mrbigjas

well, i went ahead and did it anyways, and dinner still came out just after 8. not too late after all. turns out the ricotta i get is dense as hell, and needs no draining whatsoever. i wrapped it in cheesecloth and weighted it with a bacon press, and after about 15 minutes when not a drop had come out, i gave up. so i went somewhere between the two recipes, making a chard/ricotta/pecorino filling, and making the semolina/AP/saffron/egg pasta. i scaled it back some since there are only two of us. i might have overwatered the pasta a little bit, because it was soft and easy to roll, even a little sticky--it took all the flour i threw at it while making the ravioli, which i rolled out by hand. ok truth be told, knowing that sardinian ravioli are often round, i had a secret tool on the side in case my rolling didn't go well: a tortilla press, which i saw martin yan use to make very thin dumpling wrappers one time. but i didn't use it. but anyway, it wasn't overly mushy or anything. in fact, it was damn good if i do say so myself. the forming of the ravioli is totally amateurish, as you might imagine, but they tasted good. i sauced them with a fresh tomato sauce, grated some fiore sardo and chopped up some basil and mint on them. take a look-see: as far as the filling: i feel like it could have used an egg. not so much for binding, but because the ricotta was so thick and pasty that even the chard couldn't touch it. or maybe because i squeezed out the chard TOO well--i feel like the egg would have added a little wetness. but anyway, it was fun, and not hard, and i thank y'all for the advice. i knew i'd have to get over my fear of fresh pasta sometime. i'm a level or two below you guys when it comes to knowing about these things and cooking them, but i'm working on catching up... (the wine was a cheap cannonau that i found over at the gargantuan store called total wine over in jersey, one of two or three sardinian wines that specifically mentioned that they were from there. luckily they were all around $10 so i just got all three bottles. and now i find out that cannonau is a grenache clone, which would explain why i was so happy swilling it.)

excellent idea, kevin. actually i found the recipe i was looking at last night. i thought the lard in the dough was kinda weird. but the cheese combos looked good. it's here: http://english.incucina.tv/ricette/2968/29...905/ricetta.asp

yes it should. if any of you have the power to move it... sorry about that.

well, it was kind of a long time ago, but the problem was the edges. they were thick, and dry, although the rest of the pasta and filling were cooked. as i said, i don't have a pasta machine, so i'm rolling them out by hand. that's what's made me nervous about making homemade pasta ever since. i did buy semolina flour a couple of weeks ago on a whim, not sure what i was going to do with it. you think it'll be screwy with this? what's the difference, when it comes to cooking these things? i may just follow kevin's kall there. actually the other day i found a recipe for this that had fiore sardo in the filling, and grated pecorino on top, and of course i can't find it today. leaving work now to go start SOMETHING....

not up here. tonight i'm making a sardinian chard/ricotta stuffed saffron pasta that is over on about.com. wish me luck--i only made stuffed pasta once before and it wasn't... that good.

wow, and i always thought a french martini was just basically a vodka martini made with lillet. i wonder what that is, then.

OK the thread title is rhetorical, not specific to tonight--i don't mean to post in the ISO thread. i'm just giving a little heads-up that the summer wednesday night 'center city sips' events are starting tonight. click here for more info

wow, i had almost this exact dish at a restaurant here in philadelphia on friday evening. had no idea it was ligurian. it was fantastic.

oh definitely. actually i think i've eaten there maybe five or six times in my whole life. we always just went for ice cream. and to purchase half-gallons, which are a staple at all family birthday and other celebrations.

how cold has it stayed? and how clean were your hands when you mixed it? these are the questions that i think need to be asked.

sweet. i'll post in the ISO section sometime soon. i'll drive.

will do. lots of friends of friends worked there too. well sure, but fancy gelato and oldschool pennsylvania dairy farm ice cream are two totally different beasts--it's apples and oranges, after all.

well folks, it's official--as of september 4, the newtown establishment of goodnoe's dairy farm (click for their website) is closing. apparently the kids have made other career choices, and raymond goodnoe wants to keep it a family business, or not have it be open at all. this place is the source of one of the greatest ice cream flavors in the known world: peanut butter ripple. no one else makes it like goodnoe's, with big slabs of peanut butter running through the ice cream--no little bits and pieces, no flavor permeating, just great vanilla and gobs of peanut butter. damn it's good. when i was growing up, goodnoe's was on the outskirts of newtown, on the side of a hill with woods in the background. now a giant strip mall has grown up around it and it sits in a sea of asphalt with a best buy or some crap like that in the background. but the ice cream is still as good as ever. at least it will be till labor day. i'll be heading up there a couple more times this summer, reliving childhood memories. all are welcome to join me.

yeah that was in michael klein's column--i think lacroix was out of there as of 6/1, wasn't he? me too! especially since i gotta use this gift certificate. guess i'll be the guinea pig--i think i'll give things a couple months to shake out.

i don't know, but i have a gift card for lacroix that i was given a little while ago, and now i'm not sure how to use it.

how about a pot? for chervil, i mean. i threw a bunch of seeds in a pot earlier this year and it seems to be coming along nicely, but it would be kind of a bummer if they died.

chives are a little tricky; you'll have to keep them well pruned, because they get big and are perennial. and you have to watch parsley because it goes to seed really quickly--i've basically given up on growing it, because you pick the leaves off it and prune it to stop it from going to seed, and gradually the leaves become smaller and wimpier, and... well, basically it came down to, with the amount of parsley we use, it's easier to buy it for .50 a bunch than to mess with growing it. but other than that why not?

you can plant them in the same pot provided they have enough room to grow, and provided that one herb won't take over the others. for instance, thyme, oregano, marjoram, and any kind of mint are pretty hardcore and will take over any pot you put them in, at varying rates of speed. they'll choke out anything else. i've grown basil and savory together, and basil and tarragon. right now i have thai basil and chervil in the same pot, and another pot with sorrel, tarragon, and two basil plants in it. when they're like that they're never going to grow quite as large as they could with unlimited space and resources, but they've lasted me for whole summers.

yeah, what he said.

i don't know if this is still the case since i'm not there much anymore, but when i used to get it at la cigale, they'd basically pour about a triple shot worth of espresso into a cup with ice for an iced coffee.

i had the best lobster salad ever there one time. i still remember it. served in a hollowed out round brioche the size of a softball. mmmm anyway, googling yann machard turns up this site for symphony pastries which appears to sell pastries to the industry, not individuals.

stopped by capogiro 20th st on sunday, and had two fantastic choices: strawberry chartreuse, and sassafrass. the strawberry chartreuse could actually be considered a failure if you're looking for an interesting interplay between strawberries and the bitter herbal aspects of chartreuse--the chartreuse wasn't in evidence at all. however, the strawberries this year have been fantastic so far, and on the strength of that alone, this was great. the sassafrass was not overly powerful with root beer-y flavor, but leaving you with a hint of root beer float or something in your mouth, something a little elusive but absolutely refreshing. fantastic.

London Grill and Rembrandt's are both not too far away. Illuminare supposedly has very good pizza, but I haven't had the pleasure. ← rembrandt's pizza is better.

the pierogies are just mrs t's, aren't they? i mean, they have mrs t's signs all over the store. you or i could deep fry a mrs t's.

wow shaya, how did you get the potatoes to brown that much without overcooking the fish? nycmike, your focaccia disappointments are making me feel better about my various failures, if it makes you feel any better.