Pontormo

There is indeed a pronounced difference between gnudi pictures and nudie pictures. "G" before either "n" or "l" in Italian operates the same way that the little curly diacritical mark does when placed over "n"'s in Spanish. E.g. "sfoglia" is pronounced "sfoh-ylee-ah"--or "neenyah" for nina with mark over second "n". * * * ETA: to avoid posting anything else today, Eden I am answering your post below, here. See what Kevin says to Little Ms. in the Emilia-R thread. He has no problems dumping all in a bag and cooking them frozen. Makes sense since you can do that with potato gnocchi. I have only followed advice from a different source, freezing the gnocchi in containers with space in between them (I rarely have leftovers). It's only to avoid gumming up and sticking in thawing process, but if you don't need to thaw them...

There is a charming pair of movies directed by Yves Robert that are based on two memoirs that Marcel Pagnol (the force behind the cinematic Fanny Trilogy that gave Chez Panisse its name) wrote about his childhood. They're somewhat sentimental (World of Disney, set in France), but not self-consciously so and available on DVD. Netflix carries both titles. I mention this because there is a short, but lovely scene in "My Mother's Castle" ("Le Chateau de ma mere") in which Marcel's mother lifts a cloth from a table laden with the traditional desserts, points, and rapidly names them all. Were children able to get over the oddness of subtitles, it might enhance the lesson.

If the site is new, it's not terribly original. Cf. the Plat du Jour under Features (left-hand margin) on C & Z.

More awe, Judith. The pear-filled pasta and sauce are inspired; so much more appealing than a gorgonzola-pear pizza I once ordered.

Too bad three-quarter length sleeves never caught on in men's fashion. They're just so practical.

Abra: I see why you had to take a picture of your cake's batter before you encased it. How beautiful! Where did you get your citron? I think LRK says there's a difference between the kind you find at the supermarket and superior brands. I hope you and Elie will take shots of your respective cakes when they are sliced. Wendy: thanks for inspiration for dinner tonight. I just need to find something new to do with Swiss chard.

You can also freeze them on floured trays, then store them so they don't touch. Thaw in fridge, then cook. (Someone else says go ahead and dump them in frozen, but I've been reluctant to try.) This is not practical with large quantities, though.

I forgot to add this, from the Italian regional forum. I made this too, though without cloves. Fantastic. (Source: Mario Batali; recipe on Food Network, show from Molto Mario on lasagna, I believe.)

P.S. I do not believe there's any poultry in the stuff.

Busboy uses garlic powder. James Beard also didn't like muffins, but supplies a recipe in which he lets you know he doesn't like them. Born in the state of the Walla-Walla, he also enjoyed eating onions as if they were apples. When I want to bake muffins, I turn to sources that are a bit more enthusiastic for inspiration. I'll pass on the onion snack, too, even though I am fond of the guy.

Editor's note: Reference is to the pristine square in the middle of this lovely trio, in this case. This is lifted from the regional forum for New York, a record of Henry & Lorna's trip to the city.

Yes, and in fact it's traditional in Piemonte at Christmas: Fresh pasta Anchovies finely chopped into a paste Garlic Parmigiano Reggiano Lots of freshly ground pepper Not highly packed. Invest in a can of Sicilian salt-packed anchovies--like the one photographed in Molto Mario. (I think you said you have that book.)

can you tell us about this? i have two very ripe persimmons here that i need to use. is it germane to the topic, or just something you made? ← The dessert is not an example of Emilia-Romagna's cuisine; I was simply answering Elie's question about the entire meal. (I also consulted him since I was developing the recipe myself and had never made pomegranate syrup out of the fruit before. I'll send you a PM. It was delicious, but the recipe needs tweaking.)

And here's advice for those wondering what to do with leftover panettone.

Karen, you'll find a current thread with links that addresses Panettone, technically a sweet bread, but traditional to Christmas as I am sure you know. Because the dolce is mass-produced, I believe it's ubiquitous. You eat it in Prato, Venice, Bari.... Otherwise, each region has its own traditions which may very well vary from town to town and of course, family to family. I also imagine Italian-Americans may alter recipes, depending on available ingredients, dim memories and so forth. For one beautiful example of a Christmas cake baked by Elie Nassar, see Post 131 from The Cooking and Cuisine of Emilia-Romagna.

