helenas

in some recipes they suggest to mix wild mushrooms with some plain ones to stretch the amount but i find this just dilutes the flavor.

chanterelles and butifarra sausage roasted in oloroso sherry:

Made a nice bomba di riso for breakfast today so decided to resurrect this thread: cooked arborio mixed with eggs and pine nuts: spiced with allspice, oregano and marash pepper lamb mince browned in butter and sandwiched bw layers of rice, the bottom is pan browned and the top is broiled:

i was waiting for this book for a long time - but id didn't live up to my expectations - i guess the best way to learn is to shoot as many pix as possible and then some more... anyway, the blunder of the day - i wish i switched off the flash - so much for baby blue hubbard

tonight appetizers - saffron cauliflower with onions, anchovies (mind-bogglingly good Ortiz brand) and raisins: tomato salad made with jersean ugly tomatoes and artisanal tomato vinegar; black pudding medley: thickly sliced potatoes browned, fat scallions and wedged cortland apple browned, sage and chopped scallion greens added, topped with thickly sliced pudding and broiled until sausage is crispy:

i got this perfectly looking organic baby blue hubbard today - planning to roast it halved and then stuff with roasted chanterelles and cream:

and how could i forget to mention manchego cheese marinated with olives and herbs? I just started a third batch - this stuff is truly addictive, including marinated arbequina olives.

pan roasted tonight:

Funny you should mention manti - i made some just this weekend: i used Nasoya egg based wonton skins (i found just a bit thicker than those egg ones from the asian store) and it's helpful to withstand the baking process. for the stuffing i minced leg of lamb, with some allpice, dired mint and oregano, and some parsley. i baked them in 375 for 15mins until golden brown on top and then added a chicken stock, covered and baked some more until most of the stock got absorbed. the recipe is mostly based on Ayla Algar's wonderful book Classical Turkish Cooking except for the filling that comes from Casa Moro cookbook. edit to add: served with garlic yogurt sauce: greek Total works wonderful in this sauce.

squid stuffed w chopped squid, hard boiled eggs, parsley and scallions, based on Moro recipe - after about 20mins of sauteeing/braising in gruner veltliner (no fino at home) the squid came out perfectly tender:

Jinmyo, i'm so making these lamb shanks stickers (we have a party this Fri) - i don't have ponzu but i do have like three different kinds of yuzu kosho both in green and red!

Has anybody had a chance to browse this just published (in UK) book - 300 Beers to Try Before You Die ? from the Book Description: "300 Beers to Try Before you Die! is a personal and comprehensive portfolio of international beers compiled by Roger Protz, one of the world’s leading beer writers. In this unique and beautifully illustrated collection, he has distilled decades of beer knowledge into an entertaining and indispensable guide to the ales that no beer lover should miss, from hoppy British real ale to German and Czech Republic lagers, American micro-brewed golden ales to Belgian fruit beers. The book includes sections on different beers, including Bitters, Best Bitters, Pilsner, Brown and Mild Ales, Pale Ale, Extra Strong Beers & Bitters, Old Ales and Barley Wines, Golden Ales, Porter and Stout, Alt and Amber Ales, Fruit Beers, and Bières de Garde, each comprising an alphabetical listing of the beers. Many of the entries are fully illustrated and each beer comes complete with a box panel for adding personal tasting notes, country of origin, beer strength, brewery details and a detailed description of the beer and its personal history. " btw, what beers would be on your list?

that reminds me - Nishan's roasted corn stock from his Taste Pure and Simple book - you roast scraped and oiled corn cobs adding some onions at the end and then simmer them for an hour.

After discovering this recipe for Crab Pot Stickers With Spicy Sesame Dipping Sauce by Patricia Yeo, i'm making potstickers almost every weekend - do yourself a favor and try the dipping sauce at least - it's amazing. i tried different filling variations - shrimps; monkfish; salmon; (when doing shrimp or monkfish i whizzed half of the meat and diced the rest; salmon was diced only) and of course the original version with king crab and cod. next time i'm planning to make lamb with gralic chives - i think it's mentioned somewhere here by Jinmyo.

i just ordered a second batch from Tienda - those peppers are so addictive: and although one might suggest to use shishito peppers instead there is no comparison imho - really great stuff!

this weekend we made a very productive trip to BeerYard bringing back: Lost Coast (mixed case) Great Divide (mixed case and Hercules) Kalamazoo (mixed case) Three Floyds (mixed case) Stone (case of Ruination)

yesterday it was chicken turn to be coddled in olive oil - used Eberly chicken thighs. This time aromatics were garlic cloves, lemon zest, thyme and dried porcini. Used the oil and confitted porcini to flavor/moisten arborio cooked in bianco (Priscilla, do you remember we had a related thread way back ) The thighs were quickly seared before serving. Next time i will add more dried porcini - they came out so delicious.

Recently i stumbled on the pic of roasted chicken surrounded with corn cob chunks : apparently everything was roasted together. Now it’s not recommended to cut the raw corn cobs but i decided to give this a try. Broke each cob into two pieces and halved them vertically. Chunks came out pretty neat and the resulting shape was quite handy for the following interpretation of Todd English' roasted corn: coated with mayo (home-made with yuzu kosho stirred in) and fresh bread crumds. 30mins on 375F was sufficient - the bread crumbs prevented the corn from drying out. Next time i'll try the the roasted chicken (vertical) with such chunks basted with cream.

Would be glad to hear more about Gordon's Salads - i have and like both of his eariler books. Neil Perry's new book is a very good one. Now any news on Greg Malouf - when is his promised a while ago book coming out if at all?

Since opening i've been there several times already: so far so good, just hope they will attract enough patrons to sustain on the current level. The meat section still beats Wegmans on each front - selection, quality and prices: but although initially excited about WF fish section, i'm not sure anymore - still cheaper than Wegmans.

i recently made some spaetzle using mixing in a porcini powder (i grinded dried porcini in a mini food processor) - was using a spaetzle maker: came out very nice:

Troffiette pasta with radicchio sliced into sort of similar thin threads, with litleneck clams: visual, flavor and texture play all at once orange flower water macerated local strawberries compote:

Way too hot so sort of meze tonight - feasting on baby vegetables : baby white eggplants microwaved, hollowed and stuffed with a mix of their pulp, tarama, dill and scallions; suluguni cheese marinated in cilantro/mint/jalapeno/evoo/verjus; baby peppers pan roasted with garlic, oil cured olives and fig vinegar; baby roma stuffed with tarama and dill; baltic rye bread toasts rubbed with garlic; assorted beers: Victory's Golden Monkey and Rogue's Red Ale: for dessert lemon thyme macerated raspberries encore.

Pan, this laksa is loosely based on a recipe from Peter Gordon, new zealand chef working in London - i have couple of his books and cooked from them a lot... this recipe is not some authentic one but sounded right and clean and tasted darn good. The flavoring included shallots, green chiles, garlic, lemongrass, anise star and fish sauce and although the recipe called for cilantro and mint i used rau ram instead - i guess it's not called laksa for nothing

chicken laksa - with rau ram, roasted baby corns, spinach and beads of long beans: for dessert: peaches and nectarines stuffed with pistachios and honey served with Nevat, an excellent catalonian goat cheese: