helenas

Thanks Monica, i sure tried search before posting - sounds like here tuvar is known under guvar name and that's why i didn't get anythign back. I still have a question about what would be those green leaves Thanks, Helena

I finally made to my local indian grocery and bought quite a bunch of different spices and produce so now i need help in identifying some of this stuff and also how to use it. Tindora - cute small and striped: zucchini/cucumbers? Tuvar - also cute and small: some sort of green beans? I passed on valor... and karela There were also some gorgeous looking big flat green leaves that i forgot to write the name of down... Thank you.

There is a radish top soup, exactly like you would like to make it with potato and scallions, in Schneider's Vegetables book (p. 532)

I messed up and got Bad Elf instead of Mad nice but i won't recommend it especially considering its price. i tried some of winter beers mentioned above - Unibroue Edition 2004 is a winner!

Couple of days i made sauteed hens of the woods with parsley and walnuts using a recipe from Schneider precious Vegetables book. It was excellent. She has a recipe for roasted ones which i intend to try next. Both Wegmans and Delicious Orchards in my area (central NJ) carry them and although expensive there is no shrinkage, so half pound is a plenty for two.

I'm going to Hanahreum tomorrow or the day after. Since both Little Ferry and Ridgefield are equally far from my place, which one should i visit? I was at Ridgefield once and remember they had a wine store in that mall with some selection of asian spirits. How about Little Ferry? I'm trying to find some chinese wines for cooking, not the salted version available in asian groceries but the real thing. Thank you.

I finally made my way to Kam Man today and was very disappointed. I mean nothing is wrong with the store itself - it's very clean and well stocked but i was expecting some extensive selection of korean and japanese products but the store stocked items that were no different from Hong Kong or Asian Food Center stores i frequent. I would say that among three of them HK Supermarket boasts the best selection of fish and seafood, while Asian Food Center has a wider selection of chinese greens. I'm on a particular quest for some japanese paste that my husband brought from Japan and that i couldn't locate so far. My next stop would be Hanahreum.

Jinmyo, did you add tea leaves to the steaming liquid? Anything else like ginger? Is a tea flavor discernable in the greens? Thanks

So we finally made to Beer Yard. I put together a long shopping list completely missing the warning about selling by case nature of their business and even brought a camera looking forward to making pictures of endless shelves stocked with the best microbrews in the country Well, no shelves and quite unpicturesque set up of some warehouse however small, but the selection was staggering, and we got almost everything on my list. It also helped that there were several variety cases: we got Stoudts and Great Divide and Stone. Also case of each: Rogue's Morimoto Hazelnut, Three Flouds Alpha Dog and Victory Old Horizontal. Man, i've hardly ever spent this kind of money while shopping at Wine Library But considering how much we enjoyed everything we tried so far this is money very well spent!

This is one brilliant theme for which i keep doing variations Tonight the pancetta-embossing happened to Mario's Duck and Potato Crepinettes (foodtv.com) and it worked like a charm - i encased duck patties between two thin layers of pancetta, cross tied with a string and broiled. Just excellent!

Caul fat can be mail ordered from Niman Ranch.

My current favorite is Jaffrey's World Vegetarian. Excellent recipes, a lot of useful backgroud information, very comprehensive.

Bringing this thread to the top with couple of updates: An excellent article appeared recently in The Star Ledger and prompted my visit to the farm in search of an appropriate thanksgiving bird. I stopped by their market last Tue to pick up my fresh quails order and coudn't refused getting a fresh pheasant as well. Quails were spatchcocked and marinated in raz-al-hanout and lime and made under the brick. Best quails ever! The pheasant had a sligtly more sophisticated preparation: joined and marinated overnight in thyme and rosemary: legs and wings were confited, and breasts were halved and pan roasted pancetta wrapped, using the mamster's excellent idea (see his pancetta embossed chicken thigs elsewhere in egullet). This was an amazing dish - crown jewel of the thanksgiving table. While searching for this thread i stumbled on several posts of people raving about Griggstown quails and pheasant they tasted in restaurants - well, now we can do it at home: i'll definitely be back soon for some nice ducks and poussins and quials and of course incomparable pheasants... Pheasant terrine anyone?

I made a black peas curry from Maddhur Jaffrey's Curry bible with black limes, but the recipe calls for just internals of the lime - the shell is discarded. The taste is quite interesting and not that subtle at all.

With pleasure, but as i (or more precise ELizabeth Schneider) said, it's a very simple recipe mushrooms and squash (around pound of each) are cut up in 1inch pieces, put in a buttered baking dish that can hold them in two layers, tossed with couple of tbs of oil (i used a good melted butter), some cinnamon and s&p. covered tigtly with foil, and baked in the upper part of the oven (350F) for some 20min. Stirred, and then for another 20min until just done but not mushy. I had smaller mushrroms, so it took me 30min overall to reach this stage. Then remove the cover, toss again carefully and bake in the high oven (425F) until browned and juices reduced to glaze.

Lamb shoulder chops cooked in beer. It's part of the preparation for Lamb Keftedes (p.220) but an outstanding dish within its own right I stole the idea from another of Wolfert's book, and added lady apples during the last 20 minutes of braising.

And i made roasted chanterelles and butternut squash yesterday from Scheider's excellent "Amaranth to Zucchini" book: "This plain recipe holds more than what the title tells, yet tastes deeply delicious. The bosky, peppery mushroom juices are the sole source of moisture and mingle mysteriously with the sweet squash". Mushrooms and squash are baked tightly covered until cooked through and then roasted uncovered in high oven just to be browned and juices reduced to glaze. The only spicing called for was a hint of cinnamon although i used Zen Garden spice mix that is also quite delicate. Very good.

Incidentally one of my friends wrote the following to me recently: "It's one my favorite cooking book. My niece is taking chemistry this year and the book is great for explaining many concepts and provides chemistry experiments we can eat."

I had a pack of Melissa fresh peas from Wegmans and decided to try making them into pesto: bolied peas and whizzed them with freshly roasted marcona almonds, lemon evoo and assorted herbs - parsley, mint, celery leaves and chives. Came out very very nice. Served mixed into udon noodles.

I've heard that a new book by Greg Malouf should be released soon. I found the following while googling: "Greg’s new book is focused on deep middle eastern flavours with a healthy approach." Does anybody know more about this?

I probably repeat myself but then i'm never tired of pitching Upscale Macaroni

note - if you halve the recipe, the time should be reduced to 45 minutes.

So we discussed australian food magazines and how we like them: Vogue, Delicious, Donna Hay - all of those are fortunately widely available in US. Now how about Gourmet Traveller? From their web site and one issue that i succeeded to get looks like a great magazine - maybe even the best one.

All of those are in my wishlist - although not available in US, sounds like UK and CA amazon will carry them. Another australian book that i think might be interesting is Lemongrass and Sweet Basil. And if one considers Alastair Hendy australian, he just published Food and Travels: Asia. - sounds like a great one.

I wonder if anybody had a chance to browse through Luard's The Food of Spain and Portugal: A Regional Guide . I've already seen several quite favorable reviews, so am thinking to order it from UK without waiting the book being published in US sometime next year.