pizza adventure

Nary a soul loves pizza more than I do and I've been working on perfecting my home made pie. This weekend I got a "peel" and some quarry tiles to put on the oven bottom to see if it would give me a better crusted pizza.

I have a dough recipe I really like (Wolfgang Puck) so I made it up and spread it on the peel. I tried to keep it dry and loose so it would slide off.


Alas, my fresh sauce was too runny and I knew as soon as I put it on that it was sogging the dough and it would never slide off the peel. Drats! Two attempts to get it into the oven proved that I was just going to toss the toppings all over the oven, so there I stood with a superhot oven, a dough-y pizza on a huge peel and nowhere to set it! Yikes!


I finally got the peel propped onto the stove and used a spatula to roll the pizza up like a burrito, toppings and all, and unroll it back onto a pan. Pretty messy, but a recovery nonetheless. Daggone sauce.

It did take the peel to get the pie onto the tiles so low, but was pretty easy since the pizza was on a sturdy pan. Hmmm... this could work.




The thing that turned out best was the crust bottom - nice and browned like I wanted.

So it was a good enough tasting pizza, but the dough was too thick, the sauce too runny. I think I can do it better the next time.

Pickled!

Sometimes even I wonder how I get interested in the things that I do! Of late, it has been making PICKLES! So, between working, yardwork, visiting family, knitting dishcloths and socks, studying Italian and working Sudoku puzzles, I've been researching pickle recipes and shopping for ingredients. Weird, huh??

I'm still experimenting, but I am focusing on FRESH pickles, not canned. I've made some sweet pickles, some authentic dills without vinegar, some kimchee style cabbage with Korean chile powder (whoo boy!!), some carrots that were wayyyy too sweet, some carrots that are just pickles and not sweet, some bok choy, some HOT cauliflower and so on and so on. When I get through the experimental phase I will keep the recipes that I like and go from there.

I do like the idea of Fermented veggies rather than just pickled, but we'll see how that develops. Meanwhile, aren't they gorgeous?? I love how they look just as much as how they taste!

Hmmmm...... should I plant some cukes real soon?????????? I know that they grow and multiply much faster than the grocery store prices would have you believe.......

fagioli alla Toscana

or ~~ Tuscan Style Beans
I am an admitted italiano-phile and last night I was reading a new cookbook that I got called "The Antipasto Table". It mentioned how Italians LOVE beans (as do I) and here is how they cook them: they "oven-bake" them slowly to tenderize them and retain their shape, only adding salt at the very end of the cooking time.

BUT ~ one needs a cast iron dutch oven in which to do this (which has been on my "list" for some time) and today I went in search of one. Do you know how expensive these are???????? OMG!!!! I was in sticker shock over the prices of Le Creuset - a medium size Dutch Oven is $150 ~ $225!!!! OMG!!!!!

I'm sure that pan would outlive me by a long shot, but who can afford to have it now??? OMG, OMG, OMG!!!!!

And so I took off for my fav local knock-off store, and lo and behold, there ~in all it's glory~ was a no-name brand of exactly what I was looking for!! It was RED, it was medium size (not too big and not too small) and it was OBLONG (my preferred shape). Yeh, it was made in China and it had a chip out of the rim, but not too big and something that woulda happened in short order anyway...

I snagged this prize and headed home to cook some fagioli of my own...


So here is what you do: rinse a pound of cannellini or Great Northern Beans, put them in a bowl covered with cold water by 2" and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight. After that, preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Drain the beans, put them in the ovenproof casserole with a cover. Add fresh water to cover by one inch. Add a large clove of garlic (peeled), a tablespoon of olive oil and a bit of fresh or dried sage. Bring to simmer over low heat on the stovetop. Move the dish to the oven and cook until tender ~ about an hour or so. Add salt to taste. Remove from oven, smash the garlic and add back to the soup. Serve warm or at room temp with a drizzle of olive oil and freshly ground pepper. These are really good atop toasted rounds of fresh bread, garnished with chopped fresh onion...

And that is exactly how I just had them ~ YUM!!! Best beans ever! Try them!!!

Family Dinner

Well, I've been on vacation from work this week and you'd think I'd get some extra stuff done, right? Nope! Been busy cooking and having guests and it has been a lot of fun. First up was a family dinner. On the menu were my grandmother's homemade noodles, which are drying on the counter here in the first photo. Just egg noodles, but mixed, cut and dried all by hand just like my family has been making them for over a hundred years that I know of. They came out perfect and everyone had seconds! For those of you NOT from the midwest, these are served atop mashed potatoes (yes, I said ATOP) and you simply go into a coma after eating this delicacy. Some of the shredded beef roast goes into the noodles but you can serve the rest on the side if you feel the need for protein balance...


The table all set and waiting.


My sister had such a good time that she stayed for five days! We had so much fun that I hate to go back to my normal working schedule. Why can't I stay home and knit and make family dinners for a living? But I must be able to afford myself, so I'll go back to work next week. Meanwhile, I've got a precious few days left to enjoy the arrival of spring and the new fun memories of a family gathered round the table. Life doesn't get better than that!