Katie Meadow

I eat a lot of beans. Sometimes I use cannelini or a cranberry beans and make a hearty Italian-style soup with kale and other veggies. Mario Batali has some good recipes for soups like this--there are lots of variations. These days I am into beans 'n' rice. I have been experimenting with different beans, like rattlesnake (hybrid of the pinto and better, I think, but hard to find!), rio zappe, flor de mayo and pinquito. The rio zappe is a good stand-in for red kidney beans--they are a dark reddish bean, hold their shape well, and are meaty. I have a basic method, and vary it according to my mood--sometimes more like red beans 'n' rice, sometimes more southwestern style, very simple, charro style or without the tomatoes. Any beans over rice can be dressed up or topped with different fun things. My husband likes his southwestern-style beans extra hot, so he adds roasted green chiles or cheese if there is some. I like it simple, and usually just add a sprinkle of minced white onion, salt and a squirt of lime juice. Because I don't like fatty soups, instead of adding a ham hock and cooking it with the soup beans, I like to make a ham stock. I use smoked ham shanks instead of hocks, because they are meatier. So I make a large pot of ham stock with the shanks, onion, celery etc, then take the meat off the bones when it's very tender--at least two hours--and skim the fat. I freeze the stock and use it for cooking the beans that I serve over rice. The ham can be added back to the beans or used for hash or salad or whatever you like.

When I first saw this thread I thought someone snarky like me would respond to the question, "How much water does pasta need?" by saying: A lot. End of thread. Hah. It's amazing how easy it is to just keep on doing things the way you were taught. I make pasta the way my mom did, with lots of water in a big pot. No measuring. Rolling boil. I had a roommate who learned to cook pasta at a simmer in a small pot, stirring frequently. That made the pasta gummy, which made it stick together; hence the need to keep stirring. Even if you cook your pasta at a rolling boil, if you have too little water in the pot it takes too long for it to come back up to a rolling boil after adding the pasta, and you still get pasta that's being soaked instead of cooked. Does the low 'n' slow method mean that the pasta releases a lot more starch into the water? Perhaps losing too much starch results in degradation of taste and texture? If I wanted thick pasta water I'd probably toss out the pasta too. No one has mentioned the direx on the back of the Japanese udon package: bring water to a boil, add udon, bring it back up to a boil, add a glass of cold water. Bring back to a boil, do it again. And again. Then remove from heat and let sit. I follow the first steps, but find that letting it sit has no advantage over continuing to boil another couple of minutes. And I only do the glass of water thing because it makes me feel so very Japanese. Does anyone have any insight into this technique? I find I like my udon a little toothsome; not quite so al dente as I like my s'ghetti, but not too soft, either.

Okay, I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say you are gettin' a bit picky. Give your great guy a break! The truth is that your lovely SO eats most things from most of the food groups! He appreciates really fresh fish (I'm with him!) eats some shellfish and crustacea, eats most meat except game and exotics, and likes a variety of ethnic foods AND is willing to try stuff. I was in France last year and didn't eat octopus or any of other things on his no-no list (okay, except mussels) the whole time I was there, and I ate really really well. There's plenty of great food in France on his good list; it isn't like the French are eating roast crickets or antelope. More likely roast chicken. If he doesn't love foie gras then he's a cheap date and as you say, more for you. Given a choice I would probably go with steak frites rather than haggis myself, not that haggis will be on the menu in most Parisian restaurants. You will have a great time!

Hi Terrasanct, how are you? Yeah, the prices are shocking on an appliance you haven't costed out for about 10 years or 17 years! Pretty hard to find one with a stainless steel interior tub for under $600, if that's what you want. My inlaws got a decent GE for their beach house that holds a lot of dishes and cleans well, includes a good wineglass clip and a deep top rack and that was less than $500 I believe. I have a friend who is happy with an Amana that was in that same range. $900 sounds more like a mid-range Bosch to me. I looked at a Bosch for under $700 that I would consider low-end. The lowest-end KA was priced at $679, and a little higher than the lowest-end Bosch we could find. Both of these come with the $50 energy saver rebate, and so did the Asko. These all have stainless tubs, and are quieter than the cheaper American ones. Sears Kenmore Elite, the competition for the European dishwashers, is supposed to be highly rated, and Sears has the best deal on installation, but the low-end models were priced higher than the lowest Bosch or KA when I checked. I have a friend who is looking now as well, and he's a super-careful researcher. He was told that installation on all these new dishwashers is more complicated than it used to be, so that swayed me not to have my husband install it, since he's only moderately good with plumbing.

