LindaK

After holiday excesses, it’s been no hardship to stay away from rich food and baked goods. No temptation, until I saw Paula Wolfert’s recipe for le gatis, brioche stuffed with two cheeses. Roquefort cheese is a great weakness of mine, and this called not only for Roquefort but also Cantal, a nutty cheddar-like cheese. Wolfert calls for covering a small round of brioche with crumbled Roquefort and Cantal, then topping that with small, flattened balls of brioche dough to make a top crust. I’ll need to use a few more next time, as you can see the top wasn’t covered quite enough. A wedge with a side salad for lunch, served warm so the cheese was still melting. Very delicious and very, very rich. Leftovers cut into smaller pieces, destined to accompany vegetable soup tomorrow night. If you love Roquefort, the pairing of the salty cheese with the buttery, slightly sweet bread will make you swoon.

great offer, I've been waffling for a while on whether I really needed one. Just ordered one in yellow. Thanks!

Who cares if it's traditional, it's on the list for my next visit to NYC. I wonder if it is truly salt cod that Mission Chinese used... I've never had that dish at Mission Chinese but am aware that their menu says "Salt Cod Fried Rice" and has the additional description of "Slow cooked mackerel (???), Chinese sausage, lettuce, egg". (see here for the NYC menu) There are many variations on Chinese/South China salted fish, many sold whole (smaller fishes) or in larger chunks (larger fish) etc. Salted fish fried rice (using the Chinese-type salt fish) is not really a new dish. :-) I imagine salt cod (as produced in and found in the West) could be a substitute for the salted fish in various "Chinese cuisine" dishes. I wonder how simple "homestyle" dishes like steamed pork-patty-with-salted-fish ["鹹魚蒸豬肉"] or steamed tofu-chopped-with-fish-paste ["老少平安"] (sometimes with pork mixed in) would come out like using salt cod instead...probably pretty similar. The question would be how to pretreat the salt cod (Length of soaking? Any soaking? Just a rinse? How much to use?). Interesting. One of our members posted a pictorial for Salted Fish and Chicken Fried Rice and you can see that the salted fish is indeed dark, like mackerel. It's chopped and added early in the stir fry, but no mention of soaking. I don't know if chinese salted fish is preserved by the same method as salt cod, but I can't imagine so, if it's edible after such a brief cook time without a prior soak. The only recipes I've found so far that uses unsoaked salt cod require either a brief simmer or time under the broiler to remove some salt and soften the fish a bit. Maybe someone who's proficent at SV cooking has some insight here, or you may want to ask in the sous vide topic. Your question made me wonder about the other extreme, that being pressure cooking. Salt cod needs to be cooked gently, lest it turn into a tough, cottony mess. But perhaps a brief time under low pressure would speed up the de-salting as well as cook the fish. I think I'll need to try this. Unfortunately, I need to order a replacement part for my broken pressure cooker, so it will have to wait. Thanks for the travel trip about Kristiansund. If I make it to Norway, it sounds fascinating.

It has been a while since I've made anything interesting enough to post here. Johnnyd, if you've done your duty and tried out the salt pollack, please report. This one is a confluence of cravings: salt cod, pasta, and the desire to spend an afternoon in the kitchen with loud music. After much cookbook browsing and foraging in the refrigerator, the happy result was: green ravioli with salt cod. A base of spinach pasta topped with heaping teaspoons of filling—flaked salt cod and a soffrito of onion, celery, carrot w/ parsley. A bit of mashed potato and beaten egg to bind. Filled ravioli, drying. Mine are never uniform in size. But at least that proves that they’re homemade! How to serve them? I didn’t want tomato or cheese, and I didn’t want a trip to the market. My completely bizarre solution turned out to be inspired: a light cream sauce with slivers of preserved lemon and black olives, chiffonade of fresh basil. I don’t know how to explain it, but it was delicious and I’d make it again with any pasta.

David Leite's The New Portuguese Table has a recipe for a crab salad that uses the usual minced celery and carrot, bound by a combo of milk mayonaise, piri piri sauce, and brandy. According to him, it's traditionally served in the crab shell. He serves his with a white gazpacho.

I have several, but the distance between #1 and the others is legion. #1 Overcome fear of cooking with tofu. There, I've confessed. I really like tofu, often crave it. Months ago I bought Andrea Nguyen's Asian Tofu to hold my hand and I've read through it a few times. Every so often I pick up a block of tofu (there's one in my fridge now) and it sits there until it looks scary. Throw out, repeat. My guess is that I'll master canneles, improve my curries, and make a terrine or two before I have any tofu progress to share. Still, it's a new year, I know I can do it.

Wolfert's no-stir method works perfectly for me, every time. If you have the same problem regardless of polenta brands, maybe it's your oven temperature.

The talk about Piedmonte's version of fresh pasta, tajarin, in the discussion about Northern Italian cookbooks forced me to pull out my pasta machine and crack some eggs. I used the ratio of 30 egg yolks per kilo of flour, which I know is on the low side, but I only had a dozen eggs. It made a small batch of spectacularly delicious pasta, which I topped with lamb ragu. A nice new years eve dinner! Here's the pasta drying, golden from all those good eggs my badly shaped nests the final dish. Wonderful!

That's some good looking ceviche, Jason. For years, my ceviches were very simple--very fresh fish, some lime juice, chopped tomato and herbs, some chile. Then I started cooking along here with Fiesta at Rick's and made some exceptional ceviches. It's made me more creative with my ceviche now. Here are old photos of two favorites: Ceviche with avocado and herb, jalapeno, and roasted garlic paste: Ceviche with orange and habanero: They sure would taste good right now--if it wasn't 20F outside.

