Franci

Basquecook, I'll copy your sauce when we fry next snapper! Thanks

Mm84321, that is a very kind comment that brought a smile to my face. Thank you.

That's funny, I was discussing (American) East Coast vs. West Coast oysters with someone recently. I had to inform the guy that we can debate the merits of both, but French oysters were pretty much better than anything we have ever laid eyes upon in the USA. Makes me want to go to France right now. Those and the unfiltered Gauloises. Here I feel they don't taste like the sea...I think our (me & husband) memories are still so fresh, from the last 4 years in the South of France, that it's very hard for us not too compare.Tonight we had a cauliflower "rice" with shiitake and cavolo nero with bacon. Very tasty Shrimp cakes and soup for the children

Tonight to start we had a variety of three oysters. They were not bad but I'm totally missing my French oysters (and mussels) The regular blue fish baked in salt Cauliflower with bacon And a fennel salad

I've done it in 2006. Here

Petit beurre for the children. I regret not buying the cutter when we were still living in Monaco.

We had oxtail, a Jennifer Mclagan recipe from Fat, a favorite of mine, collards and parsnip purée

One time, I reduced a stock made also with shrimps heads, it came out of a horrible dark color. Also, anybody uses fish glazes to make dressings? I remember I had a red mullet crudo with a lemon fish glaze that was great.

Do you make one? I think it's very handy to keep. I usually make mine simply reducing to a glaze my fish stock. For me, saute' fish bonese, leeks, onions, celery, parsley stems, bay leaves. Fennel it's too strong and the glaze is less versatile. How do you make yours?

I needed a little bit of sunshine at the table: salad, deep fried snapper, mango salsa and parsnip chips

Where I'm from the great majority of cookies are done with almonds. It really depends on the kind of cookies you are making. For things like soft amaretti we usually peel the almonds, blanching in water, and dry in the sun for some days (dehydrator works the same) or buy already almond meal. Also for ricciarelli. For some rustic almond cookies we toast. Toast to light golden and will nor be overcooked, nuttier. Biscotti cegliesi come to my mind, they are fantastic. There is a cook from Rosetta Costantino on southern Italian desserts, I bought for a friend, looks a great book full of recipes with almonds, in the southern Italian tradition.

Hi Devehf, I didn't make this recipe again but, in another forum I post, it seems a lot of people had a problem executing it.

In Italian cooking pine nuts are very used in Sicilian cooking: pasta con le sarde, acciughe a beccafico, but also as stuffing in pepper rolls. Also, it's the same combination you will found in turkish/lebanese cooking in dolma. Basically you have a base of onion cooked gently until golden, plus some currants, pine nuts lightly toasted, parsley. Sicilian add a little bit of toasted bread crumbs (toast separately in a bit of oil until golden) and also some grated pecorino, you can add this mix for some fish rolls (swordfish, tuna) or open sardines. But works well also with peppers. Also you can do middle eastern dolmas: onion until slightly golden, toasted pine nuts, currants, some spices like cinnamon, coriander, rice, parsley, dill, mint, cooked with some water al dente and use as filling for leaves. Swiss chards, cabbage. I also like it a lot in combination with cauliflower, stll with onion and raisins and some herbs.

Tonight I made some tarallini and pizzette for aperitif

Tonight I wanted the children to try something different for soup: zuppa imperiale. I enjoyed it but they didn't like the change.

We had broken angel hair in beef stock. Beef shank and parsnip purée

Yesterday I made some stock using some beef shank, so today I made some mondeghili, some Milanese croquettes, mixing the leftover meat minced, some sausage meat, some mashed potatoes (instead of bread soaked in milk), parmigiano, garlic, parsley, salt, I didn't have liver mortadella, also I didn't coat in breadcrumbs and deep fried in oil instead of shallow frying in butter. Served with roasted potatoes in duck fat and Swiss chards

thanks, Jaymes. I always enjoy your posts as well, with you and many more on Egullet, I try to learn more on American food and I admit, I know very little, and I feel sorry for that because it is very interesting and despite the prejudices some Europeans have (Italians do have!) there are so many wonderful food traditions here.

it use a lot of water because the sauce is going to be boiling fairly quickly at the beginning and then simmer for 2-3 hours. Without the addiction of water it would be way too thick for the sauce I'm used to. At the end the sauce is coating the spoon, as I said, I don't want to water down my pasta on the plate but I don't want a very dense sauce either. I'm from Puglia, so my sugo is definitely a little different than how is made in Naples and it is going to be different than a "toccu" from Genoa. Also, I don't think mine is how my grandmother used to make. They used to make "tomato paste" in the house at the time and didn't use canned tomatoes for sure, it was traditional to add wild board fresh guanciale at the time. The famous "braciole", that sometimes are added to the sugo (called ragu' in Naples) are often prepared with horse meat in my area. Horror to the American public, I know, but to me it's kind of normal. So, let's say this is my father "modern" sugo di carne. I try to use meat with gelatin, so chuck and cheeks are great.

Diana, I used 1 1/2 teaspoons of saf red instant. It is very easy to make and for the effort required I think it's a keeper recipe for me.

Correct, and if you make passatelli in brodo or pisarei e faso' (little bread crumbs gnocchi with beans) never use "pane condito", bread with oil or fat.

This is my sugo di carne. I usually mix three kinds of meat: here some chuck roast for beef, pork cheeks and lamb neck. Half an onion, some salice salentino, some tomato concentrate, canned tomatoes, extra virgin olive oil and coarse salt. On the peeled tomatoes, the most of American brands or also Italian sold to the US taste so funny to me, the juice is so thick. Since I don't want to spend on miracolo di San gennaro brand, I use Mutti, the only decent one in the not too expensive range. I pass the tomato with a food mill and cut the meat in big chunks I brown the meat in extra virgin olive oil, using one pot and an extra pan, adding the onion almost at the end, so it can get some color without burning. I eventually combine everything in the big pot. I add a couple tablespoons of tomato concentrate, deglaze with a glass of red wine and I add my tomatoes. Then I add about two empty cans of water and salt. And bring to a vigorous boil After a bit lower the heat and keep cooking It's ready in about 2 and half, 3 hours. The sauce should not be runny that will water down the pasta but not too thick. The sauce is for pasta, the meat is "secondo", served afterwards with a side of salad or some vegetables.

I'd like to bring this up because I've made this brioche quite often, lately. I love it. I tried also artisan bread in 5 minutes brioche but doesn't compare to this one. Thanks, Paula!

It looks very good. Since my town of origin is famous for mussels, I'm very big on this dish. I suggested other times on egullet, if you have 10 more minutes to spare, try, I'm sure you'll be amazed on the difference: open the mussel by hand, not steam to open. It takes a little bit of practice but I'm sure you are good at this stuff. Collect the mussels with their filtered water. Add this to your garlic/pepper and so on. It tastes so, so much better.

Thanks dcarch, they are just meat buns, soup buns I would cook like pot stickers and serve with bottom up.I, instead, always admire how creative you can get with vegetables. I really like vegetables and I really enjoy to see how you use stalks. Tonight we had simply homemade tagliatelle