Pontormo

Just a quick note to say that I used the same recipe and have a more ambivalent response. I made it without rosewater which I am sure would have balanced out the sweeter ingredients. I broke dark chocolate chips (70%) myself so that they resembled watermelon seeds and added the juice of at least half a lemon. I think I would really like the pudding without the cinnamon, vanilla and chocolate. I only used two light shakes of a small bottle of ground cinnamon for half the recipe and decided to add the lemon juice because the flavor of the spice was too dominant. The citrus juice did wonders and struck me as something that should always be included. I liked the pistachio's contrasting crunch as well as color, too. However, what surprised me was the problem I had with the chocolate. I love chocolate with fruit flavors, but in combination with something as delicate as watermelon, it seemed cloyingly sweet. Didn't help that it looked like milk chocolate after the dessert set. This recipe includes anise seeds for flavor which sounds good. Yesterday, I made a granita with leftover watermelon and lime juice, no sugar. The combination would be wonderful in this kind of pudding, too. I am definitely developing a Not-Too Sweet Tooth. As for visual matters, the individual puddings unmolded from small glass custard bowls are indeed very pretty.

Any feedback on the September issue? The decision to celebrate a 65th anniversary by using covers to divide the issue into sections almost seems like a response to this thread's complaints about recent covers. In featuring the drawings of one particular artist, moving through the decades he designed covers, Gourmet teaches an interesting lesson about the relationship between period style and personal taste. I am going to withhold my own opinion to see if any of you have comments. * * * Further observations: 1) Clever image-based Table of Contents. Looks very Flickr meets Sol Le Witt. 2) Eerie. Someone on staff seems to be paid to read threads here, or overlaps are due to the power of food trends. The panna cotta with fruit gelee, for example, evokes recent posts of Patrick S. in the Dessert thread. Also the announcement for the upcoming PBS series "Diary of a Foodie" marries the food blog to our discussion of the new word. 3) Lovely photographs of a farm or wine-country location, though it's the food and the setting that prove most effective. Artistic, crisply focussed shot taken from above a spread of food offset by a striking visual accent--a spotted feather. Demographics odd since it's supposed to be about generations coming together at harvest time. Who knows who gave birth to those blond children given ages of the deliberately multicultural fashion model types in the spread with the one picturesque wizened old man. Middle-aged folk not photogenic? 4) Open up the magazine. The two pages before you are called the verso (page to your left, the reVerse of the sheet of glossy paper) and recto (right-hand page). It's rare to find content by staff or contributing photographers and writers on both verso and the recto before you. What can you expect when subscriptions are so inexpensive or complimentary? Sophisticated marketing division. Careful when you go through and pull out all the heavy pages, rip out the fold-overs, etc. The layout takes pains to put an ad on recto and the beginning of a new article on the verso of the same sheet of paper; there are only a few sections devoted exclusively to ads. Gourmet staff or culinary professionals populate the ads, the obverse of product placement. One of the thick matte cards is content by Lesley Porcelli. 5) Overall, the photographs are highly effective in making the reader want to follow some of the recipes, or at the very least, buy some of the featured produce. Cover marks seasonal transition subtly: CORN, mushrooms, apples and grapes.

Where did you eat your stuffed tomatoes and do you remember any distinct flavors? Any specific cities or regions especially memorable? You can stuff them with anything you want, using either rice or breadcrumbs as the grain/cereal element. Different regions have different key ingredients and the numbers tend to be minimal. However, I'd imagine home cooks, especially, improvise. For example, in Sicily, you'll find breadcrumbs, onions, anchovies, parsley, capers, golden raisins and a touch of nutmeg with olive oil, salt and pepper. That's it. No egg binder. Then there's rice, ground beef, onion, fresh mint, olive oil, S & P, or Onion, tiny shrimp, chopped green olives, celery, parsley & bottarga (salted roe). No rice or crumbs. Down south in Apulia, eggs bind the scooped out tomato pulp to fresh breadcrumbs that are soaked first with milk. Here there's the grated cheese that was absent in the three Sicilian examples, parsley, garlic, S & P, and drizzled olive oil on top, but otherwise, nothing else to detract from the flavor of the tomato. I imagine the quality of the tomatoes evokes more nostalgia than anything else.

Abra: That is one of the most beautiful galettes I have ever seen photographed. Your apples lessen the melancholy that accompanies the transition from summer to fall and the crust seems absolutely perfect in the way it responds to a fork or a knife. I've never seen bottles of reduced cider sold, I've just boiled it down myself for cakes and applesauce. Great idea. And legourmet: I failed to recognize how pretty your plum cake is. Lexy's elegant collage reminded me. As for the infamous jello mold . Now what pray tell does it taste like?

Mrbigjas and Elie: Congratulations and best wishes to your wives and children!!!! How wonderful. I didn't step in until late in the month myself and I just figured the silence is due to the time of year. Foodman: How you could make all that under the circumstances is beyond me, although a baker's hours do resemble those of a new parent. Lovely loaves. I take it you liked the raisins in the pie. I raise a bottle to you both and hope son and new baby love nocturnal slumber as much as you love food.

*Deborah*: Before the page turns, a most Happy belated Birthday!!!!! Klary, it looks as if you're missing your rhubarb compote! Patrick: Any plans for baking, plating and shooting summer fruits as beautifully as you treat orange, pineapple, coconut and chocolate? And Lorna, we all have to suffer every now and then... (You're welcome to some of my watermelon-lime granita!)

I heeded Franci's comments and waited until tonight to eat the following dish: Yesterday, I cooked four different kinds of small eggplants, including what the farmer called French graffiti, elongated and curved, with a lavendar and white skin; two of the round Thai varieties that Mrbigjas photographed on page 2 of this thread (yellow and orange); and a slightly larger green and white Thai eggplant Austin documents in Eggplant thread of the Cooking forum. The problem with Thai eggplants is the paucity of flesh, and in the case of the latter type, its firmness. Consequently, I had a higher than desirable ratio of ground beef to mashed eggplant in the filling. Using one of the first crops of Roma tomatoes available at the market to make the sauce, I nonetheless was pleased with the dish and really like the capers scattered on the top. I baked it uncovered, a decision based on the recommendation for keeping the sauce very runny so that it could withstand 30-40 minutes in the oven. Please let me know if you recommend otherwise, Franci, since the sauce in your shot glistens without looking baked on--and thank you very much for inspiring my dinner.

Similar situation! ONCE went to Pepe's when there was nothing to cook, but for linguine with clams. Pizza would have been considered betrayal. Left town without ever hearing of Modern. ETRemove factual error.

I once lived across the street and apparently belonged to the same minority. What made you loyal to Sally's?

It's a shame that you can't carry on products like Rapid Ice or plastic blocks filled with gel that you stick in your freezer. Not only are they great for the flight, but an insulated zipped lunch bag, plastic container, etc. come in handy for picnics. Asian peanut noodles keep fairly well. I once brought a sandwich with roasted peppers, hummus and sunflower sprouts on a flight and sat next to someone who had never heard of hummus. Careful, though, hummus might be considered a secuirty threat nowadays. Cold cuts or slices from a roast or bird would be less alarming. Otherwise, I prefer the type of finger foods that go well with novels. Cherries at this time of year, grapes or clementines in the winter. White cheddar cheese puffs. Strips of colored peppers. Round and pear-shaped cherry tomatoes. Excellent dark chocolate. Coconut macaroons. Unsalted, roasted pistachios. Dried apricots. Does anyone know if fruit raises concerns these days? Of course you'd have to eat it before you reach your destination and discard the pits onboard. Given high liquid content, you might have to check with the airline first to make sure it's permitted.

Yes, it's fine.

For lunch today I am eating Georgian Rice Salad with Eggplant and Sour Cherries which you can find on the web site for Najmieh Batmanglij. All of you with vegan friends or experimenting with becoming a vegetarian for a few months, take note: it can be made completely without any animal products and is utterly delicious. A couple of notes about the recipe: 1) Ghee The author made a large batch of the salad at home to serve at my local market at the same time that she demonstrated it for the crowds. I recommend doing what she did at home if you're not a vegan: cook with spiced ghee for the rice and combine olive oil and ghee when sauteing the eggplant. I suspect the published recipe is missing a few things she sometimes uses since the rice was a bright yellow (tumeric? not saffron) and the flavor of the ghee was present. I would also saute the rice in the ghee first, coating the grains before cooking it. My own batch is made exclusively with olive oil and I miss the color and a little bit of something else. 2) Sour cherry syrup The snazzy French cherry syrup at Whole Foods didn't look right and seemed to be sugar with natural flavor added, $5.39 a bottle. So I just bought 1/4 lb. cheap sweetened dried sour cherries, boiled them up. Strained them. Added sugar and boiled that down till it became syrupy and strained that. Fine. Reserved my good sour cherries for the salad. 3) Do not cut eggplant into 1/2 cubes. Look at photo here. 1/2 cubes quickly turn into mush. With fresh small eggplants from the market, you could probably do without the water. Do follow the instructions re coating the eggplant with the spices; it's a great trick. It will seem TOO hot after cooking, but will be spot on when incorporated into the salad. I would salt the eggplant while it's cooking and leave salt out of dressing. 4) Half the recipe will feed four. The full recipe will feed Kansas.

Truly inspired, Andrew. It's very easy to tell you do stand-up for a living. As for originality: 11. Paloma in Comments to Laurie, "This Doorknob is for You," Crazy Art Purl: The True-Life Diary of a Thirty-Something, Newly Divorced, Displaced Southern Obsessive-Compulsive Knitter with Four Cats, January 26, 2006. URL: www.crazyauntpurl.com/archives/2006..._doorknob_i.php. Consulted August 19, 2006. N.B. Edited to remove direct link. Should the reader care to verify authenticity of citation, s/he should scroll through pictures. Four more cats and not a shot glass in sight.

Lately the Italian forum brings to mind this time of year in many towns and cities throughout Italy, especially after Ferragosto when institutions close and merchants pull down their metal shutters and head for the beach. At least Kevin got over his apathy regarding pasta on the day Prato displays the belt dropped into the hands of Saint Thomas and all the bells ring. In looking back at earlier reports on this thread, I'm relieved to discover from another one of Kevin's posts that I made something quasi-Pugliese several months ago. The stuffed meatloaf with spinach, carrots, crust bubbling with escaped bits of cheese from Molto Mario is great. This week I also made a variation on Franci's focaccia with pomodorini since I can get the kind of Italian tomato that is sold in Philadelphia. However, I used pizza dough that was in the freezer and intend to start from scratch sometime before the season is over since it was so good. (Warning: let the focaccia rest a bit; the juice under the tomatoes is HOT otherwise.) Tonight, I sat down to dinner around 10:30 to a composite of the meatballs Abra prepared and those in this recipe, with a few modifications of my own. If made with less than 2 cups of Romano/Gran Padana, nonetheless the copious amount of cheese and all those eggs really do produce an incredibly light meatball. I appreciate the warning about the obnoxious braying on the site with a recipe for the Cutteriedde, Andrew. (Funny, it happened only once & I've visited that site before.) I also came across this from Clifford Wright while searching for Pugliese polpette. Again, I took what I wanted from each source. Unfortunately, my source for didn't have any, so I made due with chard and one other odd-looking green that looked like it might be bitter and it was. I can highly recommend making the stew with meatballs. I was afraid they would break up while stirring in the greens and become like overcooked hamburgers after simmering for nearly an hour. Fears unfounded. The breadcrumbs coating the polpette helped to thicken the sauce. I highly recommend this variation on a dish I will definitely try with traditional lamb once supplies from Iceland appear in the fall.

