One of the reasons I like things like pasta, pizza and risotto so much is that the possibilities are endless. You can combine just about anything, use up whatever is lying around, and discover amazing new combinations of flavors and textures. I now have a new one to add to the list: stufato. It’s an Italian ragu usually made with vegetables and herbs, but can sometimes include other items like anchovies, olives, capers and so forth. And while I don’t normally like soft and mushy foods, this one is different because it involves two different cooking processes. First the chopped vegetables are sauteed in olive oil over high heat until they become richly carmelized. Then chopped tomatoes, herbs and garlic are added and the pot is covered and simmers over low heat for about an hour. The last time I made it I spread a thick layer over some toasted sourdough bread and topped it off with some baby greens that had been tossed with a tart vinaigrette.

Our Daughter had three friends over this weekend for sleepover party. What to serve? Pizza of course. It was part artisan pizza, part craft your own. Here’s a pizza with chopped fresh tomato, mozzarella cheese, roasted red bell peppers, sauteed spinach, red onion, roasted garlic and Kalamata olives ready for the oven (and which turned out to be the girls’ surprise favorite). Recipes for my pizza dough and basic pizza tomato sauce can be found here (and nothing could be farther removed from my first attempt at making pizza decades ago with a Bisquick crust and canned pizza sauce).

I was invited to Thanksgiving dinner with some friends and made this olive oil rosemary sourdough boule. It disappeared quickly (along with the wine I brought). The recipe comes from Nancy Silverton’s Breads from the La Brea Bakery (the epicenter of artisan bread making and no trip of mine to Los Angeles is complete without dropping in for a visit).

It was cold and dreary this morning so I though that vegetarian chili would be in order.

• 4 tbsp. olive oil
• 2 medium yellow onions coarsely chopped
• 8 cloves garlic coarsely chopped
• 6 large portabello mushrooms coarsely chopped
• kernels from 2 ears of corn
• 1 large yam cut in 1/4 inch dice
• 1 medium zucchini cut in 1/4 inch dice
• 4 serrano peppers stemmed and finely chopped
• 6 medium tomatoes peeled and chopped
• 4 cups (total) cooked black and red beans
• 1 15 oz. can tomato sauce
• 3 tbsp. chili powder
• 1 tbsp. ground cumin
• 1 tsp. cayenne pepper
• salt and pepper
• thin sliced scallions (for garnish)
• chopped cilantro (for garnish)

Heat the oil (medium-high heat) in a large black steel or cast iron saucepan. Add the onions and sauté until softened (about two minutes). Add the mushrooms, corn, yam and zucchini and cook until most of the liquid has evaporated (6-10 minutes). Add the garlic and tomatoes and cook an additional 5 minutes. Add all the remaining ingredients plus one cup of water and bring to a gentle boil. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered until thickened (about 30 minutes). Serve over rice garnished (optional) with scallions and cilantro. This goes great with a crisp salad and a crusty sourdough boule. Warning: this chili is hot (and does not mellow with age). You can pull back on the heat by seeding the peppers and/or using fewer than four.

I moved Limerick this past summer to a new stable where he would be out and about 24/7 (the very best thing for a horse). I knew he would be leaving old friends, yet would make new ones. It was late afternoon when he arrived, and we decided to place him in a paddock separate from the seven other horses that live there. Although he could see the other horses, he let out screams at fairly regular intervals. The fix was to put an older gelding in with him and suddenly he was happy as can be. Later that evening I awoke, at 2:00am, to the sounds of an enormous storm with rain pouring down in sheets. For a moment I reconsidered – thinking that he wanted the comforts we prefer – that perhaps Limerick should be under a barn roof. Yet my thoughts were quickly overtaken by the realization that as a horse,  he is supposed to be out and about, and that he knows far better than we could ever know how to react in his natural environment.

Over the next few days, we let him sniff noses with the other horses (including the mustang mare that rules the herd). Finally, after about a week it seemed to be the right time to send him out into the herd. When I saw him head out there I knew he would never be the same horse with whom I had bonded for so many years – he would be much closer bound to the other horses in the herd and embark on a gradual shift toward being more wild than domesticated. No matter what the future holds, there is one thing of which I have no doubt – he has never been happier. And in the end, that is all that really matters.

Here is the download link to Debussy’s Clair de lune (the same performance as found on YouTube). Enjoy!

Here is the download link to the MP3 file (128 bit rate) for the Franck-Bauer Organ Prelude, Fugue and Variation, Op. 18 (the same performance as found on YouTube – Part 1, Part 2). Enjoy!

Here are the download links to the MP3 files (128 bit rate) for the Bach-Tscherlitzky Organ Prelude and Fugue in B Minor, BWV 544 (the same performance as found on YouTube):

Organ Prelude in B Minor, BWV 544
Organ Fugue in B Minor, BWV 544

Right click to download the file and enter the world of my favorite composer.

Click here to view and/or download a PDF of the score. If you are serious about learning the piece, you’ll want to get a better edition (this one has a few errors yet was the only one I have quick access to at the moment). The Durand edition (Paris, 1910) is the one to get (though it’s likely out of print, it is easily obtainable through the Inter-Library Loan service).

I’ve received a number of requests for this rare score. Click here to view and/or download a PDF of the original printing. Like most nineteenth century music publications, it is rife with errors (wrong notes, missing or inconsistent ties, articulation markings and the like) and to perform it you will need to resolve these one way or another. Like all of Tscherlitzky’s Bach transcriptions, there are also enormous chords and awkward reaches that are unplayable as written and for which, perhaps, an arpeggio sign was either left out or simply implied by the stretches (in some cases, it is often better to leave out a few notes than to roll some of those chords and thereby interrupt the flow of the music). Enjoy!