Cooking With Miklb

I'm quite intrigued by this piece of equipment, but not so much to spend the $238 on it. Basically it was designed to replicate a cooking style of Olive Pickers, who, limited in their supply of water, cooked their pasta in a similar fashion as risotto, versus our traditional manner of vast amounts of boiling water. I'm sure it was meant for more macaroni type pastas, and Earthier types of dishes, but nonetheless, I'm sure it yields a delicious meal. I'm very fond of simple, rustic dishes, and this seems right up my alley.

Add to that the developer is Alain Ducasse, on of the world's most renown chefs, and it becomes a piece of art, as much as a utilitarian tool. I might have to test the concept with my enamel over cast iron dutch oven.

Hat tip to Uncrate

Standard tomato sauces barely pass musterI've embarrassingly neglected this site for some time now, in regards to posting, and I'm trying to break that habit. I've got a few dishes in the can, so to speak, but some recent feedback wanting a full recipe has me working on a way to implement that idea before posting.
In the meantime, I found this article in the San Francisco Chronicle discussing a blind taste test of jarred tomato sauces. I have horrible nightmares of my childhood eating over cooked spaghetti with a jar of Rag

Well, as the week winds down, I wanted to enjoy a nice dinner with my muse, so after a failed trip fishing in the morning, I head to the market. Some nice looking bay scallops and small white shrimp seemed just the ticket. I had some fennel bulb left over from the Moroccan shrimp, so I decided to grab a couple of lemons and make a broth. A can of artichoke hearts, and some perfect pencil sized asparagus rounded out the dish. Read Entire Post

So a weekend of dodging falling branches, and continuous downpours, all the while watching the weather channel disbelieving the forecast, the moment the sun peaked out, off to the market to see what I could scrounge up. As soon as I cruised through the produce section and saw the rapini, I knew what was for dinner. A staple around the house, in some fashion or another, rapini with white beans over pasta. I'm not really sure when and where I grew to love the dish, it's not as if I grew up eating it. It may have been inspired by some reading I did on the early days of Ybor City. For those not familiar with that neighborhood in Tampa, it was the home of Italian, Sicilian, and Cuban immigrants who were the backbone of the cigar industry in Tampa. I just remember reading about the humble dishes, and some of the Sicilians relying on dishes like white beans over pasta. The rapini simply fits right in. Anyway, a fresh tomato and basil to lighten the dish, and off to the kitchen to get my fix. Read Entire Post

Well, mark that experience up to bad judgment, but what was I thinking getting a job in a country club? I should have known when they used the words "fine dining" and "bargain to our guests", that they where not serious about putting out the best food possible. I just didn't want to believe the generalizations about country club food. Live and learn.

Couple the failed job, and add into that the blistering heat, and odd schedule the household has been under, and you get very little cooking, and very little writing. Until today. I had a craving, a fairly odd one for me, to have fettucini alfredo and shrimp. Rarely do I cook anything other than angel hair, and almost never do I do cream sauces, especially in the middle of summer. Perhaps it was a way of nature telling me to fill up before the hurricane, but there was no turning back, off to the market for the fixings. Read Entire Post