hathor

Franci, what did you do to the cardoons before they went into the stock? Did you boil them separately first? That looks really delicious. Scarpetta, that soups sounds fabulous. I love it when the different components have such different flavorings and then get combined at the end...and the clove flavor sounds like the ribbon that ties the whole package together. mmmmm...... Heads us! Woo hoo!! I've got some parm rinds and some chicken stock, so you know I'm gonna be playing with these in the next day or two. Is is really obsessive to get excited about having a parm rind on hand???

I reduced the mosta down to a fairly liquid syrup. I'm going to do it again and reduce it even more. I love the taste of vin cotta, I've been known to eat if from a spoon. I didn't realize that saba/sapa had quinces in them...quinces have been around the markets lately. I'll give that a try. Thanks!

Piacere Mei! (Italian for what a pleasure to meet you!) It is certainly a treat to have you blog. Did you learn any Dutch before you came to Holland? Why did you pick Holland? What will you do when you go back to Malaysia? I think it is very brave, wonderful, exciting, scary, fantastic that you are taking a year to live in a very different culture. Your Paris pictures are great....I miss Paris!! Looking forward to all your adventures this week...including working on a better spacecake recipe!

So beautifully said, Pontormo.

You sure you had a watermelon????

Articulate and he can cook. What a combination!

Ciao! Our Festa del Bosco was a success, yet again. Apparently its the 23rd year they've been having the Festa and this year's had some very interesting walks and entertainment. It was exhausting however! Kevin, that quail and polenta dish looks just beautiful. You know I have a soft spot for quail. Who asked about chestnut recipes? Ludja? I'm desparate to find some other recipes...I've got chestnuts coming out of my ears. I've gone thru all my little local cook books and I'm not coming up with much. I did 'invent' a chestnut semifreddo with a mosto syrup that went over very well! Sorry, no photos. Mosto is the first pressing of the grapes, and then the wine has its fermentation blocked at a very early stage, resulting is a mildly alchoholic grape juice. I've got a 5L bottle of it, so if anyone has any mosto recipes, please! let me know! Here is my favorite tartuffo guy. He has great tartufatti salsas and reasonably priced/good quality tartuffos. One of his truffles found its way as a garnish onto a duck consomme. Good combination. This is Iva with some of her wares: biscotti, wine, ornamental gourds. On Sunday, there was an organized hike that was part history and part truffle hunting. These dogs were so interesting, the way they would focus on the ground and sniff around and dig around. The hunter was tellling us that their noses are so sensitive that when they can't find a truffle nearby , they put their noses into the air, and can pick up the scent and then head off to find it. Apparently everyone is complaining that this is not a good truffle year, not enough rain. The hunter had a bag full when we arrived, but didn't find any while we were him. These guys are a little scary, if you ask me. There is quite a bit of money at stake, and there are plenty of stories of tire slashings, dog poisonings and the like to make me cautious about heading out into the woods to try my luck at truffle hunting. So, Happy Halloween!! Day of the Dead. All Saints and whatever else gets celebrated the next few days. We're all meeting in Tuscany tomorrow, right??

Lucy, that photo of the sliced duck neck garnishing the soup is just gorgeous. Makes you want to run out and ring some poor duck's neck...! Now I'm looking everywhere for duck necks, and all I'm finding is pig's ears. Is that some sort of cosmic message?

Foodman, the squash was starchy without any discernible flavor. I've had other zuccas that were just delicious, delicate and uniquely flavored. Franci, those northern Italians just don't have the lock on good zucca! Beautiful cardoons Nishia!! Kevin, I think you hit the nail on the head with the double cooking....that first boil elimimates or mitigates bitterness. And once again...thank you Franci for clearing up the castagne/marrone issue! It was bugging me! We are in last minute prep mode before the festa begins in town. We helped S.Monni (Sardinian cheese man) set up his stand last night and town is just packed with people setting up their stands. These HUGE Pugliese type breads just came in a little while ago. I'll post some pics when I get a chance. Ciao!!

Around our house, we call torto all testa, "spit sandwiches" because they are really dry and you need to have a lot of spit to eat them. Hmmm....nice image, huh?? Foodman, yours are gorgeous!!! Absolutely delicious, I can smell them from here!! Remember the roasted fennel/potato dish you made awhile back? Last night I had some wild fennel branches and seeds so I used them on the roast potatoes...mmmmm....highly recommend it. Jeff thought the potatoes took on a chocolate note. We had it with some panfried pancetta and sauteed peppers. The other night was roast stuff squash. The guy at the market really talked up this squash, but it left both of us unimpressed. Pretty to look at, but not very flavorful.

I had Italian meatloat at a restaurant in Rome. It was a combination of pork, veal and lamb and I forget what they called it, but it was meatloaf.

Papillion in NYC did something like this a few years back....the diners were blindfolded. Better than having the waiters stumbling around in the dark, I suppose.

Pontormo: I see where you are going with the chestnut lentil pancetta combination, and it does sound good. I think the reason I was happy with the chestnut-sage soup is that it was fairly light. Another night...we pull out the pancetta and give that a go! Pancetta...leeks...chestnuts...lentils....mmmmm..... Papa Pomadoro variation: if its really thick, and you just happen to have some caul fat around.... I've made it where you wrap a bit of the thick soup/stew in caul fat and then roast it. It looks really pretty...like a lace covered tomato, but it really depends on how you feel about caul fat....

