Kevin72

Final Sicily note: if you make your own caponata, let it sit at least a day. Not that the artichoke caponata wasn’t good enough the first night, but after a few days in the fridge when we warmed it up for leftovers, the vinegar wasn’t so assertive an element and everything had blended together seamlessly.

Hah! I was really starting to feel down about my daily routine. This is going to be great. Looking forward to this. That seafood shop . . .

No problem. And if you go to some, please share!

Fredericksburg is considered the Hill Country. I'd strongly recommend Marshall's book to help you sift through the places to visit; probably half of it is taken up with the wineries in the Hill Country.

Yep, Batali's recipe indeed. I love the creamy texture the tomato gives the sauce when it emulsifies in. The cookbook library's packed away at the moment but I'll try and get one up once I'm settled in. And, at Divina's suggestion, I'll be doing a bibliography after the project's wrapped up.

I didn't know that there was more than one Deli News. So maybe that one that used to be on Midway and Frankfurt was just another outlet that closed . . . ? Your description of deli fare just set my lunchtime stomach rumbling into overtime. Sorry you weren't so keen on the reuben . . . they even say on the menu it's New-York authentic!

I hadn't noticed that. Actually, I don't think it's either one. This was bulk "garbanzo flour" from Whole Foods. I'm not sure what the difference betw. Italian and Indian flour would be, either. Thanks! Keep us posted on where you're going! And yeah, it just wouldn't be a post if hathor didn't weigh in . . . Ah, the morbid Italian humor at play. Watermelon granita is definitely one of my favorites as well, and oh so easy. But I had to give this a try.

Lemon juice or even a tablespoon or two of white wine vinegar will do, as well.

Don't let anybody from the Aeolian islands hear you say that ← Or Sardegna, or Puglia, or . . . Tell you what: for your next fantastic travel-logue, we head out to Umbria and use Hathor's place as a base of operations . . .

I'm struggling to recall what cuccia is. ← After doing a Googlesearch for “cuccia”, I’ve found that it is a dish of pounded grains cooked with chocolate and candied fruits. I did a similar dish from Puglia back in May.. It was certainly, ummm, evocative, that’s for sure. But my fat decadent American palate just doesn’t reach for that at the end of a meal.

I “borrowed” a day from August and cooked the final Sicily meal last night. I had to back up my last antipasto statement and prove that they’re not always fried, and did a second caponata, this time of artichokes. Spooned over Pane Siciliano, the sesame-studded bread of the island. The secondo was a dish heavily modified from the Islands in the Sun cookbook, chicken braised with lemons and almonds. I make no claims to Sicilian authenticity with this dish, but I can’t imagine it being too off-base after incorporating the island’s famous almonds and citrus fruit in one dish. As an accompaniment, I made sweet couscous (stir sugar in with the water as it comes to a simmer) to cut the tartness of the chicken dish. The final Sicilian dessert was gele di melone, watermelon “pudding”. Watermelon is pureed, strained to remove the pulp, then the juice is cooked with cornstarch, cinnamon, and rosewater until it sets up into a viscous state. Divide up into glasses or a jello mold and it will completely set in the fridge. How many pastry chefs have spontaneously combusted after looking at the atrocities to their craft on display this past month? So the recipe called for you to stir in chocolate chips once it’s cooled off a little to mimic “seeds”. I guess I got the Redi-Melt® brand, because even though it had cooled sufficiently, the chips instantly liquefied when they hit the pudding base, giving it that rather unpleasant color. Still, it was very good: my wife called it "mysterious". In fact she's used that descriptor a couple of times this month, an excellend adjective for Sicily, I think. Give this dessert a shot; it's a prime example of something you'd never think would work but the whole is so much more than the sum of its parts here. Well, that’s Sicily. An absolute blast this month; I definitely accomplished my mission to really explore this unique place more thoroughly and could easily go another six months cooking this way. It’s probably in my top 3 regional cuisines now.

