SobaAddict70

Thanks, janeer. Tonight: Insalata uovo e carne secca (warm salad, with egg and pancetta) Doable in about 20 minutes, including prep. Consists of pancetta cooked in olive oil, with mint, sage and rosemary, to which was added some raw beaten egg seasoned with sea salt and black pepper, then scrambled. The greens were dressed with red wine vinegar, a dry red wine, balsamic vinegar, sea salt and black pepper. There's some shaved Parmigiano-Reggiano to garnish, but that was just gilding the lily. Spaghetti con vongole (spaghetti with clams) This is as basic as it gets -- Manila clams, peperoncini, parsley, wine, garlic, olive oil, spaghetti.

anytime, Christine.

Brussels sprouts "home fries" Nothing but brussels sprouts, butter, sea salt, black pepper. You can sub out the butter for olive oil to make it vegan. Pastina e ceci This version is "in bianco" (without any tomato). Contains pancetta, onion, carrot, celery, celery leaves, chickpeas, Italian parsley, sage, rosemary, sea salt, black pepper, pastina pasta and water, along with lashings of extra-virgin olive oil and pecorino Romano cheese. Besides pastina, you can use any kind of soup pasta from conchiglette (small shells) to orzo, or even broken pasta like rigatoni (put rigatoni under some cheesecloth, smash with a kitchen mallet) or torn up larger pasta such as pappardelle. This is a very forgiving dish that you can customize to your heart's content depending on what's in your pantry. The basic recipe typically has garlic, rosemary and tomato, to which you can add other things such as pancetta, peperoncini and/or parsley in addition to the chickpeas. Or make one without tomato, as you see above.

Mostly leftovers tonight (which is totally fine, as I don't feel much like cooking), BUT here was a very simple app that took about 20 min to put together. Poached farm egg, onion and shallot confit, Castelvetrano olives, buttery fried bread crumbs. The bread crumbs are 3 T. coarse bread crumbs (sea salt, black pepper, Italian parsley) fried in 1 T. unsalted butter.

Leftover colcannon will probably reappear as colcannon cakes (that is if it solidifies enough in the fridge, as I think I overestimated by adding too much cream), and be served for tomorrow's breakfast, with a poached egg or two.

very nice, Rico. Vegetable tasting plate. Left: Endive and carrot salad, Castelvetrano olive vinaigrette. Right: Onion and shallot confit. Oven-roasted wild cod, colcannon Not a completely "white" plate of food, thankfully.

That's because "moderation" is a dirty word in this country, and always has been.

This was so delicious that I got a little carried away and ate the entire batch, instead of the main that I had planned to make tonight -- oven-roasted wild cod, paired with colcannon. That'll be for tomorrow night's dinner, I guess. Now that I think about it, a baguette would've been perfect.

Lentil and escarole ragoût Doable in 30 minutes, including prep, and an excellent use of leftovers. The recipe will be on the blog later this weekend. It's nothing complicated -- just a basic soffritto (onion, celery, celery leaves, carrot) cooked in olive oil and butter; escarole, sea salt, black pepper, rosemary; leftover lentils from the brussels sprouts salad earlier in the week, and reserved lentil cooking liquid. The off-white stuff is a little pecorino cheese.

That's the primary motivation behind my meals. My experience making chicken and dumplings earlier in 2012 was instructive. After the second night of leftovers, I began to get bored. Ultimately, I finished everything off, then resolved to never make it again unless I was living with another hobbit, elf, dwarf or Man.

I would like a trend away from a trend. Never thought I'd say that. ETA: This is not a knock on any of the topics being discussed at length in this thread, but a reaction against a recent NYT article that detailed the next 10 food trends to look forward to in 2013. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/02/dining/after-crispy-pig-ears-10-trends-for-2013.html?ref=dining Some of them have been around for a while, especially if you live in a place like NYC or SF or LA. Pig tails, fried chicken skin, pork rinds, fermentation, etc. The thing that gets me with "trends" is that eventually it catches on like wildfire and that thing that you liked for its uniqueness is no longer singular because everyone is playing around with it. Sometimes I think, the food media just likes hearing the sound of its voice. Ooo, lookit, this here is cool! To which most people will nod their heads in agreement, like they're sheep or something. On second thought, maybe it is a knock on sous vide and bacon. But I didn't mean to post that with those two in mind. Although I still think that bacon has definitely stayed past its welcome.... I don't mind modernism at all, mostly because it is not yet mainstream. I don't think you'll be seeing Martha Stewart gush about foam, "sand", "dirt" and "air" anytime soon on her show, to say nothing of memes on Facebook and Twitter about Tard and porcini "dirt".

Funny, as I was channel surfing tonight, I saw Todd English was on HSN shilling his "line of Mediterranean-inspired cookware, appliances and gourmet foods. Episode 33." Now, I never ate at any of the early or groundbreaking English restaurants (if indeed there ever were any), but the first time I ate at one of his restaurants, it was in Vegas...and it sucked. So, I don't know the answer to your first question. As far as Tom C. goes, I think his restaurants are still putting out some pretty damn good food. Well, we know that Todd's latest venture in NYC sucks. The review below was posted the day after Christmas, so it's fairly recent.

1. Teach myself how to make fresh pasta. 2. Bake more often -- bread, pies, fruit desserts of all kinds, cookies. 3. Learn how to make butter. 4. Learn how to make my own sea salt and flavored salts (citrus salt, celery salt). Make homemade Old Bay seasoning. 5. Start canning and preserving. 6. Cook Indian food more often. 7. Start learning how to cook Chinese. #1 might be as early as this upcoming weekend.

The OP is a he I believe.

That pappardelle is beautiful! Did you hand make that? No, the pappardelle pasta itself was from Eataly. 1/2 lb. for something like $6. But it's funny you asked if I had made it by hand, as pasta fresca is next up on my "list of things to teach myself". I'll probably give it a go this weekend.

It's easy if you ease into things gradually. At this point, I'm probably meatless 80% of the time, although I can be a real carnivore when I want to be. Those days don't happen all that often though. What a difference a year makes. In mid-2011, I had a very meat-centric diet. At the time, I was also lifting regularly. In 2012, for various reasons I won't go into here, I transitioned into a mostly meatless diet. At present time, I'm not lifting but if I went back (which I expect to, sometime in mid-2013), I don't expect that my food intake will drastically change. There might be more dairy and eggs, but not a sudden increase in the amount of animal protein. (I have a couple of friends who are successful vegetarian bodybuilders, a fact which itself is eye-opening.) I think you will do fine. Last night's dinner had a vegan appetizer and a vegetarian main. Tonight's dinner will not be meatless (the salad will have pancetta, and the main is fish of some kind), whereas the lunch I just had a few moments ago was vegan (vegetable wonton soup, fried rice, spicy tofu, stir-fried green beans with chopped garlic, bottled water). You must be wondering, where is Soba and what have I done with him?

Pix from tonight: Lentil and roasted brussels sprouts salad This is sort of like a winter tabbouleh, except with Umbrian lentils instead of bulgur wheat or couscous. The salad consists of three components: the lentils, the brussels sprouts and the dressing. (1) In a saucepan, combine 1/2 cup dried Italian lentils with 4 cups water, 1 large bay leaf, a large pinch of sea salt, and 1/2 a large onion (diced). Bring to a boil, then simmer for 30 minutes, partially covered, or until lentils are tender. Drain the lentils and set aside. You may want to consider reserving the lentil cooking liquid for another use. (2) Trim the brussels sprouts of their stem ends (and outer leaves, depending on size). Halve or quarter each sprout, then toss the sprouts olive oil and a pinch of sea salt. Spoon sprouts onto a roasting pan or Pyrex baking dish. Roast for 35 to 40 minutes at 375 F or until the sprouts are crisped on the outside and tender on the inside. Ideally your sprouts should be done as you're making the dressing. (3) Combine in a small bowl: 1/4 small onion, minced; enough fresh parsley and fresh mint to make about 6 tablespoons minced herbs; juice of half a lemon; 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil; sea salt and black pepper, to taste. You can alter these proportions to your preference; this is a rough guideline. (4) Add lentils to the parsley mixture. Stir thoroughly. To plate, spoon some brussels sprouts onto salad bowls, spoon some lentils atop the sprouts, then top with additional minced parsley and mint. Serve at once. Pappardelle, with cherry tomato sauce and gremolata. No, it's not seasonal, but after doing that for a little over a year and being mostly faithful, I think I am entitled to an occasional lapse. Adapted from this NYT recipe, except with rocambole garlic instead of normal garlic (if using rocambole garlic, reduce the amount of garlic cloves called for in the recipe by 2/3), and mint instead of basil: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/13/dining/132irex.html?pagewanted=print

Roasted cauliflower and heirloom fingerling potato salad This was paired with a couple of soft-cooked farm eggs and a mug of steamed milk.

Steve Sando is Rancho Gordo. RG is a member here; maybe he'll weigh in on this thread if Patrick doesn't reply back first. Patrick -- photography is much improved. Congratulations. re shrimp and grits. tell me more. is it like grillades, only with shrimp? tonight -- no cooking. 2 friends and I went to New York Noodletown where we had amazing cheap eats, topped off with dessert at a pastry place in Little Italy. Probably spent about $100 total (including tax and tip) for dinner for three people. some pix: Roast duck and shrimp wonton noodle soup. Seafood noodle soup -- squid, shrimp, vegetables. Baby pig. OMG so good. Think of juicy, succulent, FATTY slices of pork with skin so crisp that it tasted like pork rinds raised to the power of infinity. Sizzling oyster and BBQ pork casserole. This was the least successful dish, in my opinion. Good, but not great. Stir-fried pea shoots, with garlic. Simple = best. I need to go back there and eat my way through the menu.

I like rice, lol, based on how often I eat it and the contents of my pantry. going off the top of my head, there's probably at least 3 different kinds right now -- arborio, jasmine, brown basmati and Japanese sushi rice. I don't use a rice cooker because of lack of space and the way my kitchen is configured when it comes to electric sockets. only one socket in the kitchen, on the wall to my right if I were standing in front of the stove, and located a few feet above the rear back right burner. not the best place, in my opinion. there is a socket in the hallway, but it's not terribly convenient. so that option is out. I use a ratio of 1 cup rice to 2.05 to 2.10 cups water. I like my rice a little moist so that if I end up overcooking it, I won't end up with a crust on the bottom of the pot. this method works for me. in addition, I don't do the knuckle thing. never have. In addition to water, I have done any of the following at one point or another -- chicken stock, vegetable stock, fish or seafood stock, coconut milk; first toasting the grains in butter, oil or schmaltz. and that doesn't enter into the realm of risotto making. for risottos, they range from traditional italian risotto alla milanese, to sweet risottos (the most recent one I did was sweet coconut risotto with meyer lemon confiture, sort of a grown-up version of rice pudding), to non-traditional risotto like a tomato risotto with tomato confit. in the spring, I like to do risotto with fava beans, ramps, morels and asparagus. risotto with peas and mint is an idea that, oddly enough, I have not yet attempted. I adore Hainanese chicken rice, but don't make it as often as I should. I do have some turkey parts which I was saving for stock. Hmm, might have to repurpose some of that this weekend as this thread has given me a couple of new ideas so far. No, Hainanese turkey rice isn't traditional, but I'm sure it will be delicious. edit: there is also Indian rice -- lemon rice, tamarind rice, coconut rice or a biryani. lemon rice is probably my favorite -- cooked basmati rice, flavored with toasted spices, ghee, lemon juice, chiles, chopped peanuts and cilantro. my mouth is watering just typing this sentence.

Three courses tonight: "Eggs and potatoes" -- poached farm egg, homemade salt-and-vinegar heirloom potato chips, crispy leeks. It only looks complicated, but you can do this in about half an hour (including prep). Poach the egg, fry the leeks in vegetable oil until crisp (after first cleaning them to remove all traces of grit and sand, then pat them dry with paper towels) and place on paper towels to drain. Then fry thinly sliced potatoes in vegetable oil and lay them out on paper towel-lined plates. Liberally salt, then season with red wine vinegar or malt vinegar. To plate, lay the leeks on the bottom, along with a few potato chips. Add the egg, then top with more potato chips. Garnish with chopped parsley and serve immediately. Warm radicchio, pear and hazelnut salad, with pecorino Crotonese cheese. I'll have the recipe on the blog later this weekend. This is quite simple -- not counting salt, pepper and the vinaigrette, the salad consists of six ingredients. Doable in a little over half an hour, including prep. Rigatoni with cabbage, anchovy and capers

tonight: Zuppa di radicchio e scarola -- radicchio and escarole soup, with toasted garlic croutons The version pictured above isn't vegetarian (b/c of chicken stock), but you can switch to vegetable stock instead, if you were inclined. To that, add shredded escarole and radicchio. Bring stock to a boil, add the greens and cook for 5 minutes or until greens are tender. Fry cubes of bread that has been rubbed with a clove of garlic beforehand in olive oil until golden brown. Taste soup for salt and pepper, then ladle into serving bowls. Add croutons, stir in a spoonful of pecorino or Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, then serve at once. The pic above also contains 2 tablespoons fried breadcrumbs that was also seasoned with anchovy, sea salt, black pepper and chopped Italian parsley. I keep a quantity of fried breadcrumbs on hand at all times. Lenticchie e salsicce -- lentil and sausage stew This version contains lentils from Umbria, as well as wild boar sausage (wild boar, salt, pepper, red wine). Takes about an hour, including prep. The vast majority of that time will be the lentils (if you cook them from scratch). Canned lentils are okay, but there isn't a "clean" taste that shines through, as with dried ones. Begin with 1 cup dried lentils and combine that with 6 cups water; 1 large celery rib (with leaves), coarsely chopped; 1 bay leaf and a generous pinch of salt. Bring that to a boil, then simmer over low heat or until the lentils are tender, about 30 minutes. Drain the lentils, reserving 2 cups lentil cooking liquid. Discard the bay leaf and celery. Next, fry the sausages in olive oil or until browned all over. Although I used wild boar sausages here, you can use sweet Italian sausage, hot Italian sausage, lamb sausage, turkey sausage or any other good-quality sausages of your choice. Pierce the sausages with a fork to let some of the fat drain out. When the sausages have browned, remove from heat and drain off all but 3 tablespoons of the fat and drippings. Then, sauté in the pan drippings, 1 finely chopped onion, 1 finely chopped celery, finely minced celery leaves, 1 finely chopped carrot and 2 minced garlic cloves. Cook for 10 minutes over low heat or until the battuto has softened. Add the lentil cooking liquid and 2 tablespoons tomato paste to the pan. Bring to a boil, then add the lentils and sausage. Raise heat to medium, cook for 5 minutes or until the stew is heated through. Taste for salt and pepper, stir in some minced Italian parsley, then serve immediately.

couple of recent ones: Minestrone invernale (winter minestrone) Contains a seriously frightening amount of vegetables, as well as cannellini beans, leftover cooked rice, bean cooking liquid, water, sea salt, black pepper, assorted fresh herbs, Parm-Reg cheese and olive oil. Full recipe on the blog. Zuppa di radicchio e scarola (radicchio and escarole soup, with toasted garlic croutons) Doable in 15 minutes, including prep. The version pictured above isn't vegetarian (b/c of chicken stock), but you can switch to vegetable stock instead, if you were inclined. To that, add shredded escarole and radicchio. Bring to the stock to a boil, add the greens and cook for 5 minutes or until greens are tender. Fry cubes of bread that has been rubbed with a clove of garlic beforehand in olive oil until golden brown. Taste soup for salt and pepper, then ladle into serving bowls. Add croutons, stir in a spoonful of pecorino romano cheese or Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, then serve at once.

some pix from tonight: Dinner menu for December 25, 2012: BEFORE Hot-smoked salmon Tuna mayo dip Olive-tomato-feta dip Finnish rye bread Crudités Assorted Carr's crackers (Domaine Chandon) AT TABLE Mixed fish cakes, lemon, salsa verde with avocado (Amarte Mas 2011 Albariño) Sliced sautéed duck breast, jus (Goss McLaren Vale 2010 Shiraz) Butter-braised leeks Roasted Japanese sweet potato slices with merken Wild rice/black rice/lentil/basmati rice mix Salad, rosemary vinaigrette Rye baguette (from Takahachi bakery in TriBeCa); Italian bread (from Aliotta bakery in Brooklyn) Spanish figs, stuffed with Spanish chocolate, almonds and fennel seeds Lemon meringue pie; Italian cookies (from Aliotta bakery in Brooklyn) Coffee and tea

Penne con cavolfiore e funghi (penne with cauliflower and mushrooms) Doable in about 30 minutes, including prep time. Chop cauliflower finely, cook in the same pot with some dried pasta, some cold water and a pinch of sea salt. Cook for about 10 minutes or until penne is al dente. Meanwhile add sliced onion and mushrooms to a pan with some olive oil. Add a pinch of peperoncini flakes. Cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes, or until the vegetables are golden brown. A pinch of sea salt added towards the end can help hurry things along. Drain the pasta mixture, reserving about 1 cup pasta cooking water. Add the pasta and cauliflower to the pan, and let that cook for 2-3 minutes. If the pasta seems too dry, add pasta cooking water to the pan, tablespoon by tablespoon or until the pasta is sufficiently moistened according to your liking. Taste for salt and pepper, stir in chopped Italian parsley and serve at once.