Kevin72

Fantastic pics, Ling . . . looks like we've got another ace food photographer joining in! I've cooked something similar to the original recipe for the rabbit before and it wasn't too sour at all . . . alot of it gets reduced away and is mediated by the meat. Try it as-is sometime. And, grilled cotechino?

Got this for my birthday last week and tore through it on vacation. Like Soul of a Chef and Kitchen Confidential, I didn't want to get through it so quickly but couldn't put it down. It's right up there with those two for favorite behind the scenes, cooking literature books. The only way this book could've been more tailor made for all my geeky interests is if it ended with a duel between Darth Vader and Mario while U2 played in the background. A bio on Mario, including lots of stuff on all of his shows, obsession with ingredients and cooking styles, and ending with a trip to Italy and a discourse on Italian cuisine? I almost couldn't believe all the directions he went in. Andy, the executive chef, was someone I was rooting for the whole way through. Certainly no fault of the book's, but I'd have loved to read Buford's take on the del Posto opening and various dramas that came with it. It'll be interesting to see if he pursues the angle he ends the book with.

Everything looks great everyone! I've been on vacation the past week and haven't been able to weigh in as much. Welcome, Ling! Good luck on your meal tonight! Pontormo, I've been astounded at how much liquid you need to cook fregula in and how much it absorbs. I made another dish last week of just fregula and tomato sauce and had probably 3 cups liquid for maybe 3/4 cup fregula and it sucked it all right up! Mike, sorry about the frustratiions you've had this month, particularly since you wanted to reconnect with your heritage. I had a similar experience last year when I cooked from Abruzzo, and Hathor made much the same point to me that you've arrived at. Wait til Sicily, though, that should get you back on track!

Yep, I use Everclear to make Limoncello and get suspicious looks and questions from the cashier whenever they see this thirtysomething buying it . . .

While it does bill itself as "Sardinian", I'd say that the restaurant here in Dallas was probably 60-70% standard Italian mainstays, with only a few Sardinian dishes. This may have changed in the 5 years since I was there last but that was always a point of irritation for me. They've since been profiled on Mario's short lived Ciao America show and had a number of profiles in Cucina Italia magazine.

Yeah, the anchovies are what did it for me, too. Especially for leftovers.

I visited an unusually well-stocked Central Market yesterday and cobbled together a meal with Sardinian influences. If malloreddus was the "thread fad" at the start of the month, I predict that our next collective attention will turn to fregula, the Sardinian version of couscous: Guess who owns "Gourmet Sardinia"? The same people that operate Arcodoro Pomodoro in Dallas, it turns out! I had originally planned on doing clams with fregula, but our seafood counter was overflowing with a bounty of items they normally don't carry, chief among them red mullet! I snapped those up and decided to improvise a main around them. For an appetizer, I bought a few halibut cheeks, then grilled them over bay leaves (my clueless standin for myrtle). Probably not even remotely Sardinian, but they were buttery and smokey. I made basically a modification of the clams recipe and adapted it for the mullets. The aromatic base was celery and shallot, then I toasted the saffron in the pan, then laid the fish over, a ladle of the tomato and mint sauce I made last week, and finally seafood stock over the whole thing. Brought it to a simmer, added the fregola, covered, and cooked for 12 minutes. The fregula had absorbed most of the broth and made for a creamy base. It had almost a floral note to it. Red mullet's reputation as a bony fish unfortunately continued unabated here: my poor wife had to ritually stop after every forkful and fish a few bones out of her mouth, even though I had thought I carefully picked through them before serving. That sucks; I really like their delicate flesh, but I'm not sure she'll sign off on eating them any time soon again.

That's the one! Never been impressed. Is there still an outlet open in Houston?

Cool experiment and one that would have really shaken some of my preconceptions if the SRF gnocchi worked out. But aren't you supposed to use baker potatoes for the gnocchi? I've made pasta out of a yeasted dough before and found similar results: interesting at first, but then you kinda miss that toothsome bite.

I enjoyed the Korea show immensely as well. Tony better watch his back after having Nari (Nary?) so thoroughly steal the show from him, though. Hell, Rachel Ray better watch her back while we're at it: I'd be much more inclined to watch a Nari-hosted $40/Day or Tasty Travels.

