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Duck web and fish lip soup at a Chinatown place in London. I don't know why. Maybe just because it seemed to leap out at me from the menu. And carried with it the whiff of challenge and danger. The staff warned me that "westerners don't like this usually" but I decided to test that assertion. How hard could it be to eat a ducky fishy gruel? It wasn't like that. A large bowl of hot watery soup arrived at table. Floating around within it were translucent blobs of goo, and a bunch of duck legs sawn off at the knee. They gathered round to watch me pick the amputated duck feet out of the liquor by the leg end and suck the webbing off the clawed toes of the bird. Did you know ducks had claws? I didn't until that point, they scratch your inner lips as you eat them, to some disconcerting effect. And then force down the "fish lips", in fact the boiled floatation glands of some poor underwater creature, like small squashy capsules of glue. Neither could be described as a taste experience. Rather, as became clear, it was a classic eastern exercise in texture. Both components summoned the gag reflex with every mouthful. Fighting off the urge to gag at the first mouthfuls of possibly the most appalling insult I had ever inflicted on mouth, tongue and gut, I persevered, rising levels of nausea tempered by a fear of showing weakness in front of the whole restaurant staff who now surrounded my table in a semi-circle of awe and how-much-of-an-idiot-is-that-english-idiot interest. Bowl concluded, I left the table in search of a place to be sick. Locking the door to the cubicle, I tried to atone for what I had eaten. But try as I might, the effort of suppressing upchuck at the table had rendered me unable to regurgitate when the opportunity came. I paid the bill, went home and cuddled myself to sleep.

Couple of thoughts:

- the inspiration - trofie with green beans, potato and pesto - is one of the great pasta dishes of all time. If your reading and like this, do try the original. Given cooking time of trofie (up to 18mins for some varieties), expect 20mins cooking time in total. First add small cubes of floury potato to boiling water, then after 3-4 mins the trofie, then with 3-4 mins to go the green beens (or to be special hulled broad beans). Once trofie cooked, drain, return to pan and add lots of fresh pesto.

- I like broccoli, pesto and pasta - the way the broccoli slightly disintegrates complements and stretches the pesto, whilst also making the entire dish seem lighter. I tend to add chicken as well to make the meal complete. My variant is a sort of one pot dish - boil water. Throw in a cubed chicken breast; after 3-4 minutes throw in some penne (assuming 12 minute cooking time); then 3 mins later the broccoli florets. Cook until pasta al dente. Drain the lot and return to pan and dump in a load of fresh (not jarred) pesto. Mix and serve immediately.

Thanks for your post!

@Chris - yep, guess you could, but you'd need to aim for gossamer thin pasta to get the effect right. Though this is a dramatic and luxurious dish, even without the truffles rather than a delicate one. Would be interesting to try a trio of mini quail yolk ravioli, but it might come across as a very different thing. Maybe we could meet half way - guinea fowl yolk?

Heston Blumenthal does coffee with garlic. And this http://blog.khymos.org/2007/04/22/coffee-espuma-with-garlic-and-chocolate-tgrwt-1/ looks rather fine. Does that suggest any interesting combinations cup of espresso with your garlic bread; a decent cafetiere blend alongside your aioli and crudites anyone?

This is not Valentino Marcattilii's dish, I think. Its well described in Lorenza de Medici's "Renaissance of Italian Cooking" from 1987. WOrth tracking down, and not just for the raviolo http://www.amazon.com/Renaissance-Italian-Cooking-Lorenza-DeMedici/dp/1851452052/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1258487357&sr=1-1

That is dangerously close to the sort of food that killed Elvis (admittedly in combination with the drugs...). Nevertheless, I'm going to fire up the skillet and have a go at cooking it this weekend. Though in moderate quantities.