Suzanne F

I've picked up copies at shows, and agree that it is excellent. Just wondering, though: how does one subscribe?

Oh, I'd leave the cheese, although I might use a sheep-milk cheese rather than goat (I like "variations on a theme" and just did a pasta with lamb ragu and romano cheese, quite nice). Although if it's really good, strongly flavored lamb and a mild goat cheese, MAYBE the combination will be balanced. But I agree with Jackal10 that some breadcrumbs would be a good addition, to soak up the fat/juices as necessary. And I'm not so sure you would still need to do the garlic-and-rosemary-in-slits, given the stuffing. Might be a little overkill, especially if you've already added them to the stuffing. Just a light rub with olive oil and a sprinkling with salt and pepper should be sufficient, the extra flavor working from the inside out already. As for time and temp, I defer to those who do it more.

How could you indeed? The desserts are so unexpectedly au courant, for even an "Indian fusion" place. While as I mentioned, the menu items in general have evolved from very, very good to (in some cases) great, the desserts have moved up at least one full order of magnitude.

Muse, guiding light -- ? At the very least, one of the original founders of Les Halles. Ça suffit, apparently. After all, loyalty is awfully important for some people in the business. At least in the BOH, if they ever want to cook lunch again.

Cranberries are one of the few fruits that survive well in the freezer, even if you just bung the bag in. Years ago, when I was doing pastry at a restaurant, I found some in the freezer from who-knew-when. Turned them into a coulis (sugared, spiced, stewed, and strained) for decorating plates with individual apple strudels. At home, I just dump some into muffins, or mix them into instant couscous as it sits absorbing.

What is Kaya Jam?

HWOE and I were there last night with a visiting-from-Jacksonville, FL couple. My first worry came when they announced they were light eaters; second was Caroline's fear of "spicy" food. But everything worked out splendidly. Of course. We explained the "not spicy" issue to our server -- a charming, very helpful young woman -- and she gave us excellent advice on what and what not to order. I guessed/hoped that Suvir would send us out something extra, so we ordered less than I might have with bigger "fressers." What we ordered: Apps: Idli; Samosa trio -- to share by the table Mains: Basil chicken (for both our friends); Parsi halibut for HWOE; that lotus seed-chenna curry for me. Sides: the trio of rices; a raita with crisp lotus stems. Wine: On the by-the-glass list, I had noticed an Iron Horse Pinot Noir Rose -- something quite new to me; they were gracious enough to give us tastes, and to let us buy a bottle even though it's only sold by the glass normally. (Sorry, I don't know what they charged for the whole bottle.) Dessert: Falooda What we got: all of the above, plus: an order of the Manchurian cauliflower; scallops, served with the crispy okra; the pineapple dessert trio; kulfi. The amuse was a little baked pastry triangle filled with spinach and cauliflower (it looked exactly like my grandmother's hamantaschen) served on tomato chutney. We warned Caroline off the chutney; had she eaten it, the burn might have been more immediate, rather than sneaking up as it did for the rest of us. In a very tasty way. The idli were quite different from previous versions: instead of just round steamed pillows, they were little pyramids, greaselessly deep-fried, so they were "crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside." David, who is supposed to abjure all coconut, decided it was worth going off the diet for a bit of the accompanying coconut chutney. And Caroline said that even plain, the idli were very tasty. Samosas were enjoyed by all, as were the mint and tamarind chutneys. The frying there is expert: as with the idli, not a bit of excess grease. The chicken and halibut came with lemon rice, so I took all of that from the trio of rices, and we split up the mint-coconut and tamarind versions. Strong flavor, good texture on all. The chicken was of course wonderfully moist, with the chicken, basil and smoky flavors in good balance. HWOE raved about how soft and moist his halibut was. And my lotus seed curry was as delicious as it was unusual in textures -- the creaminess of the cashews, chewiness of the seeds, and the peas somewhere in between; great contrasts. This came in a huge portion, which was great for sharing, and share we did. We each loved it for different reasons. And all the little dabs of chutneys were clean in their flavors, and distinct. (No Sixth-Street common jar of mango chutney here!) We didn't really need the raita to put out any mouth-fires, but I'm glad we ordered it: again, a great contrast in texture between the soft yogurt and the crunchy lotus root slices, and well-balanced cumin flavor. If you order this, eat us all the lotus first; it does get a bit soggy as it sits. The cauliflower just keeps getting better with each rendition. This time, the garlic really came through, along with the sweet/tartness and the crunch of the coating. The scallops, which for us came with a side of crispy okra, were heavenly. Sweet, moist, tender, just smoky enough, and the citrus marmalade and (sweet) red pepper chutneys balanced perfectly. Since I am a huge fan of the okra, and was a bit disappointed the last time I had it at Amma, I was very pleased to see it return to its crunchy, greaseless state. By this point we were all quite satisfied, and decided to share just one dessert, the Falooda, which is billed as a sort of Indian sundae. Sweet-toothed Suvir also sent us the pineapple trio and the kulfi. As a nonlover of pineapple, I have to say that it was one of the most brilliant desserts I've ever eaten. Between the layers of poached pineapple, genoise, mascarpone mousse, and "pineapple gello," and the pineapple-cilantro sorbet, AND the slick of cilantro syrup across the plate, I've been converted. The kulfi is another item that just keeps improving -- the texture was smooth and rich, and the citrus balanced perfectly. The falooda was very busy, with two kinds of sorbet, "coconut lemongrass milk," a coconut tuile, and the noodles (which seemed more like tapioca to me, but that's not a negative). I think that is a better dessert to keep to oneself, in order to be able to taste everything in combination with everything else. BTW: Hemant's wife is the one doing the desserts now, along with someone with a not-particularly-South Asian name (which I neglected to write down ). And let me not forget the mignardises: chocolates from Thomas Haas (sp?) in Vancouver. Well, we forced ourselves to taste them. And were very glad we did. Not a single dish was disappointing in any way. The "familiar" dishes seem to be in a state of continual improvement and refinement. And I can't wait to go back and try the new ones. A lovely room, very gracious and well-trained staff -- all in all, a very happy experience.