I ended up with a Tuperware-like thing used to transport cakes with a cover high enough to accommodate a very tall layer cake or a torte on a cake stand. This has been fine for holding tomatoes for most of the week. The only problem I detect is a smell that is less than pleasant by the end of the week--worse if a bowl of cherry tomatoes is involved and one was starting go bad. Is there a gas this fruit emits? It would be better were air given more of a chance to circulate. However, the fruit fly solution mentioned above did not work for me at all! Not a single one ended up floating in the bowl of vinegar, water & dish detergent. Is this just because there's been plenty of other stuff for them to feast on around the kitchen? It's not exactly like The Birds, but one is headed towards my face as I type.

For some reason, I made no distinction between brining and pre-salting and wondered about the conclusions made at the following symposium: To Brine or Not to Brine? Given what's said here, the decision that brining is hogwash makes a lot more sense. Those who organized or attended the event might have more comments to add. I find the advice given for pre-salted roasted chicken--and the paired bread salad--worth the cost of The Zuni Cafe Cookbook. I'm used to the dish now, but the first time I left the salted chicken sitting in the fridge for a couple of days and roasted it in a preheated cast iron skillet at the high temperature advised, I could not believe what a difference the method made.

To be honest, that was just a guess. I'm thinking his book *Great Italian Desserts* (? title) might have something, but don't know for sure.

DEEP-FRIED SAGE LEAVES The first time I had these was as an accompaniment to a veal chop. They're common in Tuscany, made with a remarkably light batter. The following recipe is adapted from several found on the internet. Next time around, I think I'd let the batter sit for a while so that the egg whites start the deflate. As stands, it is a bit thick but remarkably like Japanese tempera, puffing up like a blowfish when fried. 1/2 c sparkling water 1/2 c AP flour VERY GENEROUS pinch of salt--I'd go for 1/4 t Kosher, maybe more 1 egg white 1 T olive oil Leaves from a bunch of sage (plain old ordinary as opposed to lemon, etc.) Vegetable oil of choice for deep frying (350-375 F) Sift flour into seltzer. Mix. Add salt and oil. Beat egg white until stiff, then fold into batter. Spoon what doesn't pour into a shallow bowl. Heat oil in frying pan, making sure the temperature is as high as specified to avoid eating savory grease monkeys. Dip leaves into batter and fry in VERY small batches until golden on both sides. N.B. these little guys are ready almost as soon as they hit the oil, so really, 2-3 at a time is about all at least I could do at a time without over-cooking them. Drain on paper towel as you continue. You can always light your oven and heat them all together when you're through. My batch was consumed in an unorthodox manner on top of a combo pseudo-pizza bianco with only fresh mozzarella on 2/3 of the dough and cherry tomatoes added in the Pugliese fashion as documented in detail by Franci down in the Italian forum and best left unadorned. (Cf. Cooking and Cuisine of Pugiia.) When the leaves are eaten on their own, teeth first penetrate a crisp oily skin, enter a pocket of air, then herb, air, crisp oil skin. The strong mustiness of sage isn't immediately apparent given the hot lightness of the envelope; it takes a second for the tongue to pick it up and provoke the "wow" or whatever you say to yourself when pleasantly surprised by something in your mouth. With the pizza, you compromise your health further with new forms of fat and grease, but the bite is prolonged and complicated by the addition of the thin coat of molten mozzarella, chili pepper flakes, a little grated Parmesan and the thicker crispness of the crust.