The mention of Pho Ga upthread got me in the mood. I never order it when I go out for Pho, since the beef pho is so great at my favorite hole-in-the-wall Viet lunch place. I made a rich Asian-style stock over the weekend with lemongrass, ginger, and star anise and lots of chicken pieces, feet and backs etc. Then tonight I made a very simply soup with tender chicken, rice noodles, scallions and a shredding of thai basil and coriander and a little garlic-hot sauce on the side, since I didn't have any jalapenos. My husband always want heat, but I like my pho ga unadulterated and simple as can be.

I don't know if it's the electronics involved or what, but given everything I have read and heard, we should consider ourselves lucky to get seven or eight years out of a new dishwasher today. The dishwasher in the house when we moved in was about 30 yrs old, a KA on its last legs. Our replacement was a KA that lasted 17 yrs. Maybe this new Asko will last 8 years? Will the next generation last 4 yrs? Sad.

Here's my update on the dishwasher search. We did indeed get the Asko that fits in our space. The limitation of the short Asko that complies w/the American Disabilities Act is that the manufacturer appears to have made the judgement that the distance between the lower and upper racks needs to be about as tall as in the standard tall tub models, so the sacrifice is in the depth of the upper rack. My wineglasses just barely clear the top, but they do clear it. In the showroom I was only able to see the regular size model, and the top rack is fabulous. This one is not adjustable, which I didn't realize, since some of the publicity materials were misleading. Aside from this problem it works great, so far! With the absolute minimum of soap and no Rinse Aid (we don't have hard water) the dishes are sparkling clean. The machine, as expected, is about 100 times quieter than the 17 yr-old model it replaced, but it isn't completely silent. I am guessing the Bosch may make a quieter dishwasher, but this one is pretty quiet and it's fine for us--I can't hear it in the dining room. The only design flaw is that there isn't a lot of variety in the distance between the dividers; they are very close, so, depending upon your dishes, you may have some bowls and plates that don't fit as economically as they might.

Abra, where can I find Joan Nathan's poppy seed filling recipe? FG: what, no poppy seeds? Rustic is good--they look yummy, and very jammy.

Amazing! I'll check it out. The bitter almond oil sounds intriguing as well. Thanks to all!

I purchased a pricey little package of sweets made by an Italian bakery in Torrretta, Sicily. The bakery is called Pasticceria Sua Maesta and the translation of the product is simply Soft Almond Classical. It's like a soft cookie but it isn't a flat cookie shape, and the ingredients are: sugar, almonds, apricot kernels, glucose syrup, invert sugar, egg white, honey, vanilla. They are quite dense, and there's a slightly bitter taste that must be from the apricot kernel. How you get an apricot kernel in the middle of winter is beyond me. And how you get the kernel out and usable in a cookie is also beyond me, but these are so good I'm ready to try. The bakery has a website (in Italian, of course) and I believe that this little morsel belongs to a type of pastry called pepite di mandorle which appear to have a few different shapes. Does anyone have a recipe for such a cookie, or can anyone suggest a book of Italian or Sicilian foods that includes one?

Tsquare, it was already notched or (more likely) gouged out in '92 when the remodel was done to accomodate the the KA that just went kaput. Our problem was that we didn't replace cabinets but we did lift the floor up because we put down a mortar bed and ceramic tile. Thanks, Catherine, those words are music to my ears. I also found some friends of friends who like theirs so much they put another one in their second home. For better or worse it is now on order.

If you are interested in a comprehensive and informative site about eating fish (among other things), check out the Monterey Bay Aquarium site. You can get details about mercury levels, endangered and overfished species and sustainably farmed fish. It's a fantastic resource. Then you can make your own decisions about what to buy. Some fish are simply a perfect storm. The four fish highest in mercury are also severely overfished: tilefish, swordfish, bluefin tuna and shark. The speed with which some species are becoming endangered is really shocking. Thirteen or fourteen years ago here in CA we were buying locally caught Atlantic King salmon steaks for as low as $6 or $7 per lb. Three years ago the catch was small and the price was often $20 or more per pound. Last year salmon season was canceled entirely in CA. This year will probably be the same. There ain't no more left. The awful truth is that if people continue to pay high prices for overfished species they will be fished until they are gone.

