Kevin72

Stuffed calamari are really amazing. I'm not sure what chemical reaction occurs while they cook, but the stuffing winds up tasting very meaty and sausage-like. Very much worth the effort.

Franci in an earlier post mentioned being perplexed by the notion of the all seafood feast of 7, 9, or 13 courses that Italian Americans serve, and a couple of authors also mention that it really has become much more of an Italian American thing than "true Italian". There are still traditions of eating seafood of course on Christmas Eve, but sticking ritualistically to a set number would seem to have gone by the wayside. Here's my somewhat Neapolitan-inspired Christmas Eve seafood feast, which now both my own family and my in-laws start getting excited about if I'm coming to visit. I guess I'm courting bad luck, since my feast only had five fishes. Well, six if you count the anchovies used as the base in the greens. To snack on during the day, I made a batch of struffoli, little puffs of dough that are fried and drenched in honey. They got lost amongst the many other superior cookies and goodies that everyone else made, and to me they lose alot of their charm after the first day, when they get tough and stale-tasting. Sweet and sour shrimp: This would I guess be more Venetian-inspired than Neapolitan-inspired. I'm quite proud of this variation, though, and like it even more than the more traditional version with sole. My wife's brother and wife arrived when I was cooking this and they said they could smell it from the end of the street! Clams "aragonate", clams with a breadcrumb topping. These are a favorite of mine. Stuffed broiled smelts: Stuffed with ricotta (wheeeeeee!). I made these for my father-in-law on a lark a couple years back and he really liked them. They're a pain, but worth it. Everyone who tries them is surprised by how good they are. Spaghetti with spicy lobster sauce, one of the best things I make: Stuffed calamari, braised greens: By the way, if you ever are in a situation where you can't find broccoli rabe, regular broccoli or broccolini braised with kale makes a good substitute. Those who recall my tribulations last year will note the absence of baccala on this year's table.

Amazing, pics, post, and meals, Abra! What fun to have all these great cooks together in the kitchen! Sorry that the tortellini pie and capon was a bit frustrating for you. Maybe it's my food snobbery at work, but I really like capon and prefer it to turkey. It's a lot richer in flavor and texture, I think, and isn't as prone to drying out.

In the spirit of Mike's comments, I'd like to thank everyone for making it a great year and making these threads as successful as they've been. I'm out of town right now with sporadic internet service, but Happy Holidays to everyone!

That's some serious cooking! Looking forward to your typically spectacular food photos afterwards! Er, you are taking pics, right?

As Pontormo describes on the Gnudi thread, I also freeze my gnocchi raw on a cookie sheet, then dump them into a freezer bag. They cook up just fine right from the freezer into the boiling water. Elie, I did indeed use lard in the piadine dough and that is definitely what makes the dish! I didn't quite get mine as thin as a tortilla, and this year I don't think I used the proper proportion in the dough itself, but other years I've made it, it's been close to that effect. Finally, I'll add to everyone's awe on the volume and different kinds of tortellini you're making, Judith. Bet you're done with stuffed pasta for a while, though!

I took a turn at piadine myself last night. Kudos to Elie for making the squaquerone cheese that is often served with it; I've never had the foresight enough to make it in advance for these meals. He also appears to be able to roll his out thinner and more uniform: One had bresaola in it, the other mortadella, then some tossed greens. Something fun about this meal; I remember it fondly from last year as well, and they're so easy to make that I really should do them more often.

What about 1 ham and 1 lamb? There's a good Venetian-style baked spaghetti with seafood dish from Molto Mario that may work well for you. Spaghetti, bechamel, shrimps and scallops. Festive and elegant. You could do some sort of baccala puree in place of one of the bruschetta toppings. Or just braise some with potatoes, onions, and a spicy tomato sauce. Or, in place of the baked spaghetti above, baked rigatoni or ziti with cod, anchovies, breadcrumbs, capers, currants, pine nuts . . .

I have used Mario Batali's version before from the FoodTV site for good results, but it's not like the version you enjoyed. This one uses a pasta dough plumped with vin santo and is made with ragu of chicken livers and mushrooms as well as layers of beschamel and parmigiano.

I think it's to wrap squares of pasta dough around to make garganelli. Lovely stuff. The dough wasn't too wet with the butter in there?

Why thank you. The lemon zest got a little lost in the mix, I think. And I should've chopped the parsley finer: it was too big and would tear the pasta when it was rolled out. Plus, not sure if you can tell, but they more or less lost their lovely shape when they hit the water and become just crumpled ribbons again.

Glad you got to make piadine. How'd it stack up the Umbrian flatbread you made? I was going to do them for lunch also this weekend but ran out of time. They'll be a simple dinner later this week, then. And that pasta looks wonderful; you've hit it on the head about getting everything you love in one dish there. Something about the butter, prosciutto, parm, and pasta mixed together sends everything into orbit.

One nice touch about ST is the menu suggestions for each dish. Marcella Hazan had it for her first book but it was removed in subsequent iterations. Really evokes a clear picture of the flow of the meal and inspires.

