Text 15466, 128 rader
Skriven 2014-08-04 08:38:06 av Dave Drum (1:18/200.0)
     Kommentar till en text av Michael Loo
Ärende: Grasshoppers
====================
-=> MICHAEL LOO wrote to DAVE DRUM <=-

 ML> You're talking to Mr. Grasshopper, you know.
 DD> Not really. Grasshoppers do not know that they are grasshoppers.

 ML> You deny the existence of a self-aware grasshopper?

A true grasshopper, AFAIAC, is merely an appetite with wings and jumpy legs.
 
 ML> Actually, I admit that I've weighed resources vs.
 ML> projected lifespan in a careful but possibly, I
 ML> hope not, inaccurate way.

 DD> Last couple of annual "dilate the pupils" eye exams at the
 DD> ophthalmologist  "incipient cataracts" have been noted. I asked and was
 DD> told not to worry,  "just come back next year".

 ML> Cataracts are fixable these days: a hundred years ago
 ML> they were a guarantee of blindness. The popular view
 ML> is still the fear that our grandparents knew; the
 ML> medical profession doesn't worry that much anymore.

Back in the day people who had had cataract surgery wore these very thick,
heavy lensed spectacles. And the lenses did not filter out UV - which is one of
the important functions of the natural (and now implanted) lenses. I checked
this out after a "puzzler" presented by Click & Clack on Car Talk which used
that factoid as the pivot for one of their conundrums.
 
 ML> Roast chicken liquid is one of the greatest things
 ML> about poultry.

 DD> I like the skin that peels easily off the outside of the bird quite a
 DD> bit, too.

 ML> Or processed skin, the way I was going to do at the
 ML> picnic (I did duck skin cracklings and chicken skin
 ML> cracklings but did not remember/get to produce the
 ML> lovely thin sheets of flavor you get from rendering
 ML> out the skin of a roasted bird. And the fat from
 ML> the rendering is good stuff. I like everything about
 ML> poultry, it seems, except the meat, and that has its
 ML> uses, too.

 -=> Dave Drum said to Ruth Haffly <=-

 RH> The mac that goes into the boxed stuff is not a high quality type,
 RH> especially if you get the non name brand stuff.
 DD> See above. Even the generic boxed stuff in the white box with the
 DD> plain black label has proved decent enough for a quick meal - for me.

 ML> I would guess from my limited experience that the mac and
 ML> cheese boxes have more shelf experience, so the pasta might
 ML> be dried out beyond normal specifications.

Dry is dry. There should be very little moisture content in dried pasta. 
 
 DD> Pasta is meant to be neutral (essentially flavourless) which is why we
 DD> put sauces, etc. on it.

 ML> Well ... decent-tasting pasta can improve a lackluster
 ML> or oligodimensional sauce and one's outlook on life.

 ML> Lilli had a yen for pizza, and we found a place that had
 ML> pasta also for us non-cheese-aficionados - luckily a
 ML> steak frites signboard rescued me from a fate involving
 ML> yet another spag bol or an alternative "frutti di mare"
 ML> that had shrimp (ok), squid (ok), and anchovies (not ok).

For me not OK only if they were salt-packed anchovies. I like the oil packed
ones pretty well in some things. Just not the the salt-bomb eyebrows. Fresh/oil
pack anchovies are a lot like sardines.

MMMMM----- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.06
 
      Title: Perciatelli w/Fresh Sardines
 Categories: Seafood, Vegetables, Herbs, Pasta, Chilies
      Yield: 4 Servings
 
      3 lb Fresh sardines
      4 tb Virgin olive oil
      1 md Red onion; in 1/2" dice
    1/4 c  Currants;, soaked 15 minutes
           - in warm water, drained
    1/4 c  Pine nuts
      4    Anchovies; salt packed,
           - rinsed, drained
      1 tb Crushed red pepper
      1 c  Fennel leaves; rough chopped
      1 lb Perciatelli pasta
    1/2 c  Toasted bread crumbs
      2 bn Italian parsley; fine
           - chopped, to yield 1/2 cup
 
  Bring 6 quarts water to boil and add 2 tablespoons
  salt.
  
  Scale, gut and fillet sardines (you can also ask your
  fish monger to do this for you).
  
  In a 12" to 14" saute pan, heat olive oil over
  medium high heat until just smoking. Add onion,
  currants, pine nuts, anchovies and red pepper and cook
  until softened, about 8 to 10 minutes. Add sardine
  fillets and fennel leaves and continue cooking 3 to 4
  minutes, until fish pieces have just cooked, stirring
  carefully. Cook pasta according to package
  instructions until just al dente and drain well. Toss
  hot pasta into pan with sardines and stir to coat. Add
  1/4 cup toasted bread crumbs and parsley. Stir through
  and serve immediately. Sprinkle with remaining bread
  crumbs.
  
  Yield: 4 servings
  
  Recipe By: Mario Batali - Molto Mario SHOW #MB5692
  Fri, 01 Nov 1996
  
  From: http://www.recipesource.com
  
  Uncle Dirty Dave's Archives
 
MMMMM

... I'm not afraid to die, I just don't want to be there when it happens.
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