Emily_R

I'm coming into the city for a visit this weekend. I love Ethiopian food, and a friend suggested meeting at Meskerem on MacDougal. I'm reading fairly mixed things online, mostly old reviews. Has anyone here been recently? I'd love to hear your assessment...

Hey folks -- I know asparagus season is mostly done, but it just occurred to me that I should post my new absolute favorite asparagus recipe. I mean, this has now topped grilled/roasted asparagus, which I didn't think could be done. What's ridiculous is that it is just three ingredients -- asparagus, pecorino romano, and olive oil -- but they go together so perfectly that I was blown away... Note that while the recipe (linked to) below calls for a squeeze of lemon, I think it is actually better without. Also, I used a good bit more romano than she calls for. http://eggsonsunday.wordpress.com/2009/05/...ecorino-recipe/

I always wear an apron, as I'm usually something of a messy cook. I use a full-bib apron made from fairly heavy cotton canvas, printed with the image from an old feedsack on it. Love it. My mom just got me an apron made of oilcloth, that while cute, isn't quite as useful because it is impossible to wipe my hands dry on it. I find my apron usually serves as half clothing protector / half dishtowel for drying my hands....

Getting back to Nargi's original post, I just wanted to link to a marinara sauce recipe that someone I know from another cooking forum has recommended. I haven't made it yet, but I do think it has some interesting ingredients I hadn't thought of adding -- a bit of crushed fennel seeds, a little balsamic, and some chicken stock. All three of these sound like they would make nice additions to a marinara, and the sauce is pretty much all pantry-ingredients.... http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefi...cipe_id=1662822

Finally my home-made pizza is improving! I'd been having problems for a while, as the dough wouldn't seem to rise at all in the oven, and so I'd have the crispy bottom, but no chewiness in the crust to go along with it. I had been making the dough and retarding it in the fridge as per this thread, but a friend of mine clued me in that I needed to let it come to room temp first before baking, as I had basically been stretching it out cold and then baking (on a stone) immediately. Letting it come to temp has made all the difference -- finally, crisp and chew! Tonight's pizza was one of my best yet -- spinach pesto, ricotta, provolone & mozzarella, and sauteed mushrooms. Major yum.

Totally agree on the pressing -- I do this salt-rest-rinse-press thing every time I saute eggplant. What I wanted to mention is that I never bother with the paper towels -- I just take handfuls and squeeze them as hard as I can -- basically wringing the water out of them. They compress considerably, which helps me get more in the saute pan (since they always shrink down anyway when cooked), and I get so much more water out then paper towels would be able to handle...

I don't know if its still there (I moved away 3 years ago, sigh) , but there had been an asian market on Broad street (fairly close to the YMCA downtown) that had fish at reasonable prices -- I used to get good red snapper there...

I was going to suggest Todd English's Mediterranean restaurant Olives? Fantastic food, beautiful decor... And it would be worth giving them a call to find out how they handle large parties. I seem to remember some curtained off tables, but don't remember how big they were...

I too love this Hazan sauce, but I would agree with your statement above that I find it to be a subtle sauce best used on fairly mild dishes where its flavor will shine through. I don't think it would stand up well to lots of sauteed beef, romano cheese, or tons of peppers and mushrooms, etc. If you used it for it braciola, it would still probably taste good in the end, but the beef cooking in it would result in a totally different sauce.

My primary use for sumac powder has been as part of a spice rub for things like lamb kabobs...

I have propane and am quite happy with it... To the best of my knowledge it burns at least two times *hotter* than natural gas... The result of this is that I often have to use a flame-tamer on my stove if I want a low simmer, because the flame burns so hot that otherwise things may burn on the bottom of the pan. On the plus side, it boils water lightening fast. See the link below, question 3, for the 'which burns hotter' piece... This was just the first website I found, but I had heard that fact before... http://hearth.com/econtent/index.php/artic...al_qa_about_gas

Well my first instinct was to say my @#^%$#% side-by-side fridge. What a wretched design. Hate hate hate, but can't seem to bring myself to spend the $1700 on the fridge I want when a perfectly operable one is in my kitchen. Sigh.

If the worst part was the mess, can I ask why not just use parchment paper? That's how I do pizzas on the pizza stone, and it means no mess at all in the oven or on the stone...

This thread is so perplexing because so many of us are having different experiences with the same basic methods. For example, I have done this heavily retarded dough experiment (about 7 days in the fridge), and used the dough fairly cold, and got hardly any oven spring at all. The result was a crust that was crispy, but in my opinion didn't have enough chew to balance that. When I mentioned this to a pizza making friend she told me that she finds room temp dough makes a big difference in pizza crust texture, and having just had one at her place last night I am inclined to agree... Last night she used room temp dough that had actually puffed a bit, and the pizza done on the stone was great -- very crisp bottom, with still enough chew and body to the crust...

So glad to hear your success with this recipe! I printed it out as soon as I saw it on his blog, as it looked like a winner. Now I know its been Kerry tested and David approved! :-)

I much prefer the texture of straight cream scones -- the kind that use heavy cream for all of their fat, so there is none of the cutting in of butter or shortening. Here's a link to my favorite cream scone recipe, one with dried apricots from Sara Moulton... http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/sara-mo...cipe/index.html

I know this might sound strange, but at least in my family there is no stigma against spending some time alone. If your heart is set on Per Se and you know that your family won't enjoy it, perhaps one compromise is to spend one evening on your own at Per Se, and let your family eat elsewhere that night.

Just had to report here that after Ann graciously posted the recipe for this pie on recipe gullet, I made it last night and brought it to a party... FANTASTIC. Big hit. I was skeptical on the custard, but in fact it was just perfect -- cooling the tang of the rhubarb just right. Next time I may add a smidge of orange zest, which I thought would taste good with the rhubarb... Thanks Ann!

Hi Nakji -- These are certainly not cakey at all... I would say they are crisp on the edges and chewy in the center... Only thin and brown when I overbaked them, but the perfect blend of crispy and chewy (for me at least) when I baked them just right...

Hey folks -- Ok, while previously I had been mostly a fan of chocolate chip cookies with a little oatmeal added to them, I am now a slave to the recipe from Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook. It has a higher sugar to butter ratio then most cc cookies I'm used to (1.5: 1, rather than 1:1), but somehow they don't taste too sweet... They just taste... Divine! I used chopped Callebaut chocolate, a mix of semisweet and bittersweet. Note these weren't aged or anything... But oh my god. I cannot be trusted with these things in our house. Emily

Emily, I posted the recipe on Recipe Gullet. You can find it here. ← Thanks Ann! I really appreciate it! Will report back soon!

Hey Ann -- Any chance you'd post the recipe for your rhubarb pie here? Getting the filling just right is such a fine balance -- and what do you use for thickener? It looks like it set up just perfectly!

I made this last night to rave reviews! ← Jean -- did you cut the cherry tomatoes in half or leave them whole? The recipe doesn't specify, but it seems like the topping wouldn't stick to the tomatoes if whole...

I'd vote for things that are easy for spectators to eat outside while they are watching the race... I'm thinking of handpies or dough covered goodies: calzones, empanadas, stuffed pita pocket sandwiches, samosas, etc.

I think it is unlikely to have a bone -- this sounds like the prosciutto "ends" they sometime sell at a discount price (though your price does sound insanely good), because it has become too small to cut easily on a big grocery store slicer.