Beginning of the recipe for, uh, Roast Chicken. That's what I meant. He then goes on in very clear detail as to the kind of chicken you want, gives graphically useful instructions on how you want to truss it, prepare it, cook it, and finish it. All in that tone of the benevolent kitchen dictator. Some may find it a bit too much, but I think it's very funny. And you will end up with superb, simple bistro food (in spite of the fact that Les Halles is called a brasserie, this is bistro cooking).

Too sophisticated? If you're a member here, that seems unlikely. The food in this book is about as straightforward as you can get. I don't think any recipe is longer than 2 pages, and many are only one; that means no zillion-part dishes. And once you get around the application of Chef's signature style, you'll find that he is a born teacher, with sneaky ways of teaching you more than you ever imagined you needed to know.

I'm glad to read the comments of folks who were there. I was sad that the food was not as good as I expected -- and as good as earlier posters have said it has been. So you have my blessing to go and try it. But please report back, okay?

I have to agree. Well, that is, I don't know about the apples you've been eating , but the ones we've had this year so far have all be the best in ages. Ginger Gold, Macintosh, and Macoun -- all three the essence of appledom.

Not that all the earlier ones weren't personal, but this one is her MOST personal one. In it, she gets to be the curmudgeonly teacher, grumbling about all the misconceptions people have about "Italian" food, and then very clearly explaining why she thinks it should be done THIS WAY. And the recipes ARE new. I really want to make the carrot gnocchi, which she says were quite a surprise to her. Full disclosure: I was lucky enough to work as a proofreader on this book. And when I got to meet her afterwards, I literally knelt at her feet and thanked her for teaching me so much. She was quite gracious even though I was a blithering idiot.

Bumping this back on, since it's TOMORROW. See you there!

Alas, yes. I just received a catalogue in the mail from a company that ships frozen, "chef-prepared meals delivered to your door nationwide." They promise "from freezer to table in about 10 minutes." Apparently one does have to know how to boil water, as the stuff is done sous-vide, and the company recommends placing the "specially designed packaging" in simmering water. I can't say any more, or I'll start getting really rude.

