Risotto with Borlotti Beans & Rosemary

There is only one thing to say about this - creamy.

Sex-on-a-plate!!! (and in the sack too if you make this right!)

Ingredients

2 cups (fresh) borlotti beans (see instructions below for dried)
2 cups carnaroli rice
1 large red onion
6-8 cloves garlic (read instructions below)
2 sprigs rosemary (finely chopped)
1/2 cup white wine
4 cups broth (homemade)
1/4 cup chopped parsley
2 tbsp butter

sea salt
lots of black pepper
1/2 cup grated parmigiano-reggiano

Recipe

In a pot, combine the fresh borlotti beans, 4 cloves of garlic, some sea salt. Cover with water, and bring to a boil. Simmer at high for 4-5 minutes, then reduce the temperature and let it simmer at a low heat for 25 mins until borlotti are cooked but not soggy. You may need to add more water. (For dried borlotti, this will be closer to 45 minutes.)

Do NOT use the pressure cooker. Yes, the CC is a fan of that instrument but you need the liquor (bean broth) made the ol'-fashioned way.

Separate the beans and the liquor. Combine about 1/4 cup of the beans, the liquor and blend. Should yield about 1 1/2 cups of the bean puree.

Dice the onions and garlic fine in the meanwhile.

Heat the broth in a pot and bring to a low simmer.

In another pot, heat some butter and fry the onions and garlic at a languid heat for 6-8 minutes. Add the rice and coat it all over with the fat. The rice will glisten. Cook for about 3 minutes. Add the white wine, the rosemary and the black pepper.

Add the hot broth and the bean puree in alternation so that it doesn't cool substantially. Keep stirring. This disturbs the surface starch of the rice and gets it into the broth. That makes the risotto creamy.

Towards the end, add the rest of the beans. Add the parm just after taking it off the heat.

Serve with parsley and black pepper on top.

PS :- After the carb-OD, you may be too pooped to make whoopie. Can't have everything!

Mussels in Mustard & Tarragon Sauce

This is the kinda thing you throw together for a quick dinner when time is at a premium.

Toss in a salad, the remaining half of the bottle of white wine, and some crusty bread and you just made a comfort dinner that's both quick and delicious.

Ingredients

2 lbs mussels

4 shallots
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp Dijon mustard (generous tbsp!)
1 sprig tarragon leaves
2 cups white wine

salt (?)
lots of black pepper

Recipe

Steam the mussels in a pot (with some water) for a few minutes until they open. Separate from the shells. Filter the mussel juice through a cheesecloth to remove any grit.

Heat the butter, fry the shallots for 6-7 minutes at a low heat. Add the white wine and the mussel juice, mustard, tarragon and black pepper, and cook for a few minutes. Blend using a hand-blender, and reduce. Test for salt (the mussels are salty enough frequently.)

Serve with some crusty bread. (The recipe works great with clams too!)

Meta-dishes

The Indians do it, the Chinese do it; even the propah-Viennese do it.

The CC has featured meta-recipes before like this one but he should feature more. These are the lifeblood of the "I-need-good-food-but-I-have-a-crazy-job"-crowd.

Y'all can all thank the CC later!^*

* not that you do, you lousy bastards!

English, Whither?

Recently, an anonymous reader left the following note in the CC's email inbox:

I have a super mutton recipe for it which my mom makes...and have been trying to get an english name for it since she is compiling her own recipe book....Please help!

This was in reference to the entry on dagad phool on which the CC seems to be one of the very few comprehensive entries on the Web.

Lady, if you'd left your address or at least read the comments, you would've noted that the CC posted all the names he knows. Fer cryin' out loud, woman, all you have to do is read the goddamn entry. The CC has already done the work for you!

For the record, the highest number of hits the CC gets, consistently over time, have been on three entries: dagad phool, marati moggu, and naag kesar.

You can't argue with results.

One billion Indians gotta get their info somewhere!

Pasta with Cauliflower, Raisins & Breadcrumbs

Quite simply this is a sensational dish. It takes a little more time than a simple dish but the tastes and textures are simply out of this world!

Ingredients

2 cups whole wheat pasta

1 cauliflower (cut into florets)
1/2 cup almonds
1/4 cup raisins
4 tbsp white wine vinegar
1/4 cup breadcrumbs

1 tbsp capers (chopped)
4 tbsp parsley (chopped)
1 tbsp tarragon (chopped)
1 tbsp chives (chopped)

olive oil
sea salt
black pepper

Recipe

Lots of steps but eminently parallelizable. Preheat the oven to 375°F.

Mix the cauliflower with some olive oil and salt and plenty of black pepper and roast for 30-35 minutes until lightly browned.

Meanwhile in a skillet, roast the almonds for about 8-10 minutes at medium heat. Set aside.

Roast the breadcrumbs for just 15-30 seconds. Set aside.

Mix the raisins with some hot water and the vinegar. Set on a low boil for 5 minutes. (Incidentally, this is one of the rare cases where the microwave excels!)

Chop the almonds coarsely.

Cook the pasta in heavily salted water under al dente. Mix all the ingredients (including the water of the raisins) except the breadcrumbs. Top each dish with the breadcrumbs.

Spirit of Halloween Past

These are from a past Halloween but they were all laced with "surprises" so you might just bite into something that is too salty, or too sour, or too spicy. You pays no money and yet you takes your chances.

Needless to say, people didn't like the "surprises".

These were the "normal" ones but the CC couldn't resist hiding a buncha "surprises" in this batch as well.

Yeah, the CC is evil!

Ravioli with Walnut-Garlic Pesto

Years ago, the CC had made the walnut sauce from another cookbook (which he will not reveal) and he was all, like, "what's the fuss about? this sucks!"

Turns out if you skip a few key steps, and a few key ingredients, the thing sucks. Well, who could've guessed that, right?

Many many many moons later, the CC decided to revisit this Ligurian classic from a different recipe (which involves a teeny-tiny bit more work and features a lot more ingredients,) and he's in love!

Ingredients

1 cup walnuts
2 cloves garlic (chopped)
1 cup grated parmigiano-reggiano
1/2 cup stale bread

salt
black pepper

Recipe

Pour boiling water over the walnuts. Yep, this is the key step actually. Soak for 30 minutes.

Fish the walnuts out. Soak the bread in the walnut liquid until soft.

Blend the walnuts, parm, garlic, bread, salt and pepper to a smooth sauce. You can add more of the walnut liquid to get the thing going.

PS :- The dish about clearly has chopped parsley and black pepper but there's nothing more there. Full disclosure, folks, full disclosure!

Vinaigrette of the Gods

Three simple things - fig vinegar, hazelnut oil, and kala namak (Indian black salt.)

Yes, yes, you can thank the CC later!

Taste of India

Some of the choices are questionable, and there are notable omissions but that is inevitable given the format. Not bad overall. Worth debating about.

(Source: FoaFoaF = "friend of a friend of a friend". If somebody provides accurate attribution rights, the CC will be happy to.)

Scrambled Eggs with Tarragon

When hunger beckons, and speed is at a premium - eggs, tomato paste, tarragon, salt and pepper, scrambled, and served over sourdough toast.

Frozen Elegance

Frozen Food (with String Beans) 1977.
Irving Penn is better known for his fashion photography but never before has frozen food looked so elegant. It almost makes you want to eat it.

Pasta with Butternut Squash, Sage and Pine Nuts

This utterly simple dish is dazzling array of textures and of tastes, and yet is so beguilingly easy that can easily be made at a moment's notice.

Interestingly, as my dinner companion pointed out the dish follows all the aesthetic and culinary rules of Japanese washoku inspite of the fact that the dish is Italian, of course. The rules of go shiki (five colors) and go mi (five tastes) and go ho (five ways = different methods) are effortlessly satisfied.

It's success is precisely that it's visually arresting (Toulouse-Lautrec might be jealous) and texturally and tastewise different with every bite.

Ingredients

1 large red onion
2-3 cloves garlic (chopped into thin segments)
4-5 dried red chillies
1 butternut squash (diced into large-ish cubes)
salt
black pepper
1/4 cup sage (chiffonaded)
1/2 cup pine nuts
olive oil

2 cups pasta
grated parmigiano-reggiano

Recipe

Toast the pine nuts in a skillet. Set aside.

In a pot, heat some olive oil at a medium-low heat. Fry the onion, garlic and red chillies. Do not hurry this process. When the onions are limp but not caramelized, they will rerelease the oil they have absorbed. Add the butternut squash and fry languidly. Add the salt, and liberal amounts of black pepper.

Add some water, and cover and let the squash soften. The mixture should be just slightly on the wet side.

Cook some pasta al dente in heavily-salted water.

When the pasta is done, add the sage to the squash mixture, and toss with the pasta.

Add the parmigiano-reggiano and the toasted pine nuts as toppings.

Chilli Corn Toast

Well, the CC's been getting a cornucopia (sic) of freshly-picked corn courtesy of a late summer blast.

The CC decided to turn it into an old childhood favorite that his mom probably picked up from some magazine. It's a perfect dish for hors d'oeuvres or along with a salad and a glass of wine, a light dinner.

Guaranteed to please children of all ages!

Ingredients

4 ears corn (shucked)
1/2 cup milk
4 tbsp corn flour
butter
6-8 Thai green chillies
salt
black pepper

bread (for the toast)

Recipe

The idea is to make a béchamel using the corn flour instead of regular flour. Add the chillies and the corn. Let it cook. Crush the corn lightly.

Toast some bread lightly; spread the mixture over it, and pop in the oven at 375°F for 20 mins or so.

Ragda Pattice

Most people know Mumbai (or Bombay) in connection to either Finance or Bollywood. What is less known is the sheer plethora of completely scrumplicious street food on display. You could spend months there just eating those alone.

This recipe here is one of those delights that make you want to slap your mom^† in sheer glee!

Ragda Pattice (as traditionally spelt) clearly derived from Ragda Patties are fried mashed potato-disks (patties) topped with a lentil sauce (ragda) which you can then tailor to your taste by adding a variety of sauces - traditionally, at least three - a sweet-sour date-tamarind chutney, a cilantro chutney, and a fiery mint sauce. Also, the Indian love of raw onions mixed with lime and cilantro means these are added on top.

There is nothing subtle about this recipe. Both the date-tamarind chutney and the mint one have one of those over-the-top "hit-me-again" tastes.

The long list of ingredients and sauces may put you off but this is better suited to a party where the guests can mix-n-match whatever toppings they like for themselves.

You might see minor variations of this recipe on the web but if you see a recipe that calls for yogurt, it is bogus!

Clearly those people have never been to Mumbai. Yogurt in this dish is akin to mayonnaise in traditional Chinese food - an act of heresy which should be followed up by actually slapping that person's mom!

† just an expression, folks!

Ragda

Ingredients

2 cups vatana (dried peas)
1 onion
1 piece ginger
3 green chillies
1/2 tbsp ground coriander seeds
1/2 tbsp ground cumin seeds
1 tbsp garam masala
2 tbsp amchur (ground mango powder)
1 tsp ground red chilli powder
1 tsp turmeric powder
salt (to taste)

Recipe

Soak the dried peas overnight. Cook in a pressure cooker or in 6-8 cups water until tender but not mushy.

Chop the onions, ginger, garlic in a food processor. Heat some oil, and fry the lot. Add the cooked dried peas along with the ground cumin-coriander mixture, and the chilli powder and the turmeric. Add some water if necessary. The mixture should just be slightly sloppy. Towards the end add the garam masala and the amchur.

You can cook this ahead of time. It actually improves overnight.

Patties

Ingredients

4 potatoes
salt

Recipe

Boil the potatoes in salted water. Peel and mash. Mix with your hands to get a smooth-ish mixture. Do NOT add extra water. The mixture should be shapeable by hand.

Make into disks and pan-fry. The CC has also had great success with brushing them with oil on both sides and baking them in a 450°F oven for 45 minutes, flipping them half-way. (The latter method is clearly the scalable one!)

A modest advice to the baking-kind. Poke a few fork-pricks in the patties to release moisture. That's what frying does. Nobody will notice the pricks but the lot will cook faster. (Shocking how basic science manifests itself in food!)

Date-Tamarind Chutney

Ingredients

6 tamarind pods (de-seeded)
12-14 dates (coarsely chopped)
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground red chilli powder
1 tsp black salt (kala namak)

Recipe

The black salt is absolutely indispensable. Without it, you will simply not get the tang that is this chutney!

Blend all the stuff with water in a blender into a sauce which is easily pourable. Use less water initially; you can always dilute it later.

This is also the only one of the three chutneys that can be successfully frozen to no detriment.

Cilantro Chutney

Ingredients

2 bunches cilantro
4 green chillies
1/4 cup peanuts
salt

Recipe

Blend in a blender.

Mint Chutney

Ingredients

2 cups mint
8 green chillies
1/8 cup peanuts
salt

Recipe

Blend in a blender. This chutney is noticeably thinner than the previous one. Also, packs a lot more fiery punch!

Onion Mixture

Ingredients

1 red onion (finely diced)
2 limes juiced
1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro
salt

Recipe

Mix. What else?

The "other" L-O-V-E

(Site: Willets-ramp entrance to Flushing Meadows.)

Sane Snail Advice

From Jane Grigson's book Good Things:

If you are likely to eat stuffed snails regularly, it's worth investing in snail tongs and forks (as well as in snail plates.) One can manage quite efficiently, though, with a pile of paper napkins, and a set of needles stuck into corks.

Now that's the kinda practical advice that the CC loves rather than the modern purveyors of flim-flam devices!

Yumurtali Ispanak

This classic Turkish breakfast dish consists of spinach and eggs.

The eggs are not quite fried, and not quite poached, and not quite baked sur le plat. It's somewhere between all three. However, it's really easy to make and was a sleeper hit at today's Sunday brunch.

The CC served the dish over toasted sourdough (as seen below.)

A note about the sumac. This dish is simply not the same without it!

Borrowing an expression from The Big Lebowski, "it ties the dish together".

Ingredients

3-4 eggs
1 red onion (finely diced)
2 bunches spinach (chopped loosely)
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp cumin (ground)
1/2 tsp whole black pepper (ground)
1 tbsp tomato paste

1 tsp ground sumac

olive oil
sea salt

Recipe

Fry the onions in olive oil at a low heat. Add the pepper flakes, cumin, black pepper and salt. Add the tomato paste and fry. Finally add the chopped spinach.

The spinach will release water. Keep frying it till it is wilted and turns dark green. Separate out spaces to crack the eggs. Crack one egg in each space.

Cover the pan and cook until done. The CC likes his eggs mollet which took 3 minutes.

Sprinkle the ground sumac over the eggs when serving.

Mushroom Ravioli in Corn Sauce

A year ago, the CC ate a corn agnolotti in a corn reduction at a fancy restaurant at the height of summer. The dish simply blew him away. The sauce had a silky-smooth mouth feel, and the essence of the concentrated corn flavor sang the song of summer.

Clearly, this was a recipe worth emulating!

So this summer, the CC finally got his hands on some excellent just-picked-that-morning corn (we've had a late summer here!) Naturally, reproducing the recipe was on the cards.

Well, the CC wasn't going to attempt the corn agnolotti. One may experiment but one should have a full understanding of one's own limitations. So the mushroom ravioli came from Raffetto's.

Oh, and how did the reproduction go?

Well, gentle reader, if it had gone badly, the CC would hardly have blogged about it, would he?

It's like the rules of a slasher movie where the heroine must be in danger, or a WWII movie with fighter planes going down in flames. There is just no escaping the conventions of the genre.

Corn Sauce

Ingredients

8 ears corn
1 large red onion (diced)
2 cloves garlic (chopped coarsely)
8 sprigs thyme

corn flour
sea salt
black pepper (lots!)

basil

Recipe

The recipe has multiple stages but they are pretty easy.

Shuck the corn kernels but reserve the corn stalks. Split them into two or three pieces each.

Fry the onions and garlic at medium low heat. When they are sufficiently limp but not colored, add the corn stalks and fry. Add 2/3-rds of the corn kernels, salt, lots and lots of black pepper, the thyme. Add about 6 cups of water.

Bring to a boil. Simmer at low heat for 25-30 minutes. Fish out the thyme (it's easier if you tie the thyme in a bundle using kitchen twine.)

Blend the mixture. Pass through a fine sieve (this is the hardest part but it's totally necessary to get that silky mouth feel.)

Bring the mixture to a low boil. Add the rest of the corn kernels. Reduce for about 10 minutes. Towards the end, whisk in some corn flour to get a smooth unctuous sauce.

Toss in the basil right before serving.

Slicing Sandwiches

Everyone claims that sandwiches taste the same way whether cut in half or on the diagonal but anyone with taste knows the "truth" - that diagonal-cut ones taste better!

To all that have struggled with this (and you know who you are!) you are not alone.

The CC is with you!

Ratatouille

Ratatouille over Couscous

Haitian Meal

The CC had been hankering for a Haitian meal and he received a ton of the right veggies courtesy of a friend's CSA so he decided to go all out and prepare a Haitian meal.

He had some vegetarian friends over for dinner so the beef was substituted by tempeh (the only reasonable thing that can stand up to a long marinade, and long cooking times without falling apart.)

Corn Fritters with Pikliz
Rice & Beans
Tempeh in Creole Sauce
(Source: Fine Haitian Cuisine by Mona Cassion Ménager.)

Beef in Creole Sauce

Ingredients

2 pounds beef (rump pot roast, sirloin tip or any beef cut suitable for braising)
1 bitter orange, or 2 lemons + 1 orange
1 1/2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 habanero chile
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
pinch of ground cloves
1 tbsp chopped chives
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup white onion shavings
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf pasley
1 sprig of thyme
5 garlic cloves, peeled, and crushed
1 tbsp tomato paste diluted in 1 cup boiled water
4 cups boiled water
1 sliced white onion (for sauce)
1 sliced bell pepper (for sauce)

Recipe

Trim excess fat from beef. Cut meat crosswise into six fairly equal pieces. Rub meat with bitter orange. Rinse quickly with very hot water. Drain carefully. Put meat in a bowl and coat with orange juice, vinegar, chile, black pepper, cloves, chives, salt, onion, parsley, and thyme. Cover with plastic wrap, and marinate in a cool place for 30 minutes to 1 hour in the refrigerator or overnight.

Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a heavy lidded 5-quart pan over high setting. Reserving marinade, add meat, and saute until beginning to brown, about 10 minutes. Add marinade, reduce heat to medium, cover, and cook until juice thickens, about 10 to 12 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat remaining oil in a 3-quart heavy pan over medium high setting. Add garlic and sautee for 1 minute. Add diluted tomato paste and boil uncovered until all liquid evaporates, 15 to 20 minutes. Stir-fry for about 1 minute. Add 3 cups of boiled water to tomato paste, mix well, and pour it over meat. Cover and cook until all liquid evaporates, about 45 minutes. The sauce should be thick. Remove meat and chile from the sauce. Season sauce with additional salt and pepper if desired. Add 1 cup of boiled water to the sauce, and stir in. Add meat and reserved chile. Reduce, uncovered, over medium heat until sauce thickens, about 5 to 7 minutes. Add onion and bell pepper slices during the last minute. Discard chile. Serve hot.

Rice and Beans

Ingredients

1/2 cup red kidney beans (soaked)
1/4 heaped tsp ground black pepper
1/4 tsp ground cloves
3 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
1 tbsp minced chives
1/2 cup white onion (finely diced)
1/2 cup shallots (finely diced)
1 habanero chile
1/4 cup red bell pepper (diced)
2 bouillon cubes
1/4 tsp ground cayenne pepper
3 cups bean cooking liquid (read below)
2-3 sprigs thyme
1 sprig parsley
2 cups long-grain rice

Recipe

Wash the beans, and bring to boil with 8 cups of water. Cover, and cook over medium heat with the lid ajar until the beans are cooked through, 45 minutes to 1 hour. The beans should hold their shape. Drain but reserve the cooking liquid.

Heat 2 tsp oil in a heavy pan, over medium heat. Add the beans and sauté until the beans are crispy about 7 minutes. Add black pepper and the cloves at the last minute. Set aside.

Heat 2 tsp oil in the same pan over medium heat. Add the garlic and sauté till slightly golden. Add the onion, shallots, chile, chives and diced red bell pepper and sauté for 3-5 minutes. Add the rice and fry to coat with the oil. Add the bouillon cubes, cayenne pepper, thyme, salt and parsley along with the 3 cups of cooking liquid and the reserved beans.

Cook till the rice is done. (You may need to add additional cooking liquid or water.)

Roasted Summer Vegetables with Rosemary

Served on a bed of Israeli couscous with a dash of tartness added by a splash of vinegar.

Mushroom Barley Risotto with Late Summer Vegetables

Practical Lessons for Urban Herbs

As the CC has mentioned, he acquired a ton of them.

At the end of this summer, more than half have died. The survivors are mint, rosemary, basil and sage.

Now, admittedly, this has been the worst summer on record in terms of sunlight but still...

Clearly, the CC's skills do not extend to plants and their maintenance!

We shall see how many make it through the winter. The CC is not optimistic.

Still, there are lessons to be learnt and there's always next year. Here's what the CC has learnt so far:

1. Replanting is a skill. You need to pack the dirt just tight enough to transmit water to the roots but not so tight as to inhibit them. (This was the CC's biggest mistake!)
   
   
2. Don't buy plants at the farmers' market early in the season. Yes, the CC knows you are chomping at the bit but what is good in an open field simply isn't good enough in an apartment or even a terrace. Wait. Get robust herbs and you will get robust urban herbs.
   
   
3. Houseplants in summer need a little more water than is expected. Whether it's the urban concrete jungle or what, the CC doesn't know but it's true. Conversely, they need a lot less water when it's cooler. So you need to turn into a lean, mean, weather machine.

Omnivore

Something about growing plants and snipping parts off them appeals to both my inner carnivore and my inner vegetarian!

Habañero

Not to be confused with habañera which is a Cuban musical genre.

There is only one word for these babies - fire. Use with extreme caution. But they have a smoky, citrusy fiery taste that is both unmistakable and irrestible to the heat-lovers.

"Thai" Salad with Cucumbers & Peanuts

There's nothing "Thai" about the salad but it's made by keeping Thai cooking principles firmly in mind.

The dressing was made by blending galangal, Thai green chillies, some kaffir lime leaves and lemongrass in water and passing the result through a sieve. To that was added some nahm pla (fish sauce), lime juice and palm sugar, and turned into a vinaigrette. The resulting vinaigrette was complex - salty, sweet, sour, hot with just a little bit of a bitter edge. In short, "Thai".

To top it all there were thinly sliced cucumbers sprinkled with fine sea salt and crushed peanuts.

How you ask, gentle reader, did it taste?

It fuckin' kicked ass is what it did!

The Hamburger

Book by Josh Ozersky about the cultural history of the hamburger. Needless to say, the artifact is a lot more complex than one would've assumed. Who knew that White Castle was the original chain but for very complex reasons (both franchise-related and financial) lost out to the McD?

Great info on the reinvention of the burger in the 1970's as a 50's concept even though it was nowhere near as ubiquitous in the 50's. Rather, it was more of a 60's thing.

To put it differently, the nostalgia for the burger 'n shakes in the 50's never existed. It's a 70's marketing campaign imposing a false structure on past memory that never was.

And kudos to the author for compressing the entire narrative into a compact, well-edited, comprehensively-documented 133 pages!

Pikliz

This is a Haitian condiment/dipping sauce that packs a fiery punch.

First, the vegetables and spices are layered (cabbage, peppers, cloves, peppercorns, thyme, onions, peas, habañeros, garlic, french beans, carrots) with sea salt thrown in every few layers.

The dish cannot be made without habañeros so if you can't find any, don't bother to make it.

Over this is poured boiling vinegar and the whole lot sealed. It can be refrigerated and will last a long time.

(Oh, and the boiling vinegar stinks up the house but the pickle is worth it!)

Why doesn't the CC ever clam up?

Linguini with Clams

Tomato Orgy

A reader sent in their pictures of their canning tomato sauce for the summer.

Holiday

CC's on a holiday to Chicago. Back with culinary stories in a week.

Pasta with Vegetables, Anchovies and Tomatoes

Black, Blacker, Blackest

Risotto Nero

All that glitters is ... golden goodness?

MSNBC reports: Parmesan producers bank on cheese.

All that is golden in bank Credito Emiliano's temperature-controlled vault is not precious metal, but something equally prized in Italy: aging Parmesan cheese.

Row upon row of 85-pound wheels of straw-colored Parmesan cheese, stacked some 33 feet high at a secure warehouse, age for as many as two years under the care of bank employees trained in the centuries-old art of Parmesan making.

The program allows Parmesan producers to pump cash into their business by using their product as collateral while it is otherwise sitting on a shelf for the long aging process. While the mechanism was not born out of the current economic crisis, dating rather from Italy's post-World War II years, producers say it is ever more important because it ensures that credit keeps flowing during otherwise tight times.

A cheesemaker turns over a percentage of his production, say 25 percent, to a bank warehouse and is given a certificate which can be presented to the bank to secure the loan, Morini said. In many cases, the cheesemaker then sells title to the cheese to a distributor while the cheese is still aging.

"An advance payment, as the one offered from Credem (Credito Emiliano) is a really positive thing because it gives at least the chance of surviving the lapse of time, hoping that the market will recover in a short period of time," said Cristian Bertolini, a quality check expert for the consortium.

Typically, a Parmesan maker who produces 7,000 wheels a year might put up 2,000 as collateral for a loan. According to Morini's calculations, each wheel is worth as much as 300 euros ($425), valuing the cheese collateral at 600,000 euros. The bank would then issue a loan of 60 percent to 70 percent of the value, so around 420,000 euros.

The Parmesan loan business contributes just 1 percent to the bank's annual revenue — but is critical to its image in the region, where agriculture is a key economic driver, said William Bizzarri, director of the Credito Emiliano subsidiary that deals in Parmesan deposits.

Bizzarri said Parmesan deposits are up about 10 percent due to the recession. At capacity, the cheesy deposits are worth from 120 million euros to 130 million euros.

Only disagreement is that they are surprised that the assets are up. Hard assets always go up relative to financial assets in a deflationary environment.

Go, parm, go!

Three Variations on a Theme

Same veggies. Different execution. Makes all the difference in the world.

(Recipes to follow.)
Pasta with Green Peppers, Beans, Summer Squash, Eggplants & Anchovies
Rotini with Green Beans, Green Peppers, Olives and Feta
Summer Pasta with Yellow Squash, Green Beans and Purple Basil

Zucchini Burgers

The trick to getting moist succulent burgers (irrespective of whether it's beef or zucchini burgers) is to keep them moist and handle them as little as possible.

Under no circumstance should you "press" them. Whenever the CC sees someone press down on a burger on a grill with a spatula, he wants to go postal on their ass. They are squeezing the flavor out of the burger!

Zucchini Burgers

Feed your inner mathematician!

Yep, they're real! And they're named after Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, the co-founder (along with Isaac Newton) of the infinitesimal calculus.

Harvesting Squid Ink

Getting squid ink is easy. You need raw squid (squid that have not been cleaned.)

What's hard is that the ink stains everything. So you need to avoid splatter and clean up in case thereof. And yes, it does stain everything in sight!

Yank the squid behind the head and pull the tentacles outwards.

This is what it looks like (yep, that's the eye.)


The glistening silvery thing is the ink-sac. You need to puncture it gently and squeeze over a container. This is the hard part. You can't squeeze with your hands otherwise your hands and nails are gonna get stained. Use the back of a spoon (which is also gonna get stained. Scrape that ink off with another spoon (this is valuable stuff!)



Squid ink

Anticuchos de Corazon

Yesterday, the CC had the pleasure of eating grilled, marinated cow hearts Peruvian-style.

Yep, that's cow as in cow, and heart as in heart. Not for the faint of heart.

It was marinated in cumin, garlic, aji pepper and lime, and it was tender and succulent. It is necessary to enjoy texture to appreciate this because hearts are all protein so they are texturally delectably silky yet chewy.

Summer Squash Soup

Summer Squash Soup

Julia Child

It seems customary to report on the subject thanks to the movie made by the idiotic-beyond-idiotic, border-line retarded "chick-flick twit". No, the CC has not seen the movie but we're gonna talk about the cookbook author and not the persona or the chick-flick or the twit.

It is no great secret that most foodies have read Julia Child.

Opinions differ on the subject, and the CC has definitely besmirched the woman's reputation on her favorite subject of omelettes (with perfectly good science and reason.)

Arguably, you would do better to learn French cooking by consulting Anne Willan or Richard Olney.

And she was no more "authentic" than Paris Hilton. She wore wigs during her show and had two face-lifts. Chances are they don't tell you those things during the movie. Nor do the asinine foodies bother with such blunt brute facts during their wild adoration bordering on hagiography.

But there would never have been an Olney or a Willan without a Julia Child. Plus, we're here to judge her on the basis of her books not her vanity.

What matters is the sheer joy of food as well as pure unabashed joie de vivre that leaps off every page. It's opinionated, detail-oriented, definitely old-fashioned. It's not "pitched" to a "marketing control group". It's tone is friendly if bossy; accurate if opinionated.

Certainly, some of the equipment has dated. We can do better in that domain, and she'd agree herself. But her dictum that happiness is as much in the doing as the final result is completely on target.

Above all, there is the sensual love of food and life. She was sui generis and so are the books.

It shows. It shows in spades. You can't fake this.

If ever there were books that just by the sheer forceful power of the author's personality could dispel the blues, it's these ones. There are few better things worth doing in life that spending an afternoon on the couch with Julia. (And yes, she'd howl in mirth at the smuttiness of that pun!)

She was right about butter too.

Linguini with Garlic-Scape Pesto & Fava Beans

The Color Purple

This morning, the CC blanched some fava beans in salted water in a steel vessel. The residual water had turned a vivid purple an hour later (the beans were only blanched for three minutes.) The CC could not find an explanation using the usual suspects (Web, McGee, etc.)

It probably has something to do with anthocyanins (responsible for purple and red colors in most veggies.)

Thoughts, anyone?

Break

CC's on a break. Too hot to cook!

Food and Social Class

One of the greatest descriptions of the relationship of food to mores and social class is undoubtedly the description of Madame Bovary encountering the dining room at the ball given by the Marquis in Flaubert's masterpiece.

What is left unstated is just as important as what is shown.

Emma's shock realization that many of the women had not put their gloves in their glasses (the conventional way for women to notify the servers that they were abstemious in the consumption of wine) is a show-stopper for her - the idea that women of a certain social rank would publicly consume wine is unthinkable to the petit bourgeois society that she is a product of.

The Marquis opened the drawing room door; one of the ladies (the Marchioness herself) came to meet Emma. She made her sit down by her on an ottoman, and began talking to her as amicably as if she had known her a long time. She was a woman of about forty, with fine shoulders, a hook nose, a drawling voice, and on this evening she wore over her brown hair a simple guipure fichu that fell in a point at the back. A fair young woman sat in a high-backed chair in a corner; and gentlemen with flowers in their buttonholes were talking to ladies round the fire.

At seven dinner was served. The men, who were in the majority, sat down at the first table in the vestibule; the ladies at the second in the dining room with the Marquis and Marchioness.

Emma, on entering, felt herself wrapped round by the warm air, a blending of the perfume of flowers and of the fine linen, of the fumes of the viands, and the odour of the truffles. The silver dish covers reflected the lighted wax candles in the candelabra, the cut crystal covered with light steam reflected from one to the other pale rays; bouquets were placed in a row the whole length of the table; and in the large-bordered plates each napkin, arranged after the fashion of a bishop's mitre, held between its two gaping folds a small oval shaped roll. The red claws of lobsters hung over the dishes; rich fruit in open baskets was piled up on moss; there were quails in their plumage; smoke was rising; and in silk stockings, knee-breeches, white cravat, and frilled shirt, the steward, grave as a judge, offering ready carved dishes between the shoulders of the guests, with a touch of the spoon gave you the piece chosen. On the large stove of porcelain inlaid with copper baguettes the statue of a woman, draped to the chin, gazed motionless on the room full of life.

Madame Bovary noticed that many ladies had not put their gloves in their glasses.

But at the upper end of the table, alone amongst all these women, bent over his full plate, and his napkin tied round his neck like a child, an old man sat eating, letting drops of gravy drip from his mouth. His eyes were bloodshot, and he wore a little queue tied with black ribbon. He was the Marquis's father-in-law, the old Duke de Laverdiere, once on a time favourite of the Count d'Artois, in the days of the Vaudreuil hunting-parties at the Marquis de Conflans', and had been, it was said, the lover of Queen Marie Antoinette, between Monsieur de Coigny and Monsieur de Lauzun. He had lived a life of noisy debauch, full of duels, bets, elopements; he had squandered his fortune and frightened all his family. A servant behind his chair named aloud to him in his ear the dishes that he pointed to stammering, and constantly Emma's eyes turned involuntarily to this old man with hanging lips, as to something extraordinary. He had lived at court and slept in the bed of queens! Iced champagne was poured out. Emma shivered all over as she felt it cold in her mouth. She had never seen pomegranates nor tasted pineapples. The powdered sugar even seemed to her whiter and finer than elsewhere.

Six-Packs (the abs, darling, not the beer!)

In French, they are les tablettes de chocolat, consumption of which will definitely not lead to the desired result.

In Which the CC Plays Detective ...

The CC had tapas at a Spanish restaurant quite a while back, and they had served pan-fried Marcona almonds with sea-salt. The CC tends to be more than a little sceptical of all the branding that goes on (Marcona, Shmarcona!)

What was so special about the "Marcona" almonds anyway? They seemed like your basic almonds with an almondy flavor (what else?)

The question was straightforward. Were the almonds special or was the prep special (pan-fried with olive oil with some great sea salt?) Or was it just the copious amount of wine consumed?

Well, the CC decided to replicate the completely obvious recipe (pan-fry, drain on paper towels, add finely ground sea salt) with cheap-ass almonds bought from a local ethnic market.

Bottom Line: It's the sea salt. There is nothing remotely special about the Marcona almonds but the sea salt makes a huge difference.

Almonds with Sea Salt

Chanterelle Dinner

Salad with Fig Vinegar, Pistachios and Gorgonzola
Strozzapreti with Chanterelles and Thyme

Basil Baseline

So the CC bought some basil at a grocery store, and it had roots and was clearly vibrant so he planted it and verily, after a few hiccups it took root and has been flourishing ever since.

A tad surprising given all the brouhaha about "commercial agriculture" (as opposed to what, jackasses? "loss-ridden agriculture"?!?)

Results, fellow gastronauts, results!

Chanterelle, Chanterelle, Chanterelle

It may not be obvious but the first picture features a 7-inch mushroom, and the last picture features 3+ lbs. of those babies!

Yes, we have no shame. We ate them all.

Brunch

Scrambled Eggs with Flat Beans and Peas ♦ Olive Ciabatta