Lidia has also had several tv shows on PBS. That's how we came to know about her and also where we specifically got her recipe for the minestrone and the octopus and spaghetti that I posted a while back. I noticed that the recipe for minestrone soup online was a little different than how she made it on the tv show. The beauty of her recipes is that they're really easy and don't require very specific measurements. Handful of this, spoonful of that.

Is Lidia also involved with Eataly?  I thought that was a partnership between her son, Joe Bastianich and Mario Batali.

We might check out Eataly as we're currently in Chicago. We're heading to Chinatown today.

Afternoon, plum pie.





Evening, BBQ.











Kind regards,
Oliver

.....
My favorite non-celebrity Italian chef is Giuliano Bugialli and one of my favorite cook books is "Bugialli on Pasta". Two of his recipes that are a staple are "Sweet & Sour Carrots" and "Chicken with Black Olives".

http://www.tantemarie.com/blog/chef-giuliano-bugialli/

I have a Giuliano Bugialli story.  I took a class back in the 90's from a guy who was close friends with Bugialli.  He would meet Bugialli whenever the chef came to D.C. and get him whatever materials he needed for classes, etc.  He also took him to restaurants in the area.  I asked which Italian restaurant Bugialli liked best.  His answer "He hates all American Italian restaurants.  All his favorite U.S. restaurants serve Chinese food."

I really enjoy Bugialli, too.  Have cooked many of his recipes.

If you do check out Eataly, let us know what you think.

Eataly was quite good.  We got a dozen oysters (even though I had mentioned earlier about being a little scared about getting sick from raw oysters.  Usually I seem to care less when I'm on vacation - you know, when in Rome do as the Romans do.)  The oysters weren't that great - I found a lot of larger than normal pieces of shell inside.  We also got the Octopus, which was exceptionally tender.  We shared the Squid Ink Tagliatelle.  The pasta was perfectly cooked and tasted great.  The overall meal was over $100 with a glass of white wine, but that seemed to be pretty much par for the course for our dinners in Chicago.





Eataly also had the largest selection of Italian items that I have ever seen.  Literally everything in the 2 level store.

I may have tried to attach a few too many images in the last post - it looks like the last 6 images didn't make it.

I added the missing images to this post:

Chicken and dumplings for dinner tonight.

I read the other post about that mystery block. It sure looked like graphite and appeared to be used as a lubricant to me, but I don't know much about these type of things.

I believe the "trinity" is regional. In cajun country it's usually onions, celery, and green pepper. Traditionally (at least in classic French cuisine) I believe the mirepoix is carrots, onions, and celery. There's also a similar Italian soffrito.

The dumplings are more like drop biscuits. I have seen other variations of chicken and dumplings where the dumplings are more like extra wide/thick noodles.

The thighs were pretty good. I was just commenting to my wife today that I really don't like chicken legs or thighs that much. I most prefer wings, but eaten as wings on the bone of course. I also like breast meat.

We made chili for dinner.

Last night we made a corned beef and cabbage casserole with some cheddar cheese biscuits.

Yup I saw it in a YouTube video - same video where I got the recipe for the casserole.  It is such a simple way to get the cheese in there - just cut a cross and insert a couple of pieces of cheese.

Last night I went a little crazy with the grilling.  I made rotisserie turkey breast along with hamburgers, brats, potatoes, and broccoli rabe.  I had always wanted to try these prepackaged burgers because they look so good.  Unfortunately they weren't that good - especially not for nearly $10 for 4 patties.  At least the brats were on sale for $3.

This was actually my first time ever roasting a turkey breast before (in the oven or on the grill or on a rotisserie).  I'm quite happy with how it turned out.  I had planned to spear it the traditional way initially and then I realized I wasn't going to be able to push through the breast bone.  I had seen a YouTube video where they speared it basically through where the wing was so I used that method instead.  It worked out fine.

The turkey breast came pre-brined so I just seasoned with a little bit of kosher salt and black pepper.  I've used Weber Beer Can Chicken Rub before on both beer can chickens as well as rotisserie chickens and the skin always seems to get too dark.  The skin came out just how I like it yesterday.

I hope to see your rotisserie turkey breast pics this weekend!

It came out really nicely.  I surprised myself actually!  I'm thinking about making the Thanksgiving Turkey on the rotisserie this year instead of using the indoor electric turkey fryer that we've used the last 3 years.  Thought my understanding is that it may be harder to maintain the cooking temperature when it's cold outside.

That grate is part of Weber's Gourment BBQ System: https://www.weber.com/US/en/accessories/cooking/gourmet-bbq-system/.  It came with the new charcoal grill that my wife got me for my birthday last month: https://www.weber.com/US/en/grills/charcoal-grills/performer-series/15301001.html.  I had been wanting another grill for a while.  Now I can cook something on the rotisserie, ribs, or use my Vortex to make wings on one grill while I cook something else on the other  .

This is also the first grill I've had with a built in thermometer in the lid.  That is a game changer!  Before I was totally flying blind not having a clue how hot it was inside.

Methinks a Big Green Egg might be ok in the cold since it's so heavy and thick.  I've never used one, but I know they can really hold the heat.

Yikes!  Couldn't you all have died from smoke inhalation or carbon monoxide poisoning?

I kinda wanted the super deluxe Performer grill with the ignition system and the charcoal holder, but space is at a premium and we already have the other Weber so we decided to get the smallest Performer.  The foldable table is good as we can also always use more table space.

I'd be interested in the Sear Grate, but I have the Grill Grates that work really well over my Slow N' Sear.  The pizza stone might be cool.  I have a baking stone for our oven.  It mostly just sits in the bottom, under the rack to act as a heatsink. I need to check and see how well my wok fits into the opening.  Weber offers a cast iron wok, but from my understanding that seems to be the opposite of what you want.  The wok should be able to quickly absorb and dissipate the heat - the cast would really hold the heat even if it was removed from over the coals.

I seem to recall Alton Brown showed how you can use a Charcoal Chimney Starter as a "burner" for a wok.  Speaking of Alton Brown, has anyone else seen that his show Good Eats is back?  It's called Good Eats Reloaded.  I watched the first episode and I was quite disappointed.  I was expecting a complete reboot of the series.  It ended up being him just revisiting clips from the original episode adding his commentary as to how what he originally said might have changed.

I just realized that the Weber website doesn't show all of the Gourmet BBQ System accessories that are shown in the brochure that came with the grill:

Big Green Egg is definitely great in the cold. Years ago, when I was new to egging, I was smoking a pork shoulder in late January. Mercury was -3 F. I figured I'd use more charcoal than I normally use on a smoke like this. I couldn't keep the temps low enough - I most definitely underestimated the insulating properties of the ceramics. Rookie mistake on my part. Now I'm well aware and trust what it can do - I also sell them.