Pontormo
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Posts posted by Pontormo
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First of all, ciao! It's great to see you here!Hello everyone in the Italian Forum. I've just started to read all the regional cooking threads here and they are fascinating. I cook a lot of Italian food, but I rarely do the whole multi course format or pay much attention to what region the dishes are from. I might join in sooner or later, though I realize that the official months are over.Additionally, and perhaps this isn't the right place for this, but why aren't there more regional cooking projects going on on egullet? I think Spain, France, and China just to name a few would be great for this kind of treatment, though perhaps not as month by month projects.
Second, thanks for the reference to a book that covers Basilicata so well; it sounds as if you really read the regional threads closely and thoroughly if you picked up on areas we all found lacking. Just last weekend Faith Willinger dropped by at my local farmer's market to promote her new regional Italian cookbook while Chef Cesare Lanfranconi prepared one of her recipes. Such books clearly reflect a trend.
Please, please, don't consider the "official" months over. The intention was to circle back and explore more once the first jaunt ended. As you've learned, no doubt, the collaborative enterprise began with the singular effort of Kevin, the specialist for this regional forum who is a little preoccupied with new family responsibilities; Hathor, his co-conspirator, is likewise busy as documented in her thread, "Erba Luna".
In any case, I think activity or reports petered out only because we covered all the regions and new blood is definitely needed to rouse us out of our stupor. At any rate, you'll find us enthusiastic cheerleaders should you care to prepare a dish or two for one of your very late evening meals. You'll notice we were not always traditional about serving course after course, either.
Finally, I second what Doc says. You'll see the Chinese forum cited this region in starting at least one of its cooking threads.
Besides sounding as cranky as Florentines about Florence
, the team of Francophiles used to be represented by a pretty serious, talented home cook. However, during her tenure here, Bleudauvergne never began a regional trek through France. I am guessing that given the role that French cuisine plays among English speakers, it's treated as central to the culture of those of us who join eGullet and thus most of the discussion of French cooking is found in the Cooking forum. Cf. the thread devoted to Paula Wolfert's revised book on SW France, for example. Still, it might be fun to begin a scheduled journey through a discrete part of the world, region by region, month by month. -
Since I make corn chowder w chicken stock that I store in the freezer, I dump slices of the cobs into thawing stock and simmer the two for around 20 minutes.
If you scrape your cobs daintily when removing kernels for recipes, I'd recommend gutting the stuff left on each row and adding the milky residue to creamed corn, corn puddings, batter for cornbread, the chowder pot, etc.
Gnawed cobs get chucked. Anyone who doesn't eat all but the husk needs a lesson from the Dalai Lama on living fully in the moment. Or maybe a better dentist.
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CHALLENGE:
Last night I poached wild Sockeye salmon in olive oil flavored (very slightly if at all) w a single garlic clove and fresh basil.
According to one source I read online, the oil can be reserved and re-used for up to a week if kept in the fridge. N.B. the temperature of the oil is never raised much above 150 F during the brief cooking process.
There are at least 6 oz. leftover, and even though I used a fine mesh strainer (I'll strain again w cloth or a paper towel), I could see there were impurities suspended in the cooled oil. A very thin layer of a lighter color formed below the intense green of basil-infused Sicilian oil.
I assume salmon fat is at the bottom of my jar since the oil smelled distinctly of salmon while still a little warm.
So, I'm thinking, I don't want to waste this much of a decent EVOO, yet I am not inclined to make a tomato, garlic & basil sauce with something fishy. Nor do I plan on buying any more seafood for the week ahead.
Questions:
1) Any suggestions for using the reserved oil during the week ahead? I'm clueless, so:
2) Would it be safe to freeze cubes of the oil to thaw and use later if I wanted
a) to perk up water-packed tuna fish, dress a seafood salad, or use it without raising the temperature of the oil in any way?
b) to use strictly for cooking more seafood at a later date, raising the heat to a higher temperature than I used to poach it?
In other words, I'd rather waste the oil than get sick.
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Mark, since Hathor is tossing and turning while trying to figure out what to do about the fire door, I'd like to draw your attention to the signature line of her posts. Click on the line that links you to her Umbrian food blog at eGullet. Her very first post provides a map as well as the name of the (heretofore) obscure little town (poised not only on a hill but on the brink of culinary acclaim).Tanti auguri!Where exactly in Umbria is it located?
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Spend some time on the Dinner thread in the Cooking forum to search for new ideas since there are many eG members who cook simply for 1 or 2.
I just don't see the problem with recipes that cater to 4 or 6. Published recipes w precisely measured ingredients are relatively modern developments, designed originally to instruct readers who were not taught how to cook by offering precise, virtually scientific instructions to follow. There are still lots of cooks around the world who simply reach for a little of this or that as they prepare dishes they mastered while growing up--or invent meals based on their shopping and what's at hand. Gauging the size of reasonable portions should be your main concern.
Either cut the ingredients in recipes in half or thirds (half should be fine, really) to accommodate just the two of you, or limit yourself to ones that supply desirable leftovers. Over time you'll find new ways to be creative in transforming leftovers into something new--or discover how much better certain leftovers are several days later. E.g., many braises, stews, soups, anything marinated or featuring eggplant tend to be better a couple of days later; I personally welcome leftovers especially if they freeze well.
Start calling casseroles gratins and you may find that your preferences expand as well. There is a difference between a poorly made glop of rubbery chicken breast, flabby overcooked egg noodles and frozen broccoli tops slathered with canned soup concentrate and topped with orange processed cheese AND a classic French side of a fresh, newly picked vegetable, sauced with your own bechamel, topped with lightly browned, crisp, fresh bread crumbs and wisps of melted Gruyere even if it is baked in a shallow ceramic dish that is decorated with a single blue cornflower.
If you don't have access to farm stands, a farmer's market or supply of local food at your supermarket, you might consider gardening--that is if you have the land or a community garden nearby. Finding reasonably priced, high quality fresh ingredients seems like the greater challenge.
As for local traditions in the Carolinas, there is good Southern cooking and bad Southern cooking. Investigate the cooking thread devoted to Edna Lewis and her talented fan, Scott Peacock. Click.
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Sforza, Judith! We'll all be there!
The space looks amazing and the idea of a garden supplying your kitchen, idyllic. I imagine the sheep you introduced in your blog will be supplying a lot of ricotta, too.
Do you know how your restaurant was named?
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I was just thinking about what to do with all the potatoes in the house and toyed with the idea of making these again. I've used two different recipes successfully in the past, both from vegetarian cookbooks, one by Madhur Jaffrey who I would recommend. I can't recall any problems.
Both call for regular AP flour, salt and BUTTER (preferable to veg shortening). You're supposed to prepare the dough as you would pastry for a pie, i.e. work with dabs of fat, EXCEPT in Jaffrey's recipe, she calls for softened butter vs. ice cold. (I just tried searching online for the recipe, but found only a different version the author published elsewhere which calls for oil instead of butter. This suggests "liquid state" might be fine.) There is not a great deal of fat, only a few T per cup of flour w trace amount of salt and about the same amount of warm water as butter, added in increments as you're turning the mixture into a kneadable dough. When ready, shape into a ball and refrigerate for at least an hour or overnight. Knead again. Shape into separate balls for each samosa, each under plastic wrap while working so they remain moist. This isn't the recipe, but in a quick search, it seems fairly similar and includes the yogurt you prefer: Astray.
I would also heed the advice you've gotten so far about deep-frying. Baking samosas doesn't strike me as a good idea.
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Penitents traditionally call on Mary Magdalen. Since she's an expat and called the first apostle to France, it's only befitting. How far are you from her shrine at Vézelay?Its St Félicien. Who's the patron saint of embarrassed blogers?* * *
Great blog!
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You mean like a Chac Mool? The depressions in the belly of the full-size statues were originally meant to hold human sacrifices! (So I found out after a friend and I happily posed by the famous Chac Mool in Mexico City's National Musem of Anthropology thinking it looked "cute"!
) You should be able to find one at a shop or site that sells museum replicas.Careful, though. This is the kind of association grafted onto objects by early "explorers", amateurs and outsiders to the culture with misconceptions of what heathens did before Europeans brought civilization from the Old World to the New. Cf. Cecilia Klein, Mary Ellen Miller among other scholars. I'll make this short since it has little to do w culinary matters (unless someone once decided that hearts were torn out of sacrifices and salted before being fed to idols), but some of the earliest perpetuators of these myths were Franciscan missionaries wishing to justify the means they chose to convert pagans.
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Hello- Since you are discussing (were discussing) frico, I thought this would be a good time to ask a question:is montasio fresco similar to what some other Euroeans call frommage blanc? Please excuse any spelling errors.
Thanks
No, not at all though I could see why you would think "fresco" implies a new, fresh creamy cheese. However, that kind of dairy product would spoil rather than turn into a solid block while aging let alone a crisp, gooey fattening mess when exposed to heat. Look at the beginning of this thread or at links in the link below to see what Montasio DOP looks like. It's sold in basically three different stages of aging, including young when it's a mild semisoft cheese. Frico is best made with the third stage or aged cheese, but also fine "mezzano" or in the medium stage that I've been able to find at Whole Foods.
It's freaky, actually, Shaya. I've been frustrated in all attempts to buy Montasio ever since I first lucked out and discovered the pleasures of frico. Just recently, as reported in my local food board, a friendly cheesemonger alerted me to the fact that I could indulge once more. A wedge is in the fridge awaiting its onion, potato and maybe garlic scapes. Who knows.
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There are many reasons why the funded programs don't work and they have little to do with obesity.
We've addressed some of them before. People do not like to be told what to do when lessons are couched in negative terms and seem like personal attacks, especially when alternatives to the way they eat--in this case--are hardly appealing. It is unfortunate that so few doctors and nutritionists monitoring the diets of patients and clients are talented cooks.
Another problem is that they are leading the kids to fish and not teaching them how to fish or how to sauté and sauce the fish during consultations.*
To maintain a focus on culinary matters without dwelling at length on how much value our cultures or societies place on intellectuality or how much thought goes into periodic changes in curricula or the types of academic disciplines we offer our children, I'll just say that we need to teach the pleasures of preparing food: how to shop, plan meals and cook with raw ingredients.
The children should be brought to farms and have gardens of their own if possible, but you don't need to have Northern California's climate to learn about seasons or field trips to see how delicious tomatoes are during the first weeks of the school year in the U.S. (we start in mid-August or early September), but not worth buying in February.
Urban schools should have fully equiped kitchens and kids should have access, ideally augmented with little culinary stations in each of their classrooms as in model programs in Japan. (I'll let someone else find the links.)
Budgetary constraints, fears of e-coli and mentally unstable strangers poisoning Joanie's birthday cupcakes have transformed cafeterias into places where off-site food is reheated and expelled examples of home-cooking from the classroom.
I'm not pretending that a kid well-versed in cooking beautiful, tempting, healthful meals is not going to overeat. He needs fun, humiliation-free forms of exercise vs. the kinds of Phys Ed classes some of us endured, too. Still...
*Concerned about sustainability? Insert culinary matters into classes on science and geography. Wish to develop adventuresome palates? Teach French dishes along with the language, Native American along with local history of the Pacific Northwest, etc.
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Queen of Gnocchi, Queen of Garganelli--where oh where does your realm end?
Glad you're enjoying the book, Shaya. That does indeed sound like an unusual sauce for pasta that isn't baked.
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^ Slate expresses a similar concern about marketing, though it's doing its part to promote. Cf. the marginal links next to the glowing review by Dana Stevens to check out the Cultural Studies analysis of rat movies in general.
Funny, though, did you see the recent McDonald's commercial that attempts to sell its sandwiches as natural and organic (as in made from plants; not as in organically raised animals & crops)? Only caught it once a few weeks ago, but I believe that after the Big Mac was shown, the logo-arches were shaped by carrots!!!!!, frilly green tops and all, placed end to end. Like, how many carrots go into making their hamburgers?!
All McDonald's really needs to do is persuade a celebrity chef who never heard about what happened to Rick Bayless to praise a summer special of ratatouille that comes with your choice of sauces in individual plastic packets. Extra cheese for 50 cents. Maybe set up concession stands in your local farmers market.
* * *
P.S. From what I understand, the clueless, kind-hearted garbage boy in the Parisian kitchen is named Linguini in the movie. Once more, the established Francophilic hegemony of the culinary world gets to put Italy in its place.
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Do you take multivitamins or any specific vitamins to supplement your diet?
On a regular basis? Sometimes? When did you start? Why?
When did you stop? Or why don't you bother?
I figure I eat a pretty balanced diet and the one thing I have to monitor, perhaps, is protein which no capsule or tablet is going to supply as far as I know. Yet I have a friend who swears by her colorful stash. Very healthy, very fit, great cook, loves fruits and vegetables, eats seafood and meat, drinks milk. Sits down each morning with a tall glass of water and swallows about a dozen vitamins purchased at a Health Food store.
I'm mostly skeptical, but have read that it's standard to recommend taking multi-vitamins while losing weight which is something I am doing in a very moderate, long-term fashion through portion control and exercise.
I also found the brief discussion of vitamins in "Unhappy Meals" interesting (Michael Pollan, NYT, January 28, 2007).
Thoughts?
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I am planning to mail a care package of baked goods this weekend, an excuse to try out a few of the recipes in this delightful book. The tin should arrive at its destination in 2-3 days during a relative lull in this week's spell of high temperatures and humidity.
If anyone has particularly strong recommendations, I'd love to hear them.
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Gaslight? The original poster is able to edit posts without that little line at the bottom documenting revisions. Deliberate melodrama aside, I suspect the text read "fresh pasta" or "egg pasta" first and not the rather innocuous word "spaghetti" given my reaction. I have no problems with the use of dried spaghetti rather than penne, tending to use it more frequently myself. I am not sure I've ever seen fresh, unfrozen pasta anywhere in the vicinity of Washington, D.C. that is made without eggs. BTW: I like La Carbonara's method for spaghetti, too.Now, the original poster doesn't say whether the so-tempting fresh pasta was flour-and-water or egg pasta (or did I miss that part?), but let's say the former.* * *
For me, absorption is the crucial reason why the idea of using a fresh pasta made with eggs for carbonara does not sound appealing and the reason I find La Carbonara's technique perfect when using dried pasta made without eggs.
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Okay. I chanted. Calmer.
Here's the best recipe. I know you're not all about authenticity, but I'll trust you on pig head, crab cakes and la cuisine pour le plupart if you'll believe me on this:
David Downie's well-researched recipe & most importantly, technique. Penne is traditional.
If you use fresh, you'll end up with a greasy mess. In general: oil-based sauces go with dried egg-less pastas while butter and cream-rich sauces take egg pasta, but that rule is based on the southern vs. northern divide.
There is a good carbonara counterpart called Fettuccine alla Papalina that calls for egg noodles, butter, cream, Parmesan and PROSCIUTTO DI PARMA, all of a more courtly nature befitting a Frenchie dressed in scarlet who's forced to live among Romans.
Guanciale is too robust, down to earth. Very Rusty Spoon. What you want is hard durham flour.
Edited to correct link, spelling, gender, etc. And to answer your original question: 1/4 lb. per serving whether dried or fresh is standard in many cookbooks with all possible differences of opinion acceptable, too.
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Charles, I mean this in the best possible way: Hand over the guanciale. Now.
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I already thanked Sanresho via a PM, but thank you Patrick, KM & Ruth, too. All excellent suggestions! I had vague recollections of the parchment trick--just wasn't sure whether to go with interior or exterior sealing.
Given the density of my mixture by the time all had cooled and been assembled, my worries brought on by holding the pan under running water to test the seal were for naught.