This a great experiment; I do it on a small scale every week. Typically we do our big shop on Sunday. Usually by Friday and always by Saturday we are into "kitchen sink" or scrounge mode and I get very creative. But I could never survive this challenge, and here's why: We buy almost no canned or jarred or frozen foods. (And that's not a "why would I in California" whine!) We used to buy lots of Italian canned plum tomatoes, but I can't eat tomatoes right now. Anyone who has a pantry full of San Marzanos and a few boxes of pasta can probably make it through the week--if they are allowed to buy milk. Nothing like milk and cereal for dinner--too bad, no blueberries or bananas! Anyone who usually overbuys can probably make it too. We also don't freeze any pre-made meals or any meats. My small freezer now contains 1 bag of edamame, several quarts of stock, and what's left of a bag of stone-ground grits--about 1 cup. We don't buy crackers or cookies or chips. (Okay, yes, I indulge in Panzanella once in a while, but no longer on a regular basis!) 90% of our pantry items are carbs, most used for baking bread. So yeah, we could bake a few loaves and eat nothing but peanut butter sandwiches, chicken broth, rice and popcorn all week. And I would start with a major deficit: by week's end I'm lucky if I have two zukes and a potato in the veg drawer. How are you factoring eating out? No one should be allowed to eat out more than they usually do, at least. We don't eat out ever, and that includes lunches. My husband bags his, and I eat leftovers. The two of us can't make it on one bag of edamame and two zukes and no other vegetables. If my normal budget included two or three dinners out and all lunches out I might be able to survive this. I would do pretty well if a future challenge went like this: do the weekly shop, no further shopping allowed all week, no eating out, and you use up everything you bought, ending up with empty shelves in the fridge (except for condiments of course)--no rotten food, no waste. I'll wait for that one! Good luck to all on this one!

What do you do when you have nothing but zucchini, 3 potatoes and an onion in the house? Make Deb Madison's Zucchini and Herb Fritters. Okay, yes I had basil (one out of the three herbs suggested), eggs and bread crumbs, which was all it took. They are excellent--better than they have a right to be. (They cook more like pancakes, with very little oil in the pan.) My husband wanted sour cream on his, but I liked them plain. Fresh salsa would be very good. Serve with pan-fried potatoes with caramelized onion. Bruce, that butternut squash with curry leaves looks perfect. Is that all there is to it, as you describe? Can you get me the recipe?

Thanks, Linda. The racks in the Asko are pretty great--the top one is adjustable like the Bosch. The basket is way cool: it can be positioned anywhere along the front. Well, for that price it better be well designed. Another good feature (and I think the Bosch has this too) is the short cycle, which is only 35 minutes. I never run back-to-back cycles; we don't have enough friends or enough flatware. This model has the controls on the front, and a little LED indicator light which appeals to my husband. See, I'm already justifying this purchase on the basis of about $75 worth of gimmicks. So, Asko it is. The sticker shock is palpable. We were already feeling a pinch when we decided we wanted a lower end KA or Bosch and were thinking we would have to spend $600-700 to get that. We also would have saved on installation. I think we could have installed a KA ourselves, but just in case anyone wants to know, the Asko has a reputation for complicated installation, so we are not going to attempt it. This is indeed a very helpful thread.

No apologies and no surrender to this claptrap about pineapple. The combination of pineapple and tomato is one of the nicest ever. We are persecuted but we are no fools. When you and I meet in hell (where else will we get that ideal char on our pineapple?) we will have a crispy thin-crust wood-fired pizza with fresh pineapple chunks and modest amounts of mozz and tomato sauce. There will be no ham, or anything else to gum up the works on this perfect minimalist pizza. And don't believe that stuff about the Pizza Mind Control Ray. I'm pretty sure it doesn't exist, but if it does, and is used from a subterranean fortress like Sam's batcave or the subway or something, it can't penetrate the earth's crust, or ours, which shall never be soggy. ("No crust shall be soggy on this earth," remember.) Now get me out of here before someone hurts me.