Foodman, I like how you flattened your malloreddus; it probably helped them cook a little more evenly and quickly. Was that part of the recipe? I have to say I wasn't so into the baked zucchini I made for my similar meal last week. Brad, thanks as always for the insight on the wines on the region, and that was one hell of a contribution for you thinking you didn't have anything to contribute for Sardinia! Oddly, the Vermentinos of Sardinia are more accessible here at least than the Vermentinos of Liguria, so I've used them before to accompany Ligurian meals, as well. Too, there's a Sardinian restaurant in Dallas that uses its own wine vintage that you can buy, but it's a bit pricey for my tastes (like their restaurant )

Michele Scicolone in Italian Holiday Cooking lists a recipe from Parma for a stuffed pasta. She says that traditionally, the locals stuff the pasta with verbena, mint, and rue, but for her recipe she subs the easier-to-find Swiss Chard. In Flavors of Puglia, Nancy Harmon Jenkins gives a recipe for vermicelli or spaghetti topped with a barely cooked sauce of garlic, anchovies, and fresh tomatoes. A new book I've recently aquired is Carol Field's Celebrating Italy, a huge sourcebook of feasts, festivals, and sagre all over Italy, organized by month of the year. It actually has much more history and stories than recipes, but it's a very interesting read. Both she and Scicolone mention the Roman tradition of serving snails in a spicy tomato sauce for this day. Field also mentions that it is a time when Roman trattorie move their tables and chairs outside to eat in the piazze. Other notable events that happen on, the day before, or shortly after San Giovanni: The tasting and judging of balsamic vinegar in Spilamberto, Emilia Romagna Three soccer tournaments with the participants dressed in Medieval garb in Florence Green walnuts are picked and put up in barrels for Nocino in Sicily Boat races in Genoa A giant fish fry in Formia, Lazio The beginning of the Mattanza, the tuna hunt, begins shortly after San Giovanni in Sicily

Fun! We'd love to see it get posted on eG, too. Also, another poster Hathor has a Slow Food journal as well: Click Here

Congratulations Chris! May I suggest either the Hill Country in Texas (and all the BBQ temples there), or a trip to Houston?

Welcome, dp! Here's some previous topics that may help you in your research: The Texas Butchers Thread Houston Meat Markets Thread Still More Butchers in Houston Houston Fishmongers Fresh Seafood/co-ops in Houston More Seafood Shops in Houston discussion Cooking supply stores in Houston

Way to go, Bigjas! Glad it all turned out, sorry about my egg advice, , but I still think that it may have made the filling still more dry . . . maybe an egg yolk or two would work, but the white I think makes it congeal too much.

If you go that route, I still wouldn't put egg or flour in the filling, but now you actually would want it to be a little wet to sauce the dough. And, you can go back to using the semolina combo in the original recipe, just be sure you get enough water in the dough.

Fortedei mentioned a place in Liguria on another thread (click here) but I'm not sure if it's on the Cinque Terre. Maybe you can PM him and get more info.

From a side discussion on stuffed pasta in the in the Liguria thread: well, it was kind of a long time ago, but the problem was the edges. they were thick, and dry, although the rest of the pasta and filling were cooked. as i said, i don't have a pasta machine, so i'm rolling them out by hand. that's what's made me nervous about making homemade pasta ever since. i did buy semolina flour a couple of weeks ago on a whim, not sure what i was going to do with it. you think it'll be screwy with this? what's the difference, when it comes to cooking these things? i may just follow kevin's kall there. actually the other day i found a recipe for this that had fiore sardo in the filling, and grated pecorino on top, and of course i can't find it today. leaving work now to go start SOMETHING.... ← With the issue with the edges, maybe the recipe called for you to use egg whites to seal the edges which may have given that effect? Still, I'd be worried about the semolina dough being too firm to roll out thin enough (if you're not as experienced in these areas) and they may not stick together as well. You COULD also, kinda like FoodMan was talking about above, make just the sheets of pasta, cut them into squares, boil them, then spoon some of the filling in between layers and then sauce the whole with tomato sauce. Kind of a "lazy man's ravioli". It'd sure help on time and reduce alot of the error factor with making stuffed pasta.

All right, all my subsequent replies will be over there. Got carried away and I wanted him to catch the advice!

I agree, though they do pull the "add enough water to bring the dough together" bit in the instructions. And I'd be leary of doing a stuffed pasta with a semolina dough at all. And why the flour in the filling? And saffron in the filling and the dough? Kevin's Kall: Eliminate the egg, flour, and saffron in the filling, use AP flour only for the dough (but do add the saffron to the dough), and use 2 or even 3 eggs, not water (except the bit you dissolved the saffron in). Apologies to Sardinia! ETA: And you're making this on a weeknight?!

Let me offer this right off the bat: drain and dry your filling ingredients as thoroughly as possible. Drain the ricotta. Don't put warm ingredients in the filling (steam and condensation). Don't let the pasta sit too long after it's been stuffed, in fact toss 'em in the freezer on sheet pans as you finish batches. I don't put egg in my pasta fillings: gets them too wet again.

C'mon, hathor, let's help bigjas out here. What was wrong with them before?

Ooh, I almost like that idea better! It's getting too hot to futz around with stuffed pastas!

They're always frustratingly empty at lunch, and in fact are empty alot, yet have been there for years. We did go one time late at night for drinks and it was packed though! Anways, more on topic: Rouge was fun, but further out (Lover's Lane and the Tollway) and are you looking for only a lunch place? ETA: Though Rouge, also, is plagued by a lack of business, or was when we went.