Clam pie with fava

And why not?  Fuzzy photo, but it was delish.  Next time we'll try going the Franny's route, mit sahne, rather than having the creaminess come from the grated cheese and the clam liquor.  (For years I thought mit schlag meant "with cream".  Well, same thing, I guess, sort of - with impact!)

Giuseppe Torcivia's heroic pasta con sardi dinner

May I list all the food G made for dinner?  I'm not sure I'm able.  Pickled eggplant, smoked olives, pickled peppers, fresh figs wrapped in ham, bresaola dressed in olive oil and lemon, mystery salami from San Franciso that made me weep, sharp cheese, shrimp pate, fried artichokes, battered &  fried sage leaves, eggplant fritters, spinach and egg pancakes, pistachio rice balls, squid-ink rice balls, bruschetta a la Norma, cuttlefish in dark red wine sauce, cured salmon with scallions and olive oil and lemon, cold tomato soup, pasta con sardi.  For 16.  Served under a tent in a wild storm.  Woof!

Bresaola, phase 2

Glistening, but about as firm as a well done piece of meat, the bresaola emerges from two weeks of curing in salts and herbs.

The, washed & dried, it sits on a rack for 2 or 3 hours, before hanging to air-dry for the next three weeks at maybe 60 F/

Start sharpening those knives.

 

Coteghino Fasciato (Spiced Pork Sausage or Cotechino Boiled in a Wrap)

A nice piece of coincidence: one of the books we bought ourselves for Christmas is an extract translation of Pellegrino Artusi’s 1891 opus, La scienza in cucina e l’arte di mangiare bene (The Science of Cooking and the Art of Eating Well), published now as Exciting Food for Southern Types, by Penguin, and in it is what I’ve transcribed below, which I read last evening while still digesting the D&G’s New Years Day dinner feast of the cotechino that we made last Friday.  (Long sentence!)

Coteghino Fasciato
(Spiced Pork Sausage or Cotechino Boiled in a Wrap)

 I will not pretend that this is an elegant dish, but rather one for the family, and as such it does the job perfectly well, and indeed you could even serve it to close friends.  Speaking of close friends, Giusti says that people who are in a position to do so, should occasionally invite their close friends to get their mustaches greasy at their table.  I am of the same opinion, even if the guests will probably proceed to speak ill of you, and of how they were treated.

Skin an uncooked cotechino weighing about 300 grams (about 10 ½ ounces).  Take a large, thin cutlet of lean veal or beef weighing between 200 and 300 grams (about 7 and 10 ½ ounces), and pound well.  Wrap the cutlet around the cotechino, tie it all up with twine and put on the fire in a saucepan with a bit of butter, some celery, carrot, and a quarter of an onion, all coarsely chopped.  Salt and pepper are not necessary, because the cotechino contains plenty of these ingredients.  If you plan to use the sauce on a first course of macaroni, add some slices of untrimmed prosciutto or some bacon.  When the piece of meat is browned all over, pour in enough water to cover it halfway, and throw in some little pieces of dried mushrooms; simmer slowly until completely cooked.  Strain the sauce, but add back the mushrooms, then use the sauce, along with cheese and butter, to season the macaroni.  Serve the cotechino as the main course, keeping it wrapped in the cutlet but removing the twine, and garnishing it with a good amount of its own sauce.  

It is a good idea to thicken the sauce for the pasta a bit with a pinch of flour.  Put the flour in a saucepan with a bit of butter, and when it starts to brown pour in the sauce and boil for a while. 

A side dish of carrots goes very well with this dish.  First boil the carrots until two thirds done and then finish cooking in the meat sauce.

The Recipe Project

One Ring Zero's The Recipe Project.

What is The Recipe Project?

"It's a 116 page hardcover cookbook book and full-length CD. The book features recipes, interviews, and essays from Mario Batali, John Besh, David Chang, Tom Colicchio, Chris Cosentino, Tanya Donelly, Mark Kurlansky, Isa Chandra Moskowitz, Andrea Reusing, Michael Symon, Aaron Sanchez, Michael Harlan Turkell, Kara Zuaro, Emily Kaiser Thelen, Jonathan Dixon, Michelle Wildgen, Christine Muhlke, JJ Goode, Melissa Clark, and Matthew Amster-Burton. Plus online bonus tracks by Hubert Colson, Dave Wondrich, Jenny Morris, and John Currence.

The CD features recipes from the above chefs, set to music, and sung WORD FOR WORD! (In most cases, the musical styles were suggested by the chef.) Guest vocalists include Claudia Gonson (The Magnetic Fields), Tanya Donelly (Throwing Muses, Breeders, Belly), and Allyssa Lamb (Las Rubias Del Norte)."

Bagel me, Dr. Memory

From Mark Strausman to wine making buddy Savino to you:  the chef teaches us to make bagels at home.  Real bagels.  Get your malt on.

This is my tasting spoon

The tasting spoon is all about rule number three:  taste what you are cooking.  (Rule number one is to not pass up an offered drink of water, and rule number two - more important in my older age - is to not pass up an opportunity to use the toilet.)  It's revolutionized my life.