FoodMan

I fall in the "just because I like them category", and yes I also love reading cookbooks and try to have a few on every subject that interests me. The biggest of those is Italian food, I have quiet a few of books on that subject. They most certainly are not "recipe books" and that is what most people do not understand the need for having so many. I love checking out half price books every so often to find great bargains. Most recently I bought two great baking books there.

This really gave me a chuckle I mean there's no getting around it, Pakistani food is heavy on the fat (mainly ghee). This place with it's awsome food is not for dieters. After soaking the "wheat" naan in some rich glistening curry, I am not sure how "healthy" it is. Of course I think labeling anything that is low in fat as healthy is rediculous as well. Himalaya's food is lovingly made from scratch and tastes fantastic, in my book that is all that matters. Like Jscarbor said though, moderation is key. Most of the times when I have lunch here, I do not/cannot have dinner anyways. Great, now I'm craving some good food from Himalaya...

wow, braised lamb?! I thought they only had pastas, antipasto and pizza. Were they lamb shanks baked/braised in the pizza oven maybe?

I add my vote to use some Tahini sauce as well. The one from the Samkhe Harra thread with wlanuts and chilies is awsome. Definitly serve it on the side for each person to top his or her fish piece. Also stuffing the whole fish with some lemon slices, oregano and some Thyme is not a bad idea. Now, I've never tried this, but I would imagine brushing the fish during the last 5 minutes or so of grilling with pomegranate molasses would be very good and will give the rich salmon a very nice tang and glaze. The molasses will also be good drizzled on top of the plated fish if your guests wish to do so. Do let us know how this turns out!! Pictures are welcome of course .

This is exactly what I do as well, based on the instructions given here by Jackal10. Actually I have two lovely boules in the fridge right now to be baked as soon as I get home this evening.

I had a bunch of frozen bannanas to use up. See I never throw bananas away, I alwasy freeze them if they get too ripe to eat and use them in all kinds of stuff. I did need to use some after cleaning my freezer. So, I decided to make a yeasted banana bread and used the recipe for the Cinnamon Raisin Walnut bread as a base. I simply replaced all the liquid in the recipe with pureed banana. and came up with this sticky moist deliciouse breakfast treat As you can see I did make the bread with the optional swirl inside. Next time around I would certainly not use sugar in the dough since the fruit is sweet enough.

Actually sounds more like a good entry to send to Whine and Dine . You're a previous contributor to them anyways.

I am enjoying a ham sandwich made on the fabulouse marbled rye bread as I type. Great stuff and looks so impressive too. BTW, about wet doughs, it's my experience with this book (although it is my favorite baking book and I learned most of what I know from it) that most recipes are a little wetter than they should be. That could be due to the humid weather I live it. So, I always cut the liquid by a little to start with and add more if I need to.

No, no Smithy. Two very different items here. the confusion is due to the fact that English does not have the letter that we roughly translate to "kh". The Freekah you mention is green wheat that has been roasted in it skin and then peeled giving it a smoky flavor. The "Freekha" or "Ferkha" is very fine semolina or like ChefCrash mentioned more or less cream of wheat.

The first Diner in today's W&D is in love with PF Chang's. Why you ask? They got free food for a Bday, the waitress was nice, oh and the manager was a friendly Aggie . What about the food you say? Well, Mr. Phelps does not comment about this "Chinese" version of the Olive Garden's cuisine. Maybe I am a little tough on PFC, but I truly think unless you live in the middle of nowhere where the only likeness to Chinese food are their "garlic noodles" then no one should go there. I mean this is Houston, we have so many awsome Chinese and other Asian restaurants. Then again people do not go to the Olive Garden to get great Italian food do they? I wonder if the one on 59 and Bissonet has a Cougar manager...rant over. The second comment did make me chuckle though. The one about sticking a fork in his eye

Not just European or Canadian, In Lebanon you do not get that much ice either. It is not because it is not available, but it's a matter of taste. I've been in the US for over 10 years and I still request my soda with "very easy ice". I like it like that, it is properly chilled and still tastes like pepsi and I get no brain freeze. My father in law thinks it is the wierdest thing how I put no ice in my water when I drink it. Him on the other hand, he fills the whole damn glass with crushed ice and dilutes the ice with water. I HATE ice water, it simply does not quench my thirst. For alcoholic drinks, some are served with one ice cube (Arak for example), others it depends on the drinker. I like 2 in my scotch and a lot more in Gin.

Well, because I could not find appropriatly thick fatback at the butcher, so I gave the belly a try. Funny, only someone on this thread would say that there is too much meat in that hunk of fat

Speaking as a person who loves Beirut and who lived and was raised there most of my life....this was hard to watch, very hard to watch. I was not even sure I wanted to see it, but I did. I have to say it was very tastefully done and Tony was very genuine in his concern/sadness. Am I glad I saw it? I just don't know....not really. It's just so damn depressing.

We went for lunch, maybe 6 of us total. We had pre-ordered the duck and when we got there, our friend picked another 5 or 6 smaller dishes like I mentioned. None of the dishes were your typical Chinese fair, and our Chinese coworker who is actaully from Hong Kong even said that all those dishes were foreign even to her (the menu she picked from was written in Chinese characters, I hope they have an English version of it). That added to my sense of excitment of course! The duck itself only comes with the thin crepes/pancakes, scallions and some thick dark sauce (Hoisin probably). You make your own "tacos" using those ingredients. The price ended up being...brace yourself now....a full $9 or so plus tip per person for the whole thing. Yes everyone was more than full and I actually had to polish off the sliced pig ears because I did not want them to be left behind.

Oh "Frikha", "Ferkha" or "Tehin Ferkha" I believe is very fine semolina flour. At least that is what my mom told me when I asked her about it from Chef Ramzi's book. Where do you normally buy it? At a middle eastern grocery store? Is it actually labeled "Frikha"?

Ah, how funny, I just noticed mrbigjas' comments as well! Congrats! Pontormo, it's the second kid, so I guess we are more experienced now and baking at 2AM is just natural. Besides my wife is quiet a capable lady .

My little Lardo and Lomo curing project worked out great! Even though the room is still a little drier that ideal, both meats cured beautifully. The Lardo made from belly took about a couple of weeks and has a very intense porky fatty flavor. The Lomo was lovely with a good hit of garlic and spice. I will post my "recipe" for it soon. Like I mentioned it was based on the Bresaola recipe. BTW, Michael I would be happy to test a recipe as well. I do not have a stuffer, but I do have everything else.

Looks like you had a great time Kevin! Next time we will hopefully share some pizza.

The place to have it is called "Peking Cuisine" right on the corner of 59 and Gessner. We went there a few weeks ago with a Chinese coworker who ordered it an hour or two ahead of time. She also ordered all the little plates that accompanied the meal (sliced pig ears, tofu, greens, some beef,...). I tell you, it was a meal fit for a king and the duk was out of this world, crispy, crispy skin and lovely moist meat. It was taken off the bone and sliced too.

Chef- Again the your (Well your wife's in this case ) food looks awsome. Can you please try and enter these recipes in RecipeGullet. It is painless to use and makes sure we have all recipes in one centralized searchable database for all to access. PM me if you need any help. It is interesting that you use cream of wheat in this dough as well as the Kenafi dough. Why is that? What purpose does it serve? In Lebanon I am pretty sure it is not used or known. Thanks.

ChefCrash- Thank you so much for sharing that wonderful breakfast. I can smell the manaiish on the saj baking at my favorite shop in the beloved Beirut. It is very inspiring and I will have to bake me some soon, albeit on my make shift stove top upsidedown wok rather than a lovely real saaj.

Well, I have been away for most of the last couple of weeks, mainly due to the birth of my second son. Both his mom and him are doing terrific! I did manage to make a couple of Puglian inspired things. First one was a nice pillowy soft bread with a crispy crust, based on a recipe from Peter Reinhart's book. It contains some mashed potatoes and very little semolina. Served the bread slices as and antipasto topped with two home cured meats. Well the lomo (the one on the right) is Spanish not Italian but I am sure no one would mind...right? I also made a delicious pizza Rustica based on the recipe in The Italian Country Table. The filling consists of onions, roasted red peppers, olives, raisins and parm cheese. Very good for dinner and for snacks at work

ok, i'll try that. I'll remove from the cure but will not rinse it yet and store it in a clean bag till Saturday or Sunday. If it rains again, then in the oven it will go .

This past weekend, I finally managed to make them, the almost perfect croissants. The credit goes to Nick Magliari's recipe in How to Bake, a book I picked up at Half Price Books last week, what a find. These, with some more practice will be perfect. Flaky, buttery and not in the least bit greasy And who said chocolate is not breakfast. I had one of those chocolate muffins for brekfast today with a cup of black coffee . The recipe is from Alton Brown's "I'm just here for more food"...you know the baking book that has a perfect pancake and waffle recipes among many others.

Well, Franci, I have to admit. Mario Batali in Molto Italiano has a recipe for it and I based it on that. It is very good and refreshing.