FoodMan

Last night was Calzone night. Stuffed with a mixture of Italian sausage, spinach, homemade Ricotta, parmesan, and mozzarella. I also made a pot of Pappa Pomodoro (tomato bread soup) with roasted cherry tomatoes and canned San Marzano toamtoes based on a recipe from Jamie Oliver. I think I put too much bread in the soup though. The calzones were perfect and since they retarded for 24 hours in the fridge, the dough was absolutly perfect with a crunchy exterioir and chewy texture and lots of small bubbles. Dessert was Lemon Curd cake

Looks like a worthwhile project, thanks for sharing Adam. I have Artusi's book and I will look for it in there. I can see the face of the butcher at my local supermarket when I ask for "Unlayed Chicken eggs" LOL. NOW, to the Splendid Table.

Ricotta, sausage and Spinach Calzones Serves 4 as Main Dish. This is a rough recipe for a favorite clazone of mine. I never follow a recipe for this but the following is a rough estimate. The key to those is the overnight rest in the fridge and using the best quality ricotta you can find. If you cannot find any, then make your own. Dough (enough for 4 to 5 calzones): 4 c bread flour 2 tsp Kosher salt 1 tsp instant yeast 2 T extra virgin olive oil 1-1/2 c tepid water Filling Extra virgin olive oil, for cooking and drizzling 3 Italian sausages, removed from the casing and crumbled 2 Large garlic cloves, chopped 1 (8 oz) package frozen chopped spinach, defrosted 2 c good quality crumbly ricotta, preferably homemade 1/2 c good quality freshly grated Parmesan cheese salt and pepper 1-1/2 c shredded mozzarella cheese Crushed chile flakes (optional) Semolina Flour for dusting Start these the night before you want to bake them. Prepare the dough by putting all ingredients in a food processor and mix for a few seconds to incorporate. Start adding the water. Add one cup at first and process for 25 seconds, add the remaining water and process until you have a cohesive elastic dough. Let the processor work the dough for about thirty seconds to develop the gluten. It should not be too wet or sticky. It should be easy to handle and elastic. Put the dough on a floured kitchen surface and knead for a minute or so. Form into a ball. Oil a bowl with a little olive oil and put the dough in there. Roll it around to cover it with oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it rise at room temperature for about 2.5 hours or until it doubles in size. Make the filling by sautéing the sausage in some olive oil over medium heat until cooked through. Add the garlic and cook for another minute or two, do not allow it to color. Squeeze your spinach dry and add it to the pan. Saute for about a minute. In a large bowl, crumble your ricotta. Once the spinach mixture is cool add it to the ricotta along with the parmesan cheese. Season with salt and pepper and if it is a little too dry add a glug or two of good extra virgin olive oil (I always do). When the dough is proofed, cut it into 4 equal pieces, form each one into a ball. Now flatten them and use a rolling pin to roll them into rough circles about 10-12 inches in diameter. If the dough is too elastic let it rest for a few minutes and then keep on rolling. Fill each round of dough on one half, with the ricotta mixture, top it with a good portion of the shredded mozzarella and some crushed chile flakes if you like them. Fold the dough over, like a half moon and press the edges with your fingers. Chances are you will have a lot of extra “edge”. Trim this with a sharp knife leaving no more than 1/2 an inch. Crimp the edge with a fork to seal properly or fold the edge over itself to give it a more cool look. With the trimmed edges you can probably make a fifth calzone. Dust a baking sheet heavily with semolina flour and lay the clazones on it. Brush them with olive oil, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 2 days. Heat your oven to 400F. When the oven is heating remove the calzones from the fridge, dust them with semolina (this is optional, but it gives them an extra layer of texture that is lovely), and make three vents in each one with a sharp knife or scisors. Bake for about 30 minutes or until GB&D, golden brown and deliciouse. Let them rest, if you can, for 10 minutes before slicing and serving. Keywords: Main Dish, Dinner, Intermediate, Bread, Cheese, Italian, Lunch ( RG1466 )

Can we have a little more detail about this please? Inquiring minds want to know (actually I'm probably tghe only one reading this who doesn't know what it is).

....and in my "to buy pretty damn soon" bin it goes.I am looking forward to the next month or two. Your praise of E-R is very inspiring to say the least. What's Atkins BTW ? Right! they went bankrupt for some reason.

Yeap, T'afia's bar fits this bill "more of a tiny little place where people wait for tables at the restaurant". Edit: However, they do have nice seating outside. Right now the weather is ideal for it.

Two places instantly come to mind: 1- T'afia 2- Noe Noe, might be the better place if you really want "quieter" and "upscale" . On the other hand, they do not make their own fortified wines like T'afia does. Decisions, decisions....

ooh, there's that "a-word" again. and in perfect context! whatever the book's strengths and weaknesses, it is one of the best-selling cookbooks in italian history (it would be interesting to compare its sales figures with something we would find much more respectable such as artusi). the recipes, as i understand it, come from domus, which is a longstanding high-end architecture and design magazine. what the book pretty much indisputably represents is a very authentic look at one upper middle class italians were cooking from, say, 1950 to 1970 or so. ← Interesting. So it's not really an "Italian" cookbook, but rather what Italians were cooking in the 70s? So, even if a recipe is not necessarily Italian (like the Cantonese stuff) but Italian household were cooking it, then it made it to the book? It's like writing a cookbook about Lebanese food that has a recipe for Beef Stroganoff because it is a popular dish in Beirut!

I used to be abig fan of Fuddruckers as well. Not anymore. I really am not sure if my taste changed or their standards dropped. The patty like you said is badly shaped, has almost no taste and is almost never cooked right. Not even the shakes are any good. Currently, my favorite chain restaurant burger is Beck's Prime. I've never been to Tookie's, but I do not see how I would be able to decide on which burger to try! They all sound and look so damn good. Might have to order me one of each .

Well, I still have not made up my mind if I will be buying this book or not. Mosty likely I will, both to support my book buying addiction and becuase Italian cuisine is on eof my top favorites. So far I have not seen an argument as to why this book is not a good buy besides some aesthetics. Chris, the fact that the book has a "Brains" section tips the scale sharply in favor of the book (even though I might never be able to make the recipe in the US). So for future reference, please do not remove such wonderful sections from any publication (Marcella Hazan has one in hers too I think). They add to the adventure of continually looking for what a cuisine is about, they give a sense of realism to the experience IMO. I also would love to see a copy of Ada Boni's work. I guess my next step is to check a copy out at a local book store before buying it.

Man Elie, I need to know how you deal with the olive oil situation. I used to buy a nice and reasonably priced brand I was turned on to by some guys at the italian market in Philly, but here I've been going with Colavita extra fruity. I think it's actualy quite good. Frantoio also used to be reasonably priced in Philly (this was my go-to garnishing oil), but here it is astronomical, and only available in musty old "gourmet" stores so has usually been on the shelf too long. Would try others but I've been bitten a couple of times and that's money I hate to waste since I really notice it. I'm starting to appreciate how spoiled were growing up, no? (For those of you not spending a lot of time on the ME and Africa forum, Elie and I grew up in the same part of Lebanon, a big olive oil producing area. ) ← The Newman's Own brand is pretty good with a nice fruity taste and reasonable price. It's been my everyday olive oil for some months now.

How beautiful they look. But dont eat them yet! These are my favorite fruit, and I find that they taste best when they look worst. The skin becomes translucent, sometimes a bit wrinkled, and they are very soft to the touch. Heavenly. Just cut and spoon it out, slurp slurp slurp. I don't think you need to leave them on the tree til they are absolutely ready to eat as they will store well at a cool temperature. I never refrigerate them as buying them in the store it's a matter of waiting for them to ripen, hovering anxiously. Perhaps if you have a big crop, you may be more into retarding the ripening and then selectively readying them to eat. Above all, do not eat them out of hand til the skin at least begins to be ranslucent. How I envy you your treee! ← I second this advice and I am VERY jealouse they look beautiful! I have not had a decent persimmon since leaving Lebanon. The one you have look perfect. Pick them and store at room temp in a paper bag. They are reasdy when very soft, the insides will have the texture of jelly. A non-ripe Hachiya (like the ones u have and the ones we have in Lebanon) persimmon is very astringent and is really inedible. Eat very well chilled.

