FoodMan

I could not tell that his pears were unpeeled! interesting. I just would think that peeling them would make them more absorbant for the flavorful sauce. I also like the difference in color between the bottom and top of the pear due to standing them upright in the pot. The recipe I use for baked pears is from another Jamie Oliver book actually and it asks for the pears to be peeled so I've never tried it any other way. He also asks to whisk a large amoutn of butter in the reduced sauce, something I usually omit because I like the pure taste of the syrup.

Thanks J, I'll see what they have next time around. Hopefully some more seasonal stuff using real Italian spirits like Campari.

Did you try any that you especially liked? I do enjoy a good cocktail once in a while.

Ditto!! I still have not gotten around to brewing that porter recipe you concoted in the eGCI class thread. Hopefully, next week before our Houston weather warms up too much ... In the mean time I will certainly be following up on your Porter adventure.

Kevin- Those pears are beautiful, literally an inspiration (see below). My last Tuscan meal this month was last night's dinner: I baked a loaf of Pane de Ficchi (fig bread) from The Italian Baker. I toasted a couple of slices and we munched on them topped with fresh mozzarella while dinner was baking. I am so glad I managed to get around to making those Cannelloni all Toscana that Mario Batali demonstrated in the Sweet Lucca episode of Molto Mario (the same one I got the recipe for the peas and lemon meatballs from). The cannelloni are basically Crespelle or crepes. for the filling I omitted the chicken livers he asks for since my wife would not like it. The end result is delicious and very much a new confort food to me. The dish before topping and baking Baked...they so look like enchiladas huh? Plated Dolci. I was really not planning on any dessert on a week night due to limited time, then I saw Kevin's pears yesterday and I soon figured that I have all the ingredients at home. So, I also made baked pears in a spiced sweetened wine (we drank a Valpolicella we had at home with the meal and used some of it for the pears). I served the pears with a small scoop of vanilla gelato too. What a fantastic finale (and we still have two pears for tonight) ! Thanks Kevin!

I love how you used the Beouf Burignon technique from Bouchon on the lamb shanks...can't wait to see the results! BTW, because of this blog I craved a capuccino all day yesterday so I had to have one this morning. Although I only have a Bialetti Moka kettle my lattes/capuccinos come out very good. My trick: well it really is something I learned from Jamie Oliver, I put the hot milk in a small bottle with a lid and shake it hard. Makes a nice foamy mixture and is very fast.

I did not think my mousse looked curdled when I made it. Here is my attempt: click.

yeap I agree Marcel can cook and has imagination and the cojones to do what he likes. Unfortunatly he does come off a bit arrogant and Betty "crocker" is taking advantage of that and boy can she talk. Seems like it really backfired last time around though. I was very pleased with sending Marissa off recently...

That so looks like my plates! Very nice looking dish Kevin. About getting that "wash of arugula flavor" have you thought about using more Arugula, blanching it, squeezing it dry and then using it? This might give you a more concentrated Arugula flavor than using it raw.

Moderator note: Let us please stick to the topic in the title. It really is very simple, and has a direct question in it. Any more ramblings off topic will be removed promptly. Thanks

Speaking of...I am down to only one leg of duck confit. I need to cure some more ASAP for the cassoulet. We still have one problem combining our efforts though, that little problem of you being a few thousand miles away .

We were there on Friday and ate all the anchovies apparently. That really is good to hear and actually reminds me of another thing. Our pizzas were all sliced and of course I asked if they changed their non-slicing policy. Our waiter said they do slice it if it is a big party and people might want to share. I thought that was a nice touch (can u imagine slicing through the Tallegio with arugula pizza on our own). It is great that your waiter was so professional and informed hopefully next time we'll get him (remember his name?), and this might sound bad but I honestly think in all our experiences there was a small language barrier. Our waiters' English just was not very good and they did not articulate or seem to know much about the menu beyond basic stuff (hence the angel hair versus andgel food cake thing).

For my wife's 30th birthday she wanted to go to Dolce Vita and meet a few friends for a nice meal and some wine. Since there were five of us, we really got to try several things: Antipasti: - Anchovies with peppers, parsley and bread cubes. These were the best of the bunch IMO. I more or less ate the whole thing myself. The white anchovies were briy, oily and went great with the roasted bell peppers. These anchovies easily rival any of the best Boquerones I had in Spain. Kevin, we have to order this if we ever do manage to meet here. - Culiflower Sicilian style. this was ok, nothing special. The addition of grapes and pinenuts was very nice. - The excellent brussels sprouts with pecorino - A bowl of fantastic mixed olives - Fried mozzarella en carozza. I was told by my table mates this was an excellent rendition of mozzarella sticks topped with capers . I did not taste it and opted to finish my anchovies instead. Pizza: - Robiolla with pancetta and leeks - Tallegio with pears - Melanzanne (eggplant) pizza - Margarita - A special pizza for that night with meatballs and mozzarella I am really hard pressed to pick a favorite out of these five. DV really has the best pizza in town and everyone at our table agreed. I guess the Margarita is the only one I was not too crazy about. Dolci: - Sorbet bowl. nice and refreshing - Nocciola cream cake. Good but a little too sweet for my taste - Dolce de Latte cake. Very good. Wine: - Two bottles of Barbera. Very reasonably priced and very good. A few negative things about DV though. This is our third time there and the service is not bad, but it is not very good. The servers seem uninformed and very uninterested in what they are doing. I really don't mind it that much as long as my food is served on time and my bill does not show things I did not order, but it is a bit bothersome if your waiter (his name was Jesus BTW) who you barely see tells you the Nocciola is an "angel hair" cake...we guessed he meant "angel food". Again I am just nitpicking here, the service is acceptable but reminds me of Bennigan's. I expect a little more, maybe not Mark's service level, but not Bennigan's either. The other thing that bothered me that night also had something to do with the service. I never expect anything for free for a B-day and I think anyone who does should go eat at Chucky Cheese. This time they never asked if we are celebrating anything and I never told them, but it was obviouse that it was my wife's B -day from the couple of gifts she got and the cards and all. So, when our waiter brought us that Dolce De Latte cake without us asking, I thought "wow, that's nice of him...he really didn't have to do that". I was a bit surprised to see a charge for it on my bill though. When I ask what that is, he says "oh, it's the birthday cake we charge for it". I told him well but I did not order it. He apologizes and goes to take it off the bill and says "well it's her birthday it's what we do". I have never heard of anywhere that does that?! I mean why bring out a dish someone did not order it and then ask them to pay for it? I really would be surprised if that is DV policy.

I am planning on making Cassoulet de Toulouse sometime soon from Paula Wolfert's book and of course I wanted some good homemade sausage in it. So, last night I used the Garlic Sausage recipe and altered it by adding some fresh thyme, grated nutmeg and white wine instead of red. Using white wine was based on Paula Wolfert's recipe for Toulouse sausages. I ended up with about 5.5 lbs of lovely fresh sausage I had about four patties worth that I did not stuff and I fried them up for breakfast this morning with eggs. Deliciouse! This is going to be one memorable Cassoulet. I will report back when I do make it. Now the stuffed sausages are in the freezer tightly packed.

If you like the kale thing, try this: cook some cauliflower in salted water until it is mush. Spread the mush on Tuscan (or Umbrian!) bread that has been drizzled with olive oil, a little salt and rubbed with some raw garlic. A variation on this is to serve the cauliflower bread in a bowl of chicken broth. Its sort of like kid-comfort food, but highly addictive. I made it 3 times in one week.... I bought bags of farro in Ital that say the same thing about soaking...but, THEY LIE. It just isn't necessary. Ellie, what are Piselli alla Toscana? Judy/Divinia: New wine should only be consumed in very, very small quantities. It took me days to recover from San Martino and I swear my body smelled like yeast. Not a pretty picture....and I spilled out most of the wine I tasted!! Somewhere this month, you called the toasted bread/olive oil/rub with garlic by a name I never heard before? What was it? In Umbria, its called 'bruschetta'! I've been wondering why I haven't cooked more Tuscan dishes....and I'm a little stumped where Umbria cuts off and Tuscany begins....so many of the dishes are very similiar. Please dont' tell any Umbrians or Tuscans I said that or I'll never live it down!! ← Judith, here is the recipe for the peas[

Very true. In my experience, Muhamarra always has garlic BTW. To it's origin I have no proof nor do I care much, but the best one I've ever had was made by an old friend of my dad's and he is from Aleppo. It was very garlicky and very spicy and unforgetable.

Who said Ribollita does not look good? This looks great Klary. Maybe it was the lard that helped the picture. You know it does make everything better.

I made the yogurt version and the buttermilk one but sour cream is the only thing that gives it a nice spoonable thick creamy consistency. The yogurt one makes the creme fraiche a little too runny (relatively speaking). My method is very simple: in a jar, mix 2 cups cream and 1/2 cup sour cream, stir well. Close the lid and let it sit at room temp for 24-48 hours. Stir it every several hours and you'll have amazing creme fraiche for a fraction of the price of those tiny tubs they sell at the supermarket. I made some this week to serve with the T-giving butternut squash soup.

So why are we (me included of course) not giving Tuscany the time it deserves? Probably everyone is busy prepping and planning for Turkey day here in the US, right? I know I have. In any case, here is my latest Tuscan quick dinner from yesterday. Both the polpette and the contorno are from this Sweet Lucca episode of Molto Mario that aired a couple of weeks ago and everything on it looked fantastic. I really wanted to make those canneloni but did not find the time...yet. Lemon scented meatballs (Polpettine al Limone): I used ground turkey meat instead of veal. These were full of lemon flavor, delicious and tender. Peas in the style of Tuscany (Piselli alla Toscana). I love frozen peas in almost any preparation, they worked out great with the turkey polpettine.

I agree that 600 gr salt is way too much, I normally use about 70gr salt per quart of water.

Right. See what you did by tying the end off before stuffing is create a sealed "baloon" with air at the end, the more meat you stuff in the more that air pocket is getting pushed and pressure created. So like Jason said, leave a good 2 inches or so at the end without filling or tying so that the air is not trapped there, and only seal it when you are done.

As usual fantastic looking food Chef! How do you enjoy eating Qurban? Plain? When I was growing up My grandfather used to buy it from a bakery outside of our town and when it is fresh and hot we ate it plain. But once it is cooled, I loved slicing it topping the slices with butter and sugar and toasting them in the oven or "baboor". Fantastic stuff.

Absolutly picture perfect meals Klary and Wendy! These onions are truly a triumph.

I normally get beef like that from Pete's on Richmond. I could nopt get there this weekend however. So, I actually bought this from the HEB close to my house. I knew they sell prime beef, so I called and asked the butcher if he can cut me a 2 inch thick T-bone and he was happy to oblige. I have to admit, ever since they opened Central Market, even their HEB stores are top notch comapred to other grocery chains. I was so glad the squash grilled nicely. You definitly have to keep and eye on it and move the disks (I only used the top part of the squash, the part with no seeds. I peeled it and sliced it into 1/2 inch disks, rubbed them with oil and salted them) around every so often. But in the end you should end up with slices that are a little charred on the outside and fork tender inside. I wil certainly be grilling this favorite of vegetables again.

Yesterday, Sunday, the weather was very nice and just a little chilly. Perfect time to light up the grill, play some soccer with my three year old and prepare a lovely... Bistecca All Fiorentina This is a pricy piece of meat, so I do not do this very often. When I do I only go for a nice thick (about 2 inches) Prime grade T-bone steak from my butcher. I loosly follow Marie Batali's recipe in his first book. I make an herb mixture of sage, rosemary and Thyme. I salt the meat and let it sit for an hour, apply the herbs, and grill over charcoal with some apple wood chips thrown in (no vine clippings here...need to talk to Kevin about that ). I cook it medium rare to rare, slice and serve The strip and the fillet portions Sliced For contorni, I had three of them: - Grilled butternut squash agro dolce with mint. A Batali recipe as well, but I grilled the slices instead of sauteeing. First time doing this, and the result was outstanding. Who knew butternut squash grills so good. This was easily the favorite contorno. - Large mushroom caps, grilled with garlic, parsley and olive oil. - Of course we also had garlicky satueed spinach Here are the spinach and squash The Shrooms Plated and served with a very good and surprisingly affordable 2002 Chianti. Dolci was a recipe from Italian Country Table by L R Kaspar. A "Torta De Melle", or what she calls a crispy crackly meringue apple cake. It was like a cross between a cake and a pie of sorts. Very delicious with a scoop of vanilla gelato (aka ice cream).