weinoo

Dried lily flowers? Some weird variation on eggplant? Yes, make-dos is exactly what I'd call them.

Good question, @Anna N. I imagine if you can find Israeli couscous made from semolina flour, and cook it in the style of pasta vs. the absorption method used for couscous, it would come close. Additionally, fregola is toasted, so there's that step too! I bought a few of these in Rome on our recent trip, as I have trouble finding it here in NYC. It's available on Amazon, but it's a fortune. And somewhere, sometime I remember seeing one of Lidia's TV shows, where she made fregola - and it looked fairly simple.

What?!

Sardinian fregola with Long Island littlenecks and NY State cherry tomatoes.

I pretty much loved all of the week-long blogs by members. Thanks, @Lisa Shock!

Instead of totally raw vegetables, I'll cut up carrots, celery, radishes and salt them for a few hours, then drain. Keep 'em in the fridge, and they're good for a snack. Not raw, not cooked, but slightly pickled.

Correct. I've oiled skins when baking in my conventional oven.

Last night I baked 4 medium sized potatoes in the Steam Girl. Dry skin, pricked all over. They took just under an hour, at 425°F with steam, for crispy skin and beautifully fluffy interiors. Their picture is over on the dinner thread.

Last night I did some baked potatoes in the Cuisi Steam Girl, after jumping back into that thread. Served with butter, sour cream and smoked sable on top (with thanks to Mekelburg's). Side of cole slaw. Served with cacik - cold soup of yogurt, cucumber, garlic, lemon, olive oil, dill and mint.

I go away for a while, and look what happens! Anyway, I bought this set from Nordic Ware, and like it a great deal. Well, I wouldn't go that far! Glad you've got this figured out. Like rotuts, my Steam Girl is v1.0 and doesn't have that drain issue. Haven't had a leak ever.

Le Coucou is the new restaurant (opened for reals last week) collaboration between restaurateur Stephen Starr and Chef Daniel Rose of Spring, a fairly acclaimed restaurant located in Paris. That backstory need not be explained here; suffice to say that Significant Eater and I have had the pleasure of dining at both the tiny Spring 1 (once), and the more ambitious Spring 2 (a number of times), and it was always a fun and delicious time. Plenty of restaurants open in New York City; often they come with lots and lots of hype. Le Coucou is certainly one of them, as the PR bandwagon got rolling a while ago. And normally we like to give restaurants at least a little while to get their footing, but with this one we just couldn't wait, so off we were to Lafayette Street - on night two of service. I didn't even know if we'd get a table, since we were sans ressies, but we figured we could just grab a cocktail, even if we couldn't have dinner. But arriving early, we were offered a table by the charming Maître D' and lovely hostesses and hosts, though we did have a drink first, in their rather intimate lounge area. Now, I'd introduced myself and Sig Eater to Daniel at Spring years ago, as a friend of a friend. And again, when we were lucky enough to dine at the new Spring. But here, even before I was seated, Daniel (who had zero idea we were coming to have dinner) was by our side, greeting me by name and with hugs and cheek kisses - you know, that lovely French way. And even though he looked like he wanted nothing more than to pass out on the extremely comfortable banquette, he returned to our table any number of time during our meal, to make sure we were enjoying our dinner, to see if there was anything we'd like him to "whip up." Basically the consummate host. French has been seeing a serious revival in NYC over the past couple of years, and that makes us happy, as we love French cooking. I mean, one need look no further than Rebelle, or Racines, or MIMI, or Chevalier, or...well, you get the picture. And here, with classic French technique executed fairly flawlessly, we were in heaven. One of our favorite dishes is a simple Poireaux, poached leeks served in a bracing vinaigrette. Here, chef adds a little something extra, topping the leeks with sweet, roasted hazelnuts. What about fried Delaware eel? Normally, my eel exposure is limited to sushi bars, where the earthy eel get a sweetish topping. At Le Coucou, the Anguilles frites au sarassin are as light as a feather, the eel's buckwheat batter playing well with curried vinaigrette and a subtle brunoise of citrus. Mimolette is a French cheese that as recently as a few years ago had its import halted by the food police, aka the FDA. It's back, and here it graces Asperges au vinaigre de bois. It's a simple lightly-roasted asparagus salad, made special by a smoked wood vinegar sourced somewhere in the wilds of Canada. Asparagus salad One of the dishes chef sent to our table was a knockout - a whole sea bream stuffed with lobster - and my guess is the menu is changing daily, because as I look while writing this, it's not on the online menu now. But here's a picture anyway. Lobster stuffed sea bream A classic of the French culinary canon is Quenelle de brochet. As Julia says in Mastering the Art I, "A quenelle, for those who are not familiar with this delicate triumph of French cooking, is pâte à choux with a purée of raw fish...formed into ovals or cylinders and poached in a seasoned liquid. Served hot in good sauce, quenelles make a distinguished first course. A good quenelle is light as a soufflé..." Quenelle de brochet, sauce américaine Yes it is. And indeed it was. Our main course, which we shared because we wanted to save room for cheeses, was Bourride, a Provencal fish stew that might be known in places like Nice as bouillabaisse. Here, the fabulous fish fumet is stocked with halibut, mussels, clams, and Santa Barbara spot prawns. Served alongside, toasted baguette slathered with aïoli. Suck the head of those prawns, dip the bread, and pretend you're somewhere other than Chinatown - it's easy enough, once inside, because this is a lovely space. Our 3-cheese selection (all American) was swoon-worthy to Significant Eater, and served alongside was an accompaniment of 3 different beverages, which I don't really know if everyone gets - or if Daniel was just being extra nice to us. Speaking of nice, the service staff is super. There was a horde of people working on both the floor and in the kitchen. The front of house people were professional, yet casual. There have a been a few notable restaurant openings this year, where service has been a bit "clumsy." Not here, where everyone is on the same page, and that enhances the experience greatly. What else can I write? Well, I am sad we didn't get to enjoy dessert - we just ate too damn much, but next time! And while we were unexpectedly treated like old friends, with 3 comped dishes from the kitchen and a couple of glasses of champagne when we sat down at our table, I looked around the restaurant any number of times, and everyone sure looked happy. The wine list is extensive - maybe that's part of the reason? There are tablecloths on the tables. There are comfortable chairs. Reservations are taken. All grown-up stuff. But most of all, once you taste this cooking, I think you're going to be happy as well. Le Coucou

Still unopened - have I got a deal for you...!

Totonno's, Coney Island...yesterday for lunch. Not as great a pie as might be had at Totonno's. A little thick and bready in parts, but still overall quite good. The cheese, sauce and sausage are all fine.

The reviews I've read have not been positive. I suppose it can always go into some weird punch.

Anyone try this stuff on the right?

I have indulged (experimentally, of course, as a "foodie") in edibles. Everything from coffee beans to cannabutter. What pastrygirl said - you just gotta be careful. Stuff can hit like a ton of bricks - this ain't your mommy's or daddy's weed. Great for pain relief. And of course, why drive?

I made the lemon posset from CI, at a friend's apartment where I was cooking dinner for 6, and it came out great...everyone oohed and ahhed at both its texture and flavor. Usually, if I'm going to serve something that I haven't made before (for a dinner party), I'll try it on myself first. And cooking at someone else's apartment, where I've never cooked before, is also chance-y (and believe me, this apartment, while beautiful, didn't exactly have a wonderfully stocked kitchen). But I figured the dessert was quite simple, so why not give it a shot? This dessert will go into my repertoire. Consider the actual prep and cooking time is about 45 minutes totals, it's a no-brainer. For what it's worth, I followed the CI directions exactly. Now, will it work in a similar manner with other citrus? Like orange, or lime, or kiwi, or even mango?

What Paul said - I have given away my stone (s) and now use steel on a high shelf - pizza cooks nicely that way, after preheating for a good 45 minutes.

A hidden gem, up in the Throgs Neck section of the Bronx... Louis & Ernie's

Long Island scallops with Oregon morels.

Chicken, chorizo and shrimp paella. Great texture on the rice, not enough (if any) socarrat. One of these days it'll all come together.

This is interesting...when I pick out the smallest bird in the case, I can usually find one that weighs in at just over 2 pounds. Now that I've found the "sasso" type birds, at a place that's close enough to make it worthwhile for a trip there, most of those birds appear to be in the 4 pound range, and are slaughtered at a much older age than the commodity birds. And the breast tends to be much smaller.

Poussin, cooked in the Cuisi Steam Boy. Duck fat roasted tiny potatoes. Sautéed asparagus.

Dinner left me some asparagus and potatoes, so I cut them up and added a bit of roasted red pepper and a little chorizo, and fried it all together. Then I threw a few eggs in there and called it hash. It's not, but it was tasty. Homemade wheat bread, toasted. Normandy butter. And a frittata made with leftover spaghetti Amatriciana.

I'd also leave it open a crack when not using, as I do with the Steam Girl. Inside cleaning with baking soda works nicely too.