hathor

Dear Sister in the Soil, Having lived with tomatoes that thought they were shrubs, basil that couldn't withstand a whisper of a breeze and even mint that didn't grow, I share your pain. However, I moved into the sunshine, a place with the most bizarre 'earth' I've ever encountered. It digs up in clods so dense that you have to whack it to the ground to see if its dirt or a rock (seriously. I'm not exaggerating in the least). When it rains, it immediately turns to this viscous mud. But stuff grows like magic. I feel for you, having had the good garden, to now have more memories than tomatoes. Keep the faith. Learn to love shade gardens, hathor

Vin santo. I use it as a garnish for roasted meats, lamb, game, duck, roast fish. I haven't tried it on vegetables, but you could probably go with something like a pureed root. It just adds that bit of a citrus note that can brighten a dish. oh. Only my mother and Aunt Stella call me Judy. But since I'm sucking up to you for dessert, you can call me Jude.

Do I need to go into therapy? All I could think of was..is this the first known recipe for carpaccio? I think I need help.

Vadouvan: if you behave, I'll make you some oxtail ravioli when I get back to the States this fall. You're in Philly, right? But, you do need to behave! edit: OK, I will behave if you make me some of that banana heaven!! Please.... Seriously beautiful. Speaking of orange peel: This is interesting. Peel the orange in strips (no pith), marinate in a sweet desert wine that has one mushed up very hot chili pepper. Dehydrate the strips, then pulverize them. Spinkle on just about anything.

Andrew, I'm drooling along with you. That pie looks really, really, really good!! Don't know what to say about the fish, guys. I think it was the top rombo, as it was a murky green color. Just one of those things. I'll have to do a little more research and then try again. Lunch today was an oxtail couscous. I braised some oxtail the other morning, with lots of wine and spices, then today I served it alongside a couscous with raisins, and garnished everything with coarse chopped toasted almonds, parsley and orange peel. Served along with a cherry tomato and basil salad it was pretty tasty. And better yet, didn't make the kitchen too hot.

Here is the correct procedure: 1) Pinch off a pepper 2) With your thumbnail, scratch the surface and gently touch to your lips 3) Lick your lips and see what you think 4) Hand pepper to your spouse and ask him to taste it. .....works for me, everytime. You'd think he'd get wise by now!

Rombo? Turbot, I think. The spaghetti alla Trapanese sounds like a good bet for the heat. I'm a huge fan of the variant pesto alla Trapanese, with almonds, but no cheese. ← The fishmonger's sign said 'rombi'. It was flat, with all of its face on one side, like a sole or flounder. But...it had little sharp bumps on its topside, dark, muddy green skin and it WOULD NOT give up its skin. Normally, it's pretty easy to peel a sole or flounder, this skin was ATTACHED. Also, its organs weren't in the right place...they were all in the head. Seriously. All the icky guts were up in the head, so much so, that I just chopped its head off. The cooked flesh was firm, dense and somewhat 'oily' tasting. And it left a really nasty smell on my hands...more than normal. What ever...no more rombi for me.

Bravo!!! Sounds like an excellent meal. Its as much about the fun of putting it together as it is about eating it. Glad you tried the orange salad, its surprisingly good, isn't it?

What did MarkMorse call it? Surface of the Sun hot? I'm getting crankier and crankier...we get heat lightening, wind, and nothing but more blasting heat. Ok. I'm done ranting. Thank you for listening. I came across this recipe for "Spaghetti alla Trapanese". Which is basically cooked spaghetti with raw chopped tomatoes, garlic, basil, salt, pepper and some cheese. Since turning on the stove involves MORE HEAT, and this would be self induced heat, the idea of a salsa crudo (cruda?) seemed very appealing. So, I came up with this variation for some ricotta ravioli: chopped tomatoes, onions, parsley, little bit of garlic and toasted ricotta. I love Ling's signature line, "currently in love with..." Well, I'm currently in love with sheep ricotta. Next I tried throwing tomatoes, olives, capers, onions, garlic, basil, chili peppers and olive oil in the blender and getting a super thick 'gazpacho' sort of sauce and threw that over spaghetti. OK, I didn't exactly throw it.... told you I get cranky in the heat. It was good, sort of a salad sauce on top of sphaghetti. You don't get the rich, developed flavors of a traditional ragu, but in this heat, the fresh flavors worked for me.

That sounds really good.... there are tons of bitter greens here....all with different names. Unvarnished oak. Lovely.