Friday night’s meal: Fried “impanatine” with spicy lamb ragu: I’m not sure if “impanatine” are the correct term, but I like to use it in a nod to Spain’s rule of Sicily. Yeasted dough is folded around a spoonful of spicy lamb ragu (ground lamb, cinnamon, garlic, chilies, tomato paste, white wine) and deep-fried. I’ve really skewed the appetizers this month in favor of the deep-fried items, but Sicily’s elaborate antipasto culture is much more rich and varied; I just was craving fried stuff this time of year. Primo: Fettuccine with Pesto Pantesco and Grilled Shrimp. Pesto Pantesco (sp?) hails from the island of Pantelleria, where Italy’s best capers are reputed to come from. Naturally then, their pesto incorporates capers, as well as tomatoes, mint, fennel fronds, parsley, chilies, garlic, olive oil, and basil. I didn’t use, and have never seen offered, capers from Pantelleria. My local store carried salt-packed capers until just this month, when they switched to carrying exclusively capers pickled in balsamic. I had always secretly thought there wasn't much difference between the salt-packed and the pickled kind, but now that they've switched I've noticed it. I was worried the pesto would be too salty when I tasted it on its own, but once thinned with pasta cooking water and distributed amongst the pasta and grilled shrimp it was perfect. Secondo: Grilled Swordfish Involtini with Warm Fennel-Pepper Salad. The swordfish involtini were stuffed with shallots, parsley, mint, oregano, capers, and breadcrumbs, then bathed in olive oil and lemon juice for and hour and finally skewered with rosemary branches and grilled. To accompany them, I made another pan-seared “slaw” as with the salmon meal from last week, only this time with slivered peppers and fennel. I also zested and juiced two grapefruits, mixed in some marsala and sugar, then reduced this to a fine syrup, stirred in olive oil, and drizzled this over each plate to finish.

We're in the midst of a gradual move into our first house (still in Plano, though, yay!) and so have been eating out alot. I've taken the opportunity to dig up this thread and go to alot of the intriguing-sounding Plano places mentioned here. We did our previously-mentioned annual trip to Snuffer's of course, though I tried to make the case for Scotty P's first. We've tried both Joe's and Covino's (as it turns out, we lived right across the street from it!). I'd give the nod to Joe's, though, but we do gravitate to the chewy, thin-crusted, NY-style more anyways. Thanks to Richard Kilgore, I've finally had solid Thai food at Thai-rrific. Last night we had my parents in town and wanted to take them here, but it's closed on Sunday's. I did a quick search for "Thai +Plano" on the Texas board and sure enough this thread came up again, with IML's Jasmine recommendation, and off we went. Really enjoyable, fun experience, lots of swapping, sharing, etc. Helpful, enthusiastic staff. We just pointed to whatever interesting dish walked by us and ordered.

Good to know, thanks. Pastry flour here has suddenly become harder to find--suddenly our stores only carry it if it's whole wheat? I always have cake flour on hand, though. Yeah, I'm beginning to see why. But I think Sicily would come calling if I did this entire month and didn't at least attempt. Long story: years ago, the first time I went to make them, I didn't have a tube or dowel to wrap them around. I realized that the handle on my wire whisk was just the right width, though, and decided to use that. So the first cannoli gets wrapped and lowered in the oil (the whisk part stays above the oil) and is bubbling away. I lean over the pot to make sure it's doing okay, and suddenly the whisk handle pops loudly and sends a burst of oil up and just barely misses my eyes. I had forgotten that the whisk handle had a stopper on it, and the sealant melted in the heat and popped the whole thing off. Please do, so we can commiserrate. So help me, though, if they turn out perfect . . .

