!! Amazing food. Shoutsandmurmurs: nice photos!! Anyone who posts about pomegranates is a friend indeed!! They are gone, gone, gone until next year.... Shaya's back! Woo-hoo!! Those gorgeous cocktails are just beautiful. You and Ms. Foodie are reviving the cocktail hour....I'm a big fan of the aperitivo hour. Chufi: love the idea of the zucchini pancake with salmon. Excellent. Still in the mountains, been reduced to making spaghetti bologenese with some weird ass ground meat. Came in a plastic wrap tube. I actually took a picture of it, but its just too gross to post. If this is eating local..... blech!

Huh? What did I miss? I think that little studio is an absolute gem! I created a thread all about it a while back but it got deleted because it wasn't "relevant". Buy it! Buy it now! ←

Ditto what Pontormo said: Kevin and Ellie...you guys are great husbands! Beautiful, beautiful meals. I love squab! I do have a thing for those little birdies. Franci, where/how did you mother get the little birds that she served with polenta? Every once in awhile you can find them in Umbria and they are delicious. Those heart shaped raviolis are gorgeous. What fun! I have to make do with extremely limited ingredients, and looking at those scallops....just makes me ....hungry! For something other than meat!