Edward Schneider

Guided by ingredients in the fridge - a cooked potato; a quarter of a small Savoy cabbage; many onions; smoky bacon - we had pierogi this evening, with a shot of iced Żubrówka as our aperitif. What a pleasure!

Just a week ago we found ourselves at the Central Park reservoir.

At today's Dag Hammarskjöld @grownyc.bsky.social market, a surprise: EELS at Catch of the Hamptons. As expected, I made a hatchet job of removing the spine, but the outcome didn't waste too much flesh and was acceptable in the sense that neither of our esophagi was pierced by a dangerous bone.

Musing about Venice and a wonderful visit 12 years ago: we stayed at the spectacularly renovated Gritti Palace hotel and spent a morning shopping and cooking with its exec chef Daniele Turco. Then, I wasn't too lazy to write about things: www.huffpost.com/entry/luxury... .

This sort-of biryani was the final stage of three days' eating from one small batch of lentils: Green-lentil dal; kale and lentil curry; and finally ground lamb, kale and lentil biryani, as in photograph. Sad to see it go.

Quite some time ago, our neighborhood pâtisserie - Eclair Bakery on East 53rd Street & Second Avenue - suffered a major fire. We would not have been surprised if it never reopened (crowdfunding can go only so far), but I see that it is back. Can't wait to go back. Maybe today; certainly by tomorrow.

Squash blobs (aka misshapen gnocchi) with tiny dice of Italian speck, carrots and shallot plus a hint of garlic and sage. Reduced chicken stock emulsified with butter. No parmesan: tried it on one spoonful and it would have been a sin to use it.

UK Blueskiers: Any restaurant recommendations for Leeds and/or Sunderland? Thanks very kindly.

See you there, perhaps.

A little honeynut squash plus a few other ingredients yielded these lumpy gnocchi/dumplings, eaten just now with chopped radicchio melted into a sauce with corn-heavy vegetable stock from last summer and tiny dice of beef and beef fat from a steak we couldn't quite finish a few nights ago.

Finally! We're done with our seemingly bottomless crock of boeuf bourguignon[ne]: eked out with dried morels and porcini and served next door to crisped wedges of Friday's Anson Mills polenta. This stew never got boring, and we can hardly wait til the next one.

Another dish we hadn't had in too long a time: twice-cooked pork (belly). It was photographed part-way through dinner as an afterthought, so forgive the sketchy image and the intrusive spoon.

This evening the penultimate iteration of a small batch of boeuf bourguignon[ne]: with delicious soft polenta from Anson Mills. Completely different from the same stew served with, say, mashed potatoes - a curious phenomenon, and a useful one for those who like to keep their leftovers interesting.

Unless my calendar is lying (which, to be honest, it does from time to time), it's been just shy of a year since we ate pasta all'amatriciana, which is far, far too long. What a perfect dish it is.

Lovely little bok choi / bai cai from Norwich Meadows Farm at the Dag Hammarskjöld @grownyc.bsky.social farmers' market in flavorful, gently sinified chicken broth. Lots of rice, of course.

Previously braised Tuscan kale absorbed the reduced jus made from the bones and trimmings of an excellent rack of lamb from Ox Hollow farm. Seemed like a weekend dinner, especially with a side dish of what were very similar to pommes Anna and a bottle of good wine (not in the photograph).

Note that you can cook the rösti through but leave it a little pale, then crisp it up at serving time (better than keeping it warm).

I use clarified butter, then when it's nearly done I add a few fragments of whole butter around the side and swirl the disc to let the butter get under the potatoes. This can get VERY crunchy. Yum. 3/3

... Taste a fragment from time to time. when it's cooked, raise the heat a little, remove the lid and let it continue to brown. Flip the rösti and brown side two. Give side one an extra burst of heat to re-crisp it. This is not the standard way of making rösti, but it's my favorite. 2/3

Oh! You were talking about rösti. Sorry. Still raw potatoes. 2mm julienne. Squeeze out liquid through a cloth - squeeze VERY hard. Melt fat in frying pan and mix most of it into the potatoes. Lots of salt. Then, yes, fry slowly. Initially covered to help all the potatoes cook. 1/2

4/4 ... Most people prefer a coarser grate. C.f. archive.nytimes.com/dinersjourna... Be sure not to form them perfectly: straggly bits will get especially crisp. DONE

3/4 ... with the back of your spoon. Turn when gold/brown, then turn again as needed to get them brown and crisp. Can be held in a just-warm oven (say, 200ºF). Note: I grate my potatoes VERY fine on my mother's 1930s Acme Safety Grater. ...

Add an egg per two or three medium potatoes, along with enough bread crumbs or matzo meal to make a mixture - soft, but it doesn't ooze liquid and holds its shape for frying. Lots of salt; some pepper. 1/4 - 3/8 inches of fat over medium heat. Add potato mixture and flatten .. 2/3 (two didn't do it)

Forgive me: are we talking latkes? (I can't seem to find the post you've replied to!) Assuming so, no, no prebaking. Grate raw (including an onion), squeeze hard in a sieve (cloth not necessary) over a bowl. Let the starch settle in the bowl, pour off the water and reincorporate the starch. 1/2

We just made a few parathas; most are stowed in the fridge ready to be slapped onto a ghee-greased frying pan, but we couldn't resist cooking one for a snack. Not bad.

What a delicious half-rack of lamb from Ox Hollow farm at the Union Square @grownyc.bsky.social market! Salted, strewn with herbs, and roasted at 400ºF; no tricksy techniques involved. Nearby, the best of accompaniments to roast lamb: a gratin of German butterball potatoes from Norwich Meadows.

Yes, when eked out with chicken broth, soy sauce and oyster sauce, leftover mapo doufu/tofu can be the basis of a delicious, delicious dish of noodles.

Lots (~6kg) of chicken backs from Hawthorne Valley at the Wednesday Dag Hammarskjöld @grownyc.bsky.social Greenmarket. So at least one dinner of matzo balls was inevitable, with good carrots from Samascott Orchards. And what a nice dinner it was!

Something we hadn't eaten in far too long: Mapo doufu / tofu. Very wimpy spice levels by many people's standards, but just the ticket for us.

That's one of the benefits of poor (or no) labeling: Pleasant surprises like this one.