Pontormo

Some time ago I started a thread entitled Which Cookbooks DON'T You Use & Why? which has some interesting responses. As to the title of this new thread, see my initial post.

After sautéing cabbage with garlic, I still had half of a very large head leftover. I wanted to transform it into a main course even though stuffing the leaves didn't seem like an option. So, turning to a favorite vegetarian cookbook, I read about how delightful cabbage gratin was. You're supposed to call it pain au chou to make it seem less pedestrian, and once the diced cruciferous plant is parboiled and baked in a buttered casserole coated with Parmesan, bathed in custardy goodness, you'd be surprised by how good it is. I suspect all it needed was truffle oil. To make matters worse, I decided it needed a nice red pepper sauce. Stewed the red peppers in olive oil. Whirled them in the blender. Popped them in a pan with broth to reduce since I couldn't be bothered with a roux. A little salt. Bitter? A little sugar and grated cheese. Then, brilliantest of ideas, just a spoonful of heavy cream, not to thicken, no. What I really was going for was something that looked like Campbell's Cream of Tomato Soup to pour over the square of eggy cabbage. Meanwhile, the half of butternut squash that I roasted was face down, on top of the stove, steaming away into a soggy child's inflatable pool of matching blahness. The whole point was not to waste anything in the refrigerator, but this time, I am not even going to pretend I will eat the leftovers for lunch. At least I reserved half a pound and made a delicious stuffing for pasta with pancetta, onions, garlic, pan reduction and baked potato while the gratin was baking. Dessert matched the sauce and squash: a very ripe Hitachi Persimmon, split like a flower into quarters, with vanilla-scented whipped cream and chopped pistachios. First time I ate a persimmon on its own, raw. Chufi says there's nothing that whipped cream doesn't make better, right? Well, this probably was true, though the flavor was more delicate than delectable. All in all, this was not auspicious. I did have greens and lentils and rice in my soup for lunch, so I hope the new year will bring better meals.

Foodman, what magic! Thou art a veritable sauserer!

A dessert based on "A Ring of Fire" would be a wonderful homage to June Carter and Johnny Cash: On the other hand, not to condone the murder of one's spouse, The Dixie Chicks might inspire a version of "Goodbye Earl", though the all-female team might be wise to cater to Nashville's mainstream tastes with: Gretchen Wilson.

The photo above applies to what may prove to be the last post possible in this thread in 2006, though I am sure there will be more to report in the year ahead. While I customarily use chicken stock for Italian recipes requiring broth, I was intrigued and just a little bit skeptical about the claims that a classic brodo should be simmered for at least 12-14 hours. I also was curious about the difference between stock made exclusively with chicken and/or turkey and one made with a combination of turkey (a sub for capon) and beef shanks, so I took nearly 11 hours to make half of the recipe in The Splendid Table in an 8-quart stockpot to end up with just a little over 3 quarts of a darker gold liquid that did not congeal to the extent that stock does. I am not sure the broth would have suffered greatly had I stopped the process after 5 hours. It wasn't richer than a chicken stock, though the greater number of ingredients* meant that it was more subtle and less "bright." Perfect with some of the cappelletti/tortellini in the freezer, if not exactly austere when salad was followed by a Panettone bread pudding. Auguri e Buon Cappellett' Anno *Bay leaf, parsley & garlic in addition to carrots, onions and celery.

I have read that the black truffles gathered during the summer are not as flavorful as those harvested in the early winter. As you might suspect, the ones brought in fresh from the field three kilometers away will be superior to anything bottled, shipped and stored. You might plan to be flexible in preparing a menu just in case you find you are unable to use what is nonetheless a thoughtful gift from someone who knows how much you enjoy cooking. I'd plan on coating strands of the best "artisanal" dried spaghetti you can find. Olive oil or even butter, perhaps. Salt and pepper, but no cheese. Have some pre-soaked porcini, good fresh mushrooms, garlic & Parm in house just in case. ETA: Since I've only eaten pasta cooked this way, but never cooked it myself, I've had to revise this post. Consult this simple recipe from The Gilded Fork. Probably the best thing to do if you're happy with the contents of the jar has been mentioned above: use them with a roasted chicken. I'd favor slivers tucked under the skin, reserving a tablespoon to sprinkle over top during final stage of roasting and basting. A simple gratin of thinly sliced potatoes with cream, butter and black truffles would be a good side dish.