Discussion continues in Dinner! 2013 so please join us there.

Interesting, that never occurred to me...their pasta is indeed magic, the best I've ever eaten, but the large number of egg yolks made it seem like too much of an indulgence to make at home. I'll rethink that!

Last year the Boston Globe documented widespread mislabeling of fish in Massachusetts restaurants and supermarkets. On the menu, but not on your plate From sea to sushi bar, a system open to abuse

It may be too soon to schedule something in April, but here are a few options I know of that have good reputations: Boston Center for Adult Education Cambridge Center for Adult Education Cambridge School of Culinary Arts Stir Boston -- a demonstration kitchen by local chef Barbara Lynch Elephant Walk -- French-Cambodian restaurant that hosts classes Oleana -- Turkish/Mediterranean restaurant that hosts classes I'm including options in nearby Cambridge, it's easily accessible by subway or taxi.

A Passion for Piemonte by Matt Kramer is excellent for that region, though I wouldn't say it tries to be light/healthy.

Baron, congratulations for making it as far as you did. That was a very small number of worldwide finalists and you were among them, I hope you are proud. How interesting that garnishes were so significant in the competition. I love and respect traditional French cuisine, but sometimes I wonder about priorities...Did you have the opportunity to sample some of the winning examples? I'd be very interested in your review of the competition, it does seem like a great learning experience. One of these days I'll post one of my humble terrines. In the meantime, I hope you'll continue to share your beautiful creations with us.

This time of year I definitely overdo the cookies. Yesterday I made dough for molasses spice (with lots of chopped candied ginger) and a butter almond cookie that is simple but insanely good. I just took the last pan from the oven, they're cooling now. Both freeze well and the butter-almond stars will be dipped in chocolate before serving. The only other regular in my Christmas cookie rotation is a chocolate cherry cookie, something like a brownie batter w/ dried cherries (soaked in rum), formed in balls and rolled in confectionary sugar. When baked they get fudgy and cracked, with the sugar giving the cookies a nice white glaze. They need to be baked the same day as serving, but the batter is quick to assemble and can be made the day before. I'm always looking for something new, so I'm very interested in what others are making here.

Nina, it sounds like a lovely evening and dinner. My only critique is that it seems very carb heavy--polenta, lentils, and farro. You know your audience, so that might be the way to go. The polenta w/ mushrooms seems like a good vegetarian main, so I'd definitely keep it. And I'm fond of lentils, and I think they'd go well with both the sausages and spinach. They're fine made in advance and at room temp. So I suppose that means I'd cut the farro, good as it may be. Don't ditch the spinach, people will want vegetables. I'd add another, maybe something raw. Perhaps your arugula/grape salad? Or staying with the Italian theme, I like a salad of arugula, thinly sliced fennel, and orange/citrus supremes. If you decide on grapes in the salad, no grapes for dessert, redundant Pears are a good dessert fruit. And how about some cheese?

Spotted at a trade show, frozen food section...Just in time for the holidays.

When busy, stressed, but with a little time to cook, I almost always choose fish. Under the broiler or as a saute, it's done in minutes. Steam or stir-fry some veggies to go along. Drizzle with your favorite vinaigrette or miso dressing and you'll be happy. I'm also a big fan of eggs, whether hardboiled and part of a composed salad or made into a tortilla or frittata. Quick and versatile. Almost as easy is a souffle. Though not as quick, most of the time is in the oven while you can be enjoying an aperitif. It makes you feel very special to have a souffle in the middle of the week. Finally, I like to have good canned tuna on hand. Whether it's added to a green salad, tossed with rice or beans, or whatever, it can turn something simple into something that feels like a meal.

Speaking of waffles... a friend often hosts a day-after-Thanksgiving waffle dinner. Leftover turkey and gravy on waffles. The tradition was new to me, but I've become fond of it. One of my French cookbooks by chef Yves Camdeborde has a recipe for waffles made with instant potato flakes, used as a base for smoked salmon. Clever, it's one of those things that's stuck in my head to try one of these days. I'll bet someone could figure out how leftover mashed potatoes could be used to make waffles.

Cupcakes. If you can call them a trend, I thought they'd jumped the shark long ago. Yet sweet shops devoted to cupcakes seem to keep popping up. No ill wishes to their proprietors, people must be buying them. And I share the annoyance at the over-specification of every dish on a menu. Not just the provenance of ingredients, but every technique or micro-garnish. All the surprise and mystery is gone. Back in the Middle Ages, I used to enjoy trying to figure out the secret ingredient or clever technique that elevated a dish. That fun is gone and oddly I enjoy eating out less than I used to.

Is there anything new in the world of label makers? There are so many options at so many price points, I'm stuck. Are there specific features that you love that I should be looking for? Anything to avoid?

Leftover mashed potatoes are always good for a shepards pie (with meat or vegs of your choice, doesn't have to be turkey) or fish cakes. As for the leftover turkey, I've used it to make b'stilla, a phyllo pie filled with moroccan spiced chicken or turkey. Save some drippings to make the creamy sauce that binds it together. There's a photo of my first b'stilla in the topic Cooking with Dorie Greenspan's Around my French Kitchen.

It's not a solution to your download dilemma, but Harvard now offers live streaming of these lectures: http://video.isites....ce_Cooking_2012 Mondays, 7 pm. There are only two left in 2012: November 26, David Chang December 3, Ferran Adrià

Great suggestions here. Tonight I added a splash of fish sauce to some brussel sprouts sizzling in a saute pan with a little butter. A cowardly experiment but with wonderful results. Better than a shake of salt, not at all fishy.