Kevin72

Into the oven at 200 overnight, pal. Seal the lid with crumpled butcher paper. Get a taste the next morning by spooning the sauce over your eggs!

A proposal for the next three months: I know I had announced that Tuscany is up for October, but Judith (hathor) has brought up that she's going to be travelling a lot in November, which was the proposed Umbria month, which she's been wanting to take the lead on. So, I know that some may have already come by resources to do Tuscany next month, but would there be objections to moving it to November, Umbria to October? Emilia Romagna then remains in December. That still leaves the question of Le Marche, another high vote-getter but one that doesn't have many cooking resources, at least in the U.S.

Great, yummy sounding descriptions as always. I'll bet not just your house but your whole block smelled incredible by the end of that cooking. And . . . Looks like you and Marlena (upthread) are going to have some words . . .

Actually, Ellie, I'm with you on the seasoning part: I do add garlic and oregano to the crushed tomatoes, I just don't cook everything together, is all. Makes for a brighter flavor. Though again, I wasn't so happy with this result. I'll try and remember the basil thing next time, though I think I fell into that technique for the same reason as not draping the prosciutto raw over the pizza out of the oven: not hot enough. That pasta and lentils dish looks great! Love your hand with the chilies, too.

You mean you don't listen to readers like Gladys in Champions who says that readers wanting "an authentic taste" of Mexico should "run, don't walk" to Pancho's Mexican Buffet?

Here's a question my wife asked last night: is there a reason that some parts of Italy, notably the south, have a pronounced frying culture? What factors contributed, for example, to the Neapolitan love of frying or why would it have become so engrained in their culture, that, as Schwartz and Batali have separately noted, every neighborhood has a fry shop?

Probably speaks more to my frying skills than anything, but I tried semolina (I'm guessing also not the same as semola?) as a coating once and wound up with a horribly leaden, oil-drenched final product.

Sunday night's meal. Ever since reading about paccheri in Schwartz's book, I've been wanting to make them. Their name, he says, is reflective of the sound they make when they cook: they are very large tubes and so they flop about in the boiling water, making the "pac, pac, pac" sound. I made a contorno of beans, stained with tomato sauce, and mussels to top them: Very nourishing and comforting food and a nice transition into autumn fare, if I do say so myself. For the main, "frito misto" or I guess, "frito due" with shrimp and calamari, followed by salad: Probably not Campanian, but one of Mario Batali's fry mixes that he endorses is cornstarch and flour, which I'm really getting into alot lately. It makes for a perfectly crisp, but light, coating and they stay crisp for a long time out of the oil.

As threatened, my pizzas from the weekend: I managed to track down the canned cherry tomatoes I plugged earlier and now, of course, they weren't as tart as I remembered. These are my stock three pizzas I make almost every time: Started with a pizza Margherita: This pizza stuck to the board when I went to slide it in, so when I did the jerking motion to get it into the oven, the dough stayed while the sauce and cheese oozed onto the stone. Some quick moving still didn't spare its visual appeal. Next was prosciutto and mushroom, topped with arugula right out of the oven: Yeah, it was an arugula/radicchio mix, so I wasn't as meticulous as I thought in getting the radicchio out. Normally, pizzas made this way are hit with the prosciutto out of the oven; they're hot enough to wilt it right in, but since my oven doesn't get hot enough, and my wife isn't such a fan of "raw" prosciutto (I know, I know), I put it on and bake it in with the pizza. The result: her favorite pizza of the night! Finally, a sausage and roasted pepper pizza: Edit: double posted a pic.

Hee hee, now you've opened the door for a discussion on the dish, so no harm there, bigjas. It's a dish of a cut of beef (or maybe pork?), braised with onions, the onions cooked until golden and collapsing. Number of debates on its origins, but it is cooked in Naples/Campania primarily. The two most common theories are that it was either thought to be a specialty of a chef there who happened to be from Genoa in Liguria, or brought in by Genovese sailors.

I made rabbit on my thread last year and the results were dry and tough, which put me off making it again myself. Hathor and others told me it's a different story in Italy, but stateside at least, they breed 'em lean. As for ragu, I'll let this meal stand in for it. I may make a one meat version this month but I'm having difficulty finding the inspiration for such an understaking. ETA: Anyone going to cook Genovese this month? I'm not such a fan of heaps of onions myself, so I'm sitting it out.

That clip implies then that laidback isn't closed just yet, or is it? Are you staying on at LBM, then, Justin, or going elsewhere?

I'm having a hell of a time staying traditional this month. Last Sunday, I made a meal that started with "fried wind", slices of pizza dough fried in oil and then dusted with sea salt and pecorino. But then the meal veered all over the place: I made tomato sauce but then topped gnocchi with it instead of the beloved pasta (not that that combo is unheard of in Campania, but still . . .), then followed by a roasted stuffed chicken. I tried to make it "Southern" by having chilies in the stuffing, which also had onion, salami, prosciutto, pecorino, and breadcrumbs. The contorno was mushrooms and eggplant with chilies. By the end of the meal, I felt it was equally Tuscan in influence. So, no pics. Then I was reading up on Schwartz for menu ideas and ran across something like stuffed eggplant bundles. I didn't even look over the recipe, really, just took the idea of the title. So, I sliced eggplant vertically on a mandoline, blanched the slices in salted water, then wrapped them around leftover chicken stuffing from Sunday, now augmented with a little sausage. I also tucked a wedge of smoked mozzarella in there. Topped the bundles with tomato sauce, more smoked mozz, and then into the oven for half an hour: If native Campanians aren't miffed enough at me by now, this weekend you have my pizza attempts to look forward to.

Honestly, beyond the amusement factor, is it such a loss though? Maybe it'll mean more room for reviews or restaurant coverage in the paper edition.

Alison Cook mentioned in her blog (tired of me mentioning this? ) last week that they were overhauling the dining section and content, so maybe its lack of availability is part of that.

I believe the Neapolitan gatto is either influenced by or a tribute to the French rule of this region. I make the big beast version in Mario's Holiday cookbook and make it the main. Combines three great comfort foods in one: mashed potatoes, melting cheese, and pork products.

Sad news indeed. Hopefully Chef Rucker will keep us in the loop on how things develop and find new success.

A sad, unfortunate, but not entirely unforeseen development: Green Room closes, along with its sister restaurant, Jeroboam. Best of luck to chef O'Hare and the staff at GR; hope they find a place locally soon.

I use a standard pizza dough recipe for mine. I don't let them sit for a second rise after stuffing, other than the time it takes to stuff them all and bring the oil up to temp. They freeze very well. Edit: Foodman, I'm really looking forward to the Timpano later this month!

Looking good, Shaya! Aren't calzoncelli amazing? Every time I make them, no matter how many there are, everyone puts away the whole platter. You get special kudos from me since sheep's milk feta is one of my favorite cheeses. If you're up for more frying, consider making that deep-fried calzone. How'd you get the eggplant fritters to stay together in frying?

His descriptions can get pretty out there and yeah, sometimes it doesn't quite do the dish alot of good.

Mark Stuertz reviews Craft in the Sept 7 edition of the Dallas Observer.

Er, this may cause a whole new round of trouble, but whenever I can find the canned cherry tomatoes, that's what I go for for pizza topping. I do use them raw and I think they have a really great combo of sweet and acid balance. Haven't seen 'em in quite a while, though.

Either in this recipe or earlier on in the book, she goes on at length about the "roux" technique and how in her opinion it makes everything taste the same and too starchy. The only time she makes the exception is for that sauce, to help melt the cheese.

Maybe two racks up? I'd think not so close to burn it but not so far you don't get the effects . . .