I got a rock...

Ok, so that was Charlie Brown's Halloween. Well, this Christmas has been a budget Christmas, so HP got me a rock.
"What would motivate such a gift," asked The Girl when told of this.
"Well," I said, "I hate to break this to you, but your father had a very selfish motivation. He wanted more baked goods."
And so I got a rock.

At least it is a pretty one!

Granite counter tops were not part of our great kitchen makeover, but I could at least pretend in one little section. I have wanted a granite section ever since I started making my pizzas & kringla, it is wonderful to have a good surface for rolling out doughs! Our idea in finding the right rock proved to be the best. We called up a guy who does granite counter tops & made a deal on a scrap. (Our "scrap" was almost 2' x 3' that is a decent sized scrap!) In order to break in the new rock, I happily made two loaves of bread and a big batch of pizza dough. For my bread choice, I decided on an easy Oatmeal Bread, almost exactly as written on the back of the flour bag. A scant teaspoon of cinnamon gives this the added depth you love in a home made bread.

The pizza dough is something that I have been working on & tweaking since I discovered my love for grilled pizza. I always make a large batch so I can stock some in the freezer for those pizza cravings. And what does the recipe look like these days? Well, I'll tell ya.

The very best way to do this is to plan in advance (yes, every once-in-a-while I do that) if you can do this the "cold way" the dough is generally a little better & easier to work with, and the method is more relaxed. Also since the yeast is sleeping, it is more relaxed as well and really lets the flavors come through. I'll show ya what I mean.

Pizza Dough, the cold-way:
2 cups water, cold. Really cold, put it in the freezer for a little while.
to that add
1 Tablespoon honey

In a separate bowl, gently mix:
2 teaspoons active dry yeast. (skip the envelopes, buy a jar. It is more cost effective even if you only occasionally bake with yeast. I promise.)
3 Tablespoons Corn Meal
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
3 cups white flour (plus more as needed) Can be All-Purpose, or if you prefer Bread Flour. Bread Flour will give you a slightly lighter, airier dough. If you have room in the freezer, you can chill your flour for a little while before mixing, it helps prevent shock to the yeast as you mix it all together.

Slowly mix in the water and stir until you get a wet dough. I don't have a kitchenaid, so I do this by hand. It isn't difficult, I swear. If it is more wet than dough, add a little more flour (no more than 1/2 cup), but really it is ok for it to be wet ( The more flour, the thicker the crust, so if you like it thick you can add about 1/4 cup early on). Now, put that in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes. Pour yourself a glass of wine or clear up a good spot on the counter for kneading. Make-out with your husband. or wife. or significant other. Whatever, after about 10 minutes go back to your dough and take it out of the fridge. While the dough is still in the bowl, add
2 Tablespoons olive oil (plus more as needed) and
2 teaspoons sea salt
Mix that into the dough and then turn out on to a well-floured rock. (Or other workable surface) Oil your hands well (yes, oil them not flour them) and begin kneading. If you really think your dough is soggy & sticky after a little kneading, then add just a little more flour. Once you have kneaded this into a good dough, put the whole thing into a clean, oiled bowl. Cover and refrigerate overnight. It will rise, I promise you.
The next day,
turn dough out onto floured rock. Oil your hands again (really, it is great moisturizer, I promise) Divide dough in half, or thirds or whatever you feel like working with. squish it into a disc, then shape out from there. I have no patience for shaping dough, so mine are rarely circles unless I am willing to make an additional effort. If the dough is rebelling and trying to shrink back, give it a few minutes. Wash the bowl, chop some toppings, whatever. At this point, I will roll it out with a rolling pin if I feel like it. This is great for making a thinner crust. If you like your crust thicker, don't roll it out so much or just stretch to shape.
At this point, I will sometimes freeze the rolled out dough. I put it between layers of parchment paper and stick it in. If I am doing pizza on the grill, it is sometimes easier to deal with the colder dough. I will also only partially freeze, then roll the dough up around the parchment paper and put into a zip-loc bag to freeze for later use. (The above method is adapted from KitchenMage's pizza dough on A Year In Bread. The recipe is my own, after adapting several to suit my tastes)

Now if HP reads this, he'll laugh, because I rarely plan this far in advance for dinner, so I'll give you a quick run-down.

All the ingredients & amounts are the same, the changes are in the method:

• The water should be warm. (Not hot, but about what you would feed a baby)
• Add the yeast to the warm water
• After mixing, don't rest, add the oil & salt
• After kneading, put the dough in an oiled bowl in warm (about 70-75) place with slightly damp towel over it. Let rise for about 1 1/2 hours.
• Roll out as above.

This method is not quite as relaxing, but gets the job done when you want your pizza for dinner that night!

As for cooking on the grill, this is the way to do it. (And yes, we had a warm day this week, so my pizza was cooked on the grill!)
Preheat grill to very hot, then turn down to low.
Scrape & oil grate as needed
Put the naked dough on the grill, cover and let sit for a couple minutes until bottom is lightly toasted.
Flip dough, put toppings on, cover and cook for about 10 minutes (or less depending on your grill)
If your dough is not frozen and is well formed, you can also create your pizza with your toppings and put it on the hot grill. (I still recommend chilling the dough so it doesn't stick) If you do that, be sure to spread cornmeal on your pizza peel (or cookie sheet if you don't have a peel) and put onto the grill with a quick jerking motion.

With all the the pizzas, don't go too heavy with the sauce. Just trust me on that. Besides, with crust this good, who needs to?

Our favorite toppings:
Goat Cheese & Parmesan Alfredo with shrimp and caramelized onions (we've also been known to add roasted red peppers to this)
Fresh Mozzarella with garden tomatoes and olive oil (no sauce). Add fresh basil just prior to serving (so it doesn't over cook) it may work better if blanched, but I'm not organized enough to think about that until its too late
Mixed "Mexican cheese" with leftover beer-can chicken, red onions & a swirl or two of Sweet Baby Ray's.

So what will you put on your pizza?

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In the Mud with Kiki

Ok, so it isn't really mud right now, but it was a one point. Actually, a couple different points it was mud. Last week I even brought my camera to the studio to have my picture taken while I was working. Twice. I even remembered that I had it one day, and asked someone to take my picture once I started working. We both forgot. But this really is pottery that I made with my own 2 hands.

The group shot, hangin' out on the love seat.

This is the big casserole. It may not look so big to you, but trust me, when you are wrestling that clay, it is HUGE!


Next we have the little brother. It's still not very little. The glaze is a little thin on this one, but I'm ok with it.

Look, it is a little family of prep bowls. Done in manly colors, for my B-I-L. The glaze turned out a little funky because it was fired in a different kiln (yes, that does make a big difference) so I'm not sure if I'll make another set for him. I have time, his birthday isn't until August. If I try to make another set how can I be sure
they will nest so nicely?

Well, this isn't mud, but I will share what I had for dinner tonight.
Barbeque Chicken Pizza. On the grill. I finally got at least a little picture.

I made pizzas on Friday night (no, I didn't have my Solstice Party, but at least I had some friends over for pizza and beer) I was a little wiser this time, I didn't make everything at once. I did a couple small batches so we wouldn't eat too much or leave too much. So today, I grabbed a hunk of dough out of the freezer (already rolled out) and threw it on the grill then threw the toppings on. I'm not sure if it would have been less crispy if I let the dough thaw a little more, but it was still pretty tasty for a super quick dinner while HP was in class.

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Why I'll never be a "Food Blogger"

It has taken a week, but I will finally post a couple food pictures:
I will never be a food blogger because I don't have the patience to pose my food beautifully or remember to write down what is going into my dinner. Or even what I had for dinner some nights. But I do at least think about these things and OCCASIONALLY remember to take a photo.

For my wrap-fest, the only one that got near a camera was eggplant night. You will notice immediately that eggplant, while tasty, is not very photogenic.
(You'll also notice that my slices aren't very even. Another reason I'll never be a food blogger.)
They do look a little better once they have be sacrificed to the Char-King
(pay no attention to the piece that is under the grate. It was a rough flipping)
Sadly the goat cheese spread on a flour tortilla doesn't do much for the color. Thank goodness for a little lettuce mix.


It was probably slightly redundant to serve it with a salad, but hey, I needed to add something to call it dinner and I thought that chips would diminish that "healthy" aspect I was kind of going for. (It's only a little goat cheese, it just looks like a lot) Or maybe this is the shrimp one. Since I didn't slice for the photo, who knows!

So for the really good pictures of food, visit someone who seems to have more patience to photograph every thing, beautifully as well as posting the recipes. Thank goodness for people like Cathy, who cooks, photographs everything, raises hooligans and is soon planting a winery. How do you manage to do it??? (and remember me when you need tasters :) )

Also not to be missed is another amazing chef/photographer who answers the Eternal Question What's for Lunch Honey?

There are tons more out there, but those are my current faves!

I will also take a minute to talk about my grilled pizzas, once again. (I swear that I will photograph these babies at some point when I am not scrambling to get them on the table to feed people) (how do you do that, make the photo all pretty and still have a hot dinner???)
Anyway, I did a variation on my grilled pizza and am very excited because I learned that it will be possible for me to make these year-round.
Some of the talented young men I know at the GoggleWorks recently had a gallery show. As with all good things, it had to come to an end and it did last Friday night. But the guys decided to go out with a bang and a party so I agreed to make some dip. Which then turned into some dip and a little food. On the menu: Redneck Fondue (a yummy beer-cheese dip), Sweet & Saucy Meatballs (turkey meatballs in a ginger-peach sauce spiked with bourbon) and grilled pizzas. I was a little bummed (but not at all surprised) I couldn't bring my tabletop propane grill, but I was able to bring this:

My ever trusty Farberware grill. My parents got one as a wedding gift, my mom picked up a spare for parts at a garage sale because she was frightened it would one day fail. I got mine when the local Service Merchandise was closing. It is rather large & a pain to store, but it is an awesome piece of kitchen equipment. (