Since tonight I meet with

Since tonight I meet with the Dante readers, I will not work on the monster post about music and moral theology. Look for it Friday or Saturday. Sorry, but Paradiso calls.

Speaking of Paradiso, for those of you in the Bay Area, on Friday please pick up a copy of the Oakland Trib, the San Mateo Times, the Alameda Times, The Argus, or the Tri-Valley Herald, as my review of Paradiso in San Leandro will appear. I gave it a good rating, and highly recommend this restaurant. Read all about it!

I did not put this story in it, but the first time we went there, we were in North Beach. Our car was parked at the San Leandro BART, and it was dinner time. I was thinking that we should just eat at one of the great Italian restaurants in North Beach. Melanie said, "oh, let's just eat in the East Bay!" Figuring that she meant the tacqueria, I agreed. When we got into our car, she said, "let's go to this place in San Leandro."

I said, "fine! What sort of place is it?"

"Italian"

"What!?! You mean we left North Beach to eat Italian food in San Leandro?!? Are you out of your mind?"

"Just wait and see."

Well, we have been back several times. It is a great place. I will talk about it more here later, but not until the review runs in the paper.

Today's ragù recipe. Gobbi trippati.

Today's ragù recipe. Gobbi trippati.

Gobbi is Tuscan dialect for cardoni, which is standard Italian for cardoons, known to scientists as Cynara cardunculus. The cardoon is the ancestor of the artichoke, and has a similar flavor, although the stems are eaten instead of the flower buds. Cardoons are a beautiful plant with pretty flowers and look good in an English style garden, as well as being edible. When cut and trimmed, they look like monster celery heads. As young shoots, they are delicious raw, and as older plants, they need to be trimmed and parboiled in acidulated water. I wash them, trim the leaves completely off, cut the stalks into 2" penne, remove the strings, and throw them in a pot of water with lemon juice. When they are all done, I put the pot on the stove and boil until they are tender. I drain them and put them in the refigerator or use them right away.

For this recipe I sauté them in olive oil and then cover them in ragù with a few ladles of chopped tomatoes (I use Pomi from Italy). I grate reggiano parmeggiana over them and sprinkle with fresh chopped parslry and serve with a simple, light to medium bodied red wine (Montepulciano d'Abruzzo is good). This makes a good hearty meal by itself or can be served in small portions as a good primo piatto.

I made the green garlic

I made the green garlic and cheese soufflé from the Chez Panisse cookbook last night. It was excellent. If you can get a hold of some green garlic (around here you have two weeks to get it at the farmers' markets), I highly recommend this dish. I was distracted by children running about the kitchen, and put in an extra tablespoon of flour, by mistake. I realized it when the bechamel was way too thick, so I corrected it with 1/4 cup of milk. It worked fine. Other than that, I stuck to Bertolli's recipe. Yum. We served it with an ACME sweet baguette, a green salad of fava greens, pea shoots, arugula, and mixed spring lettuce, dressed in a standard vinaigrette with crumbled goat cheese and kalamata olives and a Lohr Chardonnay, which was quite good. For dessert we had fresh organic strawberries with vanilla crème chantilly, accompanied by vin santo (although Melanie had meyer limoncello). I wholeheartedly recommend this menu for a spring meal.

Speaking of ragù, my father

Speaking of ragù, my father is coming to dinner tonight, and I promised him that I would make pasta with that last recipe. Problem is, I remembered this morning that green garlic and cheese soufflé is on the menu, and Melanie is quite keen on that (as am I to tell the truth). The ragù will keep. I am using the Chez Panisse recipe, and will report on it tomorrow (or late tonight).

First recipe with the ragù!

First recipe with the ragù!

Heat up a few ladles of ragu in a skillet. When it is hot, pour in a generous splash of dry marsala. Let it cook down (just until the alcohol has evaporated). Add cream (creme fraiche is best), grate fresh nutmeg and reggiano parmeggiana into it and use it as a pasta sauce. Be sure to top with chopped Italian parsley. I suggest an amarone or other strong red wine with this. The only other course you will need is a lightly dressed green salad.

Buon appetito!

Dear Reader, We have a

Dear Reader,

We have a lot to talk about, as I have been ignoring you for the past two days (except for those two little posts below). Well, I wasn't ignoring you; I was writing to you, and that is the problem. I was writing and writing and writing and, well, what has happened is something too big for a single post. In the next couple of days I will break it up and let the fun and games begin. Music, moral theology, cultural criticism, oh boy!

I will have time for this, because I had already planned on writing bullfight reviews, but the rain has taken care of that for me (Waaaaaaaaaah! Rain, rain, go away! Little Erik wants to eat linguiça and watch bulls and horsies), so I have time to write on other things.

Since I will not be watching bovines, the featured recipes for the week will be centered somewhat around bovines, specifically ragù. Because a good ragù is the foundation of Central Italian Cooking, I am going to give you precise directions. If you follow them, you will have a perfect ragù. My ragù is surpassed by none. There are plenty that are equal, but I have yet to find one better. This is through no merit of my own, I simply use a recipe that was handed down through the family and perfected for centuries. My guess is that the last change was made in the 16th century, with the addition of tomatoes, but it is possible that there was a little tinkering with. Feel free to tinker, but I really doubt that you can make it have a deeper, richer, meatier taste. If you somehow make it better, please let me know. The fact that the Tuscan ragù has yet to be surpassed does not mean that it won’t be tomorrow.

Throughout the week I will be posting recipes for using the giant pot of ragù (gobbi trippati, lasagna, polenta, sedano in ragù, etc.).

So... without further ado, I give you ragù!

1 oz dried porcini mushrooms
3 Tlb butter, extra virgin olive oil, or rendered goose fat
1/3 lb pancetta, thinly sliced, and finely chopped
4 peeled whole cloves of garlic
1 medium yellow onion, finely diced
2 large carrots, peeled and finely diced
2 stalks of celery, finely diced
2 tsp fresh thyme leaves, chopped finely
2 lbs. lean pork in cubes
2 lbs. lean beef in cubes
2 salt packed anchovies (you can use oil packed if you have to, but I really recommend the salt packed ones – a can lasts a long time, and they are much better)
1 chicken liver, chopped finely (may even be run through a strainer – the point is to have the liver flavor the whole ragù, not to have any little pieces to bite on.
1 Tbl extra virgin olive oil
2 Mediterranean bay leaves, broken in large pieces
1 box of Pomi chopped tomatoes from Italy (they are the best, although 6 in 1 ground tomatoes from Escalon, California is good, too)
Half a bottle of good red wine
1 pint good brown chicken stock (please make your own or buy it from a good butcher. The canned stuff is a salty abomination)
Fresh cracked pepper (preferably melange, a chef’s blend of black, white, pink, and Jamaican (allspice) peppers)
Sea Salt.

Place the dried mushrooms in a bowl and cover with boiling water. Let them sit for at least 20 minutes. In a different bowl, place the salt-packed anchovies and cover with cold water. Let stand.

Either chop your pork and beef by hand (using a super-sharp chef’s knife), or use a meat grinder. The advantages to chopping by hand are that the irregularity can be pleasing, and the knife will respect the integrity of the cells of the meat, thus preserving juiciness (although, considering the length of the cooking, this might be a bit irrelevant). Using a meat grinder, especially the one that attaches to the kitchen aide, is faster and easier. If you must, you can even buy pre-ground meat, although you will never know where it has been, and what has been ground with it. Only buy pre-ground meat from a butcher you trust. Mix the pork and beef.

Drain the mushrooms, straining and reserving the juice. Chop them finely.

In a large, well-seasoned cast iron pot warm your 3 Tbl of fat. When it is hot, but not smoking, gently fry the pancetta. As the pancetta is browning, add the four garlic cloves. Stir them around in the frying pancetta for a minute and add the onion. Fry for two minutes and add the carrots and celery and the mushrooms and the thyme. Fry for several minutes.

Add the meat, stirring it so that it is thoroughly mixed with the vegetables and let brown. Since you have 4 lbs of meat along with vegetables, your best bet is to let it sit, turn it, let it sit, stir it and so forth, until it is done. It will brown to a point, but then juice from the meat and vegetables will just make it gray, but that is ok. You want is to be cooked. The wine will give a brown color.

While the meat is browning, filet the anchovies and chop the filets finely. Make a paste of the chicken liver and the filets. Fry them in a separate pan with the 1 Tsb of olive oil until they are thoroughly cooked. You can plop the fried paste on your cutting board and give it a few quick passes with the super sharp chef’s knife if you want. Add this to the meat.

Add in the tomatoes and pour the wine into the tomato box. Swish it around and pour it into the ragù. Add the bay leaves and chicken stock. Reduce heat and simmer for at least four hours, skimming unnecessary fat off, as needed. I made my ragù around 4pm last night and went to a concert of some of the artists on Arhoolie Records (more about that later – in short, WOW! What a show – the best of the Sacred Steel musicians on one stage in an intimate hall), not getting back until around 11pm. I could smell my grandmother’s kitchen 30 feet outside the closed front door! I knew it was right.

When it smells so good you want to dig in, taste it and add salt and pepper, as needed, stirring it in and retasting it as you add. The texture of the meat may surprise you (it is very well done, basically), but realize that the ragù is a sauce base, and will be used with tomato sauce, with cream, with béchamel, mornay and other additives.

The ragù can be frozen or canned. If you keep it in the refrigerator, just make sure that it is heated to 195 degrees and held for 10 minutes every week or so.

Tomorrow we will make a sauce from the ragù with cream and marsala and serve it over penne rigati!

There is one going around

There is one going around telling you which country you are. As I mentioned in someone's comments box, I don't see a need to take it, as I know that I am Italy. I must say that I worry about folks who dream these quizilla things up. Do they really have that much time on their hands?

I normally hate these quiz

I normally hate these quiz result thingies, and was not going to post them, but this one said I was Pope St. Pius X! And it's been a slooooooow blog day.

You are Pope St. Pius X. You'd rather be right than
newfangled.


Which Twentieth Century Pope Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

I am going to post

I am going to post my recipe for Tuscan ragù later, but it is long and involved, so I am editing it and making sure that it is clear. Meanwhile, Ann sent me this recipe:

Hey Erik,

You asked me once for good ways to eat broccoli.

Here's a good one that I like.

Make pasta (fusili, penne, bowties, etc.). Squeeze Italian sausages out of
their casings and brown crumbled meat. Deglaze pan with white wine or
vermouth. Dice broccoli and add to pan with olive oil, Italian herbs,
crushed red pepper flakes. You can add some of the pasta water to the sauce
if it seems too dry. Sometimes I also add an egg for a creamer texture,
like you do when you make carbonara. Grate fresh hard cheese on top. Mmm...

I think I'll make this tonight.

-ann

The reason that Ann is sending me broccoli recipes is that a couple of years ago I decided to try to overcome my food prejudices. I decided to go through the list of food that I did not like and find the perfect recipe for it, and give it one last chance. Brussels Sprouts were first, and were excellent. So far the experiment has gone very well, and I have discovered some lovely dishes. Broccoli was conquered a few months ago.

The last one is eggs. I am fine with soufflé, quiche, and tortilla, and have no problem with raw egg at all. Beyond that level of egginess, however, all of my senses say "toxic! poison! do not eat!" To me hard cooked eggs smell so utterly unpleasant and foul the idea of eating one nauseates me a little bit. Same (times 10) with egg salad. I have to change the subject, as writing this is making my saliva glands feel funny. It is that strong an aversion.

Ann, who is a very good cook, sent me this recipe. It sounds good, and I think I will try it (after a stop at the farmers' market). Since I have been very busy today, and will probably not post the ragù recipe until later, I asked her if I could post it. Buon Appetito!

I guess that is the

I guess that is the tradeoff to living with a super-cute toddler. You have to list Barney as the last show you watched. Do you know how wretched that show is? Have you seen it? It is really awful. Why does my otherwise brilliant daughter like that Purple Lizard? I wonder when she will request "Wings of Desire" or "8 1/2" or at least "Singin' in the Rain"?

Oh well, it is cute hearing Amália say "Bar-bye! Bar-bye!"

Friday Five 1. What was

Friday Five

1. What was the last TV show you watched?

Barney.

2. What was the last thing you complained about?

Barney.

3. Who was the last person you complimented and what did you say?

Bruno, at the Junket (German deli in town). "Excellent."

4. What was the last thing you threw away?

My sandwich wrapper

5. What was the last website (besides this one) that you visited?

Two Sleepy Mommies

Not the most exciting Friday Five ever!

I was planning on combining

I was planning on combining my Friday Afternoon Sermons with Friday Evening Martinis, but I am reviewing a restaurant for the paper tonight, so it will have to wait. Perhaps I will post something Saturday, perhaps not. What I was going to talk about is one of those serious matters, and I don't want to rush it, so if Amália keeps us on the run all day tomorrow, then it will have to wait.

Also, the rain is holding out, so it is starting to look doubtful as to the start of the bullfight season. We'll see. Pray for sunshine!

Note for Ann: We got our copy of VIA! Great article, with only two really egregious errors (referring to a fellow as a lay priest and to bullfighting as a sport), and good photos. I would have talked to some different sources, but perhaps she did and figured that they were not as credible. She apparently went to quite a few bullfights, and certainly made some good observations.

More good news! We are

More good news! We are going to have gelato in Berkeley tonight! Yippee! Happy Easter, everyone!

OK, Ann, I will spare

OK, Ann, I will spare you the trouble...

"You mean it is bad news that you are only going to ramble on about one bullfight next week instead of two?"

Yeah, yeah.

Good news and bad news.

Good news and bad news.

First the bad news. I am going to miss the opening bullfight at Madera. This bit of bad news is mitigated by the fact that the next evening is a bullfight at Stevinson, so all is not lost.

The good news, however, is very good. The Campbell Brothers and Aubrey Ghent are going to be in town giving a concert. This is the reason I am missing Madera. Since they are on the Arhoolie label, it is pretty important that we show up when they are in town. If you have not heard of them or of Sacred Steel, the genre of gospel music they play, check out the gospel section of our website. I probably recommend this title, this title, or this title for an introduction to the genre. Or you can jump in head first and get the video documentary by the noted folklorist Bob Stone.

Please note that once in a great while I will plug Arhoolie titles, and that I wholeheartedly recommend just about all of them. Since we promote rather obscure music, none of us are getting rich off of this (we are here because of our love of the music - we would be insane to think that selling things like this is going to make us gobs of money), I don't feel bad about giving the occasional plug.

But that is why you will not get a bullfight review of Sunday's mano a mano in Madera. I will write something about Monday night in Stevinson, though. Of course if the rain holds up, there will be no bulls for a week or two. That would make me a sad aficionado indeed.

I suppose that if the

I suppose that if the Senator is the subject of the sentence, it should be Rick Santus, no?

Now, I probably should look

Now, I probably should look more into this fellow before writing this, but, not having any idea of what the man's economic ideas are, his ideas on immigration, labor, etc., only based on the recent controversy, I think we need bumberstickers that say "Rick Santorum Speaks for Me!"

While the only political bumpersticker I would put on my truck is "Keilholtz for Dictator!" a "Rick Santorum Speaks for Me!" sticker would be the perfect counterbalance to the idiots who are proud to have Barbara Lee on their side. I should make a tshirt of this to wear to the Berkely Farmers' Market on Saturday.

Speaking of liqueur formulas... I

Speaking of liqueur formulas... I highly recommend making plans on picking some green walnuts on the feast of St. John the Baptist. I will post reminders on occasion. I will also publish a traditional type recipe for the walnut liquer, since it is from Artusi and he collected it from the field, and there is significance to the number of each ingredient (and it is trickier to balance this by taste, so I will give you the traditional proportions). This is one of the great traditional Italian liqueurs, and you cannot buy one as good as the one you can make (and the lesser commercial stuff is expensive, too). So, think about where you can get walnuts off the tree (you will need 21 per batch). Since you want only a small amount and it is an interesting project (and you are doing the picking) many farmers will let you pick for free (make sure you give them a bottle of finished product as a thank you!) or cheap.

Here is my artichoke aperitif

Here is my artichoke aperitif formula. I was originally shooting for a copy of Cynar, but ended up with something lighter and less bitter. I like it, and alternate between it and Cynar for my aperitif (although, sometimes I go for Campari, vermouth, or some other).

I tend to especially shy away from exact quantities in liqueur formulae, as the quality of ingredients varies so much that they are all but useless. Also, I have found that people like to sweeten and color and glycerin their liqueurs to vastly different limits. I go for a moderate sweetness, with good structure (provided by alcohol), and fairly bright colors (especially in my limoncello). I tend not to use glycerin, because that tends to force the liqueur into the category of an after dinner drink, and I like the versatility of a thinner drink.

I use vodka as my base, and fairly cheap stuff. The considerable time it spends in the sun, the filtration, the aromatics, and the sweetening all tend to make expensive vodka a bit pointless. However I fail to see the point of drinking vodka cocktails (especially that abomination called the vodkatini), so the only time I buy decent vodka is for parties. If I look in the liquor cabinet and find that there is too much vodka for the foreseeable future, I use what I have, whether it is cheap or not. Since I live in California, I cannot get pure grain alcohol. I would if I could, as it would be very easy to calculate proof. I would probably shoot for 40 - 60 proof if I were calculating it, but I do it by taste. An even better choice would be to use grappa, but grappa is not cheap, except for once in a great while when some dodo buyer at the big chain overbuys and it goes on fire sale. I do use grappa to correct the alcohol content, after the liqueur has been steeped, filtered and sweetened (and if, after bottle aging it still needs an alcohol boost). I have some cheap grappa that works fine, although I do not stick strictly to one type.

I first made this stuff when I had gone overboard on ORGANIC (important) baby artichokes at the farmers’ market around Easter. I was doing a lot of baby artichoke risotto, and had a lot of waste from trimming the artichokes (stems, tough leaves, etc.). Since I was itching to make Cynar that did not cost me $18 a bottle, and had too much vodka in the cabinet, I figured it was time to experiment. So I took all of these trimmings from the well-washed (cold water only) ORGANIC baby artichokes and put them in a jumbo mason jar. I also added some sliced artichokes so that if there were anything different about the heart, it would be there too. Then I added:

Zest from an orange
Stick of cinnamon
A few whole cloves
A few whole allspice berries
A few juniper berries
A sprig of organic rosemary
A handful of organic lavender blossoms.

And then I covered the whole thing with vodka. I covered it, using a new rubber gasket (a one-time use product when making liqueur) and let it sit in the afternoon sun all summer (on a west-facing windowsill). Every few days I shook it. It was not pretty – a brownish concoction of thistle clippings in liquid is not appealing.

When it was getting close to ready (in the autumn), I made a simple syrup (water and sugar in equal proportions with either corn syrup or cream of tartar added to prevent syrup weirdness) and let it cool. I filtered the steeped liquid through several layers of cheesecloth into a large bowl. I added syrup and grappa (if the alcohol needs cutting use distilled water) until it tasted just about balanced and bottled it in sterile sherry and port bottles. I put the bottles into a dark closet and let them age until around Christmas. They get better and better with age. They do throw a deposit, so it is good to let the bottle you are using to stand upright for a few days so that it is clear. If you are picky you can fine the liqueur with a bit of tube (I would do this on a bottle I gave as a gift), otherwise just be careful to avoid the sediment (it is harmless, just not pretty). Serve on the rocks with a twist of orange. Even my mother, who does not like Cynar, likes this one.

I did not do my

I did not do my Friday Five, since last Friday was Good Friday, so here they are:

1. Who is your favorite celebrity?

Pope John Paul II

2. Who is your least favorite?

Barbara Streisand (Brbra Strsnd - I never know how she spells it these days)/Michael Jackson (tie)

3. Have you ever met or seen any celebrities in real life?

Yes

4. Would you want to be famous? Why or why not?

Yes, because I would have fun endorsing products and shops that deserve it, rather than the megacorporations that simply buy these endorsements. I would also have fun with the bully pulpit of celebrity. You think Martin Sheen is obnoxious? Can you imagine what Keilholtz would be like if he played the President on TV? Can you even for a minute think about what the Keilholtz Oscar acceptance speech would be like?

5. If you had to trade places with a celebrity for a day, who would you choose and why?

Tony Bennett. He seems like a pretty happy guy, and he is a great singer. Also, Tony Bennett can probably walk down the street and be recognized but not completely mobbed. I bet he gets great service at Italian restaurants, too.

My graphic designer just asked

My graphic designer just asked me if the language spoken in ancient Rome ought to have an apostrophe at the end of it, "you know, like cookin', workin', eatin', shouldn't it be Latin'?"

I like that. Maybe on Sunday I will ask Melanie, "are you dressed and ready to go Latin'?" But since I tend to put on airs of culture I will ask "are you ready to go Lating?"

The next question is the infinitive form. To lat? Or, since it has its roots in a Romance language, latare?

What did they feed Erik this morning, anyway?

In bullfighting what I am

In bullfighting what I am about to do is called "citing the bull." It is most dramatic when done by the Portuguese forcados, who line up in front of the bull, without capes or weapons and incite the bull to charge with cries of "Toiro! Toiro! Hah! Toiro!" The forcados then wrestle the bull to the ground. Great fun.

I am not sure if I am ready to wrestle the toiro (?) I am citing, but I cannot resist.

The toiro in question is Nihil Obstat. Since this Blog is listed on Gerard's list, I am assuming that Nihil has poked through it. What amazes me is that so far he (?) has missed some pretty terrible errors. Now, it could be that Nihil does not jump on these things right away, giving the author a few days to notice and correct, but I am not sure. So far I have found three errors just on the front loading page today, and was able to quietly correct them without getting nailed first. I guess I should shut up and be thankful, but the part of my brain that tells me every spring to join the forcados is making me yell, "Toiro! Obstat! Toiro!"

Ole!

I have been hearing about

I have been hearing about this moratorium in St. Blog's on quoting a certain author. Do
I get points for never having quoted him on my Blog? I mean, he is fine and dandy, a pleasure to read in small doses, but...uh-oh, this might get me dirty looks at the St. Blog's parish council meeting... don't you get the feeling that he didn't sit down to write until he had put back a few single malts? He does tend to repeat himself a bit much in his writing. I know that when I combine my Friday Afternoon Sermons with my Friday Afternoon Martinis this is going to come back to bite me!

Here is my annotated menu

Here is my annotated menu for Easter:

Antipasti: we had salami slices with a variety of Greek olives (primarily kalamata and hondreolia), chevre and grissini. After the cocktail hour I served my homemade artichoke aperitif (my own recipe, if you are inclined towards this sort of thing, holler in the comments box and I will post the recipe).

Green Garlic Soup with thyme croutons. I used the recipe in Chez Panisse Cooking by Paul Bertolli. We get great green garlic this time of year, and this soup has become a bit of a tradition. It is basically a potato-leek soup with green garlic instead of leeks. Delicious. The only variations to the original recipe are that I use tarragon vinegar instead of just white wine vinegar, Yukon gold potatoes instead of reds, and a darker chicken stock than I imagine Bertolli uses. I served an excellent 2000 Byington Viognier with the soup.

Normally I serve a baby artichoke risotto, but I decided not to, as we had a smaller crowd than usual. I had thought about doing a different risotto, too, but in the end decided to skip it.

Asparagus, parboiled, refreshed and sautéed in butter, finished with Meyer lemon juice, sea salt, and fresh cracked pepper.

Fava bean ragu (from Chez Panisse Café Cookbook). Mountains of fava beans showed up at the San Francisco farmers’ market on Saturday, and they were great.

Lamb chops in a mustard herb crust. We went to the outstanding Little City Market in North Beach in San Francisco on Saturday. When Melanie asked for a leg of lamb, they looked at us with a look that said, "hey! Pazzi, you think you can waltz into the most popular butcher shop in the Italian district on Holy Saturday and still find a leg of lamb?" They had great lamb loins, so I had him cut them into chops. He also gave me some rosemary and French rue he had grown in the backyard. I chopped the rue, some of the rosemary, some fresh thyme, the zest of a Meyer lemon, sea salt, freshly ground pepper and a couple of cloves of garlic together. Then I added this herb mix to a mound of pannko (Japanese bread crumbs). I coated the chops with Dijon mustard, dipped them in the crumb/herb mix, and pan-fried the chops in butter.

I am so used to leg of lamb that at first I thought that chops would not be satisfying, but they worked just fine. I served a 2000 Barbera d’Alba with the lamb. I do not have the bottle with me (it is 90 miles away, and might get recycled before I can record the info – I usually take notes on wines, but this one got away from me). It was a good pairing.

For dessert, we had a colombina from the Victoria Pastry Company in North Beach (highly recommended, as well as their ossi, biscotti, and other pastries), served with assorted grappe, Meyer limoncello, and vin santo. My friend Jared and I had espresso and discussed art until late (but we waited until everyone else had gone home or to bed, as no one in his right mind who is not an artist wants to listen to technical talk for hours).

So that is my menu for Easter. I won’t republish any of the Chez Panisse recipes (go buy the books), but I will be happy to post any of my own, or answer any questions.

Oh yeah, HAPPY EASTER!

Oh yeah,

HAPPY EASTER!

Another long post eaten up.

Another long post eaten up. This time it was because my mouse locked, and I could not figure out how to save the text. From now on, all posts will be done in Word, then pasted! It will take me some time to recreate the original post, as it was full of links illustrating each point. Oh well.

In case this is my

In case this is my last post before Monday, have a Blessed Easter! I might get something in here and there, but it is not likely. I will give a full report of my Easter menu with recipes next week. Remember, if you are in the Bay Area, the Triduum will be observed with particular reverence and beauty at The National Shrine of St. Francis of Assisi! I will be there for all of it, and will probably be an usher at all of the services, so if you are a reader of this blog and stop by, I will be the 6 footer with a beard (tonight and tomorrow I will be scruffy and in desperate need of a haircut - Saturday night and Sunday I will be recently shorn (since I have been overdue on a haircut since February, you can only imagine how bad it looks now)) handing out programs. Introduce yourself. I don't bite and I promise I won't rant at you (unless you specifically request a good ranting, and I reserve the right to determine when a ranting has been requested. HA HA HA HA HA HA HA). Happy Triduum!

Here is a CD review

Here is a CD review of Umbrian traditional dance music on Rootsworld. Reading it again, I am not happy with the writing, which is surprising, since I really liked the disc, and I took a long time writing it. Oh well, what I said is basically good, it's just not well written. The music on the disc is great, and it is available from the link given at the bottom of the review.

More on the Stabat Mater.

More on the Stabat Mater. This will be this week’s poetry feature. It is a magnificent poem, and makes a great text for choral settings. Reading it over has given me one of my demented ideas: Stabat Mater Dolorosa sung as a fado. Think about that. If you want to do it, go ahead, there has to be room in the world for more than one.

I am not going to provide a lot of background, nor a list of composers of Stabat Mater settings, because someone has done so already:

Stabat Mater site

However, be warned that his background material is not too solid. For that, there is always the Catholic Encyclopedia. So, if you want just the poem, here it is:

STABAT MATER DOLOROSA

Stabat mater dolorosa
Juxta Crucem lacrimosa
Dum pendebat Filius.

Cujus animam gementem,
Contristatam et dolentem,
Pertransivit gladius.

O quam tristis et afflicta
Fuit illa benedicta
Mater Unigeniti.

Quae maerebat et dolebat,
Pia Mater, dum videbat
Nati poenas inclyti.

Quis est homo, qui non fleret,
Matrem Christi si videret
In tanto supplicio?

Quis non posset contristari,
Christi Matrem contemplari
Dolentem cum Filio?

Pro peccatis suae gentis
Vidit J`esum in tormentis
Et flagellis subditum.

Vidit suum dulcem natum
Moriendo desolatum
Dum emisit spiritum.

Eia, Mater, fons amoris
Me sentire vim doloris
Fac, ut tecum lugeam.

Fac, ut ardeat cor meum,
In amando Christum Deum
Ut sibi complaceam.

Sancta Mater, istud agas,
Crucifixi fige plagas,
Cordi meo valide.

Tui nati vulnerati,
Tam dignitati pro me pati,
Poenas mecum divide.

Fac me vere tecum flere,
Crucifixo condolere,
Donec ego vixero.

Juxta crucem tecum stare,
Et me tibi sociare
In plancto desidero.

Virgo virginium praeclara,
Mihi jam non sis amara,
Fac me tecum plangere.

Fac, ut portem Christi mortem,
Passionis fac consortem
Et plagas recolere.

Fac me plagis vulnerari,
Fac me cruce inebriari
Et cruore Filii.

Flammis ne urar succensus
Per te, Virgo, sim defensus
In die iudicii.

Christe, cum sit hinc exire,
De per Matrem me venire
Ad palmam victoriae.

Quando corpus morietur,
Fac ut animae donetur
Paradisi gloria.

Amen. Alleluia.

Another great piece to listen

Another great piece to listen to for Holy Week is Pergolesi's Stabat Mater. Again, my recording is an old one on vinyl, so I don't have a recommendation, but definitely get this piece. Pergolesi was a pre-Classical composer who died very young. Be sure to read the text of the Stabat Mater while you are listening. It is pretty heavy-hitting. A good prelude for contemplation of the mystery of the Passion.

I think that I am

I think that I am going to periodically post useful information to musicians who are looking to get signed. We get tons of unsolicited submissions every week, and some folks are putting an unbelievable amount of time and energy on the wrong things. I am inspired to do this by yet another lovingly produced demo that came in (we get tons of these). This guy (no names) seems like a nice guy, he has some good taste in graphic art, good chops as a musician, but has made some terrible mistakes that will result in nothing more than a pile of CDs that he will end up giving away to friends and family. First, he has created a good demo of his guitar playing, but, because his other instrumentalists are not up to his level, it is a pretty much unmarketable record. Even if the quality of the other musicians were up there, there is no UPC code on it, so most stores won't even touch it for consignment. So his market is now limited to folks who show up at his shows. And, since he has spent so much time, energy and money on getting the CD out, the chances are great that he has not done the much more important task of developing a local following, so his shows are probably not as full as they should be. All of the materials in his lavish packet are geared towards selling him as a recording artist. Unfortunately, as any label marketing person will tell you, the biggest tool in the box for selling records is a performer with a full itenerary and a good hometown following.

Also, this guy's music is fairly close to what we do, but does not really fit in our catalog. It tells me that the guy probably got our name from a list, and does not know our catalog. So, the raw cost of the packet is about $10 (considering that he is stuck with either small runs or huge amounts of undistributed product, this is probably low), the postage another $3, so he essentially burned $13 on our copy. If he sent this out to 50 labels, he's out $650 (if he was able to get a small run, looking at the piece, he probably used a process that required a minimum of 1,000 for any remotely reasonable price, so with the folder (printed), the photos (high quality), the press release, the one sheet, the 4-color not-quite-p.o.p.-not-quite-one-sheet, he probably was out a lot more for this). If he spent that $650 (most likely $4,000, considering the quantities of EVERYTHING he needed) making his next show better, he would be a lot closer to a record deal than he is now. And we have not even begun to get into whether a record deal is a good idea for everyone!

So, there are some lessons in that, but it is not even close to all I have to say on it, so I will start some postings on this topic next week.

I have been eating at

I have been eating at Zand's Pastry in Albany a lot recently. It is a Middle Eastern deli, that makes great falafel, domathes, and all of that. They also make the most incredible Iranian baklava with pistacchios that I have ever had. If you are in the Bay Area, they are on Solano Avenue, half way between BART and the tunnel (mas o menus). Delicious. I am not planning on keeping details of every meal eaten at every restaurant, but Zand's had someone steal a bunch of money from them this week, so I'll give them a plug: if you are in the area, go eat there. They are nice folks, and their food is great (especially the pastries). They sell all sorts of goodies from all over the Middle East. If you need a place in the East Bay for lunch, Zand's is the spot. It is amazingly hard to make a living at small retail/food service, and they work hard to run a nice shop. You will not be disappointed.

Speaking of music, I promised

Speaking of music, I promised that I would run some of my newspaper cd reviews a bit after publication in the papers. I will make good on that, in fact, I will do one better: since the newspaper runs capsule reviews, I am expanding them out to give the reader an even better idea of the record, as well as some ruminations on the theory and history of the records (This Keiholtz really is a music geek, ain't he?). So, give me a few days and my full review of Dino Saluzzi's latest will come out.

And on music, I was thinking more of this question of meeting Bach. I think I would rather just listen to him improvise at the organ. Let's face it: questions on counterpoint have been extensively dealt with, Bach's harmonies are understood by anyone with a couple of years of theory, child rearing advice would be good (he had 24 after all) but perhaps outdated, and the questions of performance practice would be quickly resolved by hearing the music played. I still think I would rather spend the time with Scarlatti, but that is because of a specific interest in Scarlatti's harpsichord music. All of this Bach talk has made me pull out The Art of the Fugue, which I have not listened to in a couple of years. Wonderful stuff.

Music for Holy Week. Someone

Music for Holy Week.

Someone in St. Blog's recommended listening to the Bach Passions. I highly agree. I wish I could offer a recommendation for a recording, but, I have mine on vinyl, and I have no idea if they are available. Obviously I am pleased with them, as I have not replaced them with new-fangled CDs! The result is that I have no idea what is out there. Sorry. I have failed you once again.

I am currently listening to "I Doli du Signuri" on the Taranta label (Ethnica series, number 10). I have no idea where you can get it, but you should get it, if you are adventuresome (maybe www.cdroots.com). It is all Sicilian music for Holy Week, and it is incredibly moving stuff. It is also completely alien to most Western ears, even to most Italian ears, so be forwarned. Lots of oblique motion counterpoint, which gives it a rather Byzantine feeling.

For Passion recordings, there is also Arvo Pärt's Passio on the ECM label. It is not Pärt's finest work, but it is ok.

Banda Ionica's first album (also probably available at www.cdroots.com, certainly at Down Home Music, although you may have trouble finding it on their online system, try calling them (ask for John)), is called "Passione" and features the brass band music for the Sicilian Passion processions. Talk about haunting! Talk about one of those moments where you say "Hmmm. That's where Nino Rota got his ideas." It is just like a Fellini movie, but without the movie. Brilliant, I say! Their second album, Matria Mia, is less traditional, but I will talk about that after Easter.

An Ah-hah moment: My mother

An Ah-hah moment:

My mother said, "you know, I don't remember us having to take the inner shell off the fava beans when I was a kid."

We wondered if there was some way my grandmother cooked them that made the parboiling and refreshing unnecessary. Perhaps they were a different species of fava bean? Maybe their digestive systems were just hardier then.

Well, no. My grandmother, and all of the Italians in the Italian district of Sacramento, grew them and picked them much younger than the ones that make it to the market. One does not have to peel the individual beans once out of the pod if the beans are young. I did not realize that, always having bought them in the long pods that are characteristic of the mature fava beans.

You might learn something every day, but it still doesn't make the availability of the beans any better. Ahi me!

HIT THE DECK! Keilholtz is

HIT THE DECK!

Keilholtz is posting a music geek post. Run before it is too late!

The long post that Blogger ate last week (grrrr, again), was a music geek post, and in due time it will appear again. This is not its replacement, just an observation, a speculation, and an invitation for comments. It is about one of my favorite composers, Johann Sebastian Bach.

Please allow that last line to sink in a bit, especially the phrase, "one of my favorite composers."

Good. That should spare the noble, but misguided comments and emails accusing me of shortchanging Bach.

I will go deeper into my love of Bach, just to make it clear: I am a harpsichordist. One of the greatest moments of my life was in college, in the music building long after it had closed (there are advantages to having connections), opening the window (technically a no-no in the early keyboard room, but it was a dry evening), and playing the more moody Bach pieces for about three hours straight. I never could understand how the suburbanite hippie teenagers ever thought that Pink Floyd was mind altering, compared to this.

I have also analyzed more Bach chorales, cantatas, inventions, preludes, fugues, partitas, toccatas, and suites than a sane man ought to have. On a stormy night nothing beats Bach's Art of the Fugue, and a stiff cup of sake (hey, I'm in California). Bach is exciting. Bach is fun. In short, I like Bach.

BUT...

Something perplexes me. Last week's Friday Five ended with the question of which musical figure, living or dead would you want to meet and why. A good question. The funny thing was that Bach kept popping up, both in St. Blog's parish, and in the blogosphere in general, even when all of the other answers to the questions were as far from Baroque related as possible.

I am curous, why Bach? His music is great, but I am not sure what we would talk about. OK, maybe if I had a month to prepare some good quesions, but I would really have to think. These would probably be incredibly technical questions involving performance practice, but I have a specific interest (for those fellow music geeks: I am particularly curious about over-dotting and notes inegales, as well as historically informed practice of certain ornaments as they appear in several of the fugues - I told you this was geeky). Now, Bach liked his coffee, beer and tobacco, so he would probably have been a swell guy to hang out in the pub with, but more than, say Franz Liszt or Louis Armstrong or Robert Schumann?

Of course there is the question of why anyone without a specific interest in music would clamor to meet any musical figure, unless said musical figure had a reputation for good conversation: an evening with Thelonious Monk sounds great (depending on which pole he was hovering around). An evening with Chet Baker sounds awful, yet I love the music of both. I think an evening with Don Ho sounds rather pleasant, but I would rather not listen to Tiny Bubbles ever again. Which brings us back to Bach. There is something else going on, I think.

Bach is more to people than simply the music (although that music is amazing). Bach represents something else, something that is perhaps lost. I am specifically thinking of the couple of 20/30 somethings who seemed very interested in all sorts of pop and schlock, yet wanted to meet Bach. My first impulse is to think, "oh that is just pretention. These kids are just trying to look smart." But I don't think so. I think that deep down, even fans of Rage Against the Smashing Nirvana Garden want something beautiful, something true, something great. There is something seriously lacking in our culture, and the urge to meet Bach is a hopeful sign that there are people who are yearning for what is lacking.

Is Bach the answer? Ultimately, no. As great as his music is, the yearning is for something even deeper, even more beautiful, even truer. Let's capitalize those: even Deeper, even more Beautiful, even Truer. But the music of Bach is a good road sign. Mozart was better, by the way, but Bach is good. Art is not a sacrament, but surely there is something in its very nature that acts on us in a way that is at least close to the way a sacramental works.

But, look at what you have made me do! I am getting back to the serious topics that I had in mind when I created this Blog. Next thing you know I'll be writing serious essays on the aesthetic, moral, and cultural aspects of bullfighting!

Easter prep update! I went

Easter prep update!

I went to the small farmers' market on Saturday, basically to compile the rough draft of my Easter menu. Green garlic looks great, so the green garlic soup is on. Still no fava beans, but I will not give up that fast. The asparagus looks fantastic, and has been great for the past few weeks. I saw some good pea shoots, so they might take the place of the fava beans. Spring salad greens have looked better, but I think a week will help. Our tomato guy was there, but he was selling flowers, so we talked about the upcoming harvest. It looks like he will have some good early varieties in May, along with some spring squash.

Meanwhile, I am debating on which lamb recipe to do. Part of me thinks that I will grill it over a hardwood fire. I am not sure.

This weekend I saw a

This weekend I saw a glaring error in the Blog, but I cannot seem to find it. My proofreading eye is not always so great on Mondays, I guess. If anyone sees it (or others), please let me know before Nihil Obstat catches it!

I hope the old Blog

I hope the old Blog doesn't require any sort of major tech work this week, because Ann is out of town in the wilds of Utah, and she is the only one who will do this stuff for free! I doubt that she is going door to door trying to convert the Mormons to Buddhism, but it is at least an interesting image. I have often thought that we should send Dominican friars to preach non-stop in Temple Square in SLC, but the Dominicans I have suggested this plan to have looked at me funny. I could not tell if the look said, "Bah!" or if it said, "Keilholtz, keep talking like that and the next thing you know I'm going to be the one holding down the 3am shift. Thanks, buddy!" These religious are getting soft. Why, in the old days, the merest whiff of heresy got the OP's into the Crusading spirit!

The first thing that I

The first thing that I need to talk about is public radio. It is a great thing, for the most part. I cannot imagine what the airwaves would be like without NPR, PRI, even, to a much, much lesser extent, Pacifica. I listen to public radio for my jazz (KCSM, 91.1fm), for my news (KALW, 91.7fm), for my classical music in Sacramento (KXPR 90.9fm), for my late night weird music (KPFA 94.1fm), for interesting radio shows (KQED, 88.5fm), and to get my blood pressure up by listening to the incoherent nattering of Amy Goodman, Howard Zinn, and their ilk (said with a sneer). Without public radio, let's see, we would have Kenny G for jazz, Rush Limbaugh for blood pressure raising, etc.

The nature of public radio is that it is somewhat supported by government and somewhat supported by listener donations. As I am not a libertarian, I have no problem so far. The price we pay for having the listener support is the intrusion of the pledge drive, the begathon, etc. Part of the begathon is the pitch, "what would you do without this valuable resource? If we do not make our goal, I don't know how we will manage."

Now, the assumption is that "how we will manage" means something along the lines of, "we will have to seriously curtail what we are offering," or in extremely flush times, "we will not be able to afford the moderate growth we have planned, you know, the transmitters to get our signal into deprived rural areas." This is what it means when KCSM says it, it is what it means when Capital Public Radio says it, it is what it means when KALW says it. It is what KQED hopes you will think it means when they say it. However, the story is a little darker with KQED.

Now KQED does some good for the Bay Area. It brings in the wonderfully professional war coverage we have been getting on NPR, it brings in my weekly dose of Minnesota, via Prairie Home Companion, and it covers interesting local issues with Michael Krazny's Forum. However, KQED has one of the largest budgets of any public broadcaster, and produces nearly the least amount of programming, and this is in an area with probably more creative folks than anywhere else! So what does KQED spend its money on?

Well, re-broadcasting the same thing over and over. So we get a rebroadcast of All Things Considered in the middle of the night, as well as Forum. That is one thing they give us.

The other is what they are planning on giving Sacramento, namely another public radio station offering almost identical programming to the existing Capital Public Radio station (KXJZ, 88.9fm). For some reason KQED thinks that it is serving its community by buying a defunct religious radio station so that it can penetrate another area. The KQED PR folks, as well as the broker, who specialized in buying and selling public radio stations (!), assure us that there will be no competition, that they will serve different audiences, etc. I believe them about as much as I believe the Iraqi minister of information.

First, let me give you a little background. Sacramento is served primarily by two public radio stations, KXPR and KXJZ, both licensed by Sacramento State University, the local normal school, as a service to the community. They are the founders of the Capital Public Radio network, which includes KUOP and other smaller Central Valley stations. KXJZ was created as a jazz station, but, due to the market, they have had to retreat from jazz quite a bit. For those of us jazz fans this was devastating (I listened to KXJZ's very first broadcast - they started life with Herbie Hancock's Maiden Voyage), but it ultimately worked out for the better, as using the NPR talk programs to generate funding took the pressure off the jazz programming, so the whole trend towards blander music was halted and the jazz programming has improved in quality. In fact this arrangement has worked out so well, that Capital Public Radio was going to buy the aforementioned defunct religious station to play jazz, real jazz, subsidized by the talk station. Wow! Talk about serving the community. Well, imagine the surprise that they had when they were outbid by KQED!

So, instead of having more variety on the airwaves, Sacramento will get a funddrive siphon that duplicates their own programming, and draws from their Bay Area base to completely dominate the market. Shame on the bloated pig of a radio station KQED (the truly awful KQED TV is the subject of a different rant, down the line)! This is not serving the common good, this is building a fief for the non-profiteers who run this station.

For anyone who thinks that only for-profit corporations act in blatant disregard of the principles outlined in Rerum Novarum, look at KQED. They are right now asking for $2 Million from their Bay Area listeners. Don't send them a dime. Donate instead to Capital Public Radio, to KALW, to KCSM (please! They could use it, and their programming is mostly local, and is dedicated to the great American art called Jazz), or to Ave Maria Radio (who are in dire straits, too). Furthermore, most of KQED's programming can be found on KALW, and the remainder of their programming is better than KQED's anyway.

Wow! This is a longer rant than I thought. I will save my tirade against children singing on children's records for another day. Have a prayerful Passiontide, and an observant Palm Sunday.

Nag of the week: is your menu ready for Easter? Tomorrow is a good time to go to the farmers' market and see what is fresh.

We are approaching two weeks

We are approaching two weeks from the start of the Portuguese bullfight temporada. Perhaps I should post an essay on this most Catholic art sometime soon in anticipation. I have several pieces I have written on los toros, and would be happy to post them or to write on any aspect that you are interested in. Please, if there is an aspect of bullfighting, particularly how it pertains to the broader world of culture, art, and theology, ask in the comments box. I will think about it and respond.

The Friday Five 1. What

The Friday Five

1. What was the first band you saw in concert?

I honestly cannot remember. I am assuming by "band" the implication is pop music. Even then, I am not sure. My parents dragged me to all sorts of events, mostly classical music, but other things as well. Here are some firsts that I can remember:

First major symphony orchestra: Boston Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall, under Seiichi Ozawa.
First opera: Marriage of Figaro (standing room, no supertitles, at the age of ten. Loved it) at the Vienna State Opera. Do not know who was directing, or who sang.
First outdoor stadium rock concert: The Grateful Dead
First indoor arena rock concert: The Grateful Dead
First big name jazz performance that I remember: Modern Jazz Quartet
First season subscription to any music series: Sacramento Symphony

2. Who is your favorite artist/band now?

I do not have one particular favorite, but here are some that I find really exciting: Dino Saluzzi, Daniele Sepe, El Gran Silencio, The Academy of Ancient Music, the Kronos Quartet, the Abel Steinberg Winant Trio, Portishead, Celso Piña, Los Tigres del Norte, Banda El Recodo, Pharoah Sanders, Fanfare Ciocarlia, Banda Ionica, the San Francisco Symphony, the Scola Cantorum of The National Shrine of St. Francis of Assisi, Ry Cooder, Paolo Conte, and others. My apologies to those who are not, for some reason, popping into my mind right now.

3. What's your favorite song?

Cry Me A River.

4. If you could play any instrument, what would it be?

Theorbo or lute.

5. If you could meet any musical icon (past or present), who would it be and why?

Domenico Scarlatti or Claudio Monteverdi. Both are incredibly interesting composers. As a harpsichordist, Scarlatti has meant more to me than any other. Also, I have a couple of technical questions to ask him! As for Monteverdi, I find his vocal writing to be the most moving, incredible use of the human voice out there. The only composer who comes close is Luciano Berio. Also, Monteverdi’s sophisticated placement of the choral and instrumental groups throughout St. Mark’s in Venice prefigured Stockhausen’s and Varese’s spacial placement of sound in a significant way.

On the request of a

On the request of a fellow blogger, I republished the archives. I hope this works. I really don't understand it all, I just do as I'm told. Last night I was going to reproduce the rather long post that I wrote at lunch yesterday that Blogger ate, but I fell asleep shortly after the baby went to bed, so that did not happen. Today's Friday Afternoon Sermon will be of particular interest to Bay Area residents, although there will be some reflections about Public Radio in general, so it will not be completely useless to those of you in the outside world. I will also be ranting about a feature of children's records that drives me crazy.

In the meanwhile, I realize that I promised a recipe for mushroom pasta, so...

The important thing to have for mushroom pasta is flavorful mushrooms. Without going into a lengthy digression on the characteristics of the various mushroom species, I will suggest a few, and offer the advice that one should use their own sense and judgement.

NOTE: If you are going to pick your own, please know what you are doing. In Northern California we have had problems of Taiwanese and Eastern European immigrants mistaking a deadly type of mushroom (called, appropriately enough the Deathcap) for an edible one from the old country. The treatment for this error: a liver transplant. So, be careful!

I think that three types of mushrooms are the minimum, although I can think of a way to work with one or two. The one I made last week I used fresh shitake, fresh oyster mushrooms, fresh crimini mushrooms, and rehydrated porcini. Ideally I would have probably picked this combo: fresh porcini, fresh oyster mushrooms, fresh matsutake, golden chantrelle, and rehydrated mousselin (I think that is the name of these dried mushrooms from France - I get them at G. B. Ratto's in Oakland, they will tell you what they are). Basically I am going for a blend of strong flavors, delicate flavors, and a variety of textures. Crimini are a good choice for those on a budget, but they must be supplemented with dried porcini or they simply come accross as filler.

Rule number one: do not wash mushrooms in water. It does terrible things to them. Plumps them up. Reduces the flavor. The only time you want to use water is to rehydrate dried mushrooms. Washing mushrooms is a sad way to abuse one of the great gifts that God has given us. Brush them, tenderly and delicately. All you need to do is remove grit, as the mushrooms are grown in sterilized medium.

Certain types of mushrooms, and I am thinking of shitake, have rather woody stems that many cooks tell you to discard. I disagree. Chop them finely, into 1/4" to 1/8" dice. They provide a lot of flavor, even though you don't want to chew on big pieces of them. I generally do the same to matsutake, as I want the truffle-like flavor to be maximized. Reserve and strain the liquid from rehydrating mushrooms.

All of the mushrooms should be cut into bite sized pieces. I don't care how you do it. Some like slices, some like chunks, some like a blend. I tend to cut depending on the type of mushroom. Experience and experiment will tell you what to do. In a skillet, heat up 1/2 butter and 1/2 extra virgin olive oil (heat up the amount you think you will need and then 50% more. The mushrooms soak it up). When the oil is hot but not smoking, add the mushrooms and two cloves of garlic, pressed (there is controversy over pressing garlic. Some chefs think it is blasphemy, others think that it is the only way to add garlic. We can discuss this later). After they have been sautéed for a bit, add a good pinch or two of fresh chopped calamint (you will need to raise this yourself, and if you are a fan of mushrooms, you should), a good pinch or two of fresh chopped thyme leaves, a generous amount of fresh cracked pepper, and sauté some more. When they are approaching done, deglaze the pan with a good splash of grappa (preferred, but you can substitute dry sherry, white vermouth, cognac), let the alcohol cook off and add the liquid from the dried mushrooms. Add cream (creme fraiche is best) once the other liquids have been cooked together and cook until the cream is slightly thickened. Add freshly grated reggiano parmeggiana, freshly grated nutmeg, and a good blast of cracked pepper.

You can add this sauce to your fully cooked penne (al dente, please), or can finish cooking your pasta in the sauce (preferred). Finish with fresh chopped Italian parsley and a few drops of white truffle oil. Serve with a good red wine and a tossed green salad.

I just wrote a rather

I just wrote a rather long post that was eaten by Blogger. I did not paste it into Word, as I normally do. Grrr. I guess I will rewrite it tonight. Sorry. Although last time it did this, it turned out to have published it anyway, and my fumbling around got it posted twice.

Sorry for the slow posting.

Sorry for the slow posting. I have some longer posts I am working on, and I thank you for your patience. This afternoon I will hopefully post some things that I can get finished at lunch time.

Sorry for this non-post, but

Sorry for this non-post, but for some reason I posted the last one twice. I have no idea how to delete it, so I am editing it with this little sentence. Oops.

Wine time. This fish thing

Wine time. This fish thing is fun. Not only do I expand my seafood repertoire each Lent, but I get to try some different wines, wines that I would not serve with meat. Now, I am not saying that I do not eat seafood the rest of the year, but not like I do during Lent.

Ah, but wait a minute! Lent is a time of penance, Keilholtz! You are not supposed to enjoy your penance so much! Sackcloth and ashes for you!

But, perhaps we should enjoy our penances. After all, food is good. Meat is great, but all food is good. Perhaps one of the reasons for giving something up for Lent is to learn to appreciate the stuff that we normally neglect, in favor of the things we really like. Since I cook so much Italian food, it is difficult for me to imagine a meal without at least a little pork. But here we are, porkless salt cod. Melanzane parmeggiana sin maile, not even a bit of pancetta. Now, I realize that this is not exactly sackcloth and ashes, but an important dimension is realizing that all of the food that God gives us is good. Only people, through factory farming, indifferent cooking, cost-cutting, or neglect can make it bad. And, as we know, bad does not exist in and of itself but is the state of lacking goodness.

And that is probably the kernal of penance. We do without and realize how great creation is by seeing how wonderful the part we normally neglect is (for instance we might dread some discipline of making a devotion, but find that we enjoy it immensely). And, since we do not worship the Created, but the Creator, we get another little facet of how great God is. So, I am enjoying my fishy and vegetative diet, and the wine that goes with it (I have given up martinis, manhattens, etc, but wine is an essential part of food - as the visiting bishop in Graham Greene's Monsignor Quixote says, "ever since the wedding at Canae, we should not take wine too lightly." Or something to that effect (the book is in the baby's room, and she is asleep).

So, I am going to write about the wine we had with our crabcakes.

Bonny Doon/Ca'del Solo
Pinot Grigio
Monterey
2000

Anyone who has read my wine writing knows that I am partial to the Bonny Doon Vineyard. I used to live down the road from it, when it was still headquartered in the backwoods of the Santa Cruz Mountains. The winemaker (Randal Graehme, although I am spelling his name incorrectly), is incredibly gifted. I will write on his wines here and there, because they deserve attention.

This pinot grigio compares favorably to the absolute best of the Alto Adige/Veneto pinot grigio wines. It is highly structured, with 13% alcohol and moderate acidity, so each sip is a mouth-filling experience. The nose is complex: with layers of tropical fruit, citrus, as well as a deep vanilla and floral hints, although nothing comes out as overtly as in a Sauvignon Blanc or Bonny Doon's Malvasia Bianca (another great wine that I will discuss later), in fact, "fruity" is not the first word that one would use to describe this wine. I am keenly aware of highly fruity wine because, as much as Melanie, my mother and I like dry fruity wines, my father can't stand them, but this is a wine I would serve him in a second. The finish is powerful, but not as strong as a Montrachet. It certainly is in proportion to the other elements of this wine.

The color is deep yellow, with reddish hints (this is not a pink wine, though, it is clearly in the realm of a white wine). Bonny Doon Vineyards is known for their labels as well as their wines, and the pinot grigio is no exception. Full of bilingual puns and whimsical illustrations, you get some good fun reading to go with the wine.

I should offer this note: do not be afraid of Bonny Doon's various cork substitutes. Their Big House Red is a great red table wine, although it comes in a screw top (although I have not had this wine for awhile, I did get a report from a reputable source that Big House Red has slipped. I will taste it in the next couple of weeks and give my report based on my own findings).

Now, I want to take

Now, I want to take a moment to talk about Easter, from a food perspective. You need to start planning your menu, so that if you need hard to find ingredients, you can get them in time. You should also make your Easter feast time table. You will need to figure out when to do your shopping, your cooking, and still fit in Holy Thursday mass, Good Friday passion, Easter Vigil mass, and Easter Sunday mass.

To help you with logistics, let me offer some menu suggestions. The recipes I use are mostly Italian, but some French thrown in for variety. After all, French cuisine is a close cousin to the Italian.

The way to build a menu is not to sit at home and think about it. The way to build a menu is to visit the farmers' market and see what is fresh and good. I suggest a trip to the farmers' market THIS WEEK, so that you can see what your area has to offer. I am building this list here based on the seasonal food of the Bay Area.

The thing that has become a tradition in our house is the green garlic soup from the Chez Panisse cookbook. Nothin says spring like that. This is a cookbook that should be in the library of any serious cook. Paul Bertolli, while no longer at Chez Panisse (he has a fantastic restaurant in Oakland called Oliveto), has written a masterpiece.

Asparagus is also really good around here. We get ours from around Stockton, and I think it is hard to beat. The best way to do it is to peel the bases, cutting off the very bottom half inch (it looks best to cut it at a 45 degree angle), parboil and refresh, then sautée until done in half olive oil/half goose fat with a couple of peeled whole garlic cloves. Finish with sea salt, fresh ground pepper, and sprinkle with freshly grated reggiano parmeggiana (no substitutions). Remember, according to Miss Manners, asparagus spears should be eaten with the fingers!

I always serve a risotto as the primo piatto. For the past few years I have done a classic Tuscan baby artichoke risotto. It is simple and the baby artichokes do not wage a war with the wine in your mouth the way the mature ones do. Our artichokes come from Monterrey or San Mateo counties. I remove all of the tough outer leaves, and thinly slice the artichokes (thin, thin, thin!) and drop in acidulated water. For two cups of arborio rice, I use about 18 small artichokes, I think. In two tablespoons each of goose fat, butter and olive oil, I gently fry a handful of finely chopped pancetta (this is optional if you do not want it, but it is very good), then a large finely chopped shallot, then the artichokes (towel dried). Add the rice (arborio or other Italian variety), cook until it is coated with the fat and turning translucent. Add a cup of dry vermouth and let the alcohol cook off. Then lower the heat, and add hot chicken stock, following the usual risotto protocol (if requested, I will publish the entire directions for cooking risotto). Adjust for salt. Finish with parmesan (the real stuff! Reggiano! Reggiano! Reggiano!), two tablespoons of butter, and fresh cracked pepper. Serve with a chilled white, preferably a flintier one. I have found success with Pinot Grigios as well as some of the interesting dry whites from Bonny Doon).

Of course the centerpiece of the Italian Easter feast is a roast leg of lamb. Over the course of the next week, I will give a couple of suggested recipes for roast leg of lamb.

I prefer to eat fava beans with my lamb, but it wasn't looking promising this year. We will see what the market brings on Saturday.

I finish the meal with a lightly dressed salad of baby arugula and dandelion greens.