Heinz, that is one gorgeous meal....with extra-gorgeous chestnuts!! Hey Kevin and NYCMike, I asked around about umbricelli...just wanted to reconfirm, umbricelli or picci isn't twisted like the Pugliese sagne, it's a straight 'noodle' of varying widths. I don't have the cookbook you are looking at, but around here, it usually just means a fat spaghetti. Strange, huh? Not at all sure why there is this discrepancy. Kevin...that is a fantastic looking fritatta!! I've been on a sage kick, actually I'm always on a sage kick, but that fritatta looks very tempting. And Franci, as usual, you are dead on about the breads! Piadini is from E-R, but it's filtered on down to Umbria.

Oh my, Lucy is making eG history....

Kevin....you've gone poetic on us... lovely. Poets are a good thing. I have a prosciutto rind hanging on my kitchen window...I think its destined for a soup pot. OK>>>>these parm rinds. You are talking about cutting off the hard, waxy, printed part and cooking the rest, right? Why am I having so much trouble with this concept??????? I have a parmigiana chunk that I'm working on as we speak. So, the parm rind and the prosciutto rind should produce the soup to end all soups?? With some beans, of course. edit for p.s.: chestnut-lentil....I'm not so sure. You will taste one or the other, but they are too 'simpatico', it's not a point-counter-point journey, secondo me....but I've been wrong before!

Boys. Boys. It's nothing like a foot and sock....

In the interest of furthering eG knowledge, I went to the market and bought a duck, with it's head still on. There is no way you can bone that neck, and more importantly, not enough of a reason to. But, the neck is certainly a very nice size to stuff with just about anything. I think some super soft duck meat, maybe confit meat, with crisped neck skin would pretty much be divine. Or else some duck meat that had been braised in some sort of Moroccan spice combination and then placed inside the neck skin. Or... can you tell I'm hungry????

Buon compleano Sandy!! As usual, I'm running late...but wish you many happy returns. Don't get your knickers in a twist about nearing 50. I've crossed the great divide and I'm still alive and well! I didn't know Yuengling came from Pottsville... I was born in Pottsville. As usual, you come thru with some cool facts! I love the vibrancy of the Philadelphia food culture. It's not as gussied up, or as self-conscious as the NY culture, but it offers a more approachable take on food and eating. I don't want to start any sort of ny-philly debate, it's just an observation from someone who has spent a lot of time in NY, and has enjoyed discovering what Philadelphia has to offer. Oh, and Sandy, I would never, ever, think of calling you late for dinner.

oooohhhh. A little bit of moist heat and tweezers and you should be all set. (I got all excited by little rabbit rib garnishes that I made...however, I was far more excited than any of the guests! )

That sounds like such a good recipe Franci! There is a restaurant a little north of Bologna, that serves a 'parmigiana soup'. I thought I could recreate it using the cheese and a chicken stock base, but now I'm wondering about using the cheese rinds. Do you eat the rind? Is it chopped/minced? I'm having trouble visualizing this. Note: I have no problem with the pig snout, but the cheese rinds have stumped a little! Here is yesterday's soup: Chestnut Sage Soup This soup was invented yesterday when I went into the kitchen, looked around and wondered what the heck I was going to make for lunch. We experimented with bits of fresh pear as a garnish, and also a bit of white truffle paste. The pear was very sweet so it made the chestnuts taste less savory, and the truffle paste masked the delicate chestnut flavor. It was a unanimous decision: the soups was delicious all on its own.

I read the first line of this topic, and thought....wait a minute, Lucy figured out a way to bone a duck neck?? The next question is: why??? If it is to become a stuffing, what if you gently braise the necks first and then remove the flesh? Guess it depends on how the full recipe is written. Oh. Do take photos. Lots!!!

Well, isn't that a kick in the head? What terrible news. One of my favorite lines in his recent, wonderful blog was, "I came for the beauty and it never let me down." I kept meaning to PM him to tell him what a great line that is. His wonderful sense of humor, and his love of life and food was a eGullet pleasure that will be sorely missed.

Cardoons and anchovies! An inspired combination. I tried this...using some white wine in the 'slurry' mix. Excellent Served it along with some pork ribs. This recipe was from an Umbrian chef that came to Ital.cook. Dredge the ribs in flour/salt, lightly brown in olive oil. Add whatever fresh herbs you have around and some chopped garlic. In this case, rosemary, thyme, 2 juniper berries, couple scrapes of nutmeg and a shot of wine and a little bit of chicken stock. Threw in some potatoes and put the whole thing in the oven until it was brown and yummy. May not be ribs to you Texans, but they were soft and really flavorful. Sorry about the photo...! Heinz Legourmet: ohhhh! Too bad! Next time, you'll have to come and visit. Shaya: just a gorgeous meal as usual! The pisi and pancetta look really tasty. I haven't made any trout lately, but I think your photo may change my mind. We went to yet another castagne festival this weekend. This time we biked up to Preggio....and I do mean up! These guys are not as possessed as the Morra chestnut people. But for a little, bitty town, they must have had 6 or 7 little tavernas. Here is the menu from one of the tavernas. These autumn festas are really fun, each town has a totally different spirit. Next weekend, we have our big shin-dig.

Cream of celery soup. There have been some wacky celeries in the market. This was made with a very thin, tough, stringy, dark green celery. It's very flavorful with a slightly bitter finish. I used a strong chicken stock as the base. Soup is good.