Anna Blume

Cool! I wonder where your grand/great family developed their recipe. I just looked at the three versions of cappelletti in The Splendid Table:

a- Faenza: 3 cheeses, lemon zest, nutmeg, yolk

b-Ferrara: pork loin, [very lean] salt pork, turkey breast, salami, cinnamon, nutmeg, white wine, Parm, egg

c-Imola: mild sausage, roasted pork loin, mortadella, Parm, ricotta, nutmeg, egg.

Since mortadella contains fatback, maybe there's a relationship there.

Zora: Perhaps you were looking at a nearby sign? I went to P St WF after the farmers market this afternoon and the Meyer lemons were $2.49 a pound. The quinces were $2.99 and radicchio $6.99 a pound (etc., etc. re prices I wouldn't pay...)

P.S. Take pictures at the market. How wonderful!

Maro!!!!

Zora: Meyer lemons are actually a much better deal at While Foods. I think they're around $2.99 a pound.

As for clementines, they're $5.99 for 5 lbs and only $4 at Safeway until Wednesday. Better to spend the extra buck and pick up 5 lbs. of satsuma mandarins; just check the box for moldy ones before you get in line.

Trader Joe's sells key limes at a lower price than WF and the quality yesterday looked excellent.

The parsnips were less expensive than they are at other stores in the area too. Same with 1/2 gallons of milk.

Jars of TJ "fancy" preserves contain corn syrup.

Porcupine: Might I ask what you intend to do with your fatback?

Packaged fatback used to be in the case at the Cleveland Park grocery store where Pam The Butcher works.

Alas, Pam the Butcher is Pam the Cheesemonger at Eastern Market . All the interesting things she ordered for Brookville are gone along with everything else that made a visit to the counter at the back of Brookville worthwhile. Regulars from the staff have taken over the department and there's no telling them about the difference between the slabs of Virginia ham she used to carry and the ham steaks now in the cases. I miss her stories, too. What a presence.

* * *

Speaking of fatback, has anyone compared the different domestic (only legal option) brands of mortadella sold in this area? I can easily buy some at Vace, but I wondered if there are any strong opinions about alternative sources. It's destined for stuffed pasta.

I have to apologize for kvetching so melodramatically, but T Hersch, you're probably right.

The thing is, Vace doesn't include fennel. I just picked up a few things and even asked while making my purchase. The smell of mild sausage takes over the fridge unless you put into another container, but it's not herbal (? seedy?) at all.

What disturbed me more was seeing all those big blotches of whole parsley leaves. It took a while to pick all the green bits and as many seeds as I could out of the meat before adding it to my ragu. Ultimately, the flavor of the sauce was not affected.

Please consult this thread on the cuisine of Emilia-Romagna and if you're a participating member, please join in if you're interested and have time to make lasagna, tortellini, tagliatelle and other types of egg pastas during the month of December. (The Italian forum gets too little traffic in comparison to France's. The host never bothers to visit and it could benefit from the presence of some of the Italiaphiles who compare canned plum tomatoes here.)

I won't repeat myself at length. Instead read the post that documents my meal last night begun with Ragu de Nobili, ending in a roasted pear with red wine sauce, honey and Parmigiana-Reggiano.

I've been reading up on some of the issues you address in this thread. Long ago when I made pasta on a regular basis, I just bought whatever AP, bleached flour was available at the supermarket. It was fine. I haven't bothered for quite some time, not until joining in the year-long project to cook our way through all the regions of Italy month by month in the Italian forum, an effort that will continue in 2007. The first three times I used Tipo 00 from Vace with good results. (I made ravioli and other types of stuffed pasta.) Some of the great authorities--Lynne Rossetto Kasper, Marcella Hazan & Lidia M Basianich--use AP unbleached flour alone. MH specifies King Arthur. All require larger eggs: X-L or Jumbo. I tried last night and was not happy with the texture. The dough was supple, a joy to handle after adding more eggs than required, but the tagliatelle was a little tough. Not inedible. Just not grand.

ETA: After re-reading mdt above, I'll add that I tried LRK's recipe last night which requires only eggs and flour. Earlier in the year, I was following different region-specific formulae that add water or wine. Still others add olive oil. Usually semolina is not used for sfoglia (egg dough) since wheat from more Northern regions is softer than the hard wheats that produce the great egg-less pastas of the South. (There's more to the story than that, but I need to scram.)

Thanks, Heather.

* * *

Now GRRRR!!!!!

: Calling on Al Dente:

Please tell the folk at Whole Foods who make the recipe for Italian pork sausage to MAKE AUTHENTIC ITALIAN SAUSAGE!!!!