I considered pastry flour but the recipe I was using in this case (Granof's Sweet Sicily) specified a long kneading period and a necessity to get it elastic and bubbly, so I thought I'd better use AP for the higher gluten content. Would pastry flour make a softer product though, if you wanted it crispy? OT: What's the difference between cake and pastry flours? I get them both confused. Now, I wonder about this. The outside (facing the oil) was nice and brown but the underside (wrapped around the tube) was still soft and pale. Still, they stick so fast to the tube that I think they'd just burn. Hmmm . . .

Yep, CM's execs actually went to Atlanta and modelled their concept after Harry's. Whole Foods bought them out and they are now called I think "Whole Foods Farmers Market". If you ever watch Good Eats, you can notice the name transition over the years when Alton shops there. I'm guessing by reading this thread that it's no longer as great as it was.

Glad you liked it! We actually went back last week and also had the reuben. And I'd agree, it's better than Gilbert's (the only other place in Dallas I've had a reuben).

Gah, it's in Italian! So he shallow-fries them? Never heard of that one before. His dough also looks more straightforward: flour, sugar, marsala? All three of the ones I've used have cinnamon in them as well and even a little chocolate (Batali's, I think). But then it also looks like he puts the spices back in the ricotta The tubes he's using also look much more sturdy than mine. Hey, do you think there's teflon cannoli tubes out there? Or would they have a problem with the deep-fry?

Oops, actually above I meant buy the cannoli shells, unless I find a miracle cure. You're supposed to take them off the tube hot out of the oil. I've tried all different variations on that, too, and nothing. Last night's meal, two Sicilian dishes right out of Mario Batali's new cookbook, is posted here.

Tonight, I did a double-whammy: Sicilian dishes that were also out of Molto Italiano. Antipasto: "Tarongia": Fried flatbread with anchovies, fennel, and cacciocavallo (page 74). Flatbread (aka pizza dough) is first fried, then topped with caramelized fennel, marinated anchovies (but I uses sardines) and cacciocavallo (but I used aged provolone), then broiled. And no, Mario doesn't direct you to scorch the flatbread either. Good flavors but the fennel got completely lost between the pungent sardines and the sharp aged cheese. The secondo was shrimp marsala housewife-style (page 266). Onion, chilies, carrot, celery, bay leaves, and fennel seeds are seared in a very hot pan. Then add (all together now,) capers, pine nuts, and raisins/currants, and tomatoes and cook until the tomatoes break down. Put shrimp on top, pour marsala over, cover and cook until the shrimp are cooked through. Heady, brothy, and spicy: everything great about Sicily. Total prep and cook time: 45 minutes; I made the dough in the morning and left it to rise while I went to work. Anyone else check out his book, or try more dishes from it?

Great, glad you enjoyed it. I really like the guys that run the place. I'm looking forward to going back next time I'm visiting my parents.

I moved to Dallas from Atlanta in 1999, and I spent the first year here afterwards pining for the food scene in Atlanta. This was back when Harry's was still around. At any rate, I still think highly of Atlanta's food stores. Dallas has really come into its own. Central Market, a Balducci's/Harry's-type place, really took off here a few years later, and Whole Foods has agressively started to hit back. I live within 6 minutes of both, so I'm pretty content. In fact, I went to a Balducci's in VA over the holidays and went away thinking Central Market was much, much better (braces self for the hit). There was the culinary conference (IACP?) here earlier this spring which quite a few eG'ers attended, and I heard positive feedback, particularly in regards to Central Market.

Great first ep. There's more love of food and food culture in that one hour than most of FTV's entire primetime lineup. U'm pumped about the Iceland show next week. Congratulations, Tony and co.!

I still think it's the tubes; I've tried Mario Batali's recipe, the one in Sweet Sicily, and one in Michele Sciocolone's Italian Holiday Cooking and in all three cases they stuck. The filling was my ricotta with powdered sugar stirred together. I may just >shudder!< buy the tubes from now on, unless my fellow eG'ers can convince me otherwise

I considered capers but then backed off at the last minute. They certainly wouldn't be out of place here, way to think like a Sicilian!