I love this cut of pork! We get them pretty easily here in Europe. The meat is so tender and juicy...

Cook pokbelly quite a lot in my pressure cooker and wanted to try pork cracklings since ever! Now I know what to do :D Thanks guys!

Sounds lovely, particularly intrigued by the anchovy disk! Looks so stylish too...

Congrats Mowie :) Your Blog does look gorgeous, have you ever thought of doing wallpaper with your photos? lol Not a big pear easter, I guess I got shocked for life by those pear juices that they gave us as kids ewww :S soooo sweet :S I'm more a peach guy :D Though clafoutis make always a very elegant dessert, well done :) As concerning the various victories of my life, well let's see.. I guess I won only once (didn't really too k part to many contests actually). My Caraway-Chocolate Rosewindow shards won at a gastronomical contest last year (got a set of KitchenAid utensils and a cream siphon) :-)

Amy I cant believe it! I leave you for a couple of months and you open your own restaurant. Congratulations my friend! It will surely be on my list the day I will pop by SF. BTW pop by my blog for your award http://recipetaster.blogspot.com/2010/02/its-chickpea-affair.html Congratulations again! :-)

Mowie, this post spoke deeply to me as well. The problem of how to relate the way people perceive us with how we perceive ourselves is not easy. I didn't find a realistic solution to it yet, so my insecurity :) Anyhow, as long as we are happy with how we are; we can only shine brighter! As concerning the mac flavours contests; I take inspiration from a Tweeter discussion I had with Catty and propose you some composed of a yellow-curried shells with black onions seeds and a little green cardamom sandwiched with a chicken mousse with a basmati rice aroma and a bit of lemon peel to freshen it up. Weird ehn? eheh

Hi Amy, so nice to hear that u r back! I was getting worried about ur foot... Very nice post, somehow summarizes the reasons for my career change. "To some 'having fun' might be equivalent to partying the whole night long, but to me it's following your heart and pursuing your passion to its fullest potential.": I couldn't have put it better. Thanks! Best wishes for ur new station. Im sure you'll rock!!! :D

wow! definitely a book to look forward too! :)) Great job guys!

I am quite intrigued by the toasting of the biscuits but probably the liquors could hide their nutty taste. Personally, I prefer tiramisu without liquors, they can result a bit too harsh (probably flaming them could help). The orange water is a nice touch :) Is this too a recipe from Campania? Must try this recipe nest time I have at hand some mascarpone :P

Thanks Laurentiius :)

Hi Andrew, Thanks for posting this recipe. As sicilian I totally love ricotta desserts :D As concerning this version of the cannoli siciliani, I see the addition of the syrup a bit redundant (especially if you take the time to drain the ricotta). As concerning the cinnamon, it is totally a must for ricotta filling. So your dad was right in keeping it a precious secret eheh ;) Culturally we don't put so many things IN the filling. In sicily you find only the plain and the chocolate chip variety of filling and the last is already considered as corrupted :P. The candied citrus fruits and the nuts r used more as a garnish on the side (fruits more typical for the Palermo region, nuts of my east-coast region). Keep up the good work man! Thanks for your recipes :) Alex

Hi Andrew, reading this recipe I couldn't help noticing two imprecisions about the original recipe; original Amatriciana sauce use dried pork cheek and mostly the cheese used for topping traditionally is pecorino romano. Cheerios! Al

Great post! Thanks a lot :-)

I think Herve This in his collaboration with Chef Gagnaire, have already started exploiting this way of using the flour (http://www.pierre-gagnaire.com/francais/cdthis.htm) :) Would be interesting to see the effect of the browning reactions on the thickening properties of the flour.I would expect it to decrease, but when will the pure toasted-flour become almost useless as a thickening agent? (ok, a part from burning it... :) ).

Wow!! What a clean look... Sorry to ask but, what is the brand of the porcelain dish? :PP