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Check Julia's risotto recipe...it is NOT the standard Italian risotto and it might be OK with the daube. I make it when I'm in a hurry but want rice. The liquid/rice ratio [2:1 ]is way too much. One other suggestion would be tuscan semolina gnocchi.
Totally agree with Jenise's comments about Julia and wine. It is invariably good for a laugh to read her suggestions as they are usually way off. The era ? Her lack of wine savvy ?

Wow, you are right! 1) Arborio rice absolutely would not work with her recipe and 2) no Italian would recognize this as Risotto. Pilaf or Pilau sounds closer. And we've made Pilaf with rich meat dishes, so maybe that is the way to go. Of course if one DID use Arborio rice the ratio is closer to 5:1 broth to rice in my experience.

[Robin Garr]

Speaking of risotto, a sign of early spring: Fresh asparagus risotto. 

[Jenise]

Yesterday we went to a friend's for an old barolo tasting. Everyone brought food, but the best food pairing of the night was by far (all agreed) the goat cheese and potato ravioli with orange butter and fennel sauce that I made. The sauce had the rind of an entire orange grated into it, and that really spoke to the tanginess and dried fruit flavors in the old (60's and 70's vintage) wines.

The sauce had the rind of an entire orange grated into it, and that really spoke to the tanginess and dried fruit flavors in the old (60's and 70's vintage) wines.

Nice work!!

Is Chicken Fried Steak a New Mexican "thing"? We stayed over in Tucumcari in our RV on our way East and ate in a local restaurant who said it was their specialty. Just curious since we are talking about it... I always assumed it was a deep south dish, but maybe I am wrong.

Nope, not so much a NM thing. But there are a bunch of restaurants near the Texas/New Mexico line that are owned and run by Texans. And Texans eat chicken fried steak in mass quantities.

Julia Child's Daube plus Julia Child's "Risotto" from MTAOFC Vol 1.

Totally yummy!! With a Cote Rotie.

[Robin Garr]

Main dish veggies: Limas braised in olive oil and butter with onions, garlic and oregano. 

Tonight was cavatappi with duck confit, swiss chard, and mushrooms. Rich and satisfying for a surprisingly cold evening.

Mushroom-Shallot Pizza with Five Cheeses.

[Robin Garr]

Eggplant "steaks," pan-seared and oven-finished, with a mushroom and onion sauce. Goes great with Saint-Laurent 2010 Chinon La Vigne en Véron.

Beautiful, Robin.


I'm working on potato-leek soup flavored with Penzey's ras el hanout, ham, and spicy Spanish chorizo.

That looks very appealing, Robin.

[Jenise]

Sure does.

Tonight? Enchilada pies. Two kinds, classic beef/red sauce and a more esoteric but mild-on-the-tummy chicken/cilantro-white sauce. Am cooking for two families with serious illnesses in the household, and will make enough extra to feed Bob and I.

This weekend I made preserved lemons in honor of a recent guest on my radio show. Last month I interviewed Mourad Lahlou, chef owner of Azizain San Francisco, CA, and author of Mourad New Moroccan: The Cookbook.

Preserved Lemons.jpg

First of all, the guy, Mourad, is absolutely beautiful. We stood eye-to-eye (I'm 5' 6.5"), but his personality is 6' 6". He is breathtakingly beautiful with his bald head and tattoos (and I'm not particularly fond of tattos). But, he has that mischievous twinkle in his eye that drives me to distraction, and he has conversation that gives you the vapors. Did I mention that I am smitten? I always read my books (from cover-to-cover) in order to be well prepared for my interviews. If you don't already have it, and you have a love of Moroccan (or any Middle Eastern food), then it is a must-have for your culinary library. It is FABULOUS!

We have a love of food in common, but his enthusiasm and creativity is beyond comparison to any others I have interviewed (except maybe Lidia Bastianich). The itnerview was a breeze, and we had a definite bond that I expect will pay dividends down the road. He is soon to have his own PBS food show and travelog (much like Lidia's Italy), and will in the fall launch a line of Everything Moroccan with William Sonoma. I can hardly wait. I asked him about the one thing he would consider quintessentially Moroccan in his cuisine -- of course his answer was preserved lemons. I told him that I had prepared those a couple years earlier -- and that took our conversation to a whole new level. This is what he revealed that is not in the book: after you make the preserves, separate flesh from skin (after about a month). 1) Put the skins into another glass jar and cover with a neutral oil (like safflower or canola -- not olive oil or grapeseed, as they will impart another flavor) and refrigerate -- use in salads, meat and other dishes, even desserts. 2) keep the syrup from the preserves in another jar and use in vinegrettes (such as champagne) or other cooking (a little goes a long way as it is salty -- but the flavor is unmatched). 3) for a more versatile preserved lemon, use a combination of salt and sugar. For this batch I used 3:1 salt to sugar. It's still a salty concoction, but tamed in a way. I'll let you know how I use it in the future.

Preserved Fresno Chilis.jpg

In addition to this preserve, I made the Hunan Salted Chilis from my new favorite blog site (thanks Jenise), Food On the Brain.

I love a saltlick, and this was the perfect preserve for me. As you can see, I added a few garlic cloves. I liberally sprinkle these over curried or braised meats, salads, noodles, or anything else I think would satisfy me greater with a hit of salt. I am in preserve heaven. Hope some of you take the plunge soon.

Preserves.jpg

Nice (and somewhat steamy) writeup there, Jo Ann! We regularly put up preserved lemons, but I don't think we've ever done a sugar/salt mix. We'll give that a try the next time around.

I ordered a copy of Mourad - New Moroccan.

I will either keep it or give it to my neighbor who has a real Tagine and has been to Morocco 3 or 4 times.

Tonight was pan-seared salmon (with lots of sesame seeds on it), cheesy oven-baked fennel (that was good!), and toasted pain levain smeared with pesto, grated cheese, and then toasted again.

Jo Ann,

That preserved lemon rind recipe is very similar to nimboo achar, Indian lemon or lime pickle. The Indians would add some salt and spices to it, but otherwise it's the same thing--citrus rind preserved in oil.

-Paul W.

Jo Ann,

That preserved lemon rind recipe is very similar to nimboo achar, Indian lemon or lime pickle. The Indians would add some salt and spices to it, but otherwise it's the same thing--citrus rind preserved in oil.

-Paul W.

Actually, in the Moroccan recipe, the lemons get preserved in salt and lemon juice (very tightly packed and juiced to the top of the jar). Then, after the lemons have achieved the proper texture (which should take about a month), the flesh is removed from the rind to prevent further breakdown, and the rind is then placed in another vessel and covered with oil for storage. My first attempt at preserved lemons was using a Paula Woelfert recipe. It used a combination of spices with the lemonso for the preserving brine. For my palate it was a bit too much!! It rendered a superior product, but the play of flavors was something very unfamiliar to me that took a little getting used to (like cilantro). Mourad suggested that I try the classic version (salt and lemon juice only) as it will impart a much cleaner and more pure preserved lemon product. Though, he did say that there are many recipes for preserved lemons with various spices and herbs. It was a fascinating discussion. Thanks for the feedback. I'm going to look for the Indian recipe and do a comparison.

Jo Ann,
I chanced upon the very same recipe for preserved lemons in a recent issue of Sunset magazine. We tried making it with Meyer lemons. When I open one of the bottles, I will let you know how it turned out. I love Moroccan food too. Although we have a surfeit of cookbooks, one more may not hurt, right?
-Shaji

Jo Ann, Although we have a surfeit of cookbooks, one more may not hurt, right?
-Shaji

Bite your tongue -- too many books?! I love Moroccan and Middle Eastern food of all kinds. Another book that I highly recommend, if it is not already in your library, is The Book of New Israeli Food: A Culinary Journey by Janna Gur. It is written in the likeness of Mourad's book -- beautiful pictures, great stories, fabulous recipes that will be familiar. Rogov and I discussed this book when I first bought it a few years ago. He had a professional and personal relationship with the author and her husband that, unfortunately, went south over professional differences at some point. But, he suggested that I contact them to let them know my impression of the book. Wonderful!

I did not grow up eating lamb or goat. But, through books such as these I have broadened not only my palate, but that of my entire family. As for Sunset magazine, I subscribe from time-to-time. I first made a lamb shank recipe I found in the magazine in 1998. Lo and behold, it turns out that is a recipe developed by Mourad and his brother, Kahlid, when they were working at Kasbah in San Rafael, CA. It appears in the book, virtually unchanged. Sunset recipes are reliable. I regret that I did not take my dogeared copy to the interview for him to sign. Sigh! Oh well, I have the book with his dedication.

[Jenise]

Actually, in the Moroccan recipe, the lemons get preserved in salt and lemon juice (very tightly packed and juiced to the top of the jar). Then, after the lemons have achieved the proper texture (which should take about a month), the flesh is removed from the rind to prevent further breakdown, and the rind is then placed in another vessel and covered with oil for storage. My first attempt at preserved lemons was using a Paula Woelfert recipe. It used a combination of spices with the lemonso for the preserving brine. For my palate it was a bit too much!! It rendered a superior product, but the play of flavors was something very unfamiliar to me that took a little getting used to (like cilantro). Mourad suggested that I try the classic version (salt and lemon juice only) as it will impart a much cleaner and more pure preserved lemon product. Though, he did say that there are many recipes for preserved lemons with various spices and herbs. It was a fascinating discussion. Thanks for the feedback. I'm going to look for the Indian recipe and do a comparison.

I have not used a recipe like Paula Wolfert's, but I've seen them that way and knew that it was basically overseasoned to get the results I wanted to duplicate--the classic chicken and preserved lemons with green olives that I'd enjoyed so much at Momo in London. When I looked around for recipes/methodologies, on the purer side I found many that used oil and as many that used just lemon juice. I could find no one who could tell me what the difference would be, so I went ahead and made a jar of each. The results were interesting: the juice-packed lemons were ready before the oil-packed lemons were (about one and two months respectively), but the oil lemons lasted a whole lot longer. Once ready they stayed in about the same state for a good six months, where the juice lemons started breaking down almost immediately and after about three months, were too soft. All of which supports the method he gave you which is a great workaround that I hadn't thought of: take advantage of the juice method's earlier readiness, then move to oil to keep them there.

Btw, Mourad was here in Bellingham recently too. Our town's fantastic independent bookstore has a cafe above, and the chef-proprietor of that operation, Charles, often does dinners with book tie-ins. He did one for Mourad, and friends who attended (I could not) got the book, which I only got a glance at this past Tuesday night but found hypnotizing. If the man behind it is that mesmerizing, well, WOW. Great story, thanks!

[Jenise]

Jo Ann,
I chanced upon the very same recipe for preserved lemons in a recent issue of Sunset magazine. We tried making it with Meyer lemons. When I open one of the bottles, I will let you know how it turned out. I love Moroccan food too. Although we have a surfeit of cookbooks, one more may not hurt, right?
-Shaji

Shaji, if you have not already factored this in, expect the Meyers to be ready earlier than a Eureka style lemon as the rinds are thinner and softer in general.

Shaji, if you have not already factored this in, expect the Meyers to be ready earlier than a Eureka style lemon as the rinds are thinner and softer in general.

In which case, they are probably ready. Thank you Jenise