FoodMan

I've only had those , known as Kamma or Kam'a in Lebnon, marinated in garlic and oile oil, placed on skewers and grilled over charcoal. Very good stuff. Here is a pretty informative article about these truffles as well as a recipe for creamy soup. If you have access to camel milk it is supposedly even better . You can probably use them any way you would use mushrooms, in stews, sauted with onions and tomatoes, in pasta sauce or a risotto, as filling/topping for pastries or pizza, but simply grilled with little adornments has to be one of the best ways.

yikes! old timer. You've definitly never had a truely good Neapolitan (aka thin) pizza. IMHO they are what a pizza aspires to be. I love Chicago style as well and I'm looking forward to binging on some next month when we visit. They are just not....pizza To the subject at hand, I agree with most everyone here. You need a dough that is loose, hand formed, allowed to rise overnight in the fridge and formed pretty thin. The recipe I settled on and love is from Jeffrey Steingarten’s second book, “It must’ve been something I ate”. The dough is so loose it cannot be rolled or flipped or handled too much. It is also allowed to ferment very very slowly in the fridge and then topped minimally. Now, this is one of the best pizza I’ve ever had and I can make it at home. The crust alone brushed with olive oil is marvelous and so flavorful. I bake on regular unglazed bricks placed on the floor of my oven where they stay all the time and the oven is at full blast (about 550F). if you want the recipe for the dough I can adapt it and PM it to you. That's a margarita I made recently

That's due to Chicago's recently-passed (and widely-criticized) municipal ordinance, which bans the sale of foie gras. Some restaurants are figuring out ways to give it away to diners, which is apparently legal. ← Very nice touch! but help me understand here. How is the dish "free"? I mean it was part of the Tour menu. right? It's not like Percyn ordered the dishes individually. Or am I getting it all wrong and this dish as a "25th" dish not listed and normally requiring a supplement charge?

You know, a few days ago it was in the low 30s high 20s here in Houston (freezing cold), then yesterday, Sunday, was a lovely Spring day in the 60s! So, a more or less spring-ish meal inspired by the Veneto and the desire to cook fresh fish followed... Roasted striped bass with white wine, Meyer lemon and garlic. Steamed and briefly sauteed fresh Asparagus with Meyer lemon zest, garlic, parm cheese and excellent extra virgin olive oil. Dessert, from Marcella Hazan's Essentials..., an excellent Polenta shortbread cake with dried figs, cherries and pinenuts. It is also flavored with fennel seeds. Marcella writes that this was made based on James Beard's request of a cake he's had in Venice. It is very delicious, dense but not too rich and goes great with sweetened whipped cream and an espresso. I added the minor embelishment of drizzled honey before baking and I like that. It makes a very good breakfast the next day too. Before baking Sliced and ready to eat

I'm really loving this Blood Orange Negroni I came up with to use some blood oranges I have. Other than looking so damn pretty, the tart sweet flavor of the blood ornage works great with the bitterness and spicy/herby taste of the drink. 1.75 oz Gin .75 oz Campari .75 oz Sweet Vermouth .75 oz blood orange juice

Shaya- you are undoubtedly the stuffed pasta queen here. The hearts look perfect. Sure you can use duck fat instead of lard, but I think the flavor of duck fat is more assertive than pork fat. So, if you do not mind that, go for it.

Absolutely. I almost never use fresh spinach for cooking. I've used frozen with this quiche every time I made it. Just thaw, squeeze as dry as possible and also sautee in a little butter for a few minutes before adding to the mix.

Donna- The brioche from Bouchon is the best Brioche recipe I've made as well. The idea of wrapping the whole loaf in plastic at the end and let it rest might sound weird, but like most of Keller's tricks, it works. Cabbage in quiche?? mmm...I would not do it . I like the idea of Irish bacon or even thick sliced Canadian bacon and maybe sauteed onions, potatoes and chard. The idea of cabbage and eggs makes me queasy, but who knows it might work. Cheese: White cheddar.

Very fun read Chris! Thanks. For those who've never been to this remarkable market, here are some pics from our visit there:

Considered by many to be the most romantic city in the world, Venice is most appropriate as our choice to cook from this month of February. Of course more specifically I am talking about the wonderful Hallmark celebration of Valentine’s Day. Usually we send the kids away for Valentine’s dinner and I prepare a nice intimate sometimes elaborate dinner for two. This year, unfortunately, our babysitter (mother in law) was not available. Still, how can we be cooking from the Veneto and not make a Venetian inspired Valentine’s dinner. Actually, I went for a breakfast to kick start the day and then end it with a dinner. Most of the prep was done on Tuesday night, between the hours of 9PM and 1AM, the only time I have a chance to prepare everything and the kids are sleeping. Valentine’s Day – Breakfast Rossette Veneziana (Venetian Bread Roses), from Carol Field’s “The Italian Baker”. Even the name of these things is sexy and romantic…roses made of bread…mmmmmm. You can probably tell that I did not follow Field’s instructions on how to properly form these to make them look like flowers or roses. It was very late and I was in no mood to do that. So, I formed them the way I do Kaiser rolls. These babies have both olive oil and lard in them and were baked 30 minutes before serving on Valentines’ morning. Yes, they were as good as they look. I had two more for lunch at work with ham and cheese. Spinach and cheese frittata from Mario Batali’s Molto Italiano. Very good frittata and it makes me wonder why I do not do these more often for breakfast! I mean they are easy, delicious and look damn cool. We drank coffee Valentine’s Day – Dinner Homemade Tagliatelle with lemon and chile from Molto Italiano as well. I used my own homegrown Meyer lemon zest and juice to sauce these luscious pasta dish and it was great. The sauce is basically a lemon butter sauce . Proseco “Braised” stuffed chicken breast with cherries and apricots, recipe is online from one of the Molto Mario Veneto episodes. Ok, the actual recipe is for rabbit legs, but the wife wanted chicken. So, I pounded the breasts thin, stuffed them with the walnut stuffing and rolled them. Of course I “braised” them for a significantly shorter time so as not to overcook them. Good dish but not spectacular. Hey what more can we ask from chicken breast? Contorni- Sauteed mushrooms with garlic Radicchio sautéed briefly and dressed with vinegar and olive oil Dessert: Bittersweet (more on the bitter side with 70% cocoa) chocolate pots with polenta-orange cookies. Both recipes here are from Jamie Oliver’s second book (well, I added the raisins to the cookies to make them more like Venetian Zalettis) and they are made for each other. The chocolate on it’s own is rich in both flavor and texture, so eaten with the crispy crunchy cookies it works great.

Beautiful stuff Kevin. Those scallops look so good and so huge. I've been debating for a long time whether I should give squab a try. The Asian market and Central Market sell the same brand, but obviously one is cheaper . Your looks so nice and golden brown. Would you try cooking them again? I have the same worry that my wife might not be thrilled about eating rare-cooked pigeon.

yes, you did very good and a jelled stock is a beautiful (and delicious) thing. BTW, I've found that to make the best chicken stock thta jells nicely and has amazing flavor, I need to use.....turkey necks and wings. Seriously, since making an awsome stock with leftover turkey carcass from T-giving dinner, I never went back to chicken.

Of course the first thing that comes to mind is the quail with rose petal dish from the movie/novel "Like water for Chocolate". I could never find unsprayed roses when I wnated to make it though.

oooh, Franci, pressure cooker....I am scared of those things honestly and never used one. No matter what anyone says, your risotto rocks, after all that is what it's all about. If it tastes as sublime as it looks, I do not care if you made it in a microwave. Love your saor dish too. I hate to keep nagging for details, but how are these fried squash made? just a simple water batter?

Made the Cassoulet From Toulouse this past weekend, well actually this has been in the works for months if you count the sausage, confit and pancetta . Click here for more details and more pics!

Paula Wolfert's Toulouse Cassoulet from the Cooking of SW France: Ok, let's get the pics out of the way first...enjoy Sauteeing the meats (homemade pancetta, hock, shoulder) and onions All the ingredients ready to be simmered Before going in the oven Adding the semi cooked homemade Touluse sausage sausage Ready Served with a simple spinach salad (raspberry vinegar dressing and walnut oil), a glass of wine and soem homemade bread. Here I made the recipe and split it into two. One half was sent to my wife's family to bake on their own, the other I baked in my large Chinese caly pot. It worked out very well in this pot and the result was excellent. Like Chris, Charcuterie has been and eye opening experience and the homemade sausage was simply amazing full of thyme, garlic and other spices. It has been very seasonably cold in Houston this month, and I could think of very few dishes as comforting as a big plate of beans, pork, duck and fat... Speaking of fat, this recipe after all is said and done, ends up with very little actual fat in there. Pretty much a cup or so of fat is removed after the mixture is refrigerated overnight. Now, I am not saying it is light eating. I can never eat more than one serving, but that is due to all the beans and meats not becasue it is cloyingly fatty.

Some lemon juice might be a good idea too

never had this particular soup before, but there are many Lebanese recipes that require nothing more than salt, pepper and onion. I'm thinking stuff like Mujadarra, Makhloota, red bean stew,...

Apparently JJV and Bank are calling it splits in last issue of the Chronicle. I wonder how the new menu will look. I guess it could be a positive change after all, one never knows.

Franci, if this is not a perfectly cooked risotto, I don't know what is. Perfectly Venetian too by being a little on the wet side. Did you roast the Zucca first or just sautee them?

Pontormo- In the book Mario does not specify these are Venetian, but online;click here; in one of his Veneto episodes (great resource BTW, there are ten episodes and all recipes are available) he prepared lamb leg with olives and oranges...so I figured the shanks are more or less Venetian .

Michael- That picture is more than a week old now, the beer I drank this weekend is certainly more carbonated. Chris- Very interesting beer your making, when do you expect it to be drinkable? Looking forward to your notes.

Oh c'mon Kevin...you know I'll need more details! I love those ravioli and the duch sounds great. What is it served with? looks like Polenta and some greens. How do u prepare this polenta?

Late start on Veneto for me, hopefully I'll get more stuff in the next few weeks. Dinner on Saturday: Sipped on a nice blood orange Negroni (a Negroni with 3/4 oz blood orange juice) Braised lamb shanks with olives and oranges. The recipe if from Mario Batali. Served it with a sage and Romano polenta. I tried the 3-hour method mentioned in Bill Buford's book and it produced a good result, but I am not sure it is better than the recipe I normally follow (from P. Wolfert, cooked in the oven). Since it is still pretty chilly here this meal worked out great. It was delicious and comforting.

Bruce and Percyn, these are some gloriouse pics. I got to try some of these Asian fillings. My latest memorable breakfast: more details here.