I dunno what to tell you, except that as we all know there's certain things out there that we are cursed to be unable to make, no matter how simple they are. I've tried three separate cannoli recipes (Batali's, the one in Sweet Sicily, and the one in Italian Holiday Cooking) none of which turned out. Maybe it is the tubes; they were cribbed from some bargain bin at our Italian deli. I seem to be dancing around one of my bad luck streaks after this past weekend, so I'm reluctant to try them again. ← I respect your bad streak. We've all been there! (what the hell kind of fish is rombi?? Looked like it was in the sole family, but it was really awful. See, you're not alone.) Do any of those recipes call for lard in the dough? Just a thought. Hey, if chaise lounge chairs can be dismembered to be canoli tubes....!

Buon compleano Mrs. Kevin72!! Kevin, I make 'your' fried cheese antipasto all the time. It's amazing...people just sop up every bit of juice, cheese... As for the gelato experiments, they are fun aren't they? Its really weird, and I hope I've kept good enough notes, but some flavors really need to spend a few days in the freezer, it's like a reverse braise, and others lose their freshness. Some flavors 'taste' colder than others. And as you've noticed, some freeze and melt so much quicker than others. I've got a book on frozen desserts but it doesn't mention too much about this. I had an orange-fennel granita set up in half the time as the other fennel flavors. Why? I'm sure one of the scientific persons floating around eG would be able to explain this phenomena, and I'm not talking about the addition of any alcohol, that I understand effects freezing/melting. Here is a recent granita di cafe. Mine is with a little panna drizzled over it, Jeff likes his straight. I'm really not much of a dessert person, missing a sweet tooth or something. But I did manage to pull off some good canoli yesterday. Short saga: On Saturday, I sent Jeff (my very amiable partner and guinea pig) off to Francesco's farm to get some sheep ricotta. He came back, about 2 hours later, completely cross-eyed drunk!! Francesco's new name for him is "Jeff American Express" and by the time Francesco was through introducing him to his home made wines, I was lucky to get the ricotta at all. Sunday morning, I cranked out the shells, before the heat of the day. Kevin, trust me, I was thinking of you as I went to pull off the first shell! But, they were fine and slipped off easlily. PM me and I'll give you my shell recipe...I can't imagine why else you would have had a problem. I even experimented with taking them off hot, taking them off cold...Who knows? I filled them with the sweetened sheep ricotta, 2 varieties: with toasted grated almond, and with grated fresh lemon and dried orange peel. Unfortunately, I was running late, and in a hurry, so no final pic of the finished product. I even got a round of applause from my friendly Umbrian neighbors, who are slightly mystified why I am cooking Sicilian, but whatever, a round of applause was a very nice thank you. edited because I really cannot proofread and I'm still fighting with the photo upload god!

Grazie mille Evan! I know I could google up recipes, and I have some here, but when you hear the voice of someone who knows what they are doing...well, its nice to have your hand held. Thanks for the advice on Tipo 00, as that's what I have tons of. I'll look to see if I have any more 'whole' flours that are suitable. Its plenty warm in my kitchen. I'll keep you updated. There is a neighbor here that also wants to experiment, so this should be fun. Thanks again. ciao.

Testarolo singular, terstaroli plural In the Lunigiana area they boil the testaroli cut in lozenges until slightly puffed (couple minutes) then they dress them with pesto and grated pecorino. But from friends of my italian forum I heard the the fresh testaroli (testo is the cast iron pan where they are cooked on the ashes) said that are also piled up and served rolled as crepes with a filling of oil and parmigiano, or pesto, or mushrooms. They told me that the fresh ones are infinitely better than the one bought under vacuum. Unfortunately I have never tried them. ← Mine never puffed up. I think you are right...they should be eaten fresh and not the vaccum packed variety. All in all, it was a strange texture and consistency.

Pontormo: great article about zucchini...only I'm dead sick of zucchini at this point. You can't walk down the street without someone shoving a zucchini in your hand!! I was offered some zucchini blossoms, great! They came with the zucchini's attached...! I did a good agrodolce the other day, but it may be next summer before I can mess with these guys again! Beautiful dinner Andrew!! Bravo!! Elie: can you share sweet-sour veal meatball recipe? They look excellent. I'm midway thru making some canoli, as in the shells are done, and I'll stuff them and bring them to a party this evening. But, its so blasting hot here...I'm afraid they are going to melt. Elie, are you making cow or sheep ricotta? Where do you get the milk? Gotta run...we've got a band from Bergamo playing in the piazza and marching around in the heat. Maybe I should throw water ballons on them from the window??

Evan, your instructions are clear and informative. Thank you. My question: I need to start my own starer, and I know I can do it with flour and water, but can you give me some idea of proportion, or what I should be looking for? As in bubbling, smells, etc.? Thanks!!

There is an interesting article in today's NY Times.

Oh my god! Do you know how long I've been waiting to hear those words whispered in my ear??? p.s. the alici were good, and now they are just a memory....

Dear Scholars: I need some help. I was trying to translate an article that talks about the "Opulent Cuisine" of the monasteries and convents of Sicily in the late 1800's, and I came across this reference from Frederico De robertos's "I Vicere'": "Fare l'arte de Michelasso: Mangiare, bere e andare a spasso." Who is this Michelasso? Is he only ficitional? Is it still possible to join this nunnery? When I google him, I just find a lot of references for some computer guy, or else, just this quote. Thanks!

You guys are a bunch of WEINIES!!! Oh, the sardines are cute, but gushy, oh I hate feeling around for the innards...oh, pull your socks up! Wearing a pair of laytex gloves helps reduce the stinky hands syndrome, but really now, once you get going you can do a few kilo pretty quickly. I've got some marinated anchovies that are ready and waiting for dinner tonight...yum! (Oh, and you should have been here around lunchtime when I was wacking off the head and feet of a guinea fowl, and ripping out its insides which made great, sucking sounds...) I did make some crostini with the liver, but didn't have the desire to munch on cockscomb. Wasteful, I know. Franci, those 'ravioli' veal-chocolate things look wonderful. What a strange name for them, do you have any idea where it came from? I was thinking of you last night, as I made "spaghetti alla siracusa" from my "Specialita` d'Italia" cook book. I had no idea if this was a primi course, or maybe a dolce! Basically you partially cook some capellini, then coat it in beaten egg, then breadcrumbs. You then fry the capellini in strutto, and dress it with a sauce of honey and orange juice. It was such a wild combination of flavors, textures and techniques that I had to try it. It reminded me of a Cantonese dessert noodle dish, where the noodles are pan fried and then served with sugar and red vinegar, which happens to be truly delicious. Let's put it this way, we ate the whole plate, but kept thinking of different ways to adjust it: add pine nuts, maybe some pepperoncino, etc. Has anyone else come across a recipe like this? (Note: no sardines were slaughtered to make this dish....) Now, I can't get the photo to load...it must be the gods punishing me for teasing you guys! Tonight's granita experiment: watermelon-ginger.

Thanks Franci!! I've been pondering that machine for a few days now! Any your Engish is far, far better than my Italian. What a cool machine...saves wear and tear on the fingertips.

I love Bologna too, it's pretty easy to mangia bene while you are there. Most civilized city? Yeah, but they have that nasty-political-like-to-send-mail-bombs thing going on as well.... If you have the opportunity to be able to go slightly north of Bologna, try "Il Sole Antica Locanda del Trebbo" in Castel Maggiore. We had an excellent meal there. In Bologna, I've also heard good things abou Caminetto d'Oro, but have not been there myself. Have fun....linger in the piazza for me!

Kevin, you are absolutely right...we can go back and visit Sicily whenever we want. I think I was just reacting to how quickly July is slipping away. Thanks Pontormo for the book review...I think I'm going to have to wait until I get back to the States and to the library. I don't get the Greeks and tomato paste thing either....that's impossible. Franci, those involtini look just beautiful!! What good luck for you to be so close to a good fish source. I've just found a great ricotta source, so I might try some cannoli over the weekend. Depends on how hot it is....we should all be discussing this at some beach in Sicily....

Franci, how does that machine work? I mean, how do you get the pieces to curl up?

Ciao tutti! What a fun month....maybe we should extend it? Ling, the pepper were raw. Today they wound up stuffed and baked. I'll be sorry when they go out of season. Klary, ever since your photo of the coffee granita, I had to have some, so that what we had last night. It was soooo decadent. And Acevola, I was thinking of you as we were sipping some of Planeta's La Segreta. Pontormo, are you saying that maybe I shouldn't bother tracking down Pomp & Sustenance?? The other day, we were driving somewhere down by Perugia, and I saw a sign for a Sicilian ristorante. I think that's the first time I've ever seen another region's cuisine recognized in Umbria. Not counting the occassional "Chinese' restaurant. Sicilian wines are easy to come by, but that's about it.