hedgehog

For dinner, I agree with the choice of zuni. Just was there about two weeks ago and it was as good as ever. Lunch in the wine country? I would choose angele along the napa river in Napa. I think it is really good. I also suggest lunch at chez panisse's cafe in Berkeley.

I'm wondering what brand of pomegranate molasses you are using. The imported Cortas brand from Lebanon is a perfect blend of sweet and sour while the kind produced in California is just plain sweet. Try adding a little lemonjuice to bring the sweet and sour into balance. if the results don't do it for you, the cortas brand is available at any middle eastern grocer and costs very little..

that sounds fantastic!

after the grating, salting, squeezing and drying , try mixing it with some shredded fennel, apple and red onion to make an ideal salad to serve with sauteed fish.

According to Jamal Bellakhdar writing in La pharmacopee marocaine traditionnelle "smen is clarified butter infused with origanum compactum (vulgar) and preserved for at least a month before using." He suggests that though many herbs and spices have been found to kill or inhibit bacterial species on which they are applied, this type of oregano is one of the most potent. Moroccans make the smen with sheeps milk and keep it for years in clay jars.

QUOTE]was thinking, possibly, serve it over crispy gnocchi, maybe with some caramelised butternut squash....]

I have tried it and it is delicious with slow roasted salmon fillet. I use the following recipe from Paula Wolfert: Raw rhubarb salad with cucumber and mint. Serves 2 2 young rhubarb stalks, 1 medium crisp cucumber, Coarse salt, 2 handfuls arugula, 1 tablespoon lemon juice and 1/2 cup shredded mint leaves Using a vegetable slicer (mandolin) or a thin bladed knife, slice the rhubarb slightly on the diagonal into 1/16-inch thick strips. Repeat with the peeled cucumber. Toss rhubarb and cucumber with 2 tablespoons coarse salt and let stand for 10 minutes then rinse and drain. Toss rhubarb, cucumber, and arugula. Correct seasoning with lemon juice for a slightly mouth-tingling effect. Scatter mint leaves on top and serve.

eat a small bowl of yogurt mixed with 1 tablespoon to help induce sleep.

There are two ways I know to really taste rhubarb. The first is Turkish, the second is American or British 1. sprinkle some salt on a young stalk to soften the sour flavor, just the way one tempers radishes or onions and munch slowly for a satisfying snack. 2. dip the young stalk in a bowl of sugar and munch slowly. ."

I see I'm a little late on this one, but just in case someone is interested in one more point of view on lurpak butter. I think the reason Danish lurpak is so popular in some middle eastern markets is it is the butter of choice. In north africa and the middle east where local cows are highly suspect for producing clean milk, the lurpak butter was always there for a price. The Danes have been selling their butter in that part of the world for over a quarter of a century. I'm not surprised that in the lpst twenty five years a lot of middle easterners who have settled here in the states look for the quality ingredients they knew back home.

Sorry to be so confusing. Around the Mediterranean, the word za'atar (zatar or zaatar) is used two different ways to refer to a class of herbs and to refer to a spice blend of za'atar and sumac. First, the herbs. Numerous herbs in the thyme-oregano-marjoram-saory family bear the name za'atar You can purchase a live plant called za'atar parsi (thymbre spicata) at Well Sweep Farms in New Jersey. You can buy jars of an oregano pickle which isn't oregano at all, but za'atar parsi. This last bit of information is from Wolfert's book on eastern mediterranean cooking. . Then there are the dried blends from Israel, Jordan and Syria you can buy at middle eastern stores . The za'atar part could be anyone of the many herbs mentioned above...or even a combination. There are secret blends as well as very simple ones. In fact, you can buy dried plain za'atar at some middle eastern stores, but I don't know which herb itwould be.

In Morocco, zatar is a generic word for a whole family of herbs: savory, thyme, hyssop, and oregano. reference:Jamal Bellakhdar'sla pharmocpee marocaine traditionnelle Medicine arabe ancienne et savoirs populaires Ibis Press, 1997 I think the same is true in the middle east.

Jaz wrote: There was an article in American Sceintist a few years ago that put forth the argument that spice use developed to protect food from bacteria and other dangerous microorganisms. The authors studied spice use across various climates and found that in hotter climates, where food spoilage would be more of a problem, the food (especially meat dishes) tended to be more heavily spiced than in cooler climates, and that those cuisines tended to use the spices that were most effective at destroying the harmful bacteria. (The authors included herbs, chiles and members of the onion family as well.) I think what JAZ points out is the main reason why certain herbs and spices took hold in some countries and stuck. It was in response to food borne illnesses. And it was the genius of cooks over time that make it all palatable In Morocco an herb like origanum compactum (called za'tar tadlaw) is used to preserve clarified butter (smen).This special butter flavored with this particular herb supposedlymakes the finest tasting tagines and couscous.

thank you so much for taking the time to type out the recipe. It looks fantastic.

absolutely that is the place to have guasteddi. The fresh buns are filled with ribbons of calf's spleen, ricotta cheese, strands of caciocavallo cheese and a drizzle of hot lard. They're the best street food of the city.

Lemons have been cultivated in Egypt for more than a thousand years It was the Arabs who brought them to other parts of the Mediterranean. In Egypt, small very sweet lemons, green in color and very fragrant are called limes, but the are in fact, lemons. Similar to our meyer lemon but not exactly. In fact, the Egyptians are thought to be the first to make lemonade. They did this by macerating lemon slices with their rinds-on-with sugar, then leaving them overnight to be used as a base for an incredibly rich-flavored lemonade

My hands down favorite for street food in the Mediterranean is to be found in Tunisia. The soup, a morning soup called leblebi is sold in hole-in-the-wall stalls. What makes it so special is it , is cooked by men for men. ---atmosphere A large bowl of torn stale bread is covered with a ladleful of long simmered chick-peas, another ladleful of rich broth made with lamb or veal trotters, ---a strong masculine taste if there ever was one! a medium cooked egg broken on top, followed by a splash of harissa, a pinch of capers, a few juicy olives, roasted sweet red pepper strips, the whole then topped with ground cumin, a lemon quarter, and at the last minute, a drizzle of fruity extra-virgin olive oil. leblebi in the bowl looks a little like a joan mitchel painting. ---fearless to serve something so jarring in the morning and so pleasing.

where does the line form?

I've never done them longer than 5 hours. I think if you go further you get deeper color but you lose moisture. I am sure if take them out after 4 or hours you will obtain that unusual flavor and texture. Since terra cotta gets the heat higher than indicated on the oven dial, maybe you should try the eggs right on the rack to avoid the dreaded green ring. ..

LOU: "The fox," you see,"knows many things," wrote the ancient Greek writer Archilochus, "but the hedgehog knows one big thing." For all the fox's cunning, he is defeated by the hedgehog's one great defense---rolling himself up in a ball to protect himself on all sides with his coat of prickly quills. " Isaih Berlin

Adam: But DID YOU like the eggs baked for 5 hours? That is what I want to know. If you do try them again, please place the eggs directly on the oven rack. I have never had the dreaded green ring.

loufood: Caneles have recently gained cachet after years of neglect. They are Bordelais in origin. Many recipes don't carry a tale; the canelé carries many. One of the oldest refers to a convent in Bordeaux, where, before the French Revolution, the nuns prepared cakes called canalize (or something like that...not sure) made with donated egg yolks from local winemakers, who used only the whites to clarify their wines. ( Hence the almost exclusive use of egg yolks !) The popularity of canelés has risen and fallen numerous time over the years. Twenty five years ago, when I first started spending a lot of time in Bordeaux, I never heard of these little cakes. No local guide or notable cookbook published since the start of the 20th century even mentioned them. Later, I heard that a few Bordeaux bakers were working to revive their local specialty. It didn't take long for these darling cakes to begin cropping up in all sizes and flavorings throughout France.

I melt 1 ounce of bee's wax in an old glass or porcelain cup in the microwave (but you can do it over simmering water); add 2 tablespoons warm melted butter and stir in enough safflower oil to make it thick enough to coat the back of a spoon...about 1 1/3 cups. You might need more. Beware: bee's wax is highly flammable. When you're ready to use the white oil, simply reheat it in the cup and brush or pour a little into each mold; swirl the mold and turn upside down on a rack set over a pan with sides to remove excess. You don't want too much oil in the mold. THINK SHEER. In fact, you could put the molds still on the rack set over the pan into a warm oven in order to remove excess oil. (This is important because you don't want to much oil puddling in the curves which create what is known in Bordeaux as "white asses" in other words, puddling deters the tops from browning properly.) I always pour any excess oil back into the cup to use at another time. For those who don't have access to beeswax, you can try jerry price at J&N Sales (765/459-4589;www.jerryprice@myself.com.) You ask about the rubberized molds. Personally, I didn't like the glassine exterior. You could make a make belief squat canele using nordic ware's mini bundt molds ...you don't need the bee's wax and you can bake them in half the time. They don't look like caneles but they sure taste similar. One more thing, you didn't ask but I thought you might want to know that you should heat the milk to 183 F before adding it to the flour, butter and sugar mixture. Strain, chill and go for it.

If you are using a 3 ounce (1/3 cup approx) capacity mold you don't change the temperature you change the baking time. In other words,remove and rap one out about 10 minutes before total baking time. If its mahogany, let it turned out crisp on a rack until cool. I think the best caneles are made in a convection oven. If you have one try baking the caneles at 375°F for 1 hour and 15 minutes for a deep, dark brown shade. In a regular 400 degree oven it will take longer. Another trick I have learned is to place the chilled filled molds 1 1/2" apart on the baking sheet so they bake evenly. By the way, I've noticed that caneles that rise out of their molds do drop back down if left to bake long enough. The recipe I use take about 1 3/4 hours to bake properly.. The insides are completely custardy while the exteriors are crackling black. re: your rum and chocolate which sounds fantastic: Canelés de Bordeaux is the "politically correct" name for the bordeaux recipe. Additions or alterations to the recipe will run afoul of the "canelés gendarmes," transforming the baked product into cannelés Bordelais.

I wonder if the thickness of your canele de Bordeaux was caused by using too small a mold. The copper, tin-lined molds come in three sizes . I am sure Nancy Silverton's recipe calls for the 3 oz.capacity which is the traditional size. (I think she wrote she learned it from a Paris based Bordeaux baker). Her oven temperatures would correlate with that size mold. I like them a little crunchy. But in Bordeaux Baillardain sells them "very cooked" which is pure black in color and very crunchy. You can buy them " medium cooked" which is mahogony in color and crisp, and "golden brown" which is as stated in color and chewy. I love caneles one hour out of the oven. Unfortunately, within five or six hours they begin to turn spongy. I know that bakers have tricks to revive them.