LindaK

My last visit to Piemonte was 5 yrs ago, and I had an excellent dinner at Felicin. The focus was definitely on the classics (tajarin, agnolotti, trout, veal, etc), simply but perfectly prepared. A salad of minced rabbit with fresh mint is still one of my favorite food memories. The dining room was traditionally appointed, very comfortable. There's a terrace with a lovely view if the weather allows you to dine outside. Also in Monforte d'Alba, there used to be a small wine shop in the town square that sold local wines and grappas. We stopped in one morning looking to buy. The wall of grappas was intimidating, so we asked if it was possible to taste before buying. The shop owner disappeared for a few minutes and returned with a tray filled with dozens small glasses and appeared ready to pour as many as we wished. Luckily, we found a few we loved before the tasting went very far. I wish I could remember the name of the shop, but it's a small town, if it's still there you'll see it. Enjoy your trip, and please post to tell us about your dining adventures.

Good cook-off topic. I'll be interested in reading your suggestions before I take another stab at this sauce. My previous attempts have not been especially memorable, Not bad mind you, but not the rich, full flavor I expected.

Beer, bluegrass, and home cooking. Three of my favorite things, I'm looking forward to it!

Beautiful pottery, what a variety. You did well with your bean pot. And the street food...chocolate fountains, really? Thanks for the corviche demo, those photos are making me hungry.

First I wanted to eat. Now I want to shop. Love the stainless steel and the wooden serving pieces.

Kathyann, a belated welcome to eGullet! Both those ideas sound fantastic. I love anything in puff pastry, and the addition of pumpkin to a black bean chili really sounds like a winner--nice contrast between earthy and sweet flavors, and I'll bet the colors are pretty too.

That's lot of eating for an afternoon, thanks for sacrificing so we may enjoy vicariously. I've never heard of "distilled essence of coffee" before. Unless it's like instant coffee. Any other uses for it, besides adding to milk, such as baking?

Liz, what do you mean by your "annual batch of crisp topping?"

johnnyd, are you able to buy Maine shrimp for $1 lb because you're buying at the source? Last season, I was thrilled to be able to get them as low as $3.99 lb, I assumed they were plentiful to be able to buy them for $1-2 per lb less than usual. Boston markets, mind you.

Genkinaonna, that's a lovely photo and the recipe sounds delicious. The last few times I've made deviled eggs, I've been lazy and mixed the yolks with store-bought Roasted Garlic Mustard (from Stonewall Kitchen) and a bit of Greek yogurt to smooth it out, sprinkling the stuffed eggs with crushed Turkish aleppo pepper. Very easy but very delicious.

What a great market, how lucky you are. So how did you learn about the food of Ecuador, once you'd moved there? It seems a world away from northern Canada, but you seem very knowledgeable and comfortable with its culinary traditions.

Baron, first your terrines, now your pumpkins...you are an artist! For those of us content with the simple, I finally got around to making a stuffed whole sugar pumpkin from Dorie Greenspan's Around My French Table. Picture here. I loved it, as did others, but you can see from Emily_R's post following mine that not everyone was impressed with the recipe. A good idea, though, if you're willing to play with the concept.

Emily, that's too bad. Maybe it was the pumpkin? Mine wasn't stringy at all. As for the stuffing, I resisted the urge to add a lot of cream or other liquid. Mine seemed somewhat dry when I stuffed the pumpkin, I assumed it would give off some liquid. That worked, it was moist but not soggy.

A friend gifted me w/ a few sugar pumpkins, and the first thing that came to mind was: finally, I'll make Pumpkin Stuffed with Everything Good, p. 364. Count me among the many fans here who have already made this recipe. Here's last night's dinner, a 4 lb pumpkin fresh from the oven. The stuffing is simple--a savory bread pudding, really--and allows for lots of variation. I followed it more or less, adding some spinach to the basic recipe. For a small amount of work, this recipe delivers big. Seriously delicious, and the presentation of a whole pumpkin makes it special. This is a great holiday recipe, especially if you are looking for a vegetarian centerpiece. I will make this one often over the next few months, and my friends and family will think I'm brilliant.

PanCan, thanks for adding Fanesca to the list. I've never heard of it before, but I can easily imagine how well pumpkin and squash would work with salt cod. If I can find a scaled-down recipe, I'd love to try it. If you make it next Easter, I hope you'll come back and add a photo. I'm curious about your instructions not to scrape the bottom or the sides of the pan as it cooks. What exactly is the "stuff that tastes bad" that you're avoiding? Doesn't it burn? Meanwhile, back in Boston, last night’s snowstorm was an appropriate backdrop for a chowder featuring salt cod. I’m not sure what makes this a chowder vs. a fish stew, but whatever it’s called, it was delicious—but perhaps not to everyone’s taste. I’ve mentioned local chef Jasper White’s cookbook, 50 Chowders, a couple of times now. Its primary focus is on shellfish and fish chowders, though not exclusively. It’s a great resource not only for recipes but for understanding the basic ingredients, especially shellfish stocks and broths—the key to good chowder. There’s only one chowder in the book that uses salt cod—Azorean-Style Chowder. Its premise is a real departure from most other recipes with salt cod. Instead of trying to tame its flavor, Jasper matches it with other full-flavored ingredients—mussels, squid, and mackerel. You can substitute within those families (I used clams, not mussels), but the idea is to balance a variety of seafood flavors and textures. The broth uses the cooking liquid from the mussels (or in my case, clams) with white wine and tomatoes, onion, garlic, and bit of saffron and hot pepper. Simple but very, very good. Throw in some potatoes, add your seafood, and you’ve got a great chowder. I loved it, but recognize that not everyone likes such strong flavors. It made me pretty happy, though, even with snow falling outside in October.

This is going to be an excellent adventure. Thanks for blogging. So with your egg allergy, does that mean no baked goods with eggs? Or have you developed egg free recipes?

I watched this last night and am very glad I did, though as documentaries go the production is a little sloppy. Still, even for someone like me who has no experience with making confections and is a mediocre baker, the dedication and skills it takes to win this competition come through loud and clear. The preparation takes over their lives and families, and the tension of the competition is riveting. It was clearly an emotional experience for everyone involved, judges as well as competitors. Ha! great description of some of those sculptures. I had the same reaction. What I did love were the "bijoux" (jewels) that were displayed in the lucite boxes. Those were incredible, the imagination and delicacy there took my breath away. Worth a watch.

I made a spontaneous batch of salt cod fritters last night. A couple of days ago I took some pre-soaked cod out of the freezer to make more chowder. That never happened. But the cod had defrosted and I didn’t want to waste it. In its salted state, it can sit around more or less indefinitely. Once soaked, I assumed I should treat it like fresh fish. So I decided on a fritter experiment. Jasper White’s book, 50 Chowders, has a recipe for salt cod fritters that looks significantly different from those I’ve posted about previously. They all have some herb, onion, garlic, and egg binder, but this one has a much higher starch – salt cod ratio than the others. For comparison, here are the author and main ingredients for three different fritter recipes: New England--Jasper White: 8 oz salt cod—10 oz potato—1 cup flour Catalan--Coleman Andrews: 16 oz salt cod—2 medium (roughly 10 oz) potatoes—1/3 cup flour Portuguese--David Leite: 10 oz salt cod and 4 oz shrimp—16 oz potato—no flour What a difference the flour makes. These fritters were more bread-like and the salt cod flavor much less pronounced. These are the fritters I grew up with, which are served as a side dish with chowders. They were light and tasty, but without question their flavor pales in comparison to those which use all or mostly potato and allow the distinctive flavor of the salt cod to shine. They’re good as a side, but if you’re serving them as tapas, you want the Catalan or Portuguese version. Sorry Jasper! Sorry Mom! No pics, the camera battery was dead. I will get to that chowder soon, and will ready the camera.

Just beautiful. I'm a sucker for anything savory in puff pastry. Was there any fish on the menu?

Baron, thanks for the photo. Damn, that is beautiful. And I don't particularly care for beef, but I'd like some of that.

The DeKalb Farmers Market is a treasure. Once upon a time I visited Atlanta frequently, and never missed an opportunity to shop there. It is everything you describe and more. If you're a tourist and have somewhere to cook, you owe it to yourself to visit this place. If you're a resident, lucky you!

Since you're staying with family and friends, I hope you'll post some kitchen photos. This is going to be fun.

My favorite salad has no name: peak season green beans and tomatoes, shredded basil, crumbled french feta, and a lemony vinaigrette. But if forced to choose among those salads with pedigrees, I'll bow to the nicoise as the greatest I've tasted.

Oh, I completely relate to this. I've worked hard to conquer the habit of buying too much (especially during summer when farmers market bounty beckons). For those of us who live in dense urban areas and can't compost or keep chickens, this is important. I know every week when I take out the trash (or not) how well I've done.

Great cheese porn. But that's not what has me salivating. You have a food cart that sells Ethiopian food? Injera for lunch? My envy is complete. My only real food shock when I moved from the east coast to the midwest was the minimalist seafood selection. I did learn to love freshwater fish such as trout, which I'd never had before. But the local fruit and vegetables were the best I've ever had access to. I still miss them, along with my old neighborhood bakery and the excellent microbrewery nearby. Thanks for blogging, I'm looking forward to more.