FoodMan

Kelly's comments strike me as pretty ignorant and half-baked. I love the "Let them grow corn or SOMETHING" comment. He's obviously thought this through.

I agree it might be cheap, and I used to do that, but it is a lot of work and my wife hates hates hates the smell in the house . Besides those damn ducks at Hong Kong market do not yield that much fat (relative to the amount of work) in my experience. So since finding the stuff at CM for under $4 a pound I do not think I will be rendering my own anymore.

I go there often and they sure do not sell duck fat. Ask their butcher for it and see the look on his face...kinda amusing.

Mike- nice dinner and excellent looking Raviolis. To prevent future cheese outbursts, make sure the edges are very well crimped and pinched and certainly open up a few vents in the top of the bread. I did use 100% fine Semolina and it really was very easy to work with and rolled with almost no effort using the rolling pin. Although, this is good advice if you are going to try this recipe, notice the watercress is 10oz BEFORE cleaning and stemming. I weighed it after doing that and ended up adding more semolina to my dough to make up for the extra liquid even though I did my best to drain the excess when I noticed my mistake.

Fat deficit is a bad thing indeed , and I'm finding that I am getting addicted to walnut oil (I use a California brand) and drizzle it on lots of stuff. The recipe says to cut the meat in large chunks, so I stuck to it and I think it is a good idea since it cooks for a loooong time. As for the liquidy thing, it is sort of my choice. I like my beans like that instead of drier, so I removed them from the oven earlier than recommended, basically as soon as they developed a crust on top. edit: tupo...oops typos

I would not use that fat for at least too reasons: 1- It has been heated way too much, not just rendered 2- It will have whatever flavor the duck is flavored with, other than...er..duck. I am talking about spices, salt, soy.... Central MArket is still the best choice for me. Here are my comments about the subject from the CM thread 3.99/lb really is a good deal and beats the heck out of rendering the stuff yourself. I have several tubs of it in the freezer, so I have not had to buy any in a while.

For mother's day I prepared a nice Parisian-inspired breakfast-in-bed for the mom in the house, my wife: - Fresh baked croissants. These are certainly the best I've ever made following Jacques Pepin's recipe in The Complete Technique. while they were very tasty and looked good they are still too dense and not as "layered" as I would like if that makes any sense. Maybe next time... - Eggs en Cocotte (sp?), with sliced smoked ham in there as well. - A crispy potato/chive gallete - homemade preserves (apricot and berry) - OJ and Cafe Au Lait Needless to say, she was very very happy

Ok, here is the lovely bean dish from last week. Technically it is not THAT late since we ate it over about three days into the weekend, and yes it kept on getting better Like Abra I also used some lovely homemade Pancetta in this dish, and I actually made it after seeing her picture of it. Cooking the beans in red wine for hours has a stunning effect on the texture. They turn wonderfully soft but never loose their structure or turn mushy as you can see in the pic. I did drizzle a bit more vinegar on my portion than the recipe asks for, but then I love the tangy flavor more than most. What was surprising about this one is with all the different healthy amounts of fat that go into it, it is not in the least bit greasy or cloying. I did not even have to de-grease it after a night in the fridge. We served it with a simple green salad dressed in walnut oil and raspberry vinegar and sliced rustic homebaked bread slathered with duck fat and rubbed with garlic. Winter or summer, this dish is an ultimate comfort food.

You don't need a pasta "roller-outer" for this. As you can see I actually did not use mine, instead I opted for the therapeutic use of my rolling pin Kevin- You know I did provide a link to the recipe up there ....yes it is a raw tomato sauce/puree made with peeled, seeded tomatoes olive oil and salt. Even though I bought good quality tomatoes, the sauce was not as bright red as the one on the show. It tasted great though. I like your walnut chicken dish BTW, might be another recipe I have to steal in the near future since I am Plotkin-less.

My Saturday green pasta. This is probably not traditional Ligurian, actually it is restaurant food. However since I saw the chef cook this last week on Great Chefs of The World I knew I had to try it. Also he made it seem like it is Ligurian inspired and he did make a point of pointing out that the oil he is annointing this dish with was Ligurian. If all that isen't enough the vibrant green color should be! I have to agree with all your comments on this thread, Ligurian cooking and its flavors are so simple fresh and rely a lot on vegetables and herbs. In this plate of pasta every flavor was pungent and distinct but the whole worked so good together that I actually ate it cold from the fridge tonight. The ricotta I used here is homemade and not as smooth as the one he used on the show. To make up for the lack of the pungent tangy goat cheese flavor I mixed in a bit of salt and some tangy creme fraiche. I was also amazed that besides looking awsome, the pasta had a great watercress flavor with that nice bitter edge the green vegetable has. Here is the recipe from Discovery Home Channel Making the pasta by hand The finished plate with the vibrant green pasta

you are talking about the D'artagnan brand, right? It is outrageous. They should have the much less pricy Grimaud Farms across from the butcher counter right where they have the frozen demi-glace and such. If not, tell the butcher and he will order it for you. They did that for me a while back.

Elie how did that dish turn out? I'm thinking of making it this week. ← Me and my lazy self....it turned out great. I just need to find time and remember to post the picture and some comments. Hopefully tonight.

Looks pretty good! Why didn't I think of that?? I will make sure to make some when I brew thew next batch. BTW, Chris how long is the wait till the next class? No rush, I'm just curious.

These have to be my favorite cassoulet pics of all time! Look at that awsome crust. Did you serve anything with it Marc? bread, salad, wine...

Lovely lovely looking dish Hathor. I have to agree that maro is the best thing I learned in this Liguria thread. I will be making it often since frozen favas are available now. I am also intrigued by all the pies/tart type dishes. I recently read about one Ligurian pie in Paula Wolfert's "Mediterranean Grains and Greens" and it is stuffed with lots of wild greens and pumpkin. It sounded delicious and I am hoping to make it before this month is over.

I used Pekin duck legs for my confit Mark. Frozen favas are so worth it here in Houston, since the only "fresh" ones are -if found- limp, droopy, bitter and so overpriced! The peeled frozen ones from Whole Foods or a middle eastern store need nothing more than shucking and that's easy enough. I am planning on making the fava cassoulet because of them. BTW, dinner tonight is the pork with red beans and carrots from this book. more to come later.

I think this is the exact pot I am talking about. It costs about $17 at a local store click here

Yeap, I do have a bigger fermentor and am planning on buying a bigger pot. I do not like to shop at Walmart but I think I found what I need at a local store. It's a stock pot sold and used mainly for steaming tamales and it is 16 quarts and sells for less than $20, I think I've seen it used for brewing on a brewing website. It actually looks pretty nice too and is non-reactive. I will most certainly do a concentrated boil again Chris, boiling 5 gallons is no fun to boil or to cool. My plan is to boil about three galons and place one (or one and half to account for evaporation) in the fermentor and just add the wort to it. It will help it cool much faster and I will not have to boil 4 gallons. If I use bottles gallons of drinking water, do I need to boil it first? Or can I add it straight to the fermentation bucket?

Mike- The bread is more or less a white bread but with almond milk used instead of plain milk or water. To make almond milk: Almond Milk adapted from the Alford/Duguid baking book (used in Almond Milk Bread): 1 Cup almonds 2 Cups milk In a food processor, finly chop the almonds, place them in a bowl. Heat the milk till almost boiling and pour over the almonds. Let them soak in the fridge overnight. Use the milk and the chopped almonds in the dough. If you need more details, let me know and I can PM you.

Yeah, I did do a concentrated boil, so maye that's why it is amber. I actually "had" to taste some of it while siphoning from the fermentor and it tasted excellent, but flat of course. So I am sooo looking forward to this stuff. Chris, for the red ale we are doing next? Is this a 2 gallon batch as well? If so, I would like to double it and make a four or five gallon batch. So I just multiply everything by two?

I am happy to report that my beer was bottled with minimal spill this past Saturday. I am keeping my fingers crossed that there was no contamination anywhere. Although as of today I can tell that the beer is getting carbonated (tiny bubbles appear on the surface...or am I imagining things). Also it cleared up significantly in the bottles and now looks like a nice amber beer with no haziness. On another note, I remembered this weekend that my in-laws have a plastic margarita bucket that they got from a restaurant. It's the white thick plastic one with a spigot on the bottom and all. So, I am thinking this could be my bottling container going forward and I don't have to worry about getting a siphon going with the bottle filler. Any reason why I should not use it after careful sanitation?

For a quick dinner this past Saturday, I made a hybrid of the salt cured pork with fava bean ragu recipe. Basically I crisped up a duck leg confit (the confit recipe I used is the one in the book) and prepared a half batch of the wonderful fava bean ragu. and there you have it: It was absolutly amazing with earthy tangy and fatty notes and went down great with a glass of wine. The fava beans I used are peeled frozen ones I bought from the store.

Yeah, I love using my big granite mortar and pestle, it's very therapeutic. Besides my 2.5 year old son loves to "help" when I am using it and he sure did this weekend. That potato cake has some potential I think but we really have to go "French" on it . It needs more garlic, butter, some cream and more eggs. The way it stands you are right, the texture is not very appealing at all.

Our green Sunday dinner, inspired by Chufi's post.: I made the maro from her post using frozen fava beans and mint from the garden and it worked beautifully. We snacked on it while cooking the meal. Fresh homemade Fazzoletti two ways, one with pesto made in my mortar and pestel and the other with the maro sauce. I also pounded the favas in the mortar. Truth be told this alone is so damn good I could've just eaten these two for dinner. The one with the mint sprig is the maro sauced one. I fully intended to make roasted whole fish like Chufi, but the store that always has good fresh fish close to home did not have any whole one. So, I picked up some fresh nice free-range chicken legs and gave them the same treatment. I used my flowering oregano instead of marjoram. For a contorno, I made Marcella's Green bean and potato cake - Genoa style. Unfortunatly it stuck to the bottom of the pan becsue I let it sit too long before baking. Honestly this one did not taste much better than it looked. It was bland and missing some depth. Dolci, a rustic pear crostada made with almond-milk bread dough instead of pastry crust. The smell of those fresh mint leaves made me really want a mint julep. Yeah it is nowhere near Italian, but hey if the folks in Liguria made some good bourbon, maybe they'd serve a julep too...

Chufi, everything looks great. Is the Linguine recipe from Marcella's "Essentials Of Classic Italian" book or another one. If its another one do you mind summarizing how the sauce is made? What about the fish, is is simply baked in a pan along with aromatics, olives and wine? I only ask because I could, just hypothetically make the same stuff for Sunday . The tart looks perfect too.