• Red cabbage soup N.B. Italian title refers to cavolo nero (Tuscan kale), now available in US. However, this version taught me how good red cabbage is. Cf. Chufi's note about a chicken dish w/ cabbage that is good for dinner guests on low-fat diets. • Bean soup (cannellini) with parsley and garlic • Chick-pea soup • Bucatini all'Amatriciana • Baked polenta with meat sauce (Ragu Bolognese) • Spaghetti with smothered onions • Penne with ricotta and spinach sauce • Lasagne with artichokes Classic Bolognese recipe with spinach dough is wonderful, too. • Fettuccine with fried zucchini • Baked striped bass and shellfish sealed in foil (Italian title refers to Branzino) Magnificent for special occasion. • Pan-roasted mackerel with rosemary and garlic Never had eaten this assertively fishy fish before. Cooked it with a crowd including "vegetarians" who eat fish, and everyone raved. Spaghetti with tomato-anchovy sauce was perfect as a first course. All of Hazan's menu suggestions are a great feature of the book. • Sea bass with braised fennel (Il Pesce coi Finocchi Freschi) • Baked bluefish with potatoes, Genoese style While I don't eat seafood as much as this list might imply, the fish recipes were truly revelatory when I bought the books in the early 1980s. This is my favorite and the source for something Mark Bittman publishes in H2CE. • Ossobuco with risotto alla milanese Another excellent dish for company when weather is cold and snowy. • Braised pork chops with mushrooms • Pan-roasted spareribs, Treviso style • Pizza di Scarola—actually a pie and one of several really good escarole recipes • Fried zucchini blossoms • Red beet tops salad Always serve this with the roasted beets. Excellent with focaccia. • Romaine salad with Gorgonzola and toasted walnuts • Fried Cauliflower in Parmesan batter Yes, this vegetable is great even when it's not roasted. Since I'm not a major fan of Italian desserts, I'm stopping with a list of vegetables. This is actually a selective list since these were among the first cookbooks I owned and I found them very useful when learning how to make more than Julia Child's peach tart and the family meatloaf.

Lucky you! I have the two old volumes that became Essentials when revised a bit and combined. I will be uncharacteristically brief (for now) since Marcella is literally a venerable figure as far as I'm concerned. Here's something to be a bit mischievous since I know there are many home cooks in The United States who are thrilled with their spiffy new (allegedly just) translated copies of The Sliver Spoon. You've got the MUCH better book. There's just one unmediated and opiniated voice behind the book. It's a good tool for learning and worth cooking your way through. While your divine tuna was probably a large factor in the success of your dish, do know that Genova is a pretty decent, less costly, imported Italian-style tuna distributed by Chicken of the Sea (I think). Please, do keep the reports coming!

Beautiful meal, Elie. Very multicultural of you--thanks for the recommendation for the winter squash.

Again, Kevin, amazing. Were I forced to choose, I'd settle for the stuffed clams followed by the spaghetti with lobster, but since I've only had the standard calamari rings, I'd like just one squid, too. Regarding our discussion of numbers, do take a peek at this thread in the French forum that includes references to 13 desserts on Christmas Eve in Provence. BTW, got this on sale yesterday: two pounds of it! I wonder what I'll make...

Plenty more ideas besides the pear and ricotta stuffing in The Italian forum. Check out all threads beginning with "The Cooking and Cuisine of...." or Kevni's year-long regional cooking thread for 2005. Currently, we're in Emilia-Romagnia where I give you Foodman's potato & chive stuffed tortellini. In the Lombardian thread, there's a report of a birthday dinner (Feb. 25, so one of last posts) with two types of sweet fillings straight from Renaissance courts. In Sardegna's, stuffed pasta with bitter greens. In the Cooking forum, there is an entire Cook-Off devoted to home-made pasta, including stuffed ones. Not all examples are called ravioli, or shaped and scaled like the ones your KA might make, but it shouldn't matter. In the Dinner thread, you need to hang out a bit, or search for specific authors of postas. Shaya, for example, will contribute pictures of ones she's made with her children. Hathor posts gorgeous meals including stuffed pasta in this thread, sometimes, too. Ditto re Chufi, and more recently, Little Ms. Foodie back from a trip to Italy. There are more, but I'm mentioning four women whose stuffed pasta also appears in the Italian forum.

O, if I could but be the dog under the table, begging for scraps and licking the plates when they were through! Both nights, that is. How gorgeous, beautifully planned and entertainingly presented here for us. Thank you, Abra. It really does look like a whole lot of fun--as well as work. While you defer to chefpeon in your marathon cookie-baking escapades, it seems that you, too, have a genuine gift for presenting baked goods. Your tortellini pie and exquisitely decorated cake (the stenciled powdered sugar!!! ) are so lovely. While the slice of cold leftover pie sort of reminds me of the latest advances in medical photography, it is especially tempting--and cool to see segmented meatballs, et al. Remind me of the "secret ingredient" in the cake, please. I remember the pictures you took before sealing up the cake, but... Two things: 1) I believe you when you say the variation on the Baroque ragu was really good, but if you ever are inspired to try something different after making the other ragus in the book, I urge you to try the recipe (mostly) as is for the Duke's lasagna. 2) Yeah, capons taste like chicken. Really good, fresh, fat capons are spectacular, though. I bought one at the farmer's market in St. Louis that was one of the best things I've ever roasted. A French news program a couple of nights ago showed crate after crate of capons being stacked since it is the principal focus of many European Christmas dinners, served after the oysters, crabs, etc. * * * Modest report to get lost in the fray: 178 tortellini, total. You win, Hathor!!

Just a quick note to say that I finally ended up using my precious organic Sicilian pistachio paste to bake sniff, Alberto's gorgeous cookies for Christmas. Mine were not as luxurious in that I used almond meal insted of the more refined and delicate almond flour. However, I poked the still-soft bottoms of each cookie as soon as they came out of the oven, so I could stuff the centers of the sandwiches with that much more paste. So pretty, and so good. So, grazie mille, albiston!!! I still have about a tablespoon or so left, ummm...

I think you are preaching to the choir, here, Elie! Of course the anecdotes are what makes some of these cookbooks so fun to read, not just use. Since you mention that this beautifully spiralled panettone has the texture of a brioche, I bet it would be fabulous as simple toast or French toast--provided there are leftovers.

Sorry I didn't read this sooner, Abra. 1) The texture should be a little chunky, not minced to granular texture of other ragus--at least that was my take. This may be one reason I thought the sauce just good and unusual on top of tagliatelle, but amazingly when it is a flavoring component of a more complicated dish. I hope you discovered that once your pie was completed. The larger chunks serve as superior mortar for gaps between tortellini in the pastry. 2) By the time you get to the final 45 minutes in preparing the ragu, different components have already been cooking for a considerable amount of time while you're boiling down the wine, stock and milk. I don't remember extending that final period of time by very much as a result. I may have added half an hour out of habit, without really needing it. I do hope you and your guests were pleased with the pie. I can't wait to see it!

