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laura

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Posts posted by laura

  1. Not an exactly traditional version, but very good. "The Best Creamed Spinach" from Debra Ponzek"s excellent cookbook, French Food American Accent. Of course; fresh spinach, She also uses diced mushrooms , shallots, heavy cream. This version is close to Mitchell

    London's version, not so watery and has more flavor.

    page 132 in the cookbook.

  2. I've been there 2 times. I was very unimpressed. I think it's very overrated. One good dish though, baked pasta with 3 cheeses. I really can't remember much of what I ate. How's that for making an impression.

  3. I've been going to Bouley off and on over the years in his different

    settings. I recently had lunch there and it was an incredible bargain for the quality of food offered. The 5 course tasting menu with the seafood melange as mentioned by others., included one of the best tasting scallops I have had. The veal tenderloin, with pinot noir sauce confiture of scallions served with

    asparagus, wild mushrooms was delicious. The veal., organic from Summerfield farms, has exceptional flavor and most unusual for organic veal , it was extremely tender.. My friend's chicken

    dish was not that interesting.Three slices of rather bland chicken. not as good as other chicken I have had at Bouley in the past. The halibut with beets and a bit of horseradish dressing, bouley's homage to Mother Russia was very good, not great. All in all a delicious meal,The, setting

    was comfortable; decor pretty and inoffensive. . The lack of noise, due , perhaps to an

    empty restaurant was an added plus. I don't think his desserts have

    ever been as good as when Bill Yosses was the pastry chef there.

    I haven't been there in the evening recently so I can't make the comp

    arison, but I certainly agree with Yvonne, about it being in a different

    category than Blue Hill , a higher one. I would defintely return for

    lunch, I wouldn't have the house champagne again.

  4. I read with great interest all of the excellent reviews of FF. When Gras

    was in NYC, I was always impressed and uplifted by the deliciousness and creativity of his cuisine. It consisted of pairings that Icould not have conceived of, but when executed by Gras whole new possibililties existed.. I agree with Cabrales that newness for it's own sake is unsatisfying and ultimately who cares if it doesn't

    taste wonderful. It was always wonderful. I was very sad when he left, and also was mystified that he never received the proper audience here. Peacock Alley was generally empty. Of course, why should I be surprised, most people don't make their dining choices based on the quality of the food .

    . I am so fascinated with his approach to cooking that I have signed up for his Macy's session on April 10th.I don't know if they have

    any places left, but if anyone is interested call 439 1714

  5. I didn't finish my post because I couldn't figure out how to extend it.

    We shared an assortment of sorbet and ice creams. standouts were the caramel ice cream and the three sorbets, Jasmine tea, blood orange

    and passion fruit. I just wanted to add that this is the kind of restaurant that I could visit often and be very happy in if I had the

    money to afford it on that basis.

  6. I ate at Craft a few nights ago. It was pretty much what stephen said.

    The room is a beautiful amalgam of textures and natural materials, that

    contribute to a warm glow in the dining room. It is a perfect marriage of food and design, as the food is as honest as is the design . We had

    the same amuse bouche, the foie gras, and scallops, thinly sliced in a

    lime marinade. All excellently prepared and except for Arpege, where the scallops were sliced micrometer thin, translucent and altogether,

    from another realm, these were very good.

    Main courses, were quail, marinated in balsamic vinegar, sauteed and then roasted. These were succulent and crispy. The hanger steak

    that my son ordered was a large portion of expertly grilled beef with

    the chewy consistency of the cut and very flavorful.

    The sides of potato gratin and roasted hedgehog mushrooms,were

    good choices, they were deliciously prepared.

    We had glasses of sauterne with the first course and a pinot noir, from

    Germany for me and a cabernet franc with the second. All were suggested

    by our waiter, when we asked his opinion and all were good

  7. Roasted potatoes,red onions, endive in lemon infused olive oil

    Sauteed spinach and garlic

    Served with a few cheeses, Tickamore, midnight moon.

    Handfuls of very fresh pistachio nuts and grapes.

    I originally grilled some rib lamb chops, but they proved to be inedible,too much freezer burn, I gave them to my dog. My substitutionof cheese was a felicitious one.

  8. Marcella's escarole and rice soup, a generous grating of reggiano on top, served with Florence meat market's chicken sausages, sauteed with cremini mushrooms, garlic cloves. Pierre Chermette Beaujolis 200l., Scharfenberger chocolate, buttermilk cake, with choc sour cream frosting.

  9. Garlands, off Oak Creek Canyon. A wonderful collection of log cabins, very civilized, incredible setting. Extremely difficult to get reservations to stay but

    one can make dinner reservations for, good, well prepared food. They have their

    own garden and orchards. Oak creek canyon is situated in a micro climate, that is similar to our eastern US climatic conditions. Spending time there in the fall is very special. Colorful leaves, apple harvests and red rocks..

  10. Coming in late to this thread, I will only add that of two meals at Prune, Dinner and brunch both were disappointing. I say this with regret as I live a few blocks from Prune and I wanted to like it. The most memorable dish at dinner

    was succotash and my entree pork cooked in milk,, was tough , dry and stringy. This was a couple of years ago and I don't remember too much about the other dishes except that all four of us were not pleased. My gargantuan

    portion of a heavy , fruit crumble was practically inedible. I returned for brunch

    hoping that this meal would be better, it wasn't. Now admittedly, two meals

    is perhaps not a fair test, however, I would much rather go to the tasting room, down the street. I much prefer it to Prune.