Yeah, I just saw that technique mentioned in The Splendid Table and wondered about it myself. There is a recipe that braises the shoulder in milk and is one of my favorite things ever. The milk gets nutty and sweet and brown. Maybe something similar happens with basting it, but wouldn't it also scorch in the heat of the oven? Ditto the compliments on markk's pork roast. Incredible looking.

The much praised (by me at least) fried calzone: Stuffed with garlicky escarole, chilies, anchovies, olives, capers, and ricotta (though I use and prefer feta). Normally there's currants and pine nuts in there, but I like the bitter, salty onslaught of this version. I guess the calzone gods heard me bragging about it or something; both split open when they were turned over in the oil. One lost a good measure of its filling in the process and had to be patched back together and finished in the oven.

Sunday night's meal began with a salad based on the sauteed pear appetizer in ST. I then crisped some prosciutto in the butter and toasted pecans in the pan as well, tossed everything with mixed greens, and shaves of parmigiano over the top: Then I made, I think, strichetti? I dunno, the bowtie pasta, but they're not called farfalle. There was parsley and lemon zest in the dough. For the pasta condimento, I had frozen the last bit of onion soup from last week, along with the balsamic chicken drippings. I reduced both of these together with thyme and more parsley. The main was simply grilled veal chops, marinated in rosemary and garlic. Damn, but veal is expensive! Thank goodness I cooked it to the right temp and didn't dry it out or I'd have been really angry! I was really pleased with them. On the side were balsamic green beans: The dessert was the baked clove and cinnamon custard. Tasty, but I should've put some kind of berries with it, I think.

That doesn't sound like anything that needs to be reformed from, in my book!

I was going to say to it bone in, since that sometimes yields a moister roast, but now thinking about all my other recommendations, maybe it would be too cumbersome. You could still try it, but you'll need the butcher to trim the bones and crack them for you for easier carving and serving. Consider brining the cut, for starters. Also, I've really taken to Wolfert's slow roasting technique of searing the meat and then putting it in a 200F oven until it reaches desired internal temp (for pork, 140 F should do it). You may want to augment your garlic and rosemary with a little pancetta, maybe with some of these all rolled into the middle of the roast, to help moisten the meat.

I think the tomato version benefits from longer cooking, the longer the better. If I recall, it doesn't start coming together until after the second hour of cooking: before that it just tastes like tomato sauce with ground meat. But somewhere, that synergy happens and the two combine. But then again, we're probably talking differences in taste preferences here. I've made the version with only tomato paste before and didn't like it as much as when using canned tomatoes. But I do agree that adding additional meats besides just beef really goes a long way as well.

I'll shift gears from heaping praise on LRK for a moment and turn things back to Mario Batali's excellent run on Emilia-Romagna. Man I miss that show. At any rate, last night's meal was based on his guazetto (sp?) di rane from Ravenna recipe: frog legs in a very simple braise. I used chicken wings. Hmm. I'm getting tired of chicken. Sear the wings (or legs!) in an iron skillet, then add a standard mirepoix, then sprinkle with flour, and finally add white wine and tomato paste or just a couple canned tomatoes and cook for 30 minutes or so. I served mine with wedges of broiled polenta: I have to say, I've been making so many meals that have copious leftovers lately that it was nice to have this one-off meal with nothing left at the end.

Stupid uptight Dallas liquor laws!

I do the ragu and polenta pie thing also and also top the whole thing with blue cheese to melt in the oven. Cause, you know, it needs that richness.

We're planning a run. I guess after the Holidays, now, though. CMs right when they open are always fun because they're more experimental and focused on luring people in, so they carry more exotic stuff just to see what sticks. The Plano one, for instance, had live abalone, razor clams, and langoustines right when the opened and then ditched them once they settled in.

I was talking to the owner of a winery north of Denton and he said that pigs were his big problem with the crop as well. And that they were delicious. Oh man imagine bagging one of those suckers that had been fatted on wine grapes all fall . . .

I unfortunately don't have experience with any of the places you've listed. Royal Thai is pretty popular, though. Thai seems much more plentiful and widely spread in DFW than Vietnamese places, which seem to be more concentrated in Asian shopping centers and such. Where in Dallas will you be? I'll be forever in Richard Kilgore's debt for turning me around on Thai and taking me to Thai-riffic, a little mom-n-pop hole in the wall off of 635. If you do a google search for the address, it'll turn up an old e-G thread with an invite link on it and the address is there. If you go east on Beltline road off of I-75, it turns into Main street and hits Greenville Avenue, where there's a huge concentration of various Asian cuisine restaurants and grocery stores. Among those is Caravelle, which is my go-to for Vietnamese. You may have difficulty getting in if you try going on a Saturday night, however: it's a huge place and is often used for wedding receptions. There's also Mai's in downtown Dallas, at the corner of Bryan and Fitzhugh (and across from Jimmy's, a neat Italian deli). But it's also in a part of town you may not want to be in after dark. The terms "healthy" and "breakfast" apparently aren't allowed to be together in Dallas, in my experience. Richard Kilgore can also point you to some good taquerias, not known for their health food of course, but good experience to have in Texas.