I have not checked at CM yet. Only HEB. I agree about Colavita's price. I guess it might be good, but for that price I am almost sure not as good as others.

I made it a point to look for the Alessi oils you mentioned Kevin, hoping to find an alternative to my current favorite-without-being-too-pricy oil (Newman's Own Organic EVOO, has excellent olive flavor, produced in Tunisia for $9.99/750ml at Kroger). However, I could not find any at my local HEB. Instead I noticed that they have Colavita brand with oils from different regions like Alessi. I believe they had at least 2, one from tuscany (of course) and the other....I can't quiet remember, somewhere south near the heal (yeah they had a map on the bottle ). The problem is that each bottle is 500ml and cost $20! Mamma mia...I can buy top notch oils from CM for that much money. Ever tried it though? Is it worth that price tag? Elie

It is VERY common in Lebanon, brought there by the Armenian population. I make it at home all the time following this recipe. I like to add a lot more cayenne to it though. I think the major flavor component in basterma, at least the Armenian version, is Fenugreek. If it has non then it is not basterma. I like it raw sliced thin on a baguette with pickles or with eggs like it was mentioned up thread. hmmm...I ran out recently, time to make some more.

Alinka- I buy mine from HEB in Houston. You hould have no problem finding them there.

Great, thanks for the info. I will make a trip down there sometime this week and enjoy their cheese and wine tastings for a light lunch snack . Ok, back to Jimmy's.

Ah, I want those! I am not sure if anyone in Houston carries them. Both CM and Whole Foods don't. I am still thinking about checking out Spec's in downtown though. Jimmy's sounds like an awsome place. I will make sure to stop by whenever I am in Dallas.

The pea-green colour...the grittiness from the florets...oh man...that's a dessert I wouldn't touch with a 10 foot pole!! ← not if you only use the peeled stems.

Carrot cake needs carrots like triangles need three sides -- you could leave out the carrots, and you may have a fine cake, but it won't be a carrot cake! Seriously though, carrots do serve an important function -- they ameliorate the guilt you might otherwise experience after eating massive quantities of cream cheese icing. I do hope you'll try swapping broccoli for carrots and post some pictures of the experiment -- its so close to Halloween, and I would love to behold something hideous and terrifying. ← Are you calling my broccoli cake "hideous and terrifying" before even trying it or seeing it! What a grave insult . ...ok, broccoli might be stretching it a bit, but I definitly want to try the beet version in J. Oliver's book. If I remember correctly. it does look very good with a deep dark red color.

Ah...you are right. J. Oliver does have a beet cake recipe. I'm going to try it and bring it to work see if it can pass as a carrot cake. aLthough the maroon color might give it away .

Abra- No matter what any cookbook says, I never use expensive sea salt such as Fleur De Sel for anything but last minute seasoning where the flavor and sometimes texture is not lost. Using it to bake with or as an all purpose seasoning is a luxury I cannot afford and IMO it does not make much of a difference if any at all. Last night we tried this: Yeap, the garlic soup from Correze. It was very simple to prepare with no advance prep required. Made a perfect weeknight supper with some homemade country bread toast slathered with duck fat and sprinkled with salt and pepper (yes, I used sea salt for the bread ).

Does carrot cake really have to have carrots? Seriously. I love it but it has zero carrotiness in it. I have this theory that almost any vegetable would work especially zucchini, parsnips, beets, broccoli, maybe even cut the vegetables out altogether. Sorry, I know this probably does not help anyone but this thread popped up right after we just finished arguing about this over a very tasty carrot cake that a coworker brought in. It was choke full of nuts and raisins and very moist. Topped with a rich cream cheese frosting, oh yeah and I think it had carrots in it . Ok, back to the search for the perfect cake. edit: typos

I love the Food and Wine recipe linked to above. I have not made this in quiet a while. Definitly time to buy some dates and give it a go.

Of course they are smart, they make chicken that tastes good and does NOT cost a fortune.