patrickamory

Wow, I want to try the liquid gold! A bit worried about doing it in my Presto but we'll see. Maybe I'll add a bit of liquid.

Asparagus and cremini risotto

Yum Franci and Bruce - spring is here. (I presume that was dried Aleppo pepper btw Bruce? I haven't seen it fresh or pickled.) I made cremini and asparagus risotto, pictures tomorrow.

Hi janeer! Coincidentally I'm soaking some butterscotch beans tonight to make your awesome baked beans recipe again (always a 2-3 day process). I have real confidence in my current batch of salt pork. I was thinking I'd try making the brown bread this time, though it looks a little daunting - I won't be able to source the jonnycake flour that fast in NYC.

Nice scores Soba. I like the British Isles volume. Just spent some time browsing the New England volume, which interestingly has a section on Quebecois cooking as well.

Ashen I was wondering whether that was the reason for the rinsing too. These meatballs are spectacularly tender. For those interested, I have posted the Il Casale recipe to RecipeGullet: http://forums.egullet.org/topic/147637-meatballs-il-casale-polpette-di-nonna/ Note: I used the best ingredients possible - Danicoop San Marzanos, Fulvi pecorino romano, Ronnybrook farm whole milk with the cream on top, ground pork and Pat LaFrieda ground beef from Eataly, Penzey's Greek oregano, Alya olive oil, sea salt, and Montosco chili pepper flakes. Except the eggs - they were normal supermarket eggs. The guy at the restaurant told me that good ingredients were critical to this dish.

Adapted from Il Casale in Belmont, Mass. Servings: 8 When simmering the meatballs in the tomato sauce, do not let them boil hard or they will shrivel and toughen. Check the internal temperature with a meat thermometer - the final temperature should be 160 F (not higher). Use the best ingredients possible. SAUCE 1 can (16 ounces) whole San Marzano tomatoes, peeled if possible1/4 cup olive oil2 cloves garlic, halved6 fresh basil leaves2 teaspoons salt, or to taste1 teaspoon crushed red pepper, or to taste 1. Put the tomatoes through a food mill. Discard pith, peel, seeds. 2. Warm olive oil over medium heat in the largest skillet or sauté pan you have (or a long, flameproof casserole that can sit over two burners). Add garlic cloves and fresh basil leaves, and cook for 2 minutes, stirring - do not let the garlic brown. 3. Turn heat up to medium-high, add tomatoes, salt and red pepper, stir, bring to boil, reduce to a simmer, and cook for 30 minutes. 4. Remove garlic cloves & taste for seasoning. Meanwhile, prepare the meatballs: MEATBALLS 1 pound ground beef1 pound ground pork1 1/4 cups unseasoned bread crumbs1 cup grated pecorino Romano1 cup whole milk4 eggs1/2 cup olive oilHandful fresh basil leaves, torn (not chopped)2 cloves garlic, finely chopped1/2 teaspoon dried oregano1 teaspoon crushed red pepper1 1/2 teaspoons salt Extra pecorino (for serving)Extra fresh basil, torn (for serving) 1. Rinse the ground meats in a colander under cold running water. It's best to do the two separately. Handling the meat as little as possible, press it and stir it gently against the side of the colander to drain thoroughly. Shake colander up and down a bit. Allow the meats to drain and keep discarding the red juices that collect at the bottom of the bowl. You want the meats to dry but they will still be extremely moist. 2. Beat eggs. Mix with breadcrumbs, pecorino and milk in a bowl. Let sit for 10 minutes so that breadcrumbs soak up the liquid. 3. Place olive oil, fresh basil, garlic, dried oregano, red pepper, and salt in a small pan and heat over medium flame, stirring, for 2 minutes. Do not let the garlic brown. Remove to a bowl and allow to cool slightly. 4. Add the garlic mixture the bread crumb mixture and mix together thoroughly with your hands. The aim is to have this as mixed as possible so that when you add the meat you do not have to handle it too much to combine the ingredients. 5. Now add the drained ground meats to the mixture and combine gently with your hands - the aim is to thoroughly combine the ingredients while handling the meat as gently and as little as possible. Some sites recommend doing this with a long two-pronged fork but I found that my fingers worked fine. 6. Form the mixture into 24 balls about 2 1/2 inches each. (The mixture is quite moist - this is normal.) 7. Bring the tomato sauce to a boil. Gently drop in the balls, one at a time. The meatballs should be close together but not touching - if you run out of space, reserve your extra meatballs for another time, or make a second batch of sauce. You may end up with 6-12 extra meatballs. 8. Let the sauce return to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer, turning the meatballs and stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes. 9. Towards the end of 15 minutes, start checking the meatballs' internal temperature with a meat thermometer - when they reach 160, they are done. 10. In 6 shallow bowls, spoon some of the tomato sauce. Add meatballs to each one. Garnish with pecorino and fresh basil. If you have leftover meatballs, or you don't have sufficient sauce, make more sauce and heat the extra meatballs. The meatballs survive very well in the fridge, and you can make an extra batch of sauce and then reheat them in it using steps 7-10 above. If anything, the ratio of sauce to meatballs is very low - this is intentional and how it is served in the restaurant, but you could slightly increase the amount of sauce. It is also a fantastic and very versatile tomato sauce for general application, but of course the flavor is changed and deepened after the meatballs are cooked in it.

hurray that is the recipe. I triangulated a bit from discussions with the server at the restaurant, but yes, that's where the 3/4 cup of olive oil comes from. And yes, canned San Marzano - emphasized by the waiter. I used Danicoop. As for the meat, I used ground beef and ground pork from Eataly. The beef is Pat LaFrieda, for what that's worth. And it certainly leaked a certain amount of pinkish liquid. Did it concentrate flavor? Make the meatballs more moist? Not certain. Perhaps the nonna is laughing into her sleeve as Plantes Vertes suggests. My guess is that as odd as this step is, it's not the most important part of the prep.

