Grandma Lillian's Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

Last month I got the rare treat of a visit with my dear Aunt Sandy and cousin Tricia, when Tricia's husband Johnny was at a conference in Anaheim. Adam and I drove down to have dinner with Tricia and Sandy and it was delightful. As we chatted, I mentioned to Sandy that I hadn't had chicken and wild rice soup in forever and wondered if she could send me Grandma Lil's recipe, to which she readily agreed :) The recipe came this week, and today was the perfect day to try it: cold and rainy. As I typically do, I altered the recipe just slightly (love you Grandma!), but it's mostly OG. Oster-cousins: do you have any additions/alterations? Mom says Aunt Kay puts duck in her version and that sounds divine.

Alrighty, start with a rotisserie chicken for this soup, as it's my ultimate soup cheat. Skin, de-bone, and set aside. You'll need two cups of the chopped chicken. You should also start your wild rice at this point - the recipe calls for 2 cups of cooked wild rice, and it usually takes and hour, so get that going first. Slice six slices of bacon into lardons and fry in your stock pot with a one count of olive oil until crispy. Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon then set aside, and pour out most of the bacon fat. Add one stick (yup!) of butter, then 1/2 cup of minced onions and cook over medium heat. As the onions are cooking, finely chop (or use your food processor if you don't like the texture of celery) 2 stalks of celery. Remove the leaves from the top of the stalks before you chop, slice those up and add to the onions. Add the minced celery, then chop up 1/2 pound of crimini mushrooms. Add the mushrooms to the pot and season with salt and pepper. Stir these veggies occasionally as you chop and be sure not to burn. Peel and slice up one cup of carrots and add to the pot. Add one teaspoon of dried dill and taste for seasonings, add s/p if needed. Deglaze with a few glugs of white wine (optional, I like the flavor it adds) and cook for a few minutes more to cook the wine out. Add 1/2 cup of flour and cook for a moment, stirring well to combine. Now pour in six cups of warmed chicken broth slowly, stirring constantly until the soup has thickened. Turn to medium low and bubble away for a few minutes. Taste again for seasoning, I added a few shakes of celery salt and more pepper at this point.

Now for some decadence: add 2 cups of half and half. Yum. I used whole milk that is lactose free because as we know, Adam does not tolerate lactose. Aunt Sandy also recommends whole milk, so use either. Simmer, stirring occasionally for a few minutes more. Be sure to taste for seasonings again before serving.

Ladle some of this thick, delicious amazingness into bowls, and crumble the crispy bacon on top. I served this soup with some crusty bread infused with rosemary on the side and it was heaven. Absolutely perfect for a rainy day, and I can't wait to have it for lunch tomorrow.

I'm so grateful to add this recipe to my repertoire, and it reminds me of sitting at Grandma's table. I still miss her every single day, so cooking her food makes me feel a little closer to her. Love you, Gram! Thanks Aunt Sandy for this precious food memory.

xoxo,

D

Sally Tomato Dinner Party

Hi friends! Sorry I've been absent lately, don't think it's because I don't love you.

Let's jump right in, it's the holiday season and I'm sure many of you will be involved in dinner parties. The below menu follows my love of slow cooking, but would also be really easy to make ahead with minimal effort. I had the lovely Sally Tomatoes over on Saturday night for a fancy cocktail/dinner party and the food seemed to go over well :) For those of you who don't know, I'm in an all girl (aw yeah) a cappella group (check out our Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=216667725069213) and we felt the need for some fanciness. Give this party menu a try and you won't be sorry!

I started with dessert first (duh). Now I'm not a huge sweets fan (gives me a tummy ache, natch) but I wanted the girls to be able to finish the meal off with something delectable. The result was a compromise: salted butterscotch pudding. A-freaking-mazing. I made it the night before so all I had to do the night of was whip some cream right before serving. Start with 2 1/4 cups of whole milk and one cup of heavy cream (yeah, this isn't fat free. deal). Pour the milk and cream into a saucepan, bring to a simmer, then set aside. In a large frying pan melt six tablespoons of butter then add 1 1/4 cups of dark brown sugar, cook -whisking frequently- over medium high heat. The recipe that I found for this on foodnetwork.com says that you should cook this 5 to 7 minutes until you smell a caramelized scent. I've found (making this recipe twice) that this happens in 2-3 minutes. You want to caramelize the sugar, not burn, so cook stirring frequently and sniff for that nutty delicious smell. When you get it, whisk the butter/sugar into the milk and cream mixture (use your hand blender if it's lumpy). Meanwhile, separate three egg yolks into a small bowl, then whisk in 1/2 cup of the hot milk/cream along with 1/4 cup of cornstarch and a heaping 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Now whisk the eggs/cornstarch into the milk/cream/sugar mix over medium heat until it gets good and thick. Turn off the heat and mix in 1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla. Separate the puddin' into ramekins and refrigerate uncovered overnight. When ready to serve, top with fresh whipped cream and BOOM. Delicious town.

Okay now it's time for the main course. Brisket: let's do this. Sara Moulton has provided the most perfect recipe pretty much ever. Okay first thing - Sara wants you to peel a whole head of garlic. If you're not lazy, you break the bulb apart, boil the cloves for thirty seconds, drain, cool then peel. Orrrr you can buy them already peeled in the refrigerated section of your market. Your choice.

Ooh pre-heat the oven! 325 degrees! (I totally added this sentence when I was almost done with the blog. I'm terrible at remembering to pre-heat the oven).

Alrighty, so you need to coat a five pound brisket with seasoned (s/p) flour, shake off any excess. Heat three tablespoons of evoo in a dutch oven until almost smoking, then brown the brisket on all sides. Remove the brisket and set aside. Cook four sliced leeks (Sara says onions, I like leeks) with your garlic cloves (season with some s/p) for ten minutes or so until lightly browned. Pour in three cups of red wine (I went with a zinfandel) and scrape the yummy bits from the bottom of the pot. Add 1/4 cup of tomato paste, 2 bay leaves, and one teaspoon of dried thyme. Bring to a boil and cook out most of the liquid, stirring frequently. I got super impatient at this part of the recipe but I promise it's worth the wait. You are reducing the sauce and intensifying the flavor by like, I dunno, a million or something (math isn't my strong suit). Next pour in one quart of chicken stock (I actually used half chicken stock, half beef stock) and bring to a boil again. Add the brisket, cover the pot with aluminum foil and the lid, then roast for 3-4 hours. The brisket is ready when a fork comes out easily after piercing the meat.

Take a nice break whilst the meat is in the oven, put your feet up, and have a glass of wine. Take five minutes and make the amazingly delicious horseradish sauce: mix 1/2 cup of prepared horseradish with one cup of mayo, a handful of chopped chives and a few squeezes of lemon juice. Cover and refrigerate until you're ready to serve.

Okay when the brisket is ready, remove from the braising liquid and cover with foil, letting the meat rest for at least 15 minutes. Strain the liquid into a fat separator (I refuse to believe you don't have this amazing implement by now), then cook the liquid down until it's reduced by half. I mixed a little of the liquid with a few tablespoons of cornstarch, then added to the liquid to speed up the thickening (impatient!). Now you have an amazing gravy. Slice your gorgeous brisket against the grain and serve with the gravy and horseradish sauce.

Also! I made goat's cheese polenta (4 cups of liquid -chicken stock- to one cup of corn meal, whisk the corn meal into the boiling liquid. Add s/p, some cream and goat's cheese, perhaps some chives and you're donesies). Another delicious side: caramelized shallot brussels sprouts. Yeah that happened. Saute 1/2 pound of sliced shallots in 3 tablespoons of butter over medium heat (add s/p) until golden brown. Then you'll add a pinch of sugar and 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar. Stir for another three minutes or so, until the vinegar has cooked down, then set aside. Quarter 1 1/2 pounds of brussels sprouts and saute in 2 tablespoons of olive oil (s/p) until they begin to color. Add 3/4 cup of water and saute until most of the water has evaporated, then add 3 tablespoons of butter :). Cook that down and add the caramelized shallots and serve. Best. Brussels sprouts. Ever.

This was a relatively simple dinner party with fantastic results. I insist you try this at one of your upcoming holiday parties. You won't be sorry!

xo,

d

Sunday Pizza Pie!

What up peeps? I know I know - I've done pizza before. But this one is different! We're making the dough from scratch (a new, fantastic recipe), the sauce from scratch, and....the sausage! That's right homemade sausage! It actually quite easy and really really delicious.

First things first: you need to start with the dough because it has to proof (rise) for two hours. This dough recipe is really delicious and simple. It's from the same fantastic old school book that the recent meatball recipe is from. Begin with 1/2 an envelope of yeast and mix with 1/3 cup of lukewarm water and set aside. Next you should sift 1 1/2 cups of water with one teaspoon of salt. Cut 4 tablespoons of unsalted butter into cubes and mix it into the flour with your fingers. Mix one egg with the yeast and water, then stir into the flour mixture until a ball dough is formed. If the dough is feeling a little stiff, add a smidge of water. Now comes the fun part: kneading! Sprinkle some flour on your kneading surface and turn your dough ball out onto it. Don't know how to knead? It's easy! Use the palm of your to push the dough into the surface, turn a quarter turn, and repeat. I'm sure if you Google it you'll find a video demonstrating. Knead that dough until it's smooth and elastic, form into a ball, an then place into a lightly oiled bowl. Cover the bowl with a towel and let rise in a warm place for two hours.

Whilst your dough is rising, make the snausage! Now, don't be intimidated, it's really quite easy. If you have a stand mixer with a meat grinding attachment, fantastic! If not, don't worry! That's what your food processor is for! This recipe is a modified Mark Bittman. Begin with one pound of boneless pork shoulder and 1/4 to 1/2 pound fresh pork fatback.

..Uh, Dana? Where the hell do I get fresh pork fat back?

Yeahhhh. I'm going to guess Whole Foods or a specialty butcher. If you don't feel like searching fatback out (which we didn't because we're lazy) you can go with pancetta or bacon. You can buy the pancetta nice and cubed up right at Trader Joes, but I'll warn you - as delicious as our sausage was, I think it was a tad dry. The fatback (I think) would have been perfect.

Okay so cube up the pork and fatback (or pancetta/bacon). Place around one cup of the mixture into a food processor and mince in one second pulses until well chopped. If you have a meat grinding attachment for your stand mixer, use the medium-small grinder plate, and you don't have to do grind in batches. Add some fresh parsley (a small handful) to your food processor or meat grinder to incorporate with the meats. If food processing, take your time and be careful not to pulverize the meat. Place the ground meats/parsley into a bowl.

Time for spices! If you have a mortar and pestle, this is a great time to use it! If not, do you have a coffee grinder for spices only? If you don't have any of that, I would use ground fennel, not fennel seeds. I have a mortar and pestle (a great investment - you may not use it often, but when you do it's incredibly handy; when you don't they are beautiful to look at), so I went with the fennel seeds - one teaspoon. Crush the fennel a little, then add one teaspoon of minced fresh garlic, 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and a few grinds of black pepper. Crush with the pestle until well mixed, then gently incorporate your spices with the ground meat with your hands. Wrap the sausage mixture in parchment paper and then place into the fridge for 1-2 hours. Let those delicious spices do their work! If you don't use all of this sausage on your pizza (and you probably won't) the sausage can be in the fridge for three days or frozen for up to three months.

Okay, next! I made some tomato sauce by mincing one small yellow onion with two cloves of garlic, and sweating that out in a three count of olive oil in a small saucepan. After 5-7 minutes over medium heat, add one 14 ounce can of pureed tomatoes. Turn the heat to medium low and season with salt/pepper to taste. If you have some red wine it would be lovely to add a few glugs of that. Some fresh basil and or parsley would be fantastic as well. Partially cover and let this bubble away as you prepare the rest of your toppings.

We made one pizza pie with sausage and fresh mozzarella (grated parm on top) and the other with minced sauteed mushrooms and artichokes (not minced). For the mushrooms, put a three count of olive oil in a saute pan over medium heat. While that is heating up, finely mince one basket of brown mushrooms and add to the pan. I know you're tempted to salt now, but don't do that until the end! Saute the mushrooms until they've browned, then add a pinch of dried thyme and salt/pepper to taste. Set aside. Next grab a bag of frozen artichoke hearts (defrosted - you can find these at Trader Joe's) and saute in the same pan as the mushrooms with some red pepper flakes (to taste, I used a large pinch), S/P and fresh parsley. Once you get some color on the artichoke hearts, deglaze the pan with a few glugs of marsala wine. Cook the wine out and they're done! Set aside. Now it's time to brown that gorgeous homemade sausage! Take a large pinch of the raw sausage, flatten in the palm of your hand, then brown in the olive oil in batches. Drain on paper towels, and now you're FINALLY ready to build those pizzas! Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Grease two 8 inch pie pans. Divide your dough ball into two, then roll out on a floured surface to fit the pie pans - it's okay if it falls over the top of the pan because you're going to roll it down. Spoon some of your delectable red sauce on top of the dough and spread around. There's no rule here, if you like a ton of sauce put it down! For the sausage pizza, place a good amount of your brown sausage around the pie plate. Dot with torn pieces of fresh mozzarella, sprinkle with grated parmesan, drizzle with a touch of olive oil and that's ready for the oven! Same for the veggie pizza - spread the sauce, dole out the mushrooms, divide up the artichoke hearts, tear the mozzarella, sprinkle the grated parmesan and olive oil! There are before and after pictures above for reference. Once all of your toppings are in, roll down the excess dough (see above photos!).

Bake for twenty minutes or so, but keep a weather eye on those 'zas in the last five minutes - no burning! Let them rest out of the oven for at least five minutes so those guys can set up and so you don't burn your poor mouth!

Use any toppings that you love, but do try the homemade sausage. It's mush easier than you think and one million times more delicious!

Xo,

D

Meatball Sauce

Well hello again! How's this for progress, two posts in one night! Now we're going to talk about meatball sauce. The hubby was just given an amazing Italian cookbook from 1962 and we've been wanting to try one of these recipes for a while. I'm telling you, this will blow any meatball recipe you have out of the water! Honestly, I wasn't sure about soaking the bread in water (not milk??) and no egg in the meatball (whaa?) but the meatballs were amazing, tender, and juicy. Be patient and check it out:

Start with two slices of white bread - soak them in one cup of water for a few minutes then mash them up with a fork. Get the bread nice and smooth, then press as much of the water out with the fork. You can also pat it with a paper towel to get the water out. Put the bread in a mixing bowl with 1/2 pound of ground beef, 1/2 pound of ground pork, two cloves of minced garlic (I microplaned it, if you don't have a microplane get one right now), 2 teaspoons of fresh basil, one teaspoon of salt, 1/2 teaspoon of pepper, and a 1/2 cup of grated parmesan cheese. Use your hands and mix everything together - be sure to take the time and really incorporate all of the ingredients. Roll the mixture into walnut sized balls, and preheat a large saute pan with three tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat. Brown the meatballs lightly, then add 1/2 cup of minced onions, 2 cloves of garlic (again microplaned), one 28 ounce can of pureed tomatoes (you can used diced, I prefer pureed for the texture), one cup of water, one teaspoon of salt, 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flake, and a few grinds of black pepper. Stir well (but carefully, don't rip the precious precious meatballs), then bring to a boil. Turn the heat down to low, then simmer this pot of delicious for 90 minutes. Yeah, I said it: 90 minutes. It's. So. Worth. It.

I served this amazing sauce with a pappardelle (long flat noodle that is wider than fettuccine), but you can use any pasta that you like. After the sauce cooks for 90 minutes, add a few tablespoons of chopped parsley. Serve over your pasta with the parsley and some grated parm.

In my humble opinion these may be the best meatballs I've ever made (sorry Tyler!). Honestly, the sauce was just delicious, and the meatballs plain old rad. Do try this, you won't be sorry!

BFF,

d

Lemon Chicken Under a Cast Iron Pan

Hi friends! It's been a long time, yadda yadda yadda, let's cook!

I've been wanting to try Chicken under a Brick for a while now, but as some of you might know the grill is not my favorite place to cook. Give me a gas stove and I'm a happy camper. So instead of finding a brick to make this delectable treat I took Mark Bittman's advice and used a cast iron skillet (well, two actually - one to cook in and one for the weight). This seriously is in my top five best chicken preparations ever. The skin get so crispy and amazing, and inside it's so juicy you won't believe it.

Start with one whole chicken that is 3-4 pounds (responsible dining, people! try to get organic, cage free birds). If you get it from a butcher, have them remove the backbone. If you're brave and have a very sharp knife, you can do that yourself. I got this recipe from Mark Bittman's "The Minimalist", and there are directions and pictures on how to remove the backbone. Or you can google it. Just remove the backbone. I've changed his recipe slightly for more lemon flavor.

In a large bowl or cake pan, mix together 2 tablespoons of chopped garlic, 1 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary, 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, and the juice of two lemons. Throw the husks of of the lemons in too, why not? Add S&P to taste (be liberal here, you want this chicken to have lots of flavor). Place your flattened chicken in the bowl and rub your lemon mixture all over, even putting some under the skin (without detaching the skin, be careful). Cover and marinate in your refrigerator for at least a half and hour and up to a day. Turn it over every now and then until you're ready to cook.

Which is now! Preheat the oven to 500 degrees, and preheat an ovenproof skillet that is at least 12 inches in diameter. I used my trusty cast iron skillet, and right before I put the chicken in I sprayed some non-stick spray (since there is already olive oil in the marinade). Put the chicken in the pan skin side down, along with the rest of the marinade. Weigh your chicken down with another (smaller) skillet or cast iron pan (or a brick wrapped in aluminum foil). Doing this will flatten your chicken to cook evenly - cook over medium high heat for 5 minutes, then move to the oven. Roast for 15 minutes (use the timer people!), then remove from the oven, remove the weight, and turn the chicken over (it should now be skin side up, der). Place the pan back in the oven and roast for 10 more minutes. And voila! This can be served hot or at room temp. Be sure to garnish with lemon slices for squeezing.

Serve with your favorite sides (I think we did rice pilaf and salad) - and enjoy! Let me know how it goes!

Celeriac and Braised Short Ribs

And I'm back! Sorry it's been so long, life's been busy.

Let's jump right in! Sethy gave Adam and I two Thomas Keller cookbooks a while ago, and this was my first attempt at one of his beautiful, complicated recipes. The two books are French Laundry and Ad Hoc. French Laundry is amazing, and has ridiculous difficult recipes that require more skill than I have right now. Ad Hoc is a little more approachable, and I've paging through it for weeks trying to decide what to do first for SND. Here's what I came up with: Braised beef short ribs with Celery root (celariac) with melted onions. SERIOUSLY YUMMY. Thomas Keller kicks ass. This took quite some time, so be sure to start early in the day! This recipe is why I love SNDs.

Okay, ribs first. You need to first create an amazing reduction to braise the ribs in. Start with combining (in a large dutch oven) 1 bottle of dry red wine (something you'd drink! remember, you're concentrating flavor here) with 1 cup of diced yellow onion, 1 cup of carrot slices, 1 cup of sliced leeks, 1 cup of sliced shallots, 1 cup of sliced button mushrooms, 3 thyme sprigs, 6 sprigs of flat leaf parsley, 2 bay leaves, 1/2 teaspoon of black peppercorns, and 3 cloves of smashed garlic. Bring this to a simmer over high heat, then reduce the heat (and the sauce!) for thirty to forty minutes. Don't be tempted (I was!) to salt/pepper this reduction - you are going to add seasoning later.

Whilst you're reducing the wine sauce, trim any sinew that is on your short ribs (you should have 2 1/2 pounds of boneless chuck short ribs), making sure to leave the fat and silverskin intact. Here's where you season: salt and pepper all sides of the ribs generously, then give them a good dredge in some flour. Make sure to shake off any excess flour. Pour some canola oil (I'd say four to five good glugs) in a large frying pan over high heat until it shimmers. Add the ribs in fat side down, turn the heat down to medium, and brown the ribs on all sides. It should be around three minutes per side, just keep a weather eye out - no burning! Take the ribs out once they've browned and set aside.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees now! See, I'm telling you early, so you don't forget! I'm a good friend like that.

Now you're going to add more vegetables to your dutch oven with the reduced wine sauce: 1 cup diced yellow onion, 2/3 cup sliced carrots, 1 1/2 cups sliced leeks, 2-4 smashed cloves of garlic, 3 thyme sprigs, and 2 bay leaves. Mix well. Now you need to cut a piece of cheesecloth around four inches larger than the diameter of the pot. Thomas Keller recommends this because he doesn't think the meat should actually touch the vegetables during the braising process - the meat will take on the flavor of the veggies, but nothing will cling to it. You can find cheesecloth in specialty food stores (I got mine at Surfas in Culver City). Moisten the cheesecloth, wring it out well, and place on top of the vegetables/wine reduction. Add the meat on top of the cheesecloth, then add 5 cups of beef stock. Cover everything with a piece of parchment cut to fit the dutch oven, and place in the oven. Now you'll need to lower the heat to 325 degrees and braise the beef for 1 1/2 - 2 hours until super tender.

Take the meat out of the braising liquid and set aside. Strain the braising liquid and skim the fat as best as you can. Here's where I deviate from the recipe a bit. Ladle out a cup or so of the liquid, add a few tables spoons of cornstarch and whisk together. Put the braising liquid back on the stove top, bring to a simmer, and whisk in the corn starch mixture. Simmer the gravy on low, whisking occasionally whilst you prepare the ribs. Slice them across the grain into 1/2 inch thick slices. Transfer to a platter, and ladle some of the gravy on top, then put the rest of the gravy in a gravy boat for passing at the table. Delicousness. But wait! You need something to serve with these ribs! How about...Celariac with melted onions!