After another half day of shopping at the showroom with the most dishwashers and the best floor help and very good prices (plus free hotdogs, popcorn, bottled water, and just-baked cookies if you can believe this) we have determined our kitchen remodel of 1992 will probably haunt us into the grave. The space in which our old KitchenAid just fit will not accomodate any new KitchenAid and almost nothing else. We're talking about a quarter inch of space here. Aside from some very short low-end American models that don't have stainless tubs (which I want), would require inventive carpentry to hide its low stature and which exist only to comply with the American Disabilities Act, there are only two models that are adjustable down by that critical quarter inch we need: a high-end Bosch for something like $1200 and a lower end Asko which we can get for $850. If anyone has anything nice to say about Asko, now's the time. I did read this full thread, and it sounds like A) not too many people have them, and B) they may need more repairs than KA and Bosch and may not last as long but C) if you're lucky you will get a good one and be happy with it. $850 (white ext. panel, not ss) seems like a good price for an Asko. More money than we were expecting to pay, but the racks are really nice and you can stick on a strip that's in French to explain the cute little icons on the front. And since we're not French that seems cool.

Thanks, these comments are very useful. Tomorrow we are going to look at Kitchen Aids and Bosch and others. I called a friend who has a Bosch this morning to get his take and he said, "Funny you should mention this..." and he informed me that there's just been a recall of nearly 500,000 bosch dishwashers--including his--due to an electrical element that can overheat and cause a fire. I don't believe it applies to dishwashers sold in the last couple of years, but make sure you didn't let that letter from Bosch get buried in a stack of mail. Those with problematic models are being told not to use their machines. Anyway, he's very happy with his Bosch, recall aside.

Bumping this thread up to see if anyone has anything new to add in the last two years. Our KitchenAid is finally having serious problems, after about 17 years of pretty good performance. It wasn't quiet, and didn't even do a fabulous job of cleaning, but it was satisfactory and until now the only problem has been a broken latch for five years that necessitates the use of a grapefruit knife to open the door. But it worked without a singe service call for 17 years. (No replacement latches exist.) It replaced a 30yr old KitchenAid that was in it's death throes when we moved in. I'm looking at low-end Bosch and KA. I've eliminated the snazzy looking LG on the basis of some dreadful reviews. My husband is intrigued by the Bosch drying system--me not so much. It appears that the hookup is pretty different, and perhaps the hookup would be easier w/another KitchenAid. One thing about the KA I liked was the "energy-saver dry" button, which simply stopped the machine before the heat-dry. In another hour or so the dishes were dry enough to put away. I don't know if the new ones have this option. I want quiet, but I don't need silent. I'm sure both would be quiet enough for us. We are now only two people and don't even run the dishwasher every day. My most important criteria are reliable performance, longevity and good design. We rinse well before loading and don't put pots and pans in as a rule. I want stainless interior and a top shelf tall enough for salad plates and wine glasses. I was sad to see that all the new dishwashers have seemingly cheesy racks. Our 17yr old racks appear to be steel coated with a very durable material and still look excellent. I prefer the look of the stainess panel, but it sounds like white might be easier to keep looking clean or free of spots (white is what we have now.) Do you think that's the case? I don't want to constantly be noticing the panel. White is cheaper of course. The kitchen can probably live with either stainless or white, since the range is ss and the fridge is white. So any new thoughts on these two brands? Also, any thoughts on the idea of the fully integrated controls as opposed to controls on the front panel? Thanks!

My daughter is doing a semester abroad in Athens so her 21st birthday happened here without her. I miss her, so I baked a cake! Don't ask what came over me--I hardly ever bake. I made the Buttermilk Cake with Spiced Vanilla Icing from the current Feb issue. Fine Cooking must be wary of advertising the ingredients in this cake in the title, because what's significant about it isn't that it's made with buttermilk, but that it's made with a substantial amount of grated butternut squash and the icing is studded with crystallized ginger. The squash all but disappears and no one would believe 2+ cups of coarsely grated vegetable was in this cake. It came out looking beautiful, and it tasted great. It's a very easy recipe (which is how I need my baking to be.) Really really good. It didn't need the full hour to cook--it was done in 50 minutes, but my oven may be on the hot side.

