as you know, i like pork. last week carrien and josh had gone to market basket to procure beef to grind it at home for burgers, and they picked up some pork ribs as well. …unfortunately, by the time that i actually had the time […]
i’ve been going through the rest of my posts, editing here and there for consistency, and i came across a top ten list of yore: ten favorite restaurants in the boston/cambridge area, 2006 craigie street bistrot pigalle caffe umbra sel de la terre upstairs on […]
if pork and quenelles had a love child, i imagine that it would be these meatballs. not that i’ve ever tasted quenelles (a delicate sort of french dumpling that is made of a mild white meat or fish, and poached), but i’ve always thought that they would be a much more sophisticated version of chinese fish balls. these meatballs arose from pure opportunity, as i had exactly the amount of ricotta needed leftover from the homemade ricotta.
this recipe is especially excellent because each of the ingredients plays a clear role (note: this analysis may or may not be exactly correct, but it is generally correct). the binding ingredients are the eggs and the parmesan, while the ricotta and pork combine for flavor and texture. notably absent in this recipe is breadcrumbs, which are typical in most meatballs. however, the strained ricotta replaces the breadcrumbs (this is why you have to strain it – so that it doesn’t render your meatballs unable to stick together) and the delicacy of its flavor contrasts extremely well with the pork, which is truly the dominant flavor. have you noticed how meatballs invariably taste like meatballs? these meatballs still taste like meatballs, but they taste undeniably like pork meatballs – there’s nothing to muddle up the flavor. the ricotta gives the meatballs a very light texture that’s still meaty – ie, there’s something to bite into. they’re not heavy like other meatballs, and the ricotta renders the meatballs edible hot or cold (ie, right out of the refrigerator for breakfast). (more…)
no, not speed with respect to the homemade ricotta, but rather, with dinner made from the ricotta. however, despite the lengthy instructions, the actual production of the ricotta is very easy and short. most of the work is prep work. the best ricotta i have […]
This article is really kind of saddening. People should listen to their stomachs and just make what they want – chances are, it’s what their friends want, too. This is from the NY Times: Dinner at the Foodies’: Purslane and Anxiety By KATHERINE WHEELOCK Published: […]
after having dinner made for me on consecutive days (tuesday, bread pudding at 44, and wednesday, really excellent thin fettuccine with a roasted tomato and sausage sauce, at 24), i made dinner for 24 and 44. i wanted to do something fairly involved, so i did a chard tart from the joy that sonia had made a few months back – kind of like a quiche with much less egg and a whole lot of parmesan; braised pork ribs with sage and coriander seeds; arborio rice with onions and sage; roasted skinny asparagus; and a ginger cake with pears in a cognac-caramel sauce.
anyway, this was a totally unhealthy (ok, not that unhealthy, but it wasn’t great for you either, what with the massive amount of parmesan and the ginger cake’s caramel sauce) dinner, but it was really excellent – the coriander seeds and sage are a really excellent combination. after having made braised ribs more than a few times, they turned out especially well this time. and i think this was due to the cooking time, which was close to three hours. this is my favorite pork dish because it requires so few ingredients, and always tastes good, no matter what you do to it. this is essentially due to the cut of meat being pork that’s bone-in – that’s where all the flavor comes from. it’s also a cheap dish to cook, as ribs often go on sale in all seasons, and are a cheap cut even when not on sale. add the onions and some herbs, and it’s pretty sublime. (more…)
i’ve heard great things about hamersley’s bistro, and i’ve always wanted to have dinner there. i got my wish when i suggested it as our january cutcat dinner destination. i had high hopes when we entered and i saw that it was a restaurant fitted […]
pomodoro / 24 harvard street / brookline ma / 617-566-4455 / 11am-11pm / reservations accepted (and recommended, by me) / cash only / entrees moderately expensive ($18-25) of all of the restaurants i’ve been to, pomodoro is possibly the fairest of them all. understand that […]
one and a half cups of sugar for $3.79. fancy, super-molasses dark brown sugar (billington’s dark brown molasses sugar).
i’m behind on my issues of gourmet because of studio, and i flipped through the…november? december? issue and glimpsed a two-handled bowl-cup filled with some sort of unctuous, delicious-looking joyful thing. after all, who can resist eating out of such cute dishware? i happened to think about the pudding as i was at the supermarket one day, and invested in a package of billington’s dark brown sugar, the designer sugar at star market that also happens to be very good.
i was thinking about the pudding in the context of my new oblong tart pan; i mulled it over for a few days before i decided it was a good idea to put a brown sugar pudding in a tart. i wanted to have a nice, buttery, flaky tart shell with the pudding, some sort of fruit layer, then ganache. make the tart shell with bacon fat, and you would have one of the richest desserts imaginable. as for the fruit, i thought about oranges, or berries, but ultimately decided to go with a seasonal (and cheap) choice: apples. i was sure that they would go well with the pudding, but i didn’t know about the chocolate. since fondue always involves fruit and chocolate, and apples are often a part of the fruit selection, though, i thought i’d go for it. (more…)
it’s a good thing i didn’t eat breakfast. because i just made a cake that made me remember why millions of people survived without chocolate cake for centuries. typically i’m not a huge fan of vanilla-flavored cakes; they tend to be overly dry, or have […]