Yes please! Celariac or celery root is delicious. I know, it's crazy for me to think that, since I'm not a huge celery fan. This preparation really mellows out the celery flavor and totally brightens the rich braised ribs. Just try it, I think you'll surprise yourself!

This is also Thomas Keller's recipe out of Ad Hoc, and it's brilliant. Start with the melted onions. Slice three yellow onions and cook in a large saute pan over medium low with 3 tablespoons of butter. Add two good pinches of salt and stir. As the onions cook, prepare a sachet. I know, fancy right? Use some more of your cheesecloth to make a delicious pocket of flavor: 1 bay leaf, 3 thyme sprigs, 10 black peppercorns and one smashed garlic clove. Tie the cheesecloth at the top with some butcher's twine, then toss the sachet in with the onions. Cover your pan and cook on medium low heat, keeping a close eye on them. The onions need to look creamy at all times, so if they are looking dry add a bit of cold water and stir. The onions should be done after 30 minutes or so and be super melty and tender. Set aside.

I've done this a bit differently than TK - a little easier for the home cook, but with all of the basic steps and flavors. Start with 4 large celery roots. Prepare your celery root by chopping off the top and bottom, giving yourself a flat surface to work with. Slice off the skin in strips from top to bottom, working your way around the root. Quarter each root, then slice thinly with a mandoline. The will resemble wide, thin pieces of pasta. Heat a large saute pan with 2 tablespoons of butter, then add four chopped garlic cloves and some chopped fresh parsley (TK calls for thyme here, but I thought there was enough thyme in the ribs). Cook the garlic for thirty seconds, then add the celeriac. Stirring from time to time, making sure all the slices are covered with butter and garlic. Cover the pan and cook for ten minutes. Now add your melted onions. Heaven. Increase the heat to medium high and add 1/2 cup of chicken or vegetable stock. Bring to a simmer - this should be a creamy dish so add more stock if necessary. Season with salt and pepper, always tasting. The celeriac will have the texture of al dente pappardelle pasta and a wonderful, bright and creamy flavor. I really insist that you try this dish.

Serve your ribs and celeriac with a green salad and a full bodied red wine (or white if you're a red wine wimp like me ;)

Seriously, I know this sounds kind of complicated but it's so worth it! Give it a try the next time you have a special occasion and plenty of time to prepare this wondrous meal.

BFF,
d

Party.... Pizza Party!

Oh hi friends! The Golden Globes were last weekend, and nothing says Golden Globe fanciness like a pizza party! Johnny found a great recipe in a magazine for home made dough (recipe courtesy of Pizza A Casa), so I went for it, even though baking freaks me out. I hate measuring! Stop telling me what to do, recipe! Oh wait, that's kind of what I'm trying to do here. Ah hypocrisy.

Four delectable pizzas were made: Spicy turkey sausage and provolone, pepperoni and fresh mozzarella, pancetta with shredded jack/cheddar, and black olive, asparagus, and carmelized onions. Yup. Delicious-town. All pizzas pictured here - not sure why I didn't take a picture of the veggie pizza after it was baked, but oh wells. You get the idea, right?

Start with the dough first, because you need to give it time to rise. In a large bowl mix 3 1/2 cups all purpose flour (don't sift), 1 1/2 cups water, 1 packet active dry yeast, 1 tablespoon EVOO, and one teaspoon sea salt. Combine with a wooden spoon or flour covered hands. Once the dough comes together, turn it out onto a floured surface and knead into

a ball. Place the ball into a clean bowl, cover with saran wrap, and let rise for at least an hour in a warm corner of your kitchen. Plenty of time to prepare your toppings!

Since we are going all homemade - all the way here, you gots to make your own sauce! Or at least fancy up some tomato sauce that you may already have in your pantry. I used a 15 ounce can of tomato puree, so go with that or whatever you have on hand. Add a little red wine, onion and garlic powder, red pepper flakes (a pinch!), dried oregano (couple pinches), and S & P. Simmer the sauce over low heat whilst you prepare your other ingredients and be sure to keep tasting for seasonings.

For the spicy turkey sausage and provolone: Cook three spicy italian turkey sausages in a pan over medium heat. I find that the outside cooks faster (and burns) than the inside, so after the sausages begin to brown, add a few tablespoons of water to the pan. This will steam your snausages to help cook the insides. The water will evaporate and then they will continue to brown. Remove from the pan, let cool a bit, then slice into bite sized slices. I used sandwich slices of provolone and just ripped them up, but if you find shredded provolone, use that. Set aside until you're ready to assemble.

For the veggie pizza: slice one yellow or red onion. Drop a few tablespoons of butter and a one count of EVOO into a frying pan and caramelize those onions over low heat. Add some wine after they begin to color, the sugars in the wine will help your caramelization and add deliciousness. Set onions aside in a bowl to cool. Chop your bunch of asparagus into bite sized pieces (I used the tips only), then add a touch more EVOO to your onion pan, some red pepper flake, and the asparagus pieces. S&P those suckers and cook for 2-3 minutes ONLY. They will get bright green, then immediately remove them from the heat. You want them to still have bite, even after you've baked the pizza. No one likes mushy asparagus. NO ONE. For the olives I used canned (drained) black olives, but you could slice up kalamata olives if you prefer. Set these ingredients aside until you're ready to assemble.

Which is now! Everything else goes on to the pizzas in raw/uncooked form. Go get your dough and rolling pin! Flour the rolling pin and board/counter top well. Turn the dough out onto the surface and divide it into four even pieces using a knife....or the OXO pastry scraper, pictured below! OXO doesn't pay me, but they should ;) Seriously, go buy one right now, they are fantastic for cutting dough/pastry evenly, and I use mine nightly to transfer chopped vegetables from the board to the pan. Do it! Oh and preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Roll each piece of dough out to circle size, approximately 12-14 inches. As you can see, mine are more oval-ish. As long as you get them into pizza shape you're good. Place your rolled out dough on a pizza baking sheet or a cookie sheet (I had to bake these two at a time). Okay time to assemble!

For the spicy turkey sausage and provolone: drop a few spoonfuls of your sauce onto the dough and spread evenly. Spread the provolone around the sauce, then top with your spicy turkey sausage. Sprinkle a small handful of grated parmesan and that guy is ready for the oven!

Veggie pizza: ladle out some sauce onto your rolled out dough and spread evenly. Evenly place some of your black olives and asparagus, then top everything with the caramelized onions. I made this pizza mostly cheese free at the request of the mister (he does not tolerate lactose), so the crust and the top of the pizza was lightly dusted with grated parmesan. Drizzle the top with EVOO and you're ready to go!

Pepperoni and fresh mozz: I got thinly sliced Boar's Head pepperoni from the deli counter and I think you should too. The mozzarella comes in water, so drain it and tear or slice the cheese up. After you've sauced your dough, place the pepperoni slices on the sauce and dot the mozzarella pieces all around. The mozz will melt really well, so don't put too much on or your pizza will be mushy and wet. Hit the crust with some parm and boosh. Ready.

Pancetta and cheddar/jack: I also got the pancetta at the deli counter, thinly sliced. For those of you who live under a culinary rock, pancetta is "Italian bacon": it is pork belly that is cured (not smoked like American bacon), usually with peppercorns. So again, start with your sauce, then evenly distribute your shredded cheese on top of the sauce. Lay your slices of pancetta around on top of the cheese: you want the pancetta to crisp up, so it's super important that it's on top of the cheese. Sprinkle the parm around the crust and your final 'za is ready for baking!

Like I said, I could only bake two pizzas at a time, and I switched them around on the racks halfway through to cook evenly. They took around ten minutes each, so set your timer for eight minutes and keep a weather eye out for burnage. When the pizzas are done, let them rest and cool down a bit before cutting. Tear some fresh basil and add to the sausage pizza and the pancetta pizza (or any of them really). Serve with a lovely salad and some wine and you're golden! Let me know how the dough works for you and if you have any other topping ideas.

Smoochies,

D

Double Duty Dinner!

Hello, dear readers! Happy New Year! Holy crap, where did 2010 go? Ah, such is life. My resolution this year is to post more often...we'll see how that goes ;)

My first SND of the year was quite accidental, and actually began with a Saturday Night Dinner. The Mister and I had terrible colds last week, just awful. Super rad way to start the year. We barely left the house all weekend, and on Saturday I decided I needed some good ol' comfort food: grilled cheese sammies and cream of tomato soup. The grilled cheese was to be the star of the show: I used Thomas Keller's method out of his Ad Hoc cookbook (more on that in a bit). I was all set to use Campbell's Tomato soup, but the Mister thought that would be too easy and that I should try the homemade. "Bah", said I. Homemade tomato soup tastes like a bowl full of marinara sauce 99% of the time. But okay, I'm game. I looked through my cherished cookbooks, and found a good recipe in Ina Garten's Back to Basics. "Okaaaaay", said I. I'll give 'er a go, but to avoid the skins and seeds, I'll use canned crushed tomatoes. Ina purees her soup in a food mill, which would take care of skins and seeds, but I do not have such equipment. So here's what you do, and it didn't turn out too shabby!

Okay, start with two red onions. Chop them up, but don't worry about chopping too finely - you're going to hand blender or blend the soup later. Pour a four count of olive oil into a stock pot and heat it over medium heat. Add your chopped onions and stir, adding just a little salt and pepper. Peel and chop two carrots and add those to the onions. Sweat the vegetables for fifteen minutes or so without browning. A little color is fine, but you don't want to burn anything. Add five cloves of chopped garlic, then half a cup or so of white wine. Cook the alcohol off, then add two 28 ounce cans of crushed tomatoes, 3 cups of chicken stock, one tablespoon of tomato paste , 1 1/2 ounces of sugar, 1 tablespoon of salt, and some freshly ground black pepper. Stir that deliciousness well, bring to a boil, and turn the heat down to simmer for forty minutes. Stir occasionally, and add more chicken stock if you think it's reducing too much (if it's looking too thick).

After forty or so minutes, get out my favorite kitchen appliance: The hand blender! The boat motor! Seriously, you haven't gotten one yet? C'MON. Do it. Blend the soup until it's nicely pureed, then turn the heat down to low, and add 3/4 cup of heavy cream - I used lactose free 2% milk because the Mister does not tolerate lactose, and it turned out just fine.

Now for the grilled cheese! Thomas Keller says you should use brioche, but of course Ralph's didn't have any, so I used some roasted garlic bread that was made that day and DELICIOUS. It had whole cloves of roasted garlic in it and was really really good. Okay, so thinly slice some Gruyere cheese and make as many sandwiches as you have cheese to make them with. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and melt two tablespoons of butter in a large pan until it's almost browned. Add as many sandwiches to the pan that will fit, but don't overcrowd that shit. You know better than that. Cook for two minutes, then flip. The bread will be nicely browned, but the cheese won't be melted yet. Don't fret! It's going into the oven! Put the sandwiches on a sheet pan, spread a little more room temperature butter on top (oh yeah!) and pop into the oven. Finish off the rest of your sandwiches in the pan (add more butter if needed), and into the oven! They really only need a few minutes in the oven to finish the cooking, so keep a weather eye out. When they're done, cut them in two and serve with the tomato soup!

Now, I thought the grilled cheese were FANTASTIC and the tomato soup was good, but it I wasn't blown away. The Mister and Sethy assured me that the soup was great (aw shucks) but I wasn't convinced, and even after sending Sethy home with a serving to go, I was still left with quite a bit. Hmmmm I thought, what to do? I can't make more grilled cheese or I'll blow up to huge proportions and my Wii Fit will never let me hear the end of it!

Fast forward to Sunday afternoon. Still hadn't left the house and pondering SND. "What if", the Mister asked, "you turn that tomato soup into some kick ass meat sauce for spaghetti?" Genius! That's why I married that guy ;) Here's what you do:

Pour a three count of olive oil in a large sauce pan over medium heat. Add four cloves of chopped garlic with a good pinch of red pepper flake. Cook for about one minute and do not let the garlic burn. Add a half of a pound of ground pork and half of a pound to ground beef with some S & P. Stir, stir, and break down the ground meats so that they're very fine. You don't want big chunks of meat here. Brown the meat, then add a half cup of white or red wine - I used white because that's what I was drinking (Sterling for my momma!). Next add one tablespoon of tomato paste, then ladle in your leftover tomato soup. Keep an eye on how much you put in - this is a meat sauce, so you don't want too much of the soup, or it will just be marinara with meat. If the sauce is looking too meaty, add some more soup. Turn your heat to low and simmer whilst you heat a large pot for your spaghetti. Add some chopped fresh basil and parsley to your sauce. Be sure to salt your pasta water and cook the noodles to al dente. I used one pound of spaghetti and when it was done I added it straight to the sauce. Go for it!

I added some grated Parmesan and freshly ground pepper to my serving, but if your loved one does not tolerate lactose, you may omit the cheese. And enjoy! Double duty dinners sound faintly 30-minute-meal-esque (don't get me wrong Rachael, however thirty minute meals do not belong in SNDs), but if you find yourself in such a situation, go for it! It's SND!

All the best,

D