I ate there about a year ago with a group of eGulleteers (I was in town for a conference). I ordered . . . the piperade. It would have been very, very good if it had been salted at all, but alas it was not. Which is not meant as a wholesale indictment of the place; the bacalao app I had was excellent, and other people seemed more or less pleased with their food. But to me, too little salt is almost as bad as too much. Edited to add a link to the thread about that meal.

LynDel, I want to come to YOUR house for T'Day!

Robyn, just in case no one has said it yet (although I'm sure you know this): do NOT expect the heat of the chafers to warm your food sufficiently and fast enough to keep it out of the danger zone for the necessary safe amount of time. As I'm sure you are aware, you should heat the pans in the oven and THEN put them into the water bath in the chafers. And it's easier to heat the water in your tea kettle and pour it in, rather than wait for the puny chafer heat source to bring it up to temperature. And one more caveat: if you store the cooked food in "disposable" aluminum pans, don't cover them directly with foil, but use plastic wrap. Too many foods will cause a chemical reaction that eats through the foil and leaves little gray "droppings" on the surface of the food. Only cover with foil when you put them into the oven to heat. But, sigh, don't you wish you could buy the AllClad chafers? Aren't they gorgeous?

If you can taste before you buy, DO. We used to get fruit wines from a winery in Southern Vermont, ranging from wines clearly meant for dessert (Maple-Cranberry) on up through semi-dry all the way to dry table wines (Blueberry-Apple; Northern Spy). We actually confounded some guests with the table wine, it was that reasonable. If you can't taste first, just bring one bottle for curiosity's sake (maybe it will be loved, and you can get more next year) along with the usual shiraz (I much prefer shiraz/syrah to merlot, and think it goes fine with turkey. After all, turkey needs all the help it can get. )

Oh, come on, you KNOW that's an invitation to ask. If not here, then on some other board, but do tell us what that's all about, pretty please?????

Only a little fill-in yesterday at WTC: Rich, deep green chard Arugula from the Migliorellis (the BEST) 1 tomato flatleaf parsley Tomorrow (Thursday) we'll get more.

I get my cookware mostly at Broadway Panhandlerhere in NYC, but the stuff I get is Lodge, so you can probably find that closer to home -- the shipping costs are probably astronomical!

Here's one I just did: tiny meatballs en croute, that worked well right out of the oven and also at room temp after cooling and transport. Edited with toliver's help, because I'm still finding my way around the new tech stuff.

Ah. That reminds me of a T'day dinner I attended while visiting classmates on their work terms in Boston during my second year of college (one of 2 dinners I attended -- and ate -- that day in 1967): every single dish contained, uh, cannabis sativa The dressing, the salad, the "tea" we drank, probably even the green bean casserole. Had I been able to cook, I might have contributed Alice B. Toklas's Fruit and Nut Balls (aka Brownies). Those were the days.

Funny you should bring this up. A few months ago, I bought a small, round (10-inch diameter) cast-iron griddle. It has not yet displaced my cast-iron grill pan in my deepest affections, but it is definitely vying for attention. Yes, it is perfect for eggs. And as a comal for tortillas -- its slightly raised edge makes sliding the tortilla off so much easier. The best use I made of it so far was Monday night, skin-on fillet of arctic char. After patting the skin dry and then scraping off the last bits of moisture with a knife blade, I smacked the fish skin-down on the hot griddle. When the time came to turn it, it was so much easier to flip. And CRUNCH what skin! Has anyone tried using it for dosas???

After reading Calvin Trillin's piece about how Spaghetti Carbonara should REALLY be the traditional T'day feast, we decided to take advantage of our proximity to Li'l It'ly and include proscuitto bread. Then once I started getting interested in Latin American and Native American foods, I added succotash made with corn, beans, and squash (actually, chayote), plus jerusalem artichokes. What do these have to do with my own "ethnic" background? Absolutely nothing. I'm from Middle-to-Eastern-European Jewish ancestry. My only concession to that has been to use kosher turkeys, including kosher smoked turkey in the succotash. And when I started using Asian ingredients AND had a guest who keeps kosher, I made my mashed sweet potatoes with coconut milk instead of butter/cream. I just think it is so much more fun -- and more emblematic of what T'day should be about -- to use everyone else's foodstuffs!