Pontormo

A thread asking why sesame seeds wouldn't stick to grissini was started in June 2004. Otherwise, I haven't been able to find a generalized thread on the topic. I am bringing a wonderful Italian chestnut soup to a large Thanksgiving dinner. It contains plenty of cream and butter and is flavored with mushrooms, pancetta (removed before blending), celery root and cognac. There will be lots of contributions to the dinner including an hors d'oeuvre and plenty of starches, so I thought breadsticks would be lighter than the buttermilk-cornbread madeleines that I thought of originally. (Do not have a pan for miniature ones & think the one I own is plenty.) I am sure grissini will be easy to make and I have found plenty of recipes online; I probably have some at home, too. However, I thought that by posting here, I might find an experienced grissini-baker like Hathor who has a really good recipe or creative ideas for flavoring or forming the grissini for the holiday. Later, this can become an all-purpose thread to return to for further comments, recommendations or queries--or possibly fodder for merging. * * * Since it is Thanksgiving, I wish to avoid the obvious flavorings of parm (all due respect to GTO) or garlic, though if I toast and grind fennel seeds... ? I also don't want anything to interfere with the delicious soup, so no to prosciutto. I keep thinking elegant cornbread would be perfect for the soup, so it would be wonderful if I could get the flavor in the grissini. It's just that the texture is so different and the idea of grainy, crunchy breadsticks is not appealing. I suspect a simple plain recipe is in order, but am open to suggestions.

You might look for a cooking thread on spaghetti squash that I started. Thanks to suggestions, I learned to like the vegetable when I transformed the strands of the roasted vegetable into a gratin with butter, cheese, mushrooms and cream. Deborah Madison specifies chanterelles for making the dish. Would be great for Thanksgiving unless there's too much squash on the table already. Otherwise, I'd go for simple dishes to accentuate the flavor, reaching for cream all the time. Fresh tagliatelle alla panna con funghi Chanterelle! Risotto with chanterelles and roasted corn [not sure how easily frozen corn takes to roasting off-season] or creamed corn swirled in. Keep some chanterelles separate and add them in at the last minute with snipped chives.

Peaches!!!! (This is a fun game.)

I'm so pleased there are responses so soon. Mark, I had forgotten you were a vegetarian. Your dinner party sounds like a feast. Slightly off-topic, but I am a bit curious about European enthusiasm for Mexican food. Care to share, along with some more information about the green plantains? Soup, of course, is perfect for the weather at this time of year. So, for my semi-vegetarian, easily adaptable dinner tonight I had: --Buttercup squash soup with red lentils --Crepes aux Poireaux --Roasted golden beet salad with toasted walnuts --The remains of an orange (it matched) The soup was prepared earlier in the week with a purée of ancho chilies to add depth to the sweetness of carrots, onion, parsnips and squash. (It does have chicken stock, but it could easily have been water.) Sprinkle of scallion rings and dab of drained yogurt on top. (I am new to making my own yogurt and am still rather gleeful about the process.) Some time ago, I bookmarked this recipe for Breton leek crepes from Saveur when there was a crepe cook-off and I was starting my campaign to eat more things in the cupboard like the buckwheat flour. The only adjustment I made was to combine Neufchatel cheese (lower fat cream cheese, NOT the real thing) with a little of the thickened yogurt in the final stages of cooking since I had no creme fraiche. Quite good, though it took a while to get the batter to spread out as thinly as I wanted it to get. I prefer spending a lot of time shopping during the weekend to the daily routine that many eGullet members follow, and any meat I don't turn into a meal by Monday gets wrapped and frozen. If I'm not in the mood to thaw it or soak dried beans, I often turn to quick vegetarian options. Just happened to have enough leeks in the fridge to make half of the recipe. ETA: to change to past tense.

Mango

Vegetarianism crops up as a topic periodically in a number of forums, such as Going Vegetarian where posts range from practical advice to the philosophical. In threads devoted to pantry food or keeping costs down, we advocate dried beans or alternative sources of protein. There are threads devoted to cookbooks, vegetarian or otherwise, where the names Anna Thomas, Madhur Jaffrey and Deborah Madison frequently appear as sources of inspiration for those of us who like vegetables, fruit and noodles but also eat anchovies, bacon and duck. Especially during recent controversies surrounding Johan Mackey and lobsters or Charlie Trotter and foie gras, there have been impatient comments made about vegans and the Raw Food movement, but in this week's food blog, Erik (eje) takes us to a favorite lunch spot where he says the raw, vegan fare is really, really good. For those who sometimes ask for help when a vegetarian is coming to dinner, there is a special eGCI Course by Malawry. What I thought might be of value is a supplement to the Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner threads that document vegetarian meals that we enjoyed or regretted. The reason I said "supplement" is because quite a few of the meals in these threads are vegetarian and I would like to emphasize that this is not an Anti-Dinner Thread. It might also be useful to have a place to turn to for inspiration whenever we feel like a change, or if our brother marries a vegetarian and moves back to town. While there's less in the market place for many of us now that winter draws close here in the north, there are still winter squash, root vegetables and sturdy greens. Here's a place to show us what you got and what you did to feature produce in a meatless meal. If the thread proves of continuing value, it would be good to return to old posts to find ideas for seasonal, vegetarian dishes. Whether traditional or newly invented, vegetarian food is always wonderful when it is simply inspired by ingredients rather than a pale reflection of the meal you would have served if only meat were an option. However, sometimes the substitution of a vegetable-based broth for hearty chicken stock works and sometimes it doesn't. There might be an adaption of a favorite dish for a vegetarian diet that you'd like to share. For example, I love Shepherd's Pie made with thawed, frozen tofu while I would never bother to replace meat with tempeh.

Excellent guess. As for the setting, I was struck by the resemblance of the most striking building to the The Temple of the Scottish Rite in Washington, D.C. However, the design for the War Memorial in Indianapolis is also based on the same architectural Wonder of the Ancient World: the funerary monument at Halicarnassus.

Quanto francese !

Yes, I've noticed that Safeway carries it, though maybe not all locations. Washington, D.C. may not have outstanding BBQ as noted in a different regional forum, but stores do nod to some of its ties to Southern culture, including collards, pig's feet and White Lily flour.

Wonderful! Of course the steak was the real nod to Tuscany, but I have to say the dessert is especially intriguing. The meringue "cap" (vs. full-coating) is interesting and I bet the texture was a perfect foil for the softened apples. * * * Hathor, really fun entry on wine, Martino and chestnuts!

I am so happy you included this shot with the stuffed piggies at the table dressed up as Babbo Natale, I am guessing. One of my favorite streets starting with the wine guys and barrels of dried white beans all the way down past the lovely stuffed pasta and cheap shoes to the bus stops ringing Santa Maria Novella! This entire page really serves as an appropriate climax to your blog, such wonderful pictures, new information and that quinessential moment of being but not being a part of your home with all the bureaucracy that is Italy. (So sorry!!!) That flow of bright green olive oil is so gorgeous and the whole series of pictures perfectly complements the Little Miss Foodie tour of the cheese plant (Parm-Reg) in her thread down in the Italian forum. I even had to smile when I saw your documented lunch since I finished off my crostini with chicken livers this afternoon. Before logging off to face an ironing board and kitchen chores, I have to say the views from BOTH your doors are spectacular: the Mercato Centrale in the city and that beautiful, beautiful countryside where you can escape Vespas, the crowds and in summer, the heat. What a lovely home and great friends. As this draws to a close and the cold wind whips through rain-soaked leaves, I raise a mug of tea. It doesn't exactly ping against a glass of Chianti, but it still means "Chin-chin!" and "Thank you!"

Sometimes, Milagai, you are oh so cute! (I need to thank Klary for sending instructions for roasting. My first attempt will be to roast the one I have, cutting down the sugar in Paula Wolfert's recipe* that is supposed to serve as a dessert so it will complement lamb and a kind of pilaf mixed with red onions and roasted squash.) *ETA and perhaps nod to Eden's suggestion. I have zinfandel.

Thank you for the wonderful ideas; do keep them coming since I am sure this thread will be of value to others. I hope after I cook the one (and only) quince in my possession to try a number of different preparations, especially since the variety of suggestions is appealing. Quinces are extremely expensive in the United States and have just started to appear on a regular basis. Whole Foods sells them for $3 each or even more perhaps; I found mine for $2 at a different supermarket. This is one reason persimmons are also still a novelty in this country. The simplest explanation, though, is that they are not commonly grown, most people have never heard of them and there is no major shift in national demographics that would propel them into the mainstream along with mangoes and plantains. While apple pie and America go hand and hand, I wonder if we are also suspicious of a fruit that has to be cooked to enjoy it. As far as mostarda goes, there is one crucial ingredient that is not accessible in the United States. I imagine that quinces would be perfect for such a preparation. Meanwhile, there are lots of recipes for quince chutney which would be similar.

As a new arrival, I think the first, most reassuring thing I would like to know is where I might find ingredients and foods I cooked at home. I am assuming that people attracted to your business (wonderful idea, indeed!) would be knowledgeable cooks and many would find meals at home one of the most comforting ways to ease into a new life. Therefore, a trip to that amazing store with walls of spices would make me happy, a visit to the best butchers, produce markets, etc. If you could respond to specific demographics to meet the needs of clients who might be eager to find a variety of Turkish flat breads, but not the chilies used in Indonesian cooking, for example, that would be welcome. However, you'd have to know if that client comes with contacts in his or her expat community to determine how valued or superfluous such a service might be. Also, your years of budgeting and comparison shopping would come in handy. Who's less expensive than someone else, yet still supplies a superior product? Who is cheap, but the stuff is horrid and not at all a bargain? As an expat who has lived in Amsterdam a while, perhaps after marrying someone Dutch, or being promoted to a new position in a company that might involve entertaining colleagues, then I would like to know more about the cooking of my new home. I'd say your own eGullet thread serves as an excellent basis for curriculum. On that note, you might consider targeting busy professional Dutch families with children who have hired someone from a different country to help them at home. If their new employee cooks some of their meals, they might appreciate your expertise and invite you to teach their new employee where to shop in a new city and how to prepare a few of their favorite dishes. As a brand new expat, I'd appreciate a guide to help me with the Dutch words I need to know when shopping, especially in situations where the transaction is not conducted in a shared language. (I am thinking of one awkward situation Mei described in her blog and am assuming you would attract expats who speak English but may not know many Dutch words.) This would be especially good if you could give me a short questionnaire after I hired you, and could append a generalized handout you prepared in advance on your computer.

And what should I do with mine? I am posting this thread here rather than in the baking forum since I am more interested in a method involving, say, poaching, than baking in a pastry or a pie. But I am open to any suggestions. This is a new thing for me. I'm interested in pairings or ideas for combinations of flavors. There's no cream in the house, but there's home-made yogurt, wine, pork, chicken, lamb, pears, a pomegranate, grapes, apples, winter squash, the usual sugars and spices...

Drat! I was going to ask how you made a pig angry in the Dinner thread, but you explain here. Great picture(s including in the Cooking forum) and nice to have a less trafficked area of Tuscany represented. I wouldn't worry about writing an introduction since so many of us were raised on the romance of this region--as much or moreso than the stiff and proper Baedeker-bearing Brits in A Room with a View. BTW, today is the Festa of San Martino, an early bishop saint whose cult is shared with the French since his most important piligrimage site is in Tours. However, the Franciscans like him a lot, too, and I suspect he might be popular in Naples. In Tuscany, raisin bread is baked in his honor, one that includes walnuts, honey, EVOO, lemon zest and, yes, a little bit of salt in a recipe supplied by Nancy Harmon Jenkins. It's called pan co' santi and is also shaped into small buns, not just loaves. Judith's discussion of sapa or saba and vincotto (in the Umbrian thread?) is relevant since the holiday marks the first day vin novello is tasted. "'San Martino, ogni mosto diventa vino'"--On Saint Martin's Day, every must becomes wine.

First, gorgeous soup, Pam! Since I'm the Toliver of the Italian forum, I just wanted to draw your attention to this thread on Italian soups. The LATimes recently panned the recipes in Fabio Trabocchi's new cookbook as not being very well adapted for the home cook, but do look at one of the most recent posts for the chestnut soup. I paraphrased and posted something perfect for this time of year when it has become easier to find fresh chestnuts in grocery stores than it used to be and there are sources for good peeled chestnuts. It is a glorious, rich soup.