I. POLPO Judith, while I am guessing that you already cooked your octopus, I just wanted to share what I just read while eating French toast made with leftover panettone for lunch. --Batali, Simple Italian Food: Recipes from My Two Villages.II. SPAGHETTI WITH SHRIMPS & BLACK OLIVES Low-key holiday for the most part. No searching for traditional recipes or elaborate feasts such as the ones that will be documented shortly in this forum. However, I did respect the tradition of having seafood on Christmas Eve and tried another recipe from the Splendid Table. I was less than satisfied with it. Even when a combination of white wine and lots of precious turkey stock is reduced by a third as the shells of shrimp impart flavor, there is still far too much liquid in the final dish because the shrimp are sauteed and left in the pan as the sauce is put together. This means it must be cooked rapidly without reducing much more. Also, when you're working with canned tomatoes in December, throwing them in for a minute or less just doesn't do much for them. I'd take some methods from Asian stir-fries to tweak the instructions in the recipe a bit. Take the shrimp out after 20-30 seconds, cook the sauce, and throw them back in at the very end. III. LYNNE ROSSETTO KASPER... Is More of a Greek Deity than a Pope, i.e. Fallible. Since so many of us are in awe of her glorious book, including me, I'd like to ask if anyone else is having problems with some of the author's idiocyncracies. I was sure some of the cooking times are off due to the date of the publication, but then I noticed it's copyrighted in 1992. Were I to have cooked thin slices of a pork loin chop for 15 minutes as suggested, the results would not have been pleasant. I also wish foods were seasoned at least a little bit during cooking rather than at the end. It's made me suspicious when preparing recipes in which salt really isn't required at all. (I'm glad I trusted the recipe for the following, though:) IV. TORTELLI ALLA MODENA Sort of. That is, for a Christmas dinner with friends, I was responsible for the first course. I read the foreword to the recipe for Bologna's tortellini and adjusted it so that the filling was basically: 8 oz. veal stew meat 4 oz. pork loin 4 oz. Prosciutto di Parma 4 oz. Parmesan 1 extra-large egg Pinch of nutmeg plus ample amount of butter used to cook the first two meats The recipe is supposed to make 140 tortellini for 8-10 people so I stopped at 71 with enough leftover filling to make at least 69 more, though not enough dough. (It looks like 1 1/4 recipes for sfoglia, at least, are required.) Shaya, man o man! Now I understand why so many people make the pasta from square shapes of dough rather than circles!!!! What stamina you must have! The circles are supposed to be 1 3/4 inch in diameter. I soon graduated from a spice jar lid to a small Australian Corning Ware (virtually 2 in. D) shot glass since I figured it would take forever otherwise. It would have been so much quicker to just slice out a grid pattern than to press the glass firmly down, swizzle it around a bit, carefully peel off the extra dough, cut around the parts of the circle that didn't get cut out, ball up the scraps and wrap them in plastic, etc., etc. Thank g-d for The Temptations, Marvin Gaye, Bob Dylan and Greg Brown. Didn't make it to Cecilia Bertoli or the Tom-Tom Club. The little knobs were adorable, nonetheless, and the filling was extraordinarily delicious. Butter and cheese provided the sauce. I have the fixings for a classic brodo to accommodate what remains. V. PASTA EXPERIMENT #3 I've come to the conclusion that the formula last recorded as experiment #2 is perfect, so I am not going to alter it for some time. However, when experiment #1 failed so miserably, I suspect part of the reason has to do with brands or types of AP flour used. With #1 I weighed the flour in grams and there was much too much for only two large eggs. Well, actually, that doesn't explain anything about how dry the first dough was. With #2, I scooped to measure flour by volume in cups. This time, I scooped the (already weighed) cup to discover that when it is filled and leveled, it weighs 4 5/8 oz. and NOT the 4 oz. LRK says it should. I scooped out 5/8 oz. before puttting the dough together. Tomorrow, class, there will be a quiz to see if you actually read all this. (Apologies for the length!)

Pizza Napoletana: Buon Natale anche a Lei! Kevin represents only one of a number of eGullet-home cooks in North America--and at least two European countries that are not peninsulas--who have developed a strong appreciation for Italian food, whether on their own, or as a consequence of travel, living abroad, watching television, or falling in love with an Italian. Perhaps we developed a passion for Dante, Giorgione, Umberto D, furniture designed by Memphis, or maybe even bicycling while growing up in a midwestern college town surrounded by quarries. Many of us do not have Italian backgrounds and are not fluent in your native language. We are learning a lot, making do with what we have, sometimes in places where the supply of Korean, Japanese or Mexican groceries is substantial, but there is no Tipo 00 to be found. Cardoons? Forget it! Bottarga? Boh--let alone a wealth of artisanal products you might take for granted back home or even in the U.K. (From what I understand, Alberto may be having a harder time in the capital city of Scotland than I have in the capital of The United States.) Nonetheless, it's fun to try new things, experiment, document meals and see what others have done. I can only speak for myself, but I can say that I enjoy the genuine spirit of comaraderie and collaboration. It was wonderful when Franci participated on a regular basis since she represents the point of view of an Italian with culinary training who is knowledgeable of a wide range of dishes prepared outside of her own native Puglia. She speaks her mind, yet often finds just the right way to teach me something I had not read in the sources at my disposal in North America. I think she might have even expressed disapproval or corrected a thing or two with grace. Perhaps my memory is inventive, but I am thinking in terms of how easy it is to instruct or offer a different point of view without a harsh, supercilious tone. Your advice is welcome. Backhanded compliments? Well, I'm not sure that's what you're offering here, but you seem to have come to bury Caesar as you praise him. Why not be pleased that people in different parts of the world are cooking your own food? As far as ricotta goes, I don't know how many water buffaloes were brought to North America during the Middle Ages. There is certainly not a sufficient number of meals prepared by residents of Boise, Idaho to keep a fresh-cheesemaker in business were she to specialize in sheep's milk ricotta. This factor is not unrelated to the reason it is hard to find a sharp, aged cheddar in Siena. I can readily buy a very good ricotta made from cow's milk at my farmer's market; Foodman makes his own. (Ada Boni's translated book on regional cooking suggests cottage cheese if there's no ricotta around.) Most people are perfectly satisfied with store-brands and will buy whatever is at the supermarket to make a very inauthentic lasagna with dried pasta, mozzarella and a tomato sauce they make themselves, with lots of garlic and fresh basil. They could care less about authenticity or whether their dish is faithful to Neopolitan or Bolognese practices. It tastes good to them and it's how their mother-in-law makes it--only better. As for YOUR posts about ricotta in everything, I searched online and found that you made a valuable point about the gatto' di patate. That's the kind of insider information that is useful to have. As for the calzones, would it be fair to say that there is not one right way to prepare them? Here's one that doesn't involve greens, but eccola! The recipe calls for ricotta. While including the word "ricotta" in my search, I managed to find only one recipe for pizzette di scarola, and sure enough: no ricotta. The type I've had in Italian-American street fairs were filled with mozzarella and tomato sauce. I never saw greens except in filled pies the size of large American pizzas. So, the published recipe Kevin used introduces something that might be less familiar to cooks in this country.

I made a smaller roast last year using Bittman's advice (high heat to sear, then turn temperature down, though not as low as recommended in this thread). In reading the beginning of this thread I noticed a post, that to paraphrase, went something like this: "It's not rocket science. Jacques Pepin and other chefs have succeeded for years by...." Ling's question is answered in final words: rest for at least an hour. Now, back to making tortellini. Happy Christmas, and re Ann and her roast, Boxing Day/Feast of Stephen.

Tammy: So pretty! I am glad you roasted a pear, skin on, isn't it fantastic? I know you are disappointed with the gouda frico-chip, but I have to say it's beautiful. Reminds me a bit of tuilles, so perhaps a thin, lacy buttery cookie? I have a wedge to make Klary's Dutch cheese-crepes now and I bet it would be spectacular in ice cream, too, perhaps with the overly reduced wine syrup streaked through--a new Ben & Jerry's flavor!!! PS Would you say more about the Carlos VII? I am utterly ignorant.

Abra: Cf. my most recent post in Baking 101. Or, wait....here's Alberto's recipe for Sicilian cookies that inspired my quest for the pistachio cream. I've got the dough chilling in the fridge right now, though I used almond meal from Trader Joe's instead of almond flour (or skinning and grinding almonds). Have to say I'm not a fan of confectioner's sugar as a sweetener, but... Anyway, to solve the oozing factor and sandwich in a little more pistachio than Alberto does, I am planning to turn half the cookies over when they're straight out of the oven and poke them then. That extra recessed space should be enough to increase the size of the dollop of goo and given the flecks of skin in the almond meal, their slight bitterness should counterbalance the intense sweetness of the pistachio mixture.

Just a quick note on something simple that I tried with risotto con ragu, based on a recipe for a different type of risotto in The Splendid Table. Mrbigjas would like it, I'm sure. Oven at 450 F. LRKasper advises covering baking sheet with foil to ease process and clean-up. Strew sheet with single layer of torn leaves of escarole and raddicchio. Combination beautiful and perfect for Christmas season. Drizzle with olive oil. Toss. Sprinkle with a little salt. Bake for ten minutes, checking after five. Let edges start to turn golden brown. Lift foil from sheet & keep these to the side. Repeat with remaining leaves. When risotto is done, cover bottom of warm plate or bowl with the wilted leaves before portioning out servings of the rice. Bitterness and texture provide wonderful contrast to the sweetness of ragu and creaminess of the cheesy, brothy rice.

Am I the only one who needs help from you guys? Could figure this out myself, but thought I'd ask since you might think of something that hasn't occurred to me. I am baking this cookie from our much missed Alberto. Scroll down for the picture of the Sicilian cookies with a bit of pistachio sandwiched between the chocolate. The thing is, the pistachio cream (nuts & sugar only) doesn't harden and I really don't want the two halves of the cookie to slide around. So I was thinking of these alternatives: 1) Chop the chocolate and incorporate it into the dough. Shape the dough into crescents or balls, stuffing the center with the pistachio paste. Variation: forget chocolate specks. Just dip tip of crescent into chocolate and sprinkle on chopped pistachios. See #4 below. Not sure a dough intended for drop cookies would remain a ball or crescent, but I do have another Sicilian recipe with nut flours that I could use instead. 2) Retain this recipe, but use pistacho paste for half of the butter in the dough. Use chocolate alone for sandwiching the two halves. 3) Mold dough in mini-muffin tin, fill center with the pistachio paste and mix chopped pistachios and chopped chocolate to sprinkle on top before baking. This seems the best option thus far. The question is: would the dough in Alberto's recipe work for "tassies"? Pro: The cream would retain its quiddity and slightly gritty, gooey texture which I like. Mixed into the dough, it would simply impart pistachio flavor which you could do just with nuts. 4) None of the above. Just make these instead (the recipe wonderful BTW), subbing pistachio cream for half of butter. No candied ginger, but definitely knead dried cranberries into one half of the dough. Other ideas?

stELLAAAA!!!!

SOMETHING NEW TO DO WITH KOROVA/WORLD PEACE COOKIES That is, if you happen to have pistachio cream/paste. I have a small jar of very precious organic Sicilian paste that I saved to make special Christmas cookies. As an experiment, I decided to use a little as follows: Spread your 1/2-inch slices of the chilled cookie dough onto your parchment paper. Press down in the center of each with index finger to form a recess, but not a hole. Fill the cavity with 1/4 t of pistachio paste. Take a little soft Korova dough and put a thin lid over each brilliant green center. Bake 10 minutes (I like them softer). While still quite soft, press a naked (skinned), green pistachio in the center of each. Beautiful. Yummy. Of course, variations are endless, but I love pistachio and chocolate when paired.

Our public library is frustrating when it comes to acquisitions since I think the head of the "cookery" division knows more about Betty Crocker-type books than she does about authors such as Paula Wolfert or Peter Reinhart, let alone what new books are worth buying or not. Yet, we have 2-3 copies of Artusi (it is fun) and 2 of Splendid Table, so I can keep renewing one or the other until I cave in and buy it. I did notice that one of the blurbs on Amazon.com for a book on Le Marche (Esposito's?) said the whole debate on ragu, sugo and brodo was "solved" in its pages. * * * Heads up, though, I just saw the January issue of Gourmet at the supermarket and I swear these guys are either reading these regional cooking threads or just fully aware of how well Italy sells these days. The issue, once more, is devoted to Italian regional cooking. I don't remember all in the list, but Puglia was among them.