Elie, it sounds as if you had another late night: This was the first I didn't follow Hazan's recipe for this type of ragu. The ragu was served on tagliatelle. Green salad with roasted beets and toasted walnuts. Persimmon flan with pomegranate glaze. * * * Wendy, very nice toy and lovely gnocchi.

Beautiful, Kevin, very creative in making the speckled herb dough and re-inventing your soup as a sauce. The combination of pears and greens seems a refrain this month and I'm glad the veal chops came out so well. Looks like a celebration. Elie, the peas are mandatory with prosciutto and such a bounty of golden tagliatelle. Thanks for the description of the piadini. Isn't that the name Franci used for a different type of seed-speckled bread? I wish you self-restraint on that gorgeous cake for Christmas. * * * I just wanted to report that I tried the ragu alla contadina, ST, p. 48, the choice deliberate since it seemed a perfect thing to compare with Marcella Hazan's bolognese. The only thing I regret is that when I made a recent comment about the need for lots of salt in a recipe, my cold must have been changing. I'm suffering a mild case of taste-deprivation, so I have to qualify the following report. I cheated a little and upped the number of canned plum tomatoes from 3 to 5. Otherwise, the only other things I changed stem from the fact that I don't like to wait until something is cooked to add salt the way LRK does, and I decided to lengthen the final stage of cooking. Basic distinctions from Hazan are as follows: 1) Numbers and types of meats: veal, pork (as sausage meat or ground loin, pancetta & Prosciutto) and poultry (as stock, turkey in my case) join the beef. Kevin mentioned how LRK advises you to grind mixtures yourself. Okay, that's a step I omitted. 2) Greater quantity of onion (whole vs. 2 T) 3) Red wine vs. white 4) Twice as much milk PLUS stock, so more liquid if fewer plum tomatoes 5) Instead of cooking meat until it just loses its pinky color, you're asked to really brown it for quite some time in a sauté pan, then after pouring out fat, transfer the meat to a saucepan or pot. Wine is simmered in the sauté pan to pick up all the crusty bits before the next step. 6) Instead of adding wine, watching it evaporate, then milk, ditto, then piling in tomatoes and letting the sauce simmer for 4 hours, you stay pretty close to the pot to introduce the wine, then the stock or broth incrementally as if making risotto. Then all 2 cups of milk are poured in with the last 1/2 cup of stock for an hour's worth of simmering. Only then, during the last 45 minutes, tomatoes simmer with the white-speckled meats. (I prolonged this final stage to around 1 1/2 hours.) The aroma is just as maddening. The fresh ragu's taste really is much richer, deep and complex when just finished because of all the pork, especially. I'm not sure what the stock did except to make the ragu more sauce-like, or less concentrated. Tonight, when I served it for the first time, the flavors had mellowed (I think) and sweetened. I also found that reheating the sauce in milk made sense and brought out the creaminess of it. I still light candles at the altar of Marcella, but I am pretty confident that this ragu is just a wee bit better. * * * FOOTNOTE: I complained to a local culinary web site that Whole Foods added big, whole leaves of Italian parsley to its mild sausage, and worse, tons of fennel seeds that I had to pick out. This got into a discussion of what constitutes Italian sweet sausage since my neighborhood store doesn't add the seeds. Another member posted FDA regulations today which stipulated that sausage sold as Italian MUST contain fennel or anise seeds.

Tammy, your most recent post prompts: Cheese soufflé!

Klary, fantastic idea! Tammy, if only Zingerman's needed publicity! Still, I wonder if you could get a deal of some sort on cheeses for your experiments if you explain what you're doing. For some reason, I pictured Humbolt Fog instantly. My imagination is topped by this wonderful photograph ( !), since I envisioned a thin, perfect rectangle of ice cream bisected by a wavering line of grape must, the slice lying flat on a white china plate. However, the link suggests a decadent wedge of iced layer-cake. Besides the fresh and soft cheeses traditionally incorporated into desserts (ricotta, cream cheese, stracchino...), blue cheeses and chevre are the most common. I love tart crusts made with blue cheese. Is there any kind of cheese that would be unexpected? Besides Limburger? I tasted gjetost years ago and didn't care for it. Maybe there is something similar that would be workable. Or is there something local? Besides "eating local" is there another food trend you could adapt or undermine? Two other thoughts: 1) Deep-fried balls with a molten cheese center. (Think of those nut-studded cheese balls with port wine spread at Christmas parties, only small, crumbed, warm and delicious with a ruby dipping sauce.) 2) Grilled cheese sandwiches Okay, I lied. Sicilians make desserts with pasta. You know, thin wisps of angel hair spun into nests dripping with honey. Golden ribbons of tagliatelle sprinkled with powdered sugar. Hannukah has begun, it's time for kugel. In the midwest, the land of casseroles, Kraft and Annie's, need I say more?

Mitch: Perfectly orchestrated meal! Lamb looks especially delicious. I picked up some radicchio and endives this weekend for precisely the same reason you did. * * * Just a quick note to say that leftover garlic cabbage goes best with fresh tagiatelle when a little heavy cream is added to bind the two. Good lunch. And FYI for those who haven't purchased or borrowed The Splendid Table. Looks as if there are a number of recipes on the web site.

Klary, brava!!! The individual desserts complementing one another on that plate are stunning, and I agree, seem like wonderful things to revive on their own. I love the little ruby cubes, dusted and plain, that bring everything together. Another reason to buy more quince!!!

Abra, I wish you--and everyone else affected by the storms in that part of North America--well. * * * For those still searching for recipes, I'd like to recommend very odd-sounding rosemary pine nut cookies. Got some in the mail this weekend, though perhaps not this recipe since the flavors are very simple: rosemary, pine nuts and butter. No ginger. Strangely addictive, distinctive. Thin with beautiful texture. Broke a bit, but endured shipping very well. I'm normally not a fan of rosemary in baked things. Can't stand the bread and merely tolerate without enthusiasm chopped rosemary as a finishing flavor in Italian braises, soups or worse, pastas. Potatoes, roasted chicken, pork or lamb with rosemary I love, though, and now these are on the list. Caution: after indulging, I found I couldn't really taste anything else.

Bob: I logged in today only because the schedule for weekly blogs has changed. I'll have to come back to read the most recent posts, but I see you've indulged one of my requests. Beautiful interior of mosque with hanging lamps and then, the Hagia Sophia, my favorite building in the world. Quinces and pistachios... I have to get to Istanbul!!! Thank you so much for introducing us to your city and to foods I rarely glimpse here.

Tonight, Emilia-Romagna served American style, with three things on a single plate: Pollo di Carnevale Mascied patate Cavolo con aglio #1: ST, p. 277; #3, op. cit., p. 331. For the former, retrieve Elie's photo of skinless chicken thighs, but browned first with fresh sage leaves. The soffrito was made with pancetta, carrots, parsley and onion. A bit tired of porcini & soaking liquid due to leftovers last week, I subbed minced fresh mushrooms in building up a sauce of white wine, stock, tomato paste, with Nicoise thrown in at the end. I still like chicken, but there is nothing particular to say about this dish other than the fact that it was somethiing to do with thighs that didn't go into ragu. Give me a beautifully roasted bird instead. The cabbage, on the other hand was a welcome change in diet since I rarely buy the vegetable and it's usually red when I do. It also was the first time I ever cut cloves of garlic into 1/4-inch dice. Ended up needing lots and lots of salt. There's leftover tagliatelle to toss with the leftovers and maybe a little for stampot, too.

Abra & Chefpeon: Wow! They're all too beautiful. I never thought I liked colored cookie dough, but the Swedish thin-sandwiches are one of my favorites in a group that is meticulously planned for the sake of variety and exquisitely packaged. Lucky friends and family! Were I experienced in baking macaroons, I'd be tempted to sandwich a pomegranate top to a pistachio bottom, inspired by your photographs.