patrickamory

Nice tadig Hassouni. We've been travelling a lot so have not had as much time to cook. Recent dinners have included Applegate hot dogs and roast chicken. However I did make a Madhur Jaffrey beef kheema with peas, one of my favorite simple North Indian dishes. Served with ginger and chile pickle, mango chutney and lime pickle... the best accompaniment is Jaffrey's tomato chutney but we had finished that off some time ago. (edited several times because I can't get the colors right on the photo!)

I've never eaten there, but Barbetta is supposed to be a classic. More upscale. A little south of there is Supreme Macaroni Company, which dates back to the 30s (at least), and was a classic old-school place back in the '90s. Have not been there since. UPDATE: it's closed, and the building was demolished. And for new Italian, there's Esca, a Batali joint I have not yet visited, but which gets good reviews.

Norm - the smoker and the BBQ are a mouthwatering combination (yes, a smoker can make my mouth water) Hassouni - love the tahdig! So that's an Iraqi rendition? Adam's family is Jewish Persian but with roots in Baghdad as well, so he carries both traditions with him. Tonight we made a tahdig in the tagine, on the assumption that in the past they might have been done in earthenware. It didn't come out in one nice piece, but it was crunchy and more like the ones you get in restaurants - with the seasoning of the seasoned tagine clay permeating the crust and the rice.

The tahdigs look too sexy! I'm going to stop posting photos of them... it's the khoreshes that are really more interesting... especially with sour plums in season right now...

Veal khoresh with sour green plums and herbs. Plus the requisite tahdig, this time made with a mixture of ghee and goat butter.

Back to the original post. Acme describes their salmon as "house-cured." Untrue?

Check out the eggplant khoresh recipe I posted recently in the Dinner thread, from Najmieh Batmanglij. Another, simpler, Persian preparation. This is one of the most delicious salads ever: Use Japanese eggplant, or the smallest ones you can find (full-size American ones, or even medium ones, won't work). Don't peel, slice lengthwise into 1/2" strips. Brush with ghee and cook under the broiler or on the grill until browned but not burned. Meanwhile, fry chopped onions slowly in ghee until sweet and caramelized. Add eggplant to the onion pan, and mash it up, add a little bit of turmeric or saffron or both, some salt. Serve immediately with torn fresh mint leaves and a big cool spoonful of good sour plain yogurt on top (preferably Middle Eastern yogurt).

One of my favorite recipes and a surefire hit with guests.

Has anyone tried this place, just written up by Eater? http://ny.eater.com/archives/2012/05/who_goes_there_colandrea_new_corner_restaurant.php

Looks fantastic. Query on whether coriander root would have added even more depth, but I'm still jealous. Have to try it sometime.

Lovely, though it's making me mildly homesick. What recipe did you end up going with, in the end? Thanks. It was a combination of the New York Times and Dean & Deluca recipes I mentioned in the Pasta e Fagioli thread. It's pretty much the NYT ingredient list, except that I added the rind of reggiano you recommended, as well as fresh thyme, and fresh sage. I sautéd the onion, celery and garlic in olive oil rather than cooking them with the beans, then added the soaked beans, herbs, tomatoes, cheese rind, and water. The rest of the technique was pretty much the NYT version - parcooking the pasta, adding that to the beans, and garnishing with more parsey, olive oil and pepper. Oh, and I had good grana padano so I passed that for grating as well. I was happy with it, though I felt the thyme was a bit overwhelming - I might have added too much. Normally I can't have enough thyme. (It might also have just been crappy supermarket thyme.)

The homemade cavatelli look delicious. Pasta e fagioli:

Too late, unfortunately, janeer - incredible photos of the beans still in the pods. Photos of my past e fagioli coming tomorrow in the Dinner thread.

The simplest dish imaginable - Marcella Hazan's pasta with tomato, onion and butter.

Mjx - ah, good point. It was decent quality reggiano when first bought, but I don't know how matured it had been up till that stage. It has been at least two years in my fridge though. The smell is pretty deep and rich - it hits you the moment you unwrap it. Ashen - thanks for the thyme tip. I have some sage poking up so I was thinking I'd use that.

Thanks everyone - The rind is really QUITE old, and definitely still good, smells gorgeous... Perhaps I should only put in a small portion of it?

Bruce, the beef penang looks stunning as always. Did you make the paste yourself? A penang curry is something I have yet to make - I'm not crazy about crushed peanuts, or anything that in any way approaches the flavor or aroma of peanut butter (whole peanuts I have no problem with).

Making this tonight with Rancho Gordo borlotti beans, which are soaking as I type. I'm lurching between these two approaches, one from the New York Times (purist, few ingredients), and one from the Dean & Deluca cookbook (adds parmigiano rind, many ingredients): New York Times Dean & Deluca The NYT recipe seems just a bit too austere, but I'm afraid of overwhelming the intrinsic flavor of these high-grade beans by putting in the Reggiano rind (I do have one). Not planning to add all the other D&D ingredients (dried basil anyone?) Advice, anyone?

Fiddlehead ferns are GREAT! Time to get some from the market...

Also on Il Mulino - if I recall correctly, I think the place originally focused on food from Salerno very specifically. It certainly can be incredible, but the whole experience is rather a trial. It always gets me that you can fill up immediately on the free appetizers, yet nonetheless the bill is guaranteed to be three bills a person. Somewhat similar is Scalinatella in the east 50s or 60s... high-end, pushy, but classic and very good. They were the first place I saw the now-celebrated tactic of endlessly shaving white truffles on your pasta - each shave probably costing an extra $15. But man was it good. I think they might have changed chefs, or owners, or even gone downhill? Very scene-y place too, in its way. Gino's Italian Cuisine on Lexington and 60th is gone but not forgotten. No credit cards (though there were house accounts), no reservations, fluorescent lights, plastic flowers attached to strange rotating fans, old-guy waiters who always remembered your name, and half the menu wasn't on the menu, you just had to know. Not always great, but really great when it was great. I enjoyed the pasta al segreto, the spaghetti with meatballs and sausage, chicken scarpariello on the bone with sausage, etc. And that incredible zebra wallpaper! Not to be overlooked: Gene's on 11th St. near 6th Ave. in the Village. Great old bar in front, the back covered with 1960s wallpaper depicting Italian scenes, an elderly, regular clientele, and, unlike any of the above-mentioned restaurants in this particular post, extremely affordable. This is truly classic NY Eye-talian-American... order stracciatella, fettucine alfredo, spaghetti bolognese, and most importantly veal scallopine al limone (could be called piccata on the menu - both uses are common in the NY metro area). (The Istrian places in Astoria are worth a look too. I enjoy Piccolo Venezia, even if it has a bit of that modern decor problem.)

Ah absolutely right on Queen. And also on Manducatis - when I first went there, there were amazing bargains to be had on old bottles. I think that news got out though.

Parkside and Queen are real, no doubt about it... the decor at Queen is tragic, I gather it was once perfect red-booth style, but got torn out and replaced with the kind of hotel marble and glass favored by old-school Italian restaurants these days. I guess that actually tells you the food is likely to be good, in a perverse kind of way. A similar thing happened to the decor at Tommaso's in Bath Beach / Bensonhurst, even harder to get to than Parkside, but better in my opinion... the "Sunday Special" is amazing, as is the lasagna. And you have access to one of the best wine cellars in the country (albeit frustratingly difficult to order from due to out of date lists and a completely crazy proprietor). I miss Andy's Colonial Tavern in East Harlem. Best linguini in white clam sauce I've ever had. The old chef, Sal, was cooking until he was extremely old... maybe in his '90s? I remember seeing him perched on a tall stool in front of the stove because he couldn't stand anymore. After he retired, the place went downhill fast and then closed. There was a crude oil painting hanging by the bar that said something along the lines of "DON'T SNITCH". NO QUESTION about the realness of that place...

you sure that wasn't the mother? I remember getting an acetone smell before my wine turned to vinegar. I'm not sure it wasn't the mother, and it did have an acetone smell, so maybe I just needed to keep at it.

Are you sure they're chickpeas and not almonds?

David Ross that bucatini looks like it's made exactly right. Rico Swordfish looks delicious. Now what if you'd simply marinated it in the lime juice and served it as ceviche? This is from two nights ago... another Persian dish. Lamb shank with fresh young almonds (with the fuzzy green outside layer left on, in season right now) - deliciously bitter and sour: