Franci

Mini baccala' croquettes

Thanks, Hbjesq, half of it it's sliced in the freezer. The rest I'm eating a slice a day. The aging actually is turning to be beneficial, so I'm reevaluating it a bit but definitely next time I'll do a standard brioche so I'm not going to eat it all by myself!

That is what I use beef shank meat and roasted meat bones that I save in the freezer, plus some un roasted knees frozen. Then I soak the marrow in salted water in the fridge. That gets added only at the very end so that I can enjoy it and gives a cleaner taste and doesn't get lost, dissolving in the stock

Made hotdog buns for the kids. Thanks for the recipe Ann_T, very good! And thanks Cyalexa for the shaping technique

In my small business I use a lot of nuts. I also use Nuts.com for bulk buying almond flour but I am not always been very happy with their customer service. For pistachio I really recommend Santa Barbara Pistachios. Very nice customer service and good organic pistachios. On the hazelnuts front I can suggest Freddy Guys, especially if you are after their oil, really delicious, whole world of difference compared to others I've tried. On the hazelnut side, I also came to conclusion that is very hard to beat Trader's Joe roasted hazelnuts, especially if you grind your own flour.

This was a not a great idea. 1. My children will not eat it...so I have yo eat it all myself .2.proofing and cooking and execution in general was good but too much squash made-as I should have thought-a little too dense. 3. Not enough salt, making it taste flat. I should eat it with savory stuff to counterbalance the sweetness. In summary: go regular next time!

Tonight we had beef sweetbreads. It was good. Bad photo I need more offals in my life! I miss France so much for this

Made kabocha squash brioche, actually 2 brioches. I will cut them tomorrow

I made again Giovanni Pina Amorpolenta. This time much better, I think there was a typo in the book and last time I must have used the wrong measurement

I made raviole (yes, in this case ends with e) del plin (pinch). Filling not traditional but with what I had available. I just love the texture of pasta with eggs yolks. and some special shapes for a little surprise in the plate for my children (as it was for me when I was little)

Yesterday made raviole del plin m

Leftover kabocha squash spätzle from yesterday dinner got broiled with cave aged Gruyere

Sure, Heidih. I roast the kabocha squash in the oven (cut in half with seeds removed and wrapped in foil, face down) and then I pass it though a ricer or mill. For every 300g net of squash, I add 120g of flour and 2 eggs, some salt, nutmeg and cook like spaetzle. I then saute' in butter. After that you can take it where you want: add more vegetables/bake with some cheese, dress with a duck ragout or some smoked ricotta etc.

We had braised beef shanks, a little Chinese in flavor due to some star anise and dried mandarin peel and kabocha squash spätzle with Bruxelles sprouts

For dinner tonight we had homemade garganelli and ragu'

I never write here but today I had the chance of trying Donciccio&Figli stuff. I'm in love. That fico d'india was a revelation, the luna amara and amaro delle sirene so good.

Afternoon snack with focaccia and prosciutto

We had grill pork chop and lamb chops from Fleishers, pane e pomodoro, sauté collards and nice Rioja

Smoked blue fish, shishito peppers and kimchi

Crepes with lemon and sugar

Beef shanks with marrow added at the end and polenta, Swiss chard not in the picture

It it's your first duck, I'd suggest a very easy and very good recipe: This It's not like a western style duck with a pink breast but I really like it.

Spaghetti alla bottarga

Oh, Shelby, when you are back on sugar and have a party to bring them -so you don't eat them all- you need to try this one!

Today there was a food festival at my children's school and I brought beside the chiacchiere above also two trays of tortelli milanesi. Basically fried pate a choux rolled in sugar. Half of them were fille with a rich pastry cream.