For dessert we have a colombina (an Italian cake baked in the shape of a dove. We get ours from Victoria Pastry Company in San Francisco - I make a trip there on Holy Saturday - convenient, since I often help with moving statues back into The National Shrine of St. Francis of Assisi, which is a block away). It is imperative to serve good strong coffee with the colombina, and a shot of grappa.

More Easter suggestions later, but this will give you something to think about.

I was looking over the

I was looking over the words that have led people, via the search engines, to this site. We had a person looking for "melanzane parmeggiana" today. I hope this person, if he was looking for a recipe, found it in the archives.

I should probably post links to the recipes on the side, so that this is a more useful webpage. Since I am an Internet luddite, I will rely on Ann's generosity with her time for this. That would make this another good time to plug her as a web designer. If you need any web design services hire Ann. I have known her more years than I have not known her, and she is reliable and good. She has saved this page from looking bad, as I was just using the hideous blogger template until she saved the day.

To the person who found

To the person who found this site looking for "Walnut Liquer" on one of the search engines, welcome! I make mine using Artusi's recipe. You will need to pick green walnuts on the feast of St. John the Baptist, so make arrangements with a tree owner now. I will post reminders as we get closer, and then the recipe. I really recommend making this, as it is a delicious after dinner liquer.

Later on I will post

Later on I will post my recipe for wild mushroom penne, along with wine suggestions.

Also, there is a bit of a backlog of CD reviews at the newspaper, so I am not sure what has been published yet, but as soon as I find out I will post some CD reviews. I don't want to scoop my own paper. That is bad form.

And, since you have nothing else to do (why else would you be sitting inside reading a blog on a beautiful day like today?), may I suggest a hike at the Sunol Wilderness Preserve? It is stunning countryside, and the wildflowers are breathtaking. If you are not in the Bay Area, and want to recommend wildflower spots, please do so in the comments box. If you are in the Bay Area, and want to recommend wildflower spots, please do so in the comments box.

Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea

Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.

I realize that Friday sermons are expected from me, and I let you, my dear readers, down. I will make up for it. I was going to talk about something that bugs me about children's records, but something serious has come up. I will explain later, maybe today, certainly by tomorrow, but for you Bay Area readers, please ignore KQED's spring begathon. If you are thinking about giving them money, please hold off for at least a couple of days, because you should know what KQED is doing to the Sacramento area. It is ugly, ugly stuff. If you like NPR, may I suggest KALW (91.7)? Much better station, and they aren't trying to create a little empire of bloated public radio, creeping in on the already fine Capital Public Radio network in Sacramento/Stockton.

But, no time for details now, come back later.

The Tijuana bullfight promoter had

The Tijuana bullfight promoter had his annual press conference yesterday. Who knows, things change, but it looks like mostly the usual suspects. Eloy Cavasos is opening on May 4th. I hear he was great in his day, and has moments of glory, but I was not too impressed when I saw him 3 years ago. Anyway, May 5th is Pico dos Padres, and I only go to bullfights on two consecutive days a couple of times a year. Too decadent. I will save that for Madera/Stevinson and the Thornton festa in October. Meanwhile, I have not heard any rumors of Pablo Hermoso de Mendoza showing up in the summer. He never does, as that is the season in Spain, but there are rumors every year.

No poetry today. Nothing jumped

No poetry today. Nothing jumped out at me from the books I went through last night. I wasn't in a poetic mood, I guess. Maybe tonight something will hit me as belonging on here.

I have figured out why

I have figured out why Giants vs. A's games are never as fun as they should be. Due to the large numbers of fans who cross the bay, neither team gets the true home team advantage. When the Dodgers come to town, there are a few bozos who show up to cheer for them, but the majority are quite clear that the point of being there is to beat LA. But when the A's come to SF, there are a whole bunch of green-clad, duck-billed folks who follow. The result is that a third of the stadium cheers when they should be booing. I am more of a Giants fan than an A's fan, but I was cheering for the A's, simply because it would have been better baseball had the A's made a better showing. I was wearing an A's shirt, but that is because it was given to me (I will not pay for sports teams gear).

Here is my modest proposal: root for the home team in these situations. If you are a Giants fan, leave the Giants gear at home for Oakland games, if you are an A's fan, ditch the duck-bills for games at PacBell Park. It will be better baseball for all if the home team has a solid homefield advantage.

Naturally I am even advocating this for World Series games, not just exhibition games.

Welcome to the person looking

Welcome to the person looking for "Bad Recipes Blogger" on google. You have come to the right place. Salt cod and eggplant! America's favorite snacks!

I will talk about tralalleri

I will talk about tralalleri later. I did not play this a capella music last night, but it would have been perfect. Maybe later tonight I will talk about the music of the Genovese longshoremen. Fun stuff.

Baccala Toscanale. This is a

Baccala Toscanale.

This is a hybrid between the classic Tuscan salt cod with tomatoes and ceci (garbanzo beans) and a Provencale fish stew. I made it last night, and I will describe exactly how I did it, but will also offer some suggestions for making it more generic. One specific that might not apply was the fact that my ceci were a little saltier than usual, so I had to make some adjustments.

The first thing about salt cod is that if you buy fillets, you will save yourself some time. I didn't and had to deal with a little more trimming after the rehydration. No big deal, but it took some time. So, get your salt cod and soak it for at least 24 hours in cold water, changing the water at least 3 times, but preferably 5 to 7 times. You can also do it by letting cold water drip into it, with the excess going down the drain. Once it is rehydrated, cut it into bite-size pieces (nothing too exact, and they can be bigger if you like the effect. I wouldn't make them all too small, though, because it is satisfying to bite into a good chunk of saltcod), and remove the bones and skin, if necessary.

In your skillet or saute pan, heat some olive oil. Gently fry 2 or 3 peeled cloves of garlic for a minute and add a large shallot, finely diced. Gently fry for a little bit and add your salt cod and a generous pinch or two of fresh thyme leaves. Deglaze with a cup of dry white wine (NOTE: although I normally would not do this, I used the remnants of three bottles in the refrigerator: a good Orvieto Classico, Bonny Doon's Vin Gris de Cigare (a rose), and Two Buck Chuck's Chardonnay (Charles Shaw, available at Trader Joe's). I did this because I was trying to balance the salt and thought that in the context of this dish it would be ok to blend. It was, but please be careful. I know all three wines well, and knew the flavor profile I was after, but I could have created a monster).Add your ceci (I used canned, but had a salt problem, you can use dried, but it will take a couple of hours total, while you can probably make due with an hour of simmering if you used canned ceci) and a big can of chopped/crushed/ground tomatoes, the zest of a Meyer lemon (cut into thin strips), the juice of said lemon, and a liberal pinch of cayenne. Allow to simmer. Because I had the salt problem, I also added a splash of balsamic vinegar. When it was done I added a good shot of pastis and some fresh cracked pepper. I added water through the cooking to keep the level up (you are going for a soup here) and to keep the salt in check.

Variations: I almost added a big pinch of saffron threads. I didn't, but it would have been OK. It wasn't needed, but if I were going for a more Provencale taste, I would have added it. Ditto with lavender blossoms, although one must be careful with those, and I would not use them with the saffron. It could also be served with aioli.

We served this with Antinori Orvieto Classico, San Pellegrino sparkling water and ACME Italian bread. I served my homemade Meyer Limoncello and espresso afterwards. Yum.

A note on my recipes.

A note on my recipes.

I have not been using the standard home cook format for recipes: a list of precise amounts of each ingredient, followed by chronological instructions. Instead I write them in a hybrid style between Julia Childs's and a professional cookbook (see, for instance, Escoffier). If you would like precise amounts of ingredients and a standard format for any of my recipes, comment or email me, and I will be happy to comply. I am using the format that I am using because it is quicker, and I figure a reasonably experienced cook should be able to use them. However, I may be vague, and there is certainly nothing wrong with asking me. In fact I would much rather spend the time to give you specifics than have you waste costly ingredients and time by misinterpreting something that I could have been clearer on.

Also, if you have any questions on any specific technique, feel free to ask. I may refer you to a different source (and, right off the bat, for anyone who wants to learn technique, go out and buy both volumes of Julia Childs's classic Mastering the Art of French Cooking), but I will try to answer each inquiry. I come from a family of good cooks and it is easy for me to forget that not all of you have been in kitchens since you were knee-high to ducks.