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While Shalmanese provided a link to this important thread in his ongoing blog, I am bumping it up to make it easier to read in full. I am sure I am not the only one who joined The EGullet Society after the thread's heyday and I hope other more recent members have thoughts to contribute.
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That might explain why the pancetta in the US is usually that round stuff; and it could go part of the way to explain why Whole Foods had a problem with Italian prosciutto.
Then again...it may not mean anything.
1) In Florence, I bought round rolled pancetta all the time. May be a regional thing.
2) WFM's refusal to sell Prosciutto di Parma is different. I think when I started a thread on the topic, I reported what I was able to discover until stonewalled. From what I understand, the company's concern was with the consortium of Prosciutto di Parma and the drugs fed piglets during the first 30 days of their lives by some of the members of the consortium. This is against WFM's policy since it wants its meat 100% natural. Nonetheless, it leaves the decision up to regional managers. In my vast region, the decision was to discontinue sale.
The representatives of WFM found the producers of Prosciutto di San Daniele more than willing to admit culpability. (I got the impression the Parmese told WFM to stop being such Puritanical Imperialists, but don't start a rumor based on inference.) Brilliant of them, really. They agreed to cease such awful practices and as a result, a type of prosciutto I personally had never heard of prior to participation in the regional cooking project has a brand new, large market throughout the United States, Canada, and now the U.K.
FYI, the scrupulous Iowans at La Quercia pledge that they raise their pigs drug-free to produce a very good version of Prosciutto di Parma. WFM only sells their product in those little vacuum-packets of sliced ham I don't like; the stores in D.C. are always out of the hams and the expensive, shiny red special prosciutto cutters they bought when training their teams to slice prosciutto all serve purely as decoration.
Now who's crankier, Sam or me?
The Cooking and Cuisine of Friuli Venezia-Giulia
in Italy: Cooking & Baking
Posted
This post is dedicated to Shaya, our gnocchi expert.
I've been having fun browsing through Lidia's Italy and noticed the perfect thing for using up some leftover beet greens that I had braised in chicken stock w lots of onion and their bright yellow stems. I also had sweet Italian sausage in the freezer, a couple of Russet potatoes and as luck would have it, a bunch of sage from the farmer's market. Since I had to make a trip to the supermarket, I also picked up ground veal for the filling, though it really wasn't necessary.
So, I ended up making something that is otherwise more suitable for cold months since it is incredibly filling, and I found, better to think of as an American-style main course than a primo: OFFELLE TRIESTINE.
According to Anna Del Conte, offelle are sweet pastries, a specialty of Lombardia and Emilia where they are made either w pasta frolla or pasta sfoglia (Emilia only) and often folded into half-moon shapes and stuffed.* As early as the 16th century, Bartolomeo Scappi lists offelle reali among the sweet and savory dishes that appear in the first round of credenza offerings at banquets.
In Trieste, offelle are stuffed potato gnocchi. Basically, you make a simple gnocchi dough and roll out balls of it into disks, cut them into circles, heap them w filling, then fold the round over and crimp the edges to form half moons.
Ms. Bastianich provides great advice for making the dough: spread the riced potatoes out on a tray to dry for a while, then sprinkle them with flour before proceeding with the recipe. On the other hand, I had to consult online sources to determine just how thick the dough should be (about 1/4 inch) and found that using a cookie cutter of the recommended size resulted in offelle that look overwhelming. Next time, I'd aim for something smaller than 4-inch disks. One of the nice things about stuffing gnocchi is that cutting rounds isn't as time consuming as it is when you're using sfoglia since potato dough is so malleable and you don't have to feed your scraps through a roller after each cutting.
The savory stuffing is seasoned only w salt & pepper, no cheese. After being cooked and drained, the offelle are sauced simply w butter and sage and sprinkled w Grana Padano if you're going all out for authenticity.
Once inspired to stuff gnocchi, the possibilities are endless. I considered using roasted garlic scapes and then saucing the dish with wild mushrooms.
*Judith, are you thinking what I'm thinking when it comes to potential house specialties at Erba Luna? A mixture of wild herbs harvested by moonlight...