Kevin72

Lots to catch up on! Adam was indeed right; this was radicchio di castelfranco (Central Market had it mislabelled). No supplier, since they come from different towns and amalgamation of growers; at least that's what the marketing flyer displayed in front of the radicchios said. It was indeed more delicate than regular radicchio, alhtough I suspect some of that may be due to its less-than-fresh status. It was still good, but had a little bit of a droop to it. That's Central Market, almost entirely. A godsend. Whole Foods and Central Market, both started in Texas. Whodathought? I actually went into Dean & DeLucca, or some other gourmet chain prized up north when I was up there and went out with my nose even higher in the air, dismissing it compared to Central Market. Of course, then I go to Italy and see their markets . . . But I'd be willing to bet that those are dried porcini Foodman used. If not, hats off; when I've seen them here, they were $70 a pound, and sat, rotting away and unpurchased, until they were discreetly removed after a week untouched. There's a Pugliese pretzel-like item, Taralli, more of a snack really than a full-on bread, but it is boiled and then baked in some traditional recipes. More later, particularly on your epic feast . . . .

I chose radicchio not so much as a "like" substitute or standin for arugula, but because of the bountiful display at my market and, hey, Veneto's right next door, so it's not so out of line with their cuisine. The bitterness of the radicchio worked well with the sweet pear and cut the richness of the cheese. It may not be so clear in the picture, but actually the pear and cheese are grated together over the leaves, so they kind of amalgamated together. Also, I used a spritz of lemon juice to cut things a little better: no acid whatsoever is called for in Plotkin's recipe.

99% sure that it's the frico, gnocchi di cjalson, and prosicutto in crosta meal (here), since that's what she was looking at when she said she wanted to pick meals for me to re-cook. Let's see, in one meal you have: melted/crisped cheese, ham, a lard-rich bread, chocolate, and gnocchi, so I can't see what's to object about.

I hope he doesn't mind me speaking for him, but Nathan P larded a chuck roast for a braise he did this past weekend.

No apologies necessary on not using the polenta as a thickener. I really bastardize it and serve it with cornbread, then I don't thicken it at all!

Well April beat me to being the first out of the gate with a meal this month, but here's mine from last night, two items from Terra Fortunata. Frittata with baby shrimp and white asparagus: Pear and Montasio salad: I used more radicchio from Central Market (our local paper's food section did a writeup), this time the narrow, fingerlike kind and the elongated Treviso variety. There was a definite contrast in flavors, surprisingly, one was bracingly bitter, the other much more mild. Both were standing in for arugula, which was nowhere to be found at the store that day. My wife was excited as I was that we're back to cooking from this region again. I'm going to try to get to a few items I didn't make last time around, and my wife has said she wants to pick a meal from my old thread for me to re-cook.

Yes, La Jota! One of my favorite dishes from this region. You'd never think sauerkraut in a soup would work but it does so well. Did you thicken it with polenta? And, yeah, the lima beans thing is probably a mis-translation somewhere down the line. Totally speculating, but there are the lamon beans in neighoring Veneto, so maybe that's what they were going for . . . ? I agree with Adam; as much as I enjoy Culinaria, I do have to do a double-take on the recipes and ingredients.

Has there been any discussion of Dutch cookbooks available in the U.S.?

Yeah, I guess we won't even see how this shakes up, name-wise, for another year or so here in the U.S. Thanks, though, especially for the wine writeup!

First rate writeup as always Hathor, thank you!

Brad, would you happen to know if Tocai is still on track to switch to being called "Furlan" or "Friulano" this year? According to Plotkin in Terra Fortunata, the EU ruled that the name "tocai" can only be applied to the Hungarian sweet dessert-ish wine, Tockay(sp?) and, as of this year, FVG had to switch to callling it something else. Tocai or whatever it will soon be called has carved out a nice niche in the Italian Whites section of Central Market here, though there are also a few Pinot Grigios. I don't believe I've ever seen Picollit here.

I'd imagine this thread will close soon, so I need to throw in my compliments on what a fantastic job you've done, and I've only just made it to Page 6 so far (these things always move so fast!). Thanks for the tour of the great city you live in; I can't believe how much you fit into your blog! Great job.

For March we will be focusing on the cooking of Friuli Venezia-Giulia, the northeasternmost region of Italy. As I’ve said several times, I find this to be, second or even equal to Sicily, the most exotic Italian cooking I’ve worked with that could still be called Italian. So I’m pumped to be coming back to it particularly in March. While certainly there’s no shortage of robust winter-esque fare (if you’re still laboring under cold fronts and snow, you really need to give the soup la jota a spin), there is also a surprising delicacy to many dishes that lends itself well, in my opinion, to the transition to spring. Friuli Venezia-Giulia appears to be a relatively recent “discovery”, at least in U.S. cooking literature, though it is now being recognized as a formidable cuisine in its own right. Both Ada Boni and Waverly Root wrap FVG and Trentino up with the Veneto under the broad heading of “Veneto”. Claudia Roden’s FVG chapter is woefully short. But there’s also Fred Plotkin’s La Terra Fortunata, an immensely informative book. In fact, I’d almost say too informative: I’d have liked to have seen maybe 20 pages shaved off of the long intro chapters for a few more recipes in exchange. But you can’t argue that you don’t know a hell of a lot more about the region coming out. There’s also, to a limited extent, Lidia Bastianich’s first cookbook, La Cucina di Lidia, which, while it has a number of pan-Italian standards, also focuses significantly in on her upbringing in and around Istria. There’s a whole chapter on game, and even one chapter devoted to making prosciutto! Housekeeping note: The polls are still open for Q2 voting and only two people have PMed me with their choices so far. Think Spring, and think three regions that you’d like to pair with those months on up through June, the start of summer.

Ha! My wife, a former server, HATES this. She gets fairly confrontational about it when our server doesn't write anything down, and oh, when they come back to clarify what we ordered . . .

Sorry I just now found this thread, Klary. You did a great job! Those ravioli in particular . . . I want to say I feel your pain, but the most I've cooked for is 16, and even then not everyone showed up so it wound up being 10. But I was wiped. And those cakes and the bread look spectacular.

My lone contribution for Lombardia this month. Asparagus alla Milanese: asparagus that is steamed, then sautéed briefly in butter. The asparagus is removed and then an egg is fried in the same pan and put over the top of the asparagus, along with a dusting of Parmigiano. The secondo was a favorite of mine mentioned earlier this month: costolette (di maile) alla Milanese, a pork chop that is pounded flat, then breaded. To make it slightly more diet-friendly, I baked it in the oven after briefly browning it in just a little butter. To accompany, a salad of radicchio and arugula. Central Market, our local gourmet chain, had a beautiful display of radicchio the day I went shopping, including the standard Treviso and Verona varieties as well as two new ones I’d certainly seen in Italy but never here. One was elongated like the Treviso variety but had very narrow, finger-like leaves. The other was a greenish white, leafy kind with speckles of red that they called Terdivo, though I thought it was called something else . . . ? Anyways, I snapped that up and used it with some arugula and lemon juice spritzed over the top. I had also been pondering doing osso bucco after all the talk last week, but frankly I got a little braised and risotto-ed out after Piemonte and the rich Holidays preceding. This was a nice hint of the Spring to come.

Solid looking meal, Nathan. How long did you braise the beef for? And those artichokes! My favorite vegetable. Are you connected in the business of growing them, then? Are they just dirt cheap this time of year? In Dallas you can tell it's their season because the price drops from their normal $3/ea to $2/ea . . .

At my favorite Tapas place here in town they serve a cured salami that smells like feet; a couple of people have made that comment and won't eat it. I love it though. And yeah, all the cheeses mentioned so far, particularly teleggio, do have that lovely Nike aroma to them . . .

I think this goes along with the common critique that her recipes can be a bit "bland"; she does seem to shy from strong or distinctive flavors.

Marcella also admits to not liking gremolata on her osso bucco! Marlena di Blasi, in Regional Foods of Northern Italy, relates a tale where she was interviewing a known local gourmand on either osso bucco or risotto milanese at a cafe and it touched off a fiery, lengthy debate amongst the locals who had overheard him describing how he makes the dish. When I made mostarda last year during my project, I used Mario Batali's recipe from Molto Italiano. It lacks the senape/essence and utilizes mustard seed and powder in its place. No claims on authenticity, but it was pretty tasty.

I've made lamb "osso bucco style" before and they worked great. Shanks in general are the best.

Are they boiled and then baked, as with bagels? Just cook the shanks osso bucco style: tomato sauce, white wine, gremolata . . . what could be wrong with that?

Housekeeping note: With March right around the corner, just a reminder again that the next thread will be on Friuli Venezia-Giulia. Also, it marks the end of Q1 for this year so, as we discussed previously, it will be time to open up for the three regions we'll be covering in Q2: April, May, and June. We want to get the next three regions we're covering in those months sealed over so members have time to get out there and find resources. With that in mind, I'd like to open up voting for Q2 now, with an eye towards making an announcement on those regions right around the beginning of the second week of March. So PM me your choice for the next three regions you'd like to cover, preferably in order of preference, and then I'll tabulate all the results.

What a great accompaniment to the Dutch cooking thread, Klary. Thanks for sharing your insights and passion with us.

Oh man, that does sound good.