Rieux

The Chicken with Jerusalem artichokes was good (we ended up using a quartered chicken), but not great. The favors were nice and buttery - to the point that my partner asked "how much butter is in here" and was surprised the answer was none. However, the skin just did not brown and neither did the veggies. I kept it in about 10 minutes longer and then did a quick broil, but the skin was still flabby. The jerusalem artichokes were good, but kind of disintegrated during the cooking time. Not sure I'd make this again over more traditional roast chickens.

Has anyone made the chicken with Jerusalem artichoke dish? Thinking of trying it tonight as we have 3 lbs of Jerusalem artichokes from my partner's garden. I do, however wants to sub just breasts for the quartered chicken. Anyone have tights on how id need to adjust cooking time?

I was in a long distance relationship between DC and the Lower East Side for two years. I spent almost every weekend on Suffolk st. a block or so from Katz. I have to say, I was spoiled by being able to go to Katz' for a brunch, hungover, basically whenever I wanted to. Those pictures make me mourn my days in the LES (although not the relationship). We also used to be able to hit up Clinton St. Baking Compnay, WD-50, and Russ and Daugthers Appetizing whenever we wanted, and it was a short walk to Congee Village. I miss those places. Le sigh.

I just feel, if I was invited to someone's house, and it was not clear that dinner was being offered during the visit and it was at a remotely dinner-ish time, I would definitely eat first, so as not to be starving. And, not to put my hosts out. And, then, I would feel no obligation to "just have a bit" if I had just eaten and randomly their dinner was offered to me. Actually, I would think it was pretty weird that food was being offered if it wasn't made clear when we made the plans. If someone is inviting me over at a meal-ish time and they didn't say "come for dinner" I would assume no food would be served. It's not like Kliman said he put some olives out, or cheese for nibbles. He was eating dinner. If I recall, it was pasta and crostini -- as a guest I'd find it strange to have been invited over at a time my hosts were apparently having dinner, and not to have been told in advance whether to eat or not. I am not sure if any of this is making sense....

I have to say, I am finding it almost impossible to read Kliman anymore. The self-righteous histrionics he has gone into over the perceived slight of a guest (who was not invited over for food) not eating just makes me crazy, and is indicative of his holier-than-thou attitude in much of his writing. http://www.washingtonian.com/chats/kliman/tuesday-september-24-at-11-am.php and last weeks chat.

14 half pints of green tomato/apple chutney - Done! Used Sarah Raven's recipe after I cleaned out the tomato plants in the garden. A worthy use of the last of the year's unripe tomatoes.

Last night: Trader Joe's bulgolgi and the last of the green beans from the garden, long cooked with tomatoes, red pepper, and vinegar.

Never done jam or jelly before. I thought I'd do jelly, and use some pectin to make sure it jells. Found this recipe, but it seems like a lot of sugar! I'm not wedded to this one, though. http://www.nytimes.com/1998/11/15/nyregion/the-elusive-and-tasty-beach-plum-jelly.html?pagewanted=2&src=pm

Any suggestions on a lower-sugar recipe for beach plum jelly? My mother has given me about 10 cups of these wild beauties, and I just ordered a bunch of weck jars to can some jelly this weekend.

How do you pronounce the name of this place? I keep hearing it as " Do Me" in my head, but I am sure that is wrong.

Went to Le Dip on Saturday for my birthday dinner with my husband. It was really great (our second time there), but I'm also a sucker for French brasseries. We started with oysters and radishes to share, as we both were getting heavy mains. He had the steak frites, I had the entrecote (which is the Saturday special, and, at something like $45, a treat. The apps were great, 3 types of nice oysters (although I liked the Wellfleets the best, even though I eat those all the time in Wellfleet). Radishes were nice, light, and showed what a simple combination of butter, radish, and salt can be. My entrecote was AMAZING. Perfectly cooked, just the right amount of fat/lean, and with a great char. The shallot sauce with it was also nice. It came with a good small salad and a mediocre Gruyere gougere which was cold and which I only ate a few bites of. For dessert I had the creme brulee, which was one of the best I have had. All of this went down with a lovely Sant Emillon whose name I cannot remember, but which seemed like a decent deal at around $52. We left very happy, full, but not overly so, and eager to go back. I'd even say that the entrecote may be my new splurge for when I really want a nice steak.

33 lbs of tomatoes converted to 11 quarts, not counting the one quart casualty that broke in the canner.

My father has one of these http://www.amazon.com/Camp-Chef-SH-140L-Pressure-Detachable/dp/B0000ASCU9 that he uses outside to sear fish, steaks, and blacken things. He generally puts a 15 inch cast-iron skillet on it, gets it white hot with some oil and butter, and quickly sears things to then be either finished over a lower flame or in the oven. (Striped Bass cooked this way, with a little salt, pepper, and lemon is divine.) I just got one for my birthday. I know how to do steaks and fish, but does anyone have any cool ideas on other ways I might use this? I could see using it to boil large stockpots of water for lobsters, or canning, or things like that, but I am sure I am missing some cool things I could be doing!

I use dende quite a bit for moqueca and bobí³. I used to buy it at the Brazilian Market in Wheaton, but they closed. Now you could try http://www.bybrazilmd.com/, which is also in Wheaton. The Best World and El Progreso markets in Mt. Pleasant also sometimes have it, but less frequently than the true Brazilian places. While you are there, it's worth it to pick up some Guaraní¡ and some Yoki Pí£o de Queijo mix.

I worked in a cafe in Dublin that had three CDs and that was it. But, I grew to love them and to the day I continue to love Burt Bacharach's greatest hits (sung by the original artists, including Dionne Warwick, who I also grew to love when I heard what really made her famous beyond Psychic friends), Sinead O'connor's jazz album Am I Not Your Girl, and the Carpenters. I am about to turn 36 and I'm so grateful that I was exposed to this music, and worry that younger people (like my 30 yo sister) will never hear it and it will be lost to history.

Wow. Thanks all. I am so appreciative for all the great people and advice they give on this board. You all have enriched my food life so!

Can you share your Mapo tofu recipe? I've been looking for a good one.

Thanks all!!!

I recently got a large pressure canner, and want to try my hand at canning 20-30 lbs of tomatoes. I figure now is a good time to buy them, and would be happy to get seconds quality as I am going to peel them and store them. I thought I could try to pick them up at my local farmer's market. Has anyone ever done this? How do I go about it? Contact the farmers in advance and put in an order? What should I expect to pay? Lots of questions...

Last night: Blackened some striped bass over a high flame outside with butter, olive oil, salt, pepper, lemon then roasted in the oven to finish. With local corn, a buttermilk red potato and green bean salad, home made bread, and mixed berry pie with ice cream from Nauset ice cream. Oh the joys of summer on Cape Cod!

I think it's called Monte Antico or something like that, and you are right it is crazy good for the price!

Cleaning out the fridge before vacation: stuffed peppers from my in-laws' farm with ground lamb cooked with pine nuts, tomatoes, mint, cumin, allspice, sumac and some goat cheese and breadcrumbs. Baked them for a while with some steam in the oven, and threw a quick mix of Greek yogurt, dill, and water on them when they came out. Served with green beans we picked at the in-laws, which were braised with tomatoes from the garden, onion, water, red wine vinegar. All delicious, and I impressed myself by throwing this together instinctively, knowing when to stop (for example, i excluded the zucchini I was thinking of putting in the stuffing, and on reflection, this was a good idea- it would have expressed too much water).

I was out last night, so I just saw all this when I woke up. First, I probably was inartful when I said service was awful in the topline. I should have more accurately said clumsy, and I edited the post to reflect that change. Also, Chef, there is no need to refund me anything, nor would I accept a refund! As Don noted, I'd consider my post positive. As I said in my first post on Casa Luca after my first visit, I think the food is truly outstanding and I am so happy that your restaurant is near my office. Service issues are relatively easy to fix, and the issues that happened to us can happen anywhere. Were they annoying, yes, but they were not meal-destroying. If anything, I found them more annoying than usual because I can tell that the restaurant cares about service, and has set high standards. Those are good things, that will keep me coming back, as the staff rise to the occasion.

Second visit yesterday for lunch. Top line: Food was great, service was clumsy. We were having a light lunch, so I only had the Fusilli with sheep’s milk cacio cheese, black peppercorns, burrata, basil. It was wonderful. Just the right size portion for lunch, creamy and sharp tasting without being heavy, and the pasta was perfectly cooked. It was one of the better pasta dishes I have had in a long time. My friend ordered the fritto misto for one. They ended up bringing her the plate for two (by accident? They said the chef was feeling generous and we wouldn't be charged for the plate for two, and we weren't, but I wonder if it was really generosity or a mistake...). She liked it a lot. We ended the meal with coffees that were fine. The main issue was the service. Although there were about 5 servers moving around in our section, it was impossible to get one of them to take our order. We had our menus down and kept trying to catch the eye of a waiter for close to 10 minutes after we had chosen our orders, and I finally had to literally turn around and tap a waiter and ask him to take our order. This is lunch, downtown. People want to be in and out in an hour or so. Waitstaff should be attentive to people's signals. Once the orders were in, the service remained clumsy. When the food came, the pasta was placed in front of my friend, not me, so we had to tell the staff who ordered what. Not a big deal, but I expect more from Casa Luca. Then, we had the strange incident of the double fritto misto (and the waiter called my friend, in her late 50's, young lady, which I thought was strange). It also took ages for my iced tea to be refilled (again, not a big deal, but I expected more, and was already annoyed by the issues ordering.) At the end, it was a similar hunting expedition to get one of the several waitstaff in our section to bring us the bill. I was an early and vociferous supporter of Casa Luca, and I have no past allegiance to the chef (I haven't even been to his other restaurants). I'd say I still think the food is sublime, but the clumsy service needs work. I will go back, because I think the place is really on to something and the food just makes me happy. But, I hope that the service kinks get worked out!

For the vegetarian you could adapt the sauce to a sort of modern twist on a traditional Ottoman dish -- grape leaves stuffed with rice and cherries. You could stuff the leaves with some rice (or any grain), some of the sauce, and then sprinkle some feta on top. I had something similar in Istanbul (without the Jim Beam, but it might add some interesting character).