I wish some real French experts would reply... A ragout to me although a stew, is more of a thick sauce, often with the meat minced or finely chopped and strongly seasoned. For example a Bolognaise sauce is a ragout. An old term, derived from old French "ragouster", meaning to revive the appetite, in turn from the Latin for taste. ← I also thought ragouts were stews and therefore believed a daube to be a type of stew, though I don't know enough to say whether or not the latter is a subset falling under the general rubric of "ragout."** A Bolognese is a ragu --but NOT a real ragu according to some purists who insist on calling it a "sugo" (sauce) or simply a "bolognese" to distinguish it from a ragu, especially an expert from Naples who is a member of eGullet. Here's a fascinating, and at points, passionate thread in which the process of making a Neapolitan ragu is documented. You'll see the featured ingredient of this long-cooked dish is, in fact, a large piece of meat, served separately from what is used to sauce pasta. Here's Adam Balic's photographed documentation; the heated discussion begins earlier (around post 41?) and includes references to the French word "ragout." **ETA: Elizabeth David distinguishes ragouts from daubes in French Provincial Cooking, at least by treating them as separate categories. (Penguin ed., p. 94.) Is it the wine marinade? She includes a brief note on La Daube Viennoise, crediting Paul-Louis Couchon as the author of a French description she translates. He recalls an Easter dish in which the family pours wine, spirits and spices on beef and chickens. Now (ca. 1956), he says a veal rump is served with tail and kidneys on a bed of leeks (p. 452).

1. Pick them up very gently from the box, one bunch at a time. 2. Dip them in a large bowl of cold water, swishing them. You can also run them under cold water, as long as you keep the pressure low, but they are fragile. 3. Pluck one grape off at a time. 4. Place in mouth. Chew. Concord grapes are around for such a short period of time and are a real treat. I'd only cook them if you have too many to eat yourself during the course of a week or share with lucky family members and friends.

Perhaps you're responding to Judith as I write, but I, too, am interested in learning more about what you said about the Mercato Centrale. I had no idea! I love the place! Why is San Ambrogio thriving, instead? The only thing I can think of off the top of my head is there is more development on that side of Florence, out where the new Archivio di Stato is located. I also wonder about the effect of supermarkets and all the people moving out beyond the old city walls to those blocks of apartment buildings. I confess that when I stayed in the Oltrarno, on the other side of the river that divides the town, I either picked up things to cook for dinner in little stores along the way back to my fourth-floor walk-up near Piazzo Tasso, or in the morning, visited the smaller open-air markets set up nearby including Santa Spirito. However, I confess to going to the huge Essalunga since it was open in the evenings. From what you say about the costs of residences in the Centro, are the people moving in just not shopping for food? Are there too many commercial places setting up in spaces formerly used as homes?

Then it should be calling itself a trattoria instead of a bistro !

You have a great personal story, Judy! While Florence has always had lots of establishments selling fast food to tourists, I am wondering if you've noticed any effects McDonald's has had on your home. Do business owners complain? Any interesting reactions, or is it just accepted with a shrug, like Footlocker and the Disney store in the center of town?

But of course you wouldn't know that what you consider "regular" we consider exotic and vice versa. Wikipedia in English illustrates what is most common here in the U.S. as the first, large picture on the right, here. Even this is exotic to many of us since I never ate kale as a child growing up in the Northeast, nor out in the midwest later. It wasn't until fairly recently, that is, in the 1990s that grocery shoppers could expect to find the vegetable in large supermarket chains, in part, due to the so-called "natural foods" movement and the availability of kale in counter-culture food co-ops (where shoppers joined as members and worked in the store) or farmers markets. A variety of large-leaf sturdy greens were more prevalent in the South than elsewhere, though ornamental kale has always been grown in flower beds during cold months. Tuscan kale is one name for what we even call cavalo nero, lacinato and dinosaur kale in the U.S. In the farmers market where I shop, it can be less costly than at Whole Foods, but still, organic bunches weighing around 1/2 a kilo go for $2.25 a bunch, $1.75 a bunch for 2. It is becomng more and more popular, but I doubt a majority of Americans would recognize it--or "regular kale" at this point in culinary history.

Since Cavalo Nero is a type of kale, I believe Elie felt it would be fine to use a different, less costly type of kale to prepare his dish. Frugality is in the spirit of preparing ribollita, no?

Looks great, Elie. Picked up the cookbook on Tuscan food by Nancy Harmon Jenkins this weekend which I really like. She outlines a similar process for making ribollita in four different stages, starting with just the beans (soaked for two days, why?) and ending up one stage beyond your baked dish: the brothy stove-top soup. There are lots of homey dishes of a similar nature. One, involving mashed potatoes and would be perfect for your homemade sausages.