As a short-cut, instead of making a special trip to Vace, I bought a single mild Italian sausage in Georgetown to make a fairly time-consuming, elaborate ragu that calls for chicken thighs, giblets, pancetta, 4 oz. ground beef and 4 oz. of mild Italian sausage without fennel.

I was a fool not to look at the sausage before it was wrapped, but I've purchased them pre-packaged before in other pinches and never had a problem. So, here I am meezing my place, I roll open the brown wrapper and the stuff is studded with BIG GREEN LEAVES OF PARSLEY little black specks of something that looks like it might be onion seed (not black pepper) , and TONS of fennel that has no business being in mild pork sausage (you order finocchio if you want finocchio in your sausage) . None of this stuff added for the set that spreads blueberry cream cheese on their cinnamon bagels and buys jars of $14 spaghetti sauce with brown paper tied over the cap with twine should be there.

The reason Marcella Hazan's books advised Americans to buy breakfast sausage for a number of recipes back in the 70s and 80s was because Italian-American sausage-makers made only two types of sausage and neither was what Italians would consider ordinary "sweet." Vace makes a plain sausage. I would have gotten breakfast sausage had I known.

Who does more for music knowledge, Britney Spears or Yo-Yo Ma?

Since this comment is discussed further, just wanted to mention that Richard Thompson did a fabulous minute or two of "Oops, I did it again..." when interviewed some time ago. Wasn't being sarcastic at all.

Are there any local stores for non-professionals that sell cake flour in larger quantities than the small boxes of Swan at Safeway or Giant? I'm not in the market for tons. It just would be nice to spend less than $2.90 for 1-2 lbs.

I really don't understand the relationship between the title of this thread and the initial post.

Perhaps the initial poster could provide a little more context and an explanation for the citation and brief comment.

Taken from the link, here's the bio for the chef who paired snails with celeriac:

Massimo Guzzone

Il giovanissimo chef Massimo Guzzone è il gestore del ristorante “La Pista”, nella storica sede del Lingotto.

Di origini siciliane, Guzzone mostra grande passione anche per la cucina piemontese. A La Pista regna la cultura dei sapori e del gusto, la stagionalità di verdure scelte attentamente, un design minimalista, una cucina di immense suggestioni. Grandi vini (500 le etichette in carta, per la maggior parte piemontesi), una cucina ispirata alla tradizione e interpretata con originalità pronta a sorprendere con proposte inedite. Protagonisti: un’ampia scelta di ingredienti combinati nel pieno rispetto delle loro caratteristiche. Passione ed estrema cura dominano su tutto, dalle sfumature dei sapori alla creatività delle composizioni.

I piatti più gettonati dello chef sono le insalatine di erbera, ossia carne del collo del vitello dove passa l’erba mangiata dall’animale, prelibatezza di una tradizione piemontese che va purtroppo scomparendo e il sorbettone con le mandorle, un dolce siciliano della sua terra d’origine che si unisce perfettamente con i più tipici sapori della gastronomia piemontese. Per lo chef Massimo Guzzone ogni scelta creativa rispetta con coerenza il ciclo delle stagioni, perché è nella naturalità dei prodotti e nella loro freschezza che si realizza il perfetto incontro con il gusto.

If he's VERY young, he's trying to distinguish himself while demonstrating he knows his profession. It's good that a Sicilian going to Turin to cook expresses his "passion" for the city's very different regional dishes and its great wines. Moreover, in an age in which Italians are trying to get over their reputation for ho-hum same-old, same-old "authetic" food, he's joining the ranks of chefs wishing to be a little more original while still respecting tradition. Stands to reason that means not just creating new dishes that demonstrate knowledge of contemporary, international trends, but also demonstrating how something from his birthplace (frozen almond dessert) need not be considered foreign when added to a Piemontese menu. The references to the ideals of Slow Food also tie the chef to traditions Sicily and Piemonte share. He's cooking local, seasonal foods next February when celery root appears on his menu.

ETA: Did not realize references are to two different Massimos, the first quote taken from a thread devoted to Tosca and Massimo Fabbri. So, the bio doesn't really matter, but I wonder if first post is based on the assumption that Tosca is supposed to reproduce one region's established traditions. If that's the case, some of what I say about M.G. still holds except for the fact that we're dealing with an Italian far from home who has to juggle principles of local, seasonal food in a more complicated way.

Funny how you still see supermarkets selling bags of celery hearts at higher prices. To me, that's relish in New England with radishes, wedges of hard-boiled eggs, pickles (cucumber, onion, beet & cauliflower), pimento-stuffed green olives from a jar and black olives out of a can. Cut glass tray.

I'm sympathetic to the lack of enthusiasm for celery. Unless stored upright in water w/ produce bag for a hood, it turns pale and limp quickly. Insipid or too bitter at times. I go through phases, actually liking it:

1) minced in tuna, chicken or turkey salad [sandwiches]

2) in salad with crisp Romaine, toasted chopped walnuts and gorgonzola. Half the cheese is mashed into red wine vinegar with fork before being mixed with EVOO, S & P. Crunch contrasts & complements. Assertiveness makes up for the lettuce.

3) double or triple celery soup with sautéed cubes of celery root. Slice the tops of the celeriac and throw them in, too. Thyme. A leek if you're afraid it will be too bitter.

4) a quicker soup with Arborio rice and plenty of your chicken stock.

Bet it wouldn't be bad treated like chard stalks, or mixed in with them in longish slices, braised in chicken stock, add a little cream. Top with Parm & toasted bread crumbs and bake as a gratin. Also plan on making a ragu before the celery goes bad---if you don't chop up leftovers for the freezer.

There was a fascinating article in Gourmet earlier in the summer about honey made from Tasmanian leatherwood pollen. The stuff was described as deep and rich; what musk is to perfume. Anyone seen it in the DC area? Further, anyone have any ideas about where in the area to find honey that is more earthy and deep than what we are generally used to? I'm very curious to try something a bit different.

Trader Joe has Mesquite honey at an inexpensive price. Haven't tried it.

Whole Foods has honey from New Zealand and Italy, both considered among the best producers, and both very expensive. Haven't tried the former, though friends who honeymooned there (yes) rave about it. I love the Italian chestnut honey. Perhaps most famous, however, is Sardinia's Miele Amaro.

Over in the cheese section at WF, you'll find small bottles of Spanish orange blossom honey. Light, bit much more flavorful and fragrant than any I recall from Florida; great in baking, complemented by orange flower water (Lebanese at Rodman's).

Creamed, raw honey is fantastic, too. I haven't tried any available locally. However, you might check out local farmers markets, too.

Didn't some guy named Fabio something-or-the-other publish a cookbook recently?

Here's the book bundled with Happy in the Kitchen. (Peter Kaminsky, the writer hired for the project, is great.)

A Dame d'Escoffier if not a chef, but Najmieh Batmanglij is great, especially Silk Road... & New Food...

Just chefs and cookbooks? Or are local/native-born authors who write books about food of interest? Nina Planck, Sam Fromartz...

Will someone please take away the pumpkin seeds I toasted? Put them on a high shelf and lend your ladder out.

Quote of the meal: "Mo-om! Did you put PARSLEY in this sauce? I HATE parsley!"

If the kid will eat a skate wing, I'd say that's not too bad

Thick boneless pork chop braised with red wine

Celery root salad with scallions

Quince and apple sauce (would be good with cranberries)

Buttermilk mashed potato

Braised collard greens

A bit overboard on the American (South)/Italian combination, but after a full week of making stock, peeling chestnuts and just picking or scrambling eggs, this was the first concerted effort to eat a real meal for quite some time.

I neglected to mention the best bargain I found last week: 4 oz. of vanilla extract for $4.99. Before this trip, my last purchase was during a vanilla shortage and 4 oz. of organic cost $17.

KA flour must have been sold at a special price for Thanksgiving. Its regular price, $2.49 for 5 lbs. of all types, is still a good deal.

* * *

As for the frozen haricots verts from France, I wonder if the quality has gone down over the years or if it's a matter of different personal tastes since I have read raves about the item. Their flavor was minimal, especially compared to the delicious ones from the farmer's market that I cooked after they had been in the freezer for over a month. The ones from TJs mostly tasted frozen.

* * *

What I really would appreciate is a water fountain . With the warm weather, especially, the dry air was hard to take. Whole Foods gave its customers small bottles of the inexpensive store brand of water during its period of renovation out in Tenleytown. This store needs to put in a fountain and in the meantime, leave a pitcher with water and cups out next to the thermos of coffee.

Missed that, Heather, thanks.

It's a great entry with all the important references, including Nina Planck. Mario Batali and lardo have probably done a lot to make American lard more palatable, especially given these past few years of articles, books and menus featuring pigs as food.

The last time I made an all-butter crust, seizing up of a carefully crimped edge was a genuine disappointment, so it's good to read confirmation of one of the virtues of lard that was mentioned in the NYTs.

Off-topic, but this is the second time I have found someone writing about how good vinegar is in piecrust. Anyone here have experience with including it? Effect?

Thanks, everyone for the recommendations, the knowledgeable post, Zora, and the encouraging wit, Waitman.

I chickened out and bought a lot of butter on sale. Having developed an interest in Edna Lewis's food, I will definitely try making piecrust with lard one day.

Significantly cheaper. Some examples, which I bought:

1 liter of Kalamata Extra Virgin Olive Oil: $7.99 (about ten bucks cheaper than Safeway)

1 pound of pasta (cappelinni): 69¢

1 pound of sliced baby portabella mushrooms: $1.49

TJ's herbal shampoo: $1.99

It's amazing how it all adds up to fifty bucks so quick!

TJ's has a cult following and the couple of times I went to the store up in Friendship Heights years ago, I didn't quite get it.

However, now I do. I shopped there this weekend since I heard they had a good price on frozen chestnuts and I needed lots. (Wasn't until I got home that I realized their shells were split, but they were NOT unpeeled. Vacuum-packed, unpeeled cost twice as much, so....)

-KA flour--regular price is lower than any I recall (Didn't need it, so amount escapes me.)

-Unfiltered, new grown in Italy EVOO a decent price; many better deals

-An entire kilo of Italian Arborio rice for $2.45, < or = cost for pound elsewhere

-Milk $2.99 a gallon, $1.89 1/2 a gallon

-3 grades of pasta; for $0.99, organic white-flecked pasta w/ coarser texture of De Cecco;

-"artisanal" line of Trader Joe Giotto is $1.49.

-Almond meal is $3.45 (??? forget size of bag); not flour from blanched nuts, but not $12 either

-All dried fruits & nuts are NOT better deals than what is found elsewhere. Many, fine quality, are.

-Niman Ranch and a few other meats carried by Whole Foods (small selection) at lower prices

-Those frozen Haricots Verts from France that I've heard about: $2 for 1 1/2 lbs.

Produce has been criticized. It's not their forte nor a priority. 39 cents for under-sized Granny Smith apples; 5 would probably make a pound. 3 persimmons for only $2.99, but none of the packages looked worth the purchase. Clementines at $6 when Giant had a $4 sale for 5 pounds this weekend.

However, many of the packaged vegetables did look fresh and good. Better prices included organic carrots at 79 cents; WF just lowered their recently elevated price of $1.19 to $0.99. I got a bag of photogenic scallions for $1.09. They were the equivalent of 2 1/2 bunches and due to the sealed plastic bag some of us shun, the greens were absolutely pristine since they hadn't been crushed by a rubber band. Fresh, good-looking mushrooms are around $2.60 a lb. white, $2.71 crimini, in 8 & 10 oz. packages, respectively.

Lines early on a Saturday evening were incredibly long, but I was at the counter before I could finish reading the first commentary Hendrik Hertzberg has been able to conclude on a happy note for years.

To save space I'll refer back to recent posts rather than offer complete citations:

1. CAULIFLOWER

The white color of cauliflower is produced by tying the leaves of the plant over the head of florets so it blanches due to lack of direct sunlight. Otherwise, your garden-variety supermarket cauliflower would be green, most likely; broccoli is a close relative. Orange is less common than purple, the latter color very common in Sicily and absolutely lovely when roasted or sautéed without lots of moisture. Unlike those purple stringbeans or bell peppers that turn green when steamed or fried, the rich color remains. If steamed or boiled, the color becomes a ghostly shade of lavendar, streaked with pale green.

Click here: Travel Diary for gorgeous photographs of a market place in Sicily and scroll all the way down past the fishmongers, butchers and artichokes to the cauliflower.

2. MARKETS IN WINTER

Are Eastern Market and FARMFRESH at Dupont Circle on Sundays the only area markets open during winter months?

Please note that New Morning (a favorite) will be coming to Dupont Circle for the very last time tomorrow, November 18. I confess that as a volunteer, I stopped showing up after Thanksgiving myself last year so I don't know how many do and do not hang around. However, winter hours do not begin until January: 10-1 am instead of 9-1.

3. FABIO TRABOCCHI'S DEMO

It was one of the grabbiest events I've witnessed and Olsson's under-estimated potential sales of the chef's new cookbook, selling out quickly to the fans of Maestro who gathered there. The risotto was distinctive since Le Marche's simple cinnamon-lemon flavor is unusual outside of that region. Otherwise, I'd say pedagogical value superseded the wow factor. It would be a good, light first course with unexpected flavors to introduce a dish with a complementary sweet element.

The chestnut soup flavored with mushrooms, pancetta, celery root, shallots, cognac and lots and lots of butter and cream (well, half & half) was outstanding, really one of the best first-course soups I've ever had. I am making it for Thanksgiving, in fact.

I am linking the market site prematurely, to the page for recipe searching, though it's not there yet. I will speak to Bernie & Ann to make sure it's added, though I'd imagine you can find an online source via google.

Anyone know where to find this in Washington, D.C. or metro accessible store?

Having read the NYTs (?) article recently about making pie crusts with lard, I am interested in experimenting, though there will be some people at Thanksgiving I have never met before.

Any opinions about the use of this animal product?

I've always had a bad attitude about it (health reasons/Yankee), and now that I am willing to be a little open-minded I wonder if it's something that a polite guest shouldn't foist on others. No one attending is a vegetarian or Kosher, but there are triathletic moms who shop green and organic.

My name is Bruce and I am a wheat farmer from North Dakota who invested in Agraria Restaurant. I would like to assure you that our goals are really quite simple; it's not about politics, not about lobbyists, it's about trying to run a business that makes money and adds value to the food that we grow. If at the same time and in some small way we can tell a story about American agriculture and acquaint restaurant consumers with American farmers, then we have succeeded.

Anna, you linked to an article on Agraria’s web site and suggested that it was the restaurant’s letter to DC lobbyists. It was not Agraria’s letter; it was one of several newspaper articles that were listed on the “in the news” page. The one listed just below the one you referenced may give you a more complete picture. I would also like to direct you to the article and audio from NPR.

Bruce

Bruce, my apologies. I saw only the bold print of the title and not what was quite obvious after your post: the notice indicating sources & inviting potential patrons to consult recent stories in the media concerning Agraria.

First, let me say I support local farmers, I volunteer at one of our area's markets and was quite shocked to hear from one of the market's more politically saavy employees that the US Census Bureau no longer lists "Farming" as an occupation on its surveys (I haven't verified his statement) due to the alarming rate by which the number of farms is falling, and the alternative livings children raised on farms seek after they leave school.

However, convinced that all politics are not evil and that strategies are useful, I find it difficult to believe that opening Agraria in Washington, D.C. is not a political act. Surely North Dakota is saying something to the nation from the seat of the federal government. It doesn't seem to be here just to augment the number of national museums and monuments honoring American culture.

I think it's great that you are able to provide insights as one of the farmers and investors. As you can see from the board, DR members have been pleased by their experiences at the restaurant.

Is the principal goal merely to increase awareness of the direct relationship between eating and agriculture as Wendell Berry would say? When a diner goes to the restaurant, how are didactic purposes of the restaurant--if you believe there are any--conveyed?

Why North Dakota? Why here? How does the food you serve relate to North Dakota? To local farms?

Anyone know more? Or have a stronger understanding of goals expressed?

I haven't been there, so maybe someone who has...

I am trying to understand the significance of this restaurant in light of Omnivore's Dilemma and a number of related, recent publications that have been getting attention.*

Here's the restaurant's letter to D.C. lobbyists

on their web site

I am still not sure what owners of small family farms in North Dakota are trying to do with Agraria.

Do they believe that small family farms simply need to assert their presence in Washington because of the threat big agribusiness poses to their existence? Or do they feel that corporate farms get too large a share of federal dollars and wish to gain their fair share of subsidies?

Why North Dakota alone--as opposed to a unified group of family farms from different states?

This is about advocating local foods, right? So whose "local" is being represented on the menu and how far will it be shipped? How is the restaurant distinguishing itself from the other restaurants already in this area that feature local foods? By virtue of its sponsorship and direct political appeals?

*E.g. Organic, Inc. by Sam Fromartz. The New Yorker reviewed OD & OI together. The exchange of open letters between Michael Pollan (OD) and John Mackey of Whole Foods is worth reading, too.

While I do intend to read this book at some point in the near future, let me share with you a rather entertaining letter to Mr. Pollan. It's silly..._click_

Yes, but one of Pollan's points was missed in the story: the urban animal gets HAY instead of a verdant pasture to graze.

I was curious about an earlier comment regarding subtitles in different national editions of the book, so here's a link to amazon.co.uk. Interesting to see the two pitches and graphics. The US edition has a soothing visual quality: a quiet, bucolic 17th-century Dutch still-life without the Vanitas undertones, harkening back to the success of The Botany of Desire. The UK edition screams Eric Schlosser and seems to appeal to anti(American capitalism).