Chufi

Ling, that cake looks and souds just divine. Lemon, buttermilk, lemon curd.. I can almost taste it!

Thank you Paula for your advice.. the foamy fat is now in my fridge, I will use it for sauteeing until it starts to smell funny.. Tonight I made the salad of duck confit with red cabbage, chestnuts and watercress. Only, instead of duck confit, I used smoked duckbreast made with my new stovetop smoker It was so good. The red cabbage alone (marinated in walnut oil, red wine, and vinegar) was good enough to eat just by itself. I can only imagine that this will be even better with the sweet nutty flavor of duck confit to accompany it.. (the duck looks disconcertingly pink, but that's just the red cabbage juice that I drizzled over) I also made the straw potato cake with braised leeks. it was really good and together with the salad, it was a delicious meal.

Daniel, I finally bought a little Cameron thanks to this thread.. I think I went into the kitchen store 5 times looking at it and thinking: do I really need this? And then finally decided I did Smoked some duck breasts today.. they were fantastic. I see a lot more smoking in my future.

So, I just cut up my Very First Duck, using the method Paula Wolfert describes in the book. Not as hard as I thought and actually quite satisfying. The breasts will be dinner tonight, the legs will probably go in the freezer, I am right now roasting the carcass to make stock. And I rendered the fat & skin. Now I am very much a duckfat novice, and I have a question. I think my duck was quite lean (no idea what type of duck, just the only one my market was selling). After rendering the fat in the microwave I ended up with this: I poured off the 'clean' fat on top so now I have this: Is the stuff in the second bowl, the cloudy stuff, good for anything? Should it be added to the duckfat or not? Also, I got about 3/4 cup fat from this duck. Is that a reasonable amount or was this duck indeed not very fatty?

so you can grill and smoke with the same equipment (like Marlenes grill pictured upthread) but just use different heat? Smoking is just not done over here. People do what they call 'barbecue', by which they mean, grill. I'll be paying close attention and probably learn a lot from this blog

One of my friends just brought me the book as a belated birthday present. I'm so excited and can't wait to start cooking from it.. I've been following this thread and have seen so many wonderful dishes. Now, where to start..

This is going to be fun! But.. could somebody please explain to an ignorant European what's the difference between smoking, grilling, and barbecuing? thanks

Torta di Cipolla. From the Plotkin book, only I used the dough recipe from the recipe mrbigjas linked to upthread, because I liked the look of that asparagus tart. i think teh dough isn't very different from Plotkin's exept it used milk as a binder, instead of water in Plotkin's recipe. The filling is sweet onions, mashed potato, egg and parmesan. I had to restrain myself not to add anything else, like pancetta or herbs or whatever. But it was really good as it was. on the plate with some non-Ligurian foodstuff

I couldn't find any Romaine, so I used little gems, which are, after all, I think, just baby Romaines.. Hathor I know what you mean about cooking lettuce. You have to switch from thinking of it as 'salad', and treat it as a vegetable... I also love braised lettuce (with peas and lots of butter). Adam that's glorious pesto! So you made this one in the foodprocessor? If you make it in the mortar sometime soon, would you mind posting a pic of that for comparison?

More green food from Liguria. This is the broad bean and lettuce soup from Marcella Cucina. It's very simple, Romaine lettuce, a bit of onion, a potato to thicken and broad beans, cooked together in a light stock. At the end it's flavored with fresh marjoram and parmesan. Delicious!

Pontormo, I have my eye on that same pasta sauce. Sounds so good for a summer dinner. Elie, what a wonderful green dinner! That maro is good stuff, heh ? And you made both sauces in your mortar! Dedicated Ligurian cooking! I have made that same potato/green bean cake in the past and was also disappointed in it. I did not like the texture and it was indeed, bland.

Thanks Ann. I'm just trying to come up with new things to do with rhubarb I'm listening... As you can see from my rather flat muffins, my muffin recipe is not really the best. So I'd say, take your favorite blueberry muffin recipe, and replace the berries with rhubarb chopped into blueberry sized pieces. (and if you have it, add a bit of orange zest).

Yay Susan! Rhubarb for everyone! Maybe you would like some of these, I made them fresh this morning: Rhubarb muffins.. I know, they came out kind of flat, but they tasted really good..

I just ate the leftovers and I can safely say, no, it was not too sweet at all. Yes, shelling the beans is much easier when they've been blanched/steamed.. .that's how I normally do it.. but when Marcella says to pod and shell them raw... I didn't dare to do it otherwise.. next time I will though!

Do they sell frozen edamame in Amsterdam? ← Probably, in Asian supermarkets.. I was ready to make this with frozen favabeans, but then I found reasonably fresh ones at the market. Elie, the recipe for Maro is from Marcella Cucina.. she says to use it as a spread for bread, or as a sauce for cold meats. For a pasta sauce you thin it with some of the pasta cooking water. Proportions: 170 grams of doublepodded beans, 1 1/2 tablespoons Pecorino (I used a bit more) , 1/2 teasppon garlic (I used a bit more) 4 tablespoons olive oil, 6 mint leaves (I think I used more). She also says to put in some lemon juice but I forgot. Just put everything in the blender and puree! The fish is really simple but it was lovely. I had some really fresh seabass. Just some herbs (I used marjoram) and some garlic in the cavity, and then pour over a mixture of olive oil and white wine (twice as much wine as oil). Add the olives and bake in a moderate oven until done (time will ofcourse depend on the size of the fish).

Ling, I saw your post on the dinner thread and from all the courses, this dessert speaks to me the most! chocolatey salty sweet and crunchy.. what could be better.. Today I made Spungata, Ligurian tart with a filling of blackcurrant preserves, candied orangepeel, almonds and pinenuts. Part of my Ligurian dinner

Ligurian dinner! Linguine with maro, sauce of fresh fava beans, mint, olive oil and pecorino. I used Marcella Hazan's recipe, she says 550 grams of fava beans will yield about 170 grams double podded beans. Double podding raw favabeans is a real pain. (double podding them when they are blanched is much easier). Also, I had about a kilo of unshelled beans, and ended up with 150 grams double-podded beans. Took me 45 minutes to do it. Anyway, no more complaining, this was delicious: The picture does not really show how beautifully bright green this was. from the Plotkin book: Pesce alla Ligure. This is seabass, baked with olives, white wine and olive oil. I put some fresh marjoram and garlic in their cavities. On the plate with blanched green beans, which were briefly cooked together with cherry tomatoes, garlic and lots of basil. Don't know if this is Ligurian, but at least it had basil Dessert, also from the Plotkin book: Spungata. Plotkin calls this a fruit pie.. it's a mixture of jam (I used blackcurrant), almonds, pinenuts and candied citrus peel, baked in a delicate piecrust. As I was making it, and tasting the filling, I was worried that it was going to be very sweet and rich, and felt it needed something cool and tangy to balance it out. So I quickly made some hangop (hang-up..) which is just a cute Dutch word for drained joghurt, to go with it: A wonderful dinner, and happy diners!

White asparagus season hasn't quite started here yet. When it does, we'll be eating it 2 times a week. Boiled or steamed until tender, but not overcooked. On the plate with slices of cooked and smoked ham, steamed new potatoes, softboiled eggs and lots, LOTS of melted butter. It's heaven on a plate. One thing about white asparagus. The ones I see in the market now are imported from Spain, they are thick white stalks that look okay. But when you take one out of the paper wrapper that holds the stem ends together, you often see that the stalks are cracked sometimes until halfway the asparagus. They are completely dried out and there is no amount of cooking (or butter) that is going to make that edible. They should be pearly white and juicy, when you snap them the juice should spurt out. Wish it was the season already... edited to add: when we get tired of eating them like that, they also make a lovely gratin with parmesan, or a quiche. Salmon, smoked or fresh, is also a good match.

Sorry to be late with my reply.. The compote is really easy. Just toss rhubarb with sugar and some orage zest.. How much sugar you have to use, really depends on the sweetness (age) of the rhubarb. Put it in a baking dish, cover with foil and bake in a moderate oven for about 20 minutes, the pieces will be firm but still hold their shape. Or, what I often do, is just cook them in a pan on the hob, thus way you get pore of a puree-style compote. The meringues were plain eggwhite & sugar. I cooked them at slightly too high temp that's why they are a little brown. The ginger comes in jars here, little knobs of ginger in a thick gingersyrup. the other day I made rhubarb icecream by simply stirring that rhubarb puree into some storebought icecream.

you know.. old-fashioned Dutch butchers sell something called 'kinnebakspek', which, literally means 'bacon from the pigs'chin'. Does this mean you can buy guanciale in Amsterdam . I'll try to find some and post a picture. edited to add: yesterday was defintely pancetta, belly...

pancetta, pasta, and cheese were all brought from Rome.. I don't know.. he called it pancetta.. I know nothing about pork products, except that I love to eat them I'll ask him!

Well, I know I'm very late with this, but tonight I had a friend come over and cook Roman for me This weekend, he came home from from Rome (where he spends a lot of time) and brought me this as a birthday present: part 2 of the present was that he would come over and cook for me. carbonara; and saltimbocca: the spaghetti was so good. I must confess I often just buy cheap brands of dry pasta, thinking it doesn't matter much, but I never tasted a spaghetti as good as this one. It does make a difference! Proportions for 4: 100 grams pancetta, 4 yolks and 2 whole eggs.

Since the blog is still open, I'd like to report about the brownies.. All my co-workers say they're the best they've ever had.. I'm very happy the layer of creamcheese is really good, it gives a (deceptive..) layer of lightness and freshness. So, my blog ends with perfect brownies for 20. Thanks all for being my virtual guests this week!

Mine is gone now, too... sold it for 1 euro on Queensday!

we were in New York September 2004.. stayed in a hotel near Zabar's and had breakfast there every morning.. I love that mug, it reminds me of a wonderful holiday.