I've never seen a cast iron wok. I thought most traditional woks were carbon steel (aka black steel or blue steel). They build up a nice finish so stuff doesn't stick, heat well, and are light enough to be able to pick up and dump the contents out quickly as needed when everything is done. I would think a cast iron wok of adequate dimensions would be prohibitively heavy. I guess I don't think of a wok as needing to "hold" heat--they just need to get really hot for a relatively short amount of time. The carbon steel seems able to distribute the heat well enough up the sides to make it an effective tool for stir-fry.

Hi Dave, I'm sorry to hear about your strokes. That's scary, to get a wake-up call like that. How are you feeling? I've always enjoyed your posts about cheese, especially because I enjoy them vicariously. For the past several years I have cut way way back on cheeses and animal fats because my cholesterol is borderline high. So believe me, I sympathize. I don't have any suggestions about low-fat cheeses. You're the expert, so I'm guessing you already know what's what in your neighborhood. "Low-fat" is a relative term, anyway; low-fat cheeses probably still have plenty of fat in them. I'm guessing there are some nice chevres out there with less fat than a triple creme brie, but if you eat all the chevres you want you will still be getting more fat than your doctor probably thinks you should. But here's how I deal with my diet restrictions (and I have others which would be too tiresome to name and which are far worse, at least to my mind, than just eliminating cholesterol-bearing foods.) How I cope might not work for everyone, but it works for me. There are a few cheeses I just can't imagine living without forever, so I treat them like the precious gifts they are and only indulge once in a great while. And wow, do I enjoy it when I do. I find that there are plenty of cheeses I can live without totally and that most of the low-fat substitutes ultimately are not worth bothering with. Take care of yourself. Just think about all the fabulous spring vegetables you will be having soon, and then...summer fruits!

Valrhona. Really deep taste.

I make five very different kinds of chili/chile. 1) Very traditional New Mexico "bowl of green" or green chile stew using only long-cooked pork, roasted green chiles and sometimes potatoes. MUST be accompanied by flour tortillas! 2) Red chile with pork made with New Mexico dried red chiles and tomatoes, coffee and/or chocolate (or cocoa). Sometimes, but not always, I add rattlesnake beans at the end. 3) Chipotle chile with pork or beef that uses stout or dark beer and black beans. This one and #2 tend to cross-pollinate somewhat. 4) Vegetarian black bean chili that has tons of veggies and garnishes and is a family recipe that everyone has put their own spin on. Best in summer when fresh corn is sweetest. 5) American Chili. This is the kind of chili I make when I have nostalgia for the potlucks of my youth. It uses course-ground beef, tomatoes, green and red bell peppers, ground chile (I use NM or ancho), and typical spices like oregano and cumin. It gets beans at the end, and a finish w/cider vinegar. Sometimes I add cocoa as well. It might as well be called New York Chili or California or Heartland Chili, since it can be made without using regional specialty foods and by shopping any big grocery store. I used to call it Texas style, but I'm sure that's not actually correct. Is there a chili that's Texan or Tex-mex? I'm guessing there are a lot of different Texas traditions when it comes to chili or chile. I lived in New Mexico and not in Texas. So BBQ sauce? Why not? At the risk of being slammed by purists--if there is such a thing as a chili/chile purist--it seems like a wide-open field. (Not like the land of pizza, ha ha, where purists are born and nurtured.) Sometimes I use a stock made from ham shanks or hocks to get a smoky taste. Using smoked meats in chili might be pretty yummy. A little BBQ sauce would be a quick 'n' dirty way of adding smokiness. Go easy, so you don't end up with something that tastes like...bbq sauce.

Is it just me, or do others find that shopping at farmers' markets is not necessarily a way to lower food costs? If I had unlimited funds I would do most of my shopping at the Berkeley farmers' market--everything there is beautiful. But my husband and I have roughly calculated the price of one bag of vegetables at about $30. I'm talking about onions, beets, greens, peppers, lettuce, beans and so on. Make that lots of tomatoes and a few peaches in the summer and we're talking more like $40 per bag. A dozen eggs from free-range chickens are now over $7. Perhaps south of me on the central coast the farms are local so the produce doesn't have to travel. It isn't exactly making a small footprint to drive a pickup truck from the farm 3 or 4 hours to Berkeley. I appreciate the value of shopping locally and organic, but it costs a premium in many locations and isn't realistic for anyone watching their dollars and cents.