Madonna mia! Andrew, have you no shame? I would like to point out that this particular category is called "FINE Spirits and Cocktails." However, on the serious subject of breakfast drinks, a few possibilities come to mind: 1) powdered eggs and egg substitutes unless the object is not to transform the vodka into viscous gunk. While I realize you have come down hard on drinks that did not seem palpable enough for human consumption, I'm kind of having a hard time believing taste matters all that much to you. 2) Going for something more organic than processed? Make friends with one of your Reading Terminal Market purveyors and see if they'd be willing to put some interesting strong-tasting things in their chicken feed. That is, if say, egg shells react to the presence of garlic in their creators's bodies the way our skin does when we sweat. My scientific education is lacking, I realize. Then seep the shells in your booze of choice. 3) Highly processed? Bacos! That should take all of 6 1/2 minutes, I beat. 4) Go East, Young Man! India might inspire a few new ideas with its buttermilk drinks, for example, as long as you get away from the infusion thing. Sort of a take on buttermilk pancakes if you go for a mixed drink with blueberry and maple syrupiello. 5) What about fermenting breakfast grains? Don't we already have lots of breakfast drinks along those lines called beer, for example? Wouldn't raspberry-flavored beer be the potable counterpart to Wheaties with market fruit? Should you return to the Italian roots from which these ideas sprang like Minerva--haggard, breastplate backwards--from Jupiter's brow, how about prosciutto e melonello?

Percyn: Merely doing my bit to keep the efforts of phlawless and Michael Pollan current here. If you identified the sources of your breakfast today, wouldn't they also come from all over the map? Mine included only one item, the peach, purchased at the farmer's market and two others that supermarkets ordered from local sources (dairy). I could have gotten those at the market, but I spent a little more than $40 there this week; two different milks and yogurt would have cost me another $18 at the very least ($4 refunded with return of bottles). No citrus, coffee, wheat or oats grown nearby and the "Thai ginger" won't appear until October.

^Fine. I go back and forth myself, currently more swayed by pie simply because summer's fruits are around for so short a time and there will time for cake after it's over. Ling is baking beautiful tarts and galettes lately, too. As for the budini, Apronstrings, I should have specified budini di riso. The best recipes I've seen tend to be in cookbooks (*La Dolce Vita* among others by Carol Field, Nick Malgieri, etc.). Here's just what comes up in a quick search for English sources: Cf. paragraphs 5 & 6 (I hope) Overview with links to recipes And this: Blogger's recipe, although the photographed dessert doesn't appeal to me since it's a hybrid version of two different things. Ideally, the rice and custard ingredients blend together as they do in American rice puddings, remaining creamy and moist.

Salut, Mark! That's the French for you. You take a very simple, quick homey dish that is all about the tangle of distinct flavors and you refine the process, take more time producing it, and transform it into something elegant and refined. Given Arab heritage of Sicilian dishes, it's a little more complicated than this, of course, since the emphasis on superior ingredients is also met by a taste for spices and rich mixtures of contrasting tastes that end up complementing one another: savory anchovies and sweet currants, cinnamon and parsley... Io, Moi...I would gladly eat either dish.

Heads up, especially to those of you who contribute frequently to the Baking & Pastry thread...or the regional forum for France. Criterion has just released Eric Rohmer's BAKERY GIRL OF MONCEAU (1963). --Synopsis from the company's web site.

Pasteurized Tangerine & Orange juice deprived of the pulp I'd rather have, courtesy of the Coca-Cola Company. Colombian coffee, milk from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. A large, unblemished and perfectly ripe peach also from Pennsylvania with pronounced crease, peeled and cut up virtually to fill the striped cereal bowl from Roseville, Ohio. Drizzled with orange blossom honey all the way from Spain. Plain low-fat yogurt from Maryland. Gingerbread granola from a bin at Whole Foods and maybe California along with more distant reaches before that. Mixed, one of the best things about summer. Peel eaten separately for the vitamins and because it was good.

To me, haggling is ritualized, stubborn bickering. This isn't haggling, especially when a regular is asking and s/he's buying more than the tomatoes. It's sort of like investing in a case of French wine and not a single bottle. Besides, at one local market, New Morning & Next Step Produce usually post a discount price for shoppers purchasing 5 pounds of tomatoes or more. Most stands have more than one similar bargain posted. Even the quart of berries is a deal when compared to the price of a pint.