FoodMan

mmmmmm, pomegranate soda with orange vodka sounds promising. Kinda Xmas-y too.

yikes! That is a lot of raw garlic How did it come out spaghetttti?

Paula Wolfert, a resident of the San Francisco Bay area, is the author of six previously published cookbooks, all considered classics. Among them: Couscous and Other Good Food From Morocco and four books on Mediterranean cuisine including the much praised Cooking of the Eastern Mediterranean. She has won the Julia Child Award, The James Beard Award, The M. F. K. Fisher Award, The Tastemaker Award and been a finalist for the Andre Simon Award. She also writes a regular column for Food and Wine magazine under the “Master Chef” section. Craig Claiborne wrote of her: "I think she's one of the finest and most influential cookbook authors in this country. Her recipes are done with incredible accuracy. She brings a sense of wonder to matters of taste. She has an uncommonly fine palate. In sum, she is one of the leading lights in contemporary gastronomy." Background Paula traveled all over the Mediterranean and her cooking reflects that. Her recipes include Lebanese, Tunisian, Morrocan, Spanish and Italian dishes. Her love for the region was sparked when she moved to Morocco with her husband in 1959. They socialized with co-expatriates Jane and Paul Bowles, William Burroughs and Tennessee Williams; and little by little she became fascinated with the richly flavored local dishes and Mediterranean ingredients. Paula is still passionate about Mediterranean cooking and slow cooking in particular. More than a decade later she decided to write a Moroccan cookbook at the urging of her second husband, the crime novelist William Bayer. They moved to Tangier in 1971 and stayed for five years, during which time she wrote Couscous and Other Good Food from Morocco (1973) and Mediterranean Cooking (1976). Both books were enthusiastically received by an entire generation of curious cooks who were hungry for unfamiliar ethnic fare. Although Wolfert was criticized early on for including hard-to-find ingredients in the name of authenticity, she's remained relentlessly adamant about their use. "Ingredients from a given region have amalgamated gracefully over the years, and if you change them, you simply won't get an authentic taste," she says. "When people return from their travels they want to replicate what they have tasted. It is my job, as a food writer, to explain how to integrate unusual tastes. Most of the ingredients are now readily available, at least by mail order. But you have to be romanced into searching them out. That's part of the fun." No matter how unusual or common a recipe may be, Wolfert's criteria for including it in a book have always been brutally simple: "Would I like to eat this dish again? Am I absolutely in love with it?". The Cooking of South West France When Paula wrote The Cooking Of Southwest France in 1983, it became an instant classic. Now, Twenty-plus years later, Wolfert has completely revised her groundbreaking book. In the new edition you will find sixty additional recipes, some totally new, and some updated from her other books. Wolfert explains that "Southwest France is very much part of the Mediterranean. Most French food isn't very forceful; it's delicate, complex and built on subtlety. But the southwest employs robust ingredients -- truffles, peppers, cepes and chicken and goose fat; hardly subtle ingredients." It's Wolfert's style of cooking: country food with layers of taste, simple dishes that showcase the natural affinities of ingredients that lures us in and makes us converts as soon as we begin cooking. In order to convince readers not to be put off by the region's reputation for high-fat dishes. Wolfert describes how to use animal fats as a flavoring agent, the way one might use a cinnamon stick in a red wine fruit compote. If she uses good, duck or pork fat in a stew, she simmers it all very gently so that the fat mingles with the wine and juices but does not bind with them; then she chills the stew in the refrigerator and skim off all the fat, leaving behind just its flavor, soluble in liquid, to impart what she calls big taste. She is currently working on her next book, focusing on claypot cookery. Link to Paula’s Website Link to 2003 eGullet Q&A with Paula Link to "Cooking with 'The Cooking of Southwest France', Paula Wolfert's new Edition" Thread

Not that I know of...I just wanted to try something different with Chinese food other than rice and noodles. These (from Barbara Tropp's first great book) seemed cool, tasty and not that hard to make.

Today’s W&D had a “shocked” Ms. Doyle for the treatment she recieved on her B-day. Of course it is anyone’s guess of what really happened, but I think the restaurant was within it’s rights to both charge for the slice fee and to not allow Ms. Doyle to use the butcher knife. The Whine could’ve been a very different one if she did use the knife “that looked like it could have carved a cow” and carved her finger off! Probably with a lawsuit to boot. On the other hand the waiter in his haste might’ve been too assertive or not very tactful when asking for the knife back. Seems to me like whoever brought the knife to her in the first place is at fault and Mr. Mandola can at least apologize for that.

Chufi- That Ragu and pasta kickass! I love making homemade pasta, welcome to the club (Even though I do not ahve a cool pasta rack like yours ) Wednesday: - Pan seared salmon with a nice crispy skin. Topped with lemon shallot sauce and creme fraiche - Parsleyed redskin new potatoes with butter Thursday -Chinese inspired pork stew with cabbage, acorn squash and mushrooms. Slowly cooked in a sandpot. Doesn't look like much, but tasted damn fine -My first time making Chinese breads following Tropp's recipe for Steamed Flower Buns. I was very pleased with the result. Looked great and tasted awsome with the stew. Here they are before steaming And after ....man I should've added a Daniel-style bite shot

I agree with chiantiglace, you have other problems and it's not the pan. Using a heavy non-stick pan is perfectly fine. I use my small non-stick sauce pan to make caramel all the time with no problem. I use a dry method, just gently heat the sugar without stirring until it starts to caramalize, then tilt the pan and swirl the sugar for even metling/browning. BTW, the easiest way to clean caramelized sugar is to let the pot/pan/glassware soak in water, ie fill it with water and within 30 minutes or so all the sugar will melt and it will be good as new. To speed it up boil the water in the pot.

I've followed the thread on it over on the Food Media board and checked it out on Amazon. My only hesitation, and this is not a knock on the book itself, is that with cookbooks I really like the writeups and intros and backgrounds on each recipe. I just glaze over when I get a cookbook and it's just one recipe after another, and from what I saw on the Amazon samples, that's pretty much how this book is laid out. I think maybe that's why I struggled with Bugiali's Tuscan cookbook: while he does do an intro to a group of recipes, he doesn't say much after that and I just lose interest. ← Kevin- That Ragu is really mouthwatering, especially at 5:23PM and I am still at work . It HAS been too long since I made a proper Ragu as well. As for this book, I said it on the other thread I think, but an Italian version of Joy of Cooking is not something I am looking to acquire. I have way too many Italian books in my wish list. I will not buy one that tells me how to make a curry or enchiladas or fried rice.

Hey, that's the shrimp dish I made a few days ago . I thought it was a little too one dimensional in flavor though, needed some garlic and maybe a little acidity.

After much raving about Chicago's Lou Malnatti pizza by a Chicago native coworker of mine, we decided to order a few by mail. I got mine last night, one pepperoni and one sausage. Cooked the pepperoni up and the verdict.... Not worth it. The sausage one is still in the freezer to be cooked at a future date

This thread might help

The short rant about RAW and Woody H. at the end was worth the price of admission. Not to mention the little mishap where Tony almost got his neck broken by an ATV

I guess with all things being equal, you cannot call browned flour a roux which by definition has fat. It could be a good alternative, but it is not roux. Please do let us know how your experiments go.

sure but Im not sure how to post them ← This here should get you started. Feel free to PM me with any questions.

Is it at all possible to post pictures of the work-in-progress? It would make for an interesting post.

that's the understatement of the week! Keller would be VERY proud Wendy.

new cookbook? edit: one of my fave lunches is david thompson's chili jam, with a steamed egg and a bowl of jasmine rice. The texture of the eggs is particularly nice that way, very delicate. ← You are correct and for a mere $10.36 including shipping for an almost new copy .

Ok, I have no scientific basis to support my claims, but the main reason I love steamed eggs is the ease of peeling. Could be coincidence I guess. Whenever I steam them isntead of boiling, they come out perfect and peel with no problem. They are also very easy to make. Simply get some water to boil and steam the eggs in a steam basket or , what I do, use the steam basket insert in the pasta pot. Steam the eggs for 10 minutes, rinse under cold water and enjoy. The yolks come out with a ownderful color and no green a all. I have to make my own puff pastry now, Everything looks so amazing.

I see you added almonds to the spaghetti.. That really interesting.. I have these macadamia nuts and was wondering what to do with it.. I was thinking either pasta or with tripe.. A sage and butter sauce with a ravioli stuffed with macadamia and some white fish puree might be great.. Edit to talk about Your shrimp ← or macadamia brittle, macadamia crusted fish, chcolate chip macadamia cookies.....but I do like the ravioli idea

Great dinner.. Foodman... To go into further detail i would say.. The sabayon is like a regular sabayon, but when it comes time to add wine, add apple cider instead.. I poured sabayon over a ginger bread, apple,vanilla, sliced almond, sugar pudding.. It was great.. I see you added almonds to the spaghetti.. That really interesting.. I have these macadamia nuts and was wondering what to do with it.. I was thinking either pasta or with tripe.. But a buttery ravioli stuffed with macadamia and some white fish puree might be great.. ← Thanks for the explanation. I was wondering what that gooey pudding thing was.

Daniel- That dinner looks awsome, luscious and rich! Can I have more detail about the apple sabayon? Looks like a lovely fall pudding. Saturday: Pork larb Sticky rice Steamed eggs (why oh why did I ever cook hard cooked eggs any other way?) Thai Chile jam Sunday's mostly Sicilian dinner: Potato, roasted garlic and rosemary focaccia Spaghetti with Almonds and bread crumbs Sicilian Shrimp with Marsala sauce The ultimate bannana split, with homemade chocolate ice cream, fresh whipped cream, chocolate sauce and Pierre Herme chocolate meringue kisses

Click here for the ricotta recipe.

Ricotta Cheese Serves 4 as Main Dish. Homemade ricotta is easy and superior to any run of the mill supermarket brand. Even though it uses buttermilk, it does not taste like buttermilk at all. It is rather sweet and mild. This recipe makes about 2 generous cups of ricotta. 2 qt Whole Milk 2 c Buttermilk In a heavy pot heat the ingredients over medium heat until they reach 180F on a thermometer (about 20 minutes). Simmer the mixture for an extra 25-30 minutes or until the curds are seperated from the whey and float on the surface with a texture like firm custard. Do not stir the curds, simply let them cook gently. Line a colander with cheesecloth and pour in the ricotta mixture. Let it drain for at least 45 minutes, longer for a drier more crumbly texture. Store the ricotta in an air tight container with a piece of wax paper pressed on the surface for up to a week. Keywords: Vegetarian, Easy ( RG1477 )

I just posted the recipe, you can find it here: Sausage, Ricotta and Spinach Clazones andrea another lovely calzone filling is lefotver eggplant caponata with smoked mozzarella. I will post the ricotta recipe I use shortly.

I am blushing! Seriously though I never really use a recipe. I will go ahead and post a rough recipe in Recipe Gullet though. I'll post here once I do. Edit: BTW, The homemade Ricotta is really important unless you have access to some good quality crumbly ricotta, not the supermarket grainy watery stuff. I will post a recipe for that too, which is actually based on instructions I got from one of the eG threads .