  11. Unless I am very sure of the person in question, that I might be recommending

    a restaurant to, I generally don't do it. This is due to the inherent variability of

    the dining experience. My experiences in the past have proven to be of such a

    mixed bag, ie when the person liked the restaurant, everything was great, when they didn't, I felt badly . Rather than subject myself to this discomfort, I

    reign in my normal instinct to proselytize about something I really like..in this particular category.

  12. As if you don't have enough suggestions already I'd like to add two more .The Art Of Baking by Paula Peck. This may be out of print, but it's worth looking for.She was a disciple of James Beard and wrote two books, The Art of

    Cooking and the above. Both are excellent. Also I am partial to Desserts by

    Nancy Silverton.The recipes can be complicated but they always work well. A really excellent linzer torte recipe in the book and her cookie recipes are well worth the price of the book.

  13. My favorite cut for roast beef is the shell roast. It is basically the shell steak that is not cut into steaks but left whole I have roasted both boned and left on the bone. Both versions are good and what I like about it is the flavor,not as fatty as a rib roast and even less than stellar meat tastes good this way.I

    usually insert cloves of garlic, salt, pepper and sometimes a mix of soy and mustard rub.

  14. It is really great to find such a pleasant restaurant across from BAM. I concur with all of the previous posters about the place. Thanks ,Steve, for observing that the pot au feu could serve two, it did and the price was l6 dollars., a tremendous bargain for the quality and quantity. I had heard good things about the spatzle {sp} so they very nicely gave us a sample, it was excellent,

    not in the least bit gummy and overcooked , as it often can be. The palatchinken were good, the filling of apricot jam , was too sweet and sugary.

    The only problem was the coffee, not good, neither the espresso or the regular' . Oh well, that is typical for NY restaurants, I don't know why I continue

    to order coffee as I am so often disappointed. I would definitely return.

  15. Stellabella. I'm coming in late to this, but depending on the kind of pie. you wish to make . F or instance,, apple pie, needs a flaky, buttery crust. I have been using this recipe for many years and it always works. It's in the sept/oct 94 Cooks Illustrated "Perfect Pie Crust". As others have mentioned this too is a mix of butter and crisco. You need that to achieve flavor(butter) flaky(crisco). Good luck.

  16. Last night Toby prepared Jimmyo's shattered chicken, with sauteed wild mushrooms. steamed fingerllings, broccoli rabe with garlic All were especially

    delicious! We enjoyed this with an italian red wine, roughly translated tears

    of christ{thanks to Charles for this choice} a cheese course, vacherin and

    pleasant ridge,with anjou pears. For dessert: a very tasty brioche cake baked with creme fraiche in the center of the cake. Everything was wonderful

  17. Interestingly, that is the way my mother made rice pudding ,minus the orange extract. I think she obtained the recipe from the back of the uncle ben's rice box.

    it was the way I thought rice pudding tasted until I was an adult and had the

    creamy variety. I do like it both ways.

  18. I wanted to try the chilled chicken from canada, I don't recall the name, I purchased it at Gourmet Garage. I roasted it with lemons and garlic , it was

    very good quality, lots of chicken flavor. F:ingerling potatoes, with fennel gratin,

    chicken stock base. Slices of brioche, pepper herb bread to soak up the gravy. Dessert : Slice of "James Beard" banana bread, 2nd version. ,scoop of vanilla ice cream, plated with caramel sauce. Question: is there a way to retrieve caramel that has reached the over caramelized stage. Mine did

    and I kept doctoring it with sugar, lemon juice and cream. It was edible but it had a burnt undertone that was not pleasant. I probably should have thrown it away and started over.

  19. I once had a wonderful dish of dorade, steamed or smoked in tea, in a fabulous

    restaurant in St.Barts, called Castelets. I wonder if anyone has a recipe for this? I would love to duplicate it. Jimmyo how do you do your steaming or

    smoking with tea?

  20. Polenta with wild mushrooms based on the recipe in Debra Ponzek's excellent book, French Food American Accent. The reason I like this version of

    polenta is that it is very soft and creamy, using finely ground corn meal means

    that you don't have to cook this very long. The wild mushrooms sauteed first,

    then simmered in stock reach a depth of flavor, that is enhanced by the use

    of truffle oil in the polenta, or if you are richer than I am, you can shave truffles

    over the top, the recipe is on page 120

  21. I just got a crock pot free from Commerce Bank, and thought I would give the

    method a try once again. I threw out my old one years ago and didn't think much of it then. However, I used a recipe in the new Fine Cooking mag. for

    pot roast, and it was excellent. The chuck roast needed to be browned before

    cooking in the pot and afterwards, as a number of people have mentioned, the

    liquid needed reduction but this was all explained in the recipe. The meat did

    have flavor and it was incredibly tender, I would do it again. The one thing that

    did worry me a bit was that the temp got too hot on low, the liquid was beyond

    simmer , which worried me because if I were to braise it in the oven I would

    want to keep the temp very low so the meat wouldn't toughen. Why didn't that happen in this case?

    I thre

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