Franci it is indeed a curious recipe. I made more of the tomato sauce today and reheated the remaining meatballs, and they were even better. I'll post an adaptation of the recipe in RecipeGullet because I suspect what makes it work is the proportions, ingredients and attention to details. (Who knows whether the rinsing step is essential - I will skip it and see whether it makes a difference.) This time I remembered to grate extra pecorino and tear some basil leaves before serving. Photo below. Bruce so good to see you back at Thai cooking!

Norm ham salad and smoked baked beans. You are speaking my language.

Plantes Vertes I have no idea why the rinsing of the ground meats. Perhaps it's to remove off flavors - similar to blanching pork belly? Rarely done with beef though. basquecook Two sofritos, both in lots of olive oil: For the sauce, two halved garlic cloves and fresh basil leaves. Food mill'd tomatoes, salt and dried red chile added, simmer for 30 mins. For the meatballs, minced garlic, fresh basil leaves, dried red pepper, dried oregano and salt (yes, you fry salt in the oil). No pine nuts or currants in the meatballs - breadcrumbs (I made my own), eggs, milk, and a full cup of grated pecorino. The sauté above is mixed in and then the meatballs are formed. The meatballs then simmer in the sauce (which is sits in a very shallow dish).

Baselerd yummy buns. I've been obsessed with the "polpette di nonna" from Il Casale in Belmont, Mass for some time now. I finally managed to track down a recipe from behind the Boston Globe's paywall, and recreated them at home. Man, restaurant cooking! 3/4 cup olive oil, 2 3/4 tsp salt, rinsing the ground meats and drying them (no easy task) - what looked like a simple recipe took upwards of 2 and half hours. But wow is it incredible. These are the best meatballs I've ever made, and close to the best I've ever had. The owner of the restaurant, Dante de Magistris, says it was his grandmother's recipe, from Avellino south of Naples, an area that sent many immigrants to Boston at the beginning of the last century. For once I believe it.

huiray, thanks for linking to that characteristically sharp and thought-provoking article by Fuchsia Dunlop. I could read her till the cows come home. The mirror of cultures that she evokes, along with the very concrete examples of specific dishes and people's reactions to them, make me think hard about my own eating habits and cultural preconceptions. Back to salads!

Oh my god mgaretz those ribs... …and huiray re: "I think tried-and-true dishes ought to be talked about just as well as new-fangled dishes. :-)" hear hear!

dcarch: fascinating. This is of course what all the manuals warn us not to do. The idea is that there is enough liquid in the bones and meat that extra is not needed? I usually pressure cooker my chicken and beef stocks for 45 minutes at high pressure. I can really get away with that with no added liquid?

basquecook: lovely. what is that bean pot?

I pressure cook all my stocks in a Presto and love them.

Zind-Humbrecht grand cru, Clos Saint Urbain (Rangen de Thann), Gewürstraminer 2008. Forward, citrus and floral, with a slightly bittersweet tang on the end, only a hint of the kerosene one usually gets with gewürztraminer. Really lovely wine, the first I've had from this vineyard.

Wow amazing photos in that last post chefmd! My sister-in-law's Taiwanese family members say that Taipei is the greatest food city in the world - well, they would, wouldn't they? - but I've heard it also from other, disinterested sources And could we get more details on the Taiwanese pork sauce with rice?

I presume upper third of the oven unless recipe states otherwise. (I almost never bake - so this would be for savory / non-bread dishes.)

I had more chile verde. This just keeps getting better in the fridge.

More pot pies please! Or savoury pastries of any kind...

mm beautiful king salmon. Blether gorgeous apple pie. basquecook you're killing me with that pantry risotto. One of today's dishes also is courtesy of basquecook, who hooked me up with a good source for frozen roasted Hatch chiles. Recipe was a blend of his and Kenji's from SE - ingredients were kept to an absolute minimum tho (i.e. no tomatillos etc.) Pork shoulder from Eataly. 3 hours at 225 F. So - northeast (fiddleheads) to start, and southwest (chile verde) main.

I use Pearl River light soy sauce for most Chinese dishes. Like Hassouni, I also have bought usukuchi, the labeling is all in Japanese so I don't know the brand, but it's absolutely delicious and I've used it in Momofuku recipes calling for it, for instance.

More specifics as to region please? For Sichuan specialties difficult to find even in NYC Chinese supermarkets (they might be there, but finding them is extremely tough), this place in Massachusetts has delivered for me: http://www.posharpstore.com/en-us/bean-paste-doubanjiang-c121.aspx