Last night I took my time and made myself an appertifo of sorts: Yellow Fin Tuna Carpaccio (raw, thinly sliced) with a Yuzu-Tarragon sauce. I let the sauce sit on the tuna for about 20 minutes before I ate it so it would all come to room tempreature and the tuna would cook a little like ceviche. Here’s what you need for two people:

1/2 pound or quarter kilo Yellow Fin Sashimi Tuna
Fresh Tarragon (about 10-12 leaves or one stick: do not subsitute dry; choose another herb)
1 Yuzu (A Japanese citrus similar in appearance to a lumpy lemon or a yellow manderin orange)
1 lime
Salt & Pepper

Rinse & pat dry your block of tuna. Tell your fish market you intend to cut it carpaccio so that they give you the easiest peice to cut. You want to use your sharpest knife and “shave” off the peices. Lay the peices on 1-2 plates, barely overlapping.

Mince the tarragon, add to a small mixing bowl. Juice one yuzu, zest one half and add to bowl. Use the juice of half one fresh lime, into the bowl. With a whisk, stir briskly while adding olive oil: about half the amount as there is juice in the bowl (2 parts juice to one part oil). Add a generous pinch of salt (I like to use Pink Atlantic salt) and a couple turns of a pepper mill. When mixed well, pour over the tuna. Let set for 20 minutes until some parts of the tuna have turned white, and it is pretty much room temperature. Do not sit it somewhere warm while this is happening.

Then I made Ricotta & Beet raviolis with Poppy-Butter sauce, like I did this summer in Italy, but I’ll post that another day sine I don’t have a picture.

Tomorrow I cook for Thanksgiving. It is the first Thanksgiving my mom has cooked since I can remember–she says 15 years. I am making my favorite parts, and she is making the rest. I’m making an apple and pear tart, whipped sweet potatoes with tarragon and fennel, and Sausage-Persimmon stuffing. I’ll take pictures and post the recipes tomorrow.

So I had a couple friends over and got all three of my roomates in on dinner tonight, just randomly. I decided during my 2:30-5pm class that I wanted to cook tonight and have people around, so called a few friends who didn’t answer and got a hold of a few others and ended up with a dinner party list of Danica, Tessa, and all three roomates. I made mussels in a spicy tomato saffron broth over crostini (zupetta di moluska) with a nice vermentino, then I was going to make ricotta & beet ravioli with a poppy butter sauce but instead only a few people were still hungry so I made (reheated) the bolognese and made more fresh pasta to go with it… and then super-rich hot chocolates made with anise, cinnamon, half & half, sugar & cocoa powder with fresh whipped cream on top (small portions). Everyone was quite happy with the whole thing, and danica showed up with a bottle of wine as did Alison sharing a bottle she already had. All in all it was good and I wish we’d been able to extend it to a party in the city, a night out and about.

I made some Bologna style ragu sauce a couple nights ago (it’s one of my staples) and had leftovers, so for lunch I whipped up some fresh pasta (hand rolled, hand cut, as the people of Emilia-Romagna would have it) and called it a date.

Here’s the recipe for pasta bolognese.

In April 2011, I rewrote this 2006 recipe to add western measurements to the metric system on the original, and added new, clearer photos. Please enjoy the recipe for Fritole – Italian doughnuts!

Some roommates and other random people have asked me lately about making a stock (and sometimes I find them making stocks and force some advice on them–they thank me later), so I thought I’d share the methodology I have about stock-making. If you have several large pots, I’d make as large a batch as possible, even in multiple pots when you do this, and then package cooled stock into different size tupperware–I then store it in the freezer for up to 3 months, though I’ve had it last much longer than that before and it was fine. This way, you can pull it out whenever you need it, and it’s much tastier and healthier than vacu-packed or canned stock; no packaging residue effecting it and to boot it’s higher protein.

Homemade chicken stock can be used in risotto, as a soup base, for hydrating rice, creating a sauce for pasta, and many other things. If you’re feeling sick, it’s great to have it on its own, just cooked down a bit to concentrate the flavor, and with enough salt.

Home Made Chicken Stock Recipe

1 organic chicken leg, rinsed (or chicken carcass, chicken spines, etc–the point is, BONES with a bit of meat/fat)
4 stalks of celery, cleaned & cut in thirds
3-4 carrots, peeled & cut in thirds
1 parsnip, lightly peeled cut in chunks
3 bay leafs
1 tsp whole peppercorns
a large handful of fresh thyme
3 medium white or yellow onions, quartered and peeled
tablespoon of salt (to be added later)
COLD or room temp good water (brita filtered or bottled); enough to fill your largest pot.

Put all ingredients but salt and water in a large pot (or multiple large pots, increasing the quantities). Cover generously with water, leaving about an inch from the top of the pot. Cover with a lid.

Bring everything to a boil, then reduce heat to low, loosen the lid (slightly cracked) and let simmer for 1-2 hours. When finished, strain carefully and let cool until luke warm or cooler before putting in the refrigerator or freezing it. You can skip this if you’re using it the same day.

If you added scraps that still have meat, and you intend to use it for something else, you should take it out about 10 minutes after simmering the broth.

For vegetable stock, you might consider adding mushrooms in place of the meat. For fish stock, you should seek another recipe, because you use far simpler vegetables and lots of fish scraps. It’s so stinky I usually buy mine from a gourmet grocer that makes it in house.

Notes & Variables for Stock Making

- Cold Water – Always be sure for any kind of stock to start with cold water. If you add the vegetables and chicken to hot water, you’re only cooking them in the water, not infusing their flavors into it.

- Using other Meats – The main rule is that you need mostly bones with some meat left on them. You could use a fatty cut of beef like stewing chuck, or turkey if it has the skin and some bones, a different cut of chicken or a whole chicken carcass (it’s a waste to use a whole raw chicken; roast it first and reserve the meat)

- Using other Herbs – Marjoram, sage, cilantro, or anything not delicate like basil, but the bay leafs are pretty important

- Using other vegetables – it is OK if you do not have all of the vegetables listeda bove, but carrot, onion, and celery are pretty important; you could skimp on celery if you want. I also like to add not-roting but on-their-way-out greens like kale stems, chard stems (though the red ones will change the color of your stock), broccoli stalks, turnips, turnip greens, fennel tops etc. Sometimes it’s helpful to save scraps (cleaned, in plastic bags, wrapped in paper towels) as you go through the week of cooking to use in stock.