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Zucchini, round and deep, cheezy and cooked on the the 23. Nice attractice addition for any table. Three layers of flavor, another way to present a cook on your table as a side. Make it with just veggies or add a layer of sausage . Prep is a concern, brine the cut 1/4 in Zuc for 1/2 hr in salt brine, remove, should be dry patted and then lightly fryed afterwards. Line your bowl in parchment and layer with Zuc, sauce of your making, and topped with cheese & breadcrumbs. Add any additional spices you like for your flavor expression desired. Oh, once it's done, about an hour or so to reach a 130-40 temp, let it cool to congeal but stay warm to serve. A good cheap side presantation, but it looks like a million. Use a casserole dish, easy prep

Looks like a dish I make. I cook zucchini in stewed tomatoes. Add some mushrooms and it's out of this world.

Back in Italy to enjoy the lead up to Christmas. Cooked ribs on the 16 last night. Came out great. No pix. Used the heat shield/paving stone for the first time. It was a good call, the short distance between the fire box and the grate means I have found it difficult to genuinely cook low and slow without something to shield the bottom of the food from the fire. I am near Venice and in the home of bigoli pasta. Today I am trying three versions using a Chad Robertson recipe that uses up spent leaven. Here we are at the first stage: I am experimenting. Bigoli are made with buckwheat flour as the base. I made three variations. The first with durum wheat, the second with whole wheat flour ground from UK hard wheat grains and the third with Italian 00 flour. I followed the quantities for the recipe without thinking for the first one with durum wheat. It was too wet and I made the necessary adjustments for the second two. Will see how each extrudes, using the bigolaro, later today. KK action? Boiled meats are a speciality here and, as well as capons, they include beef short ribs. I have set the KK going and will do a nice slow cook in place of boiling and will see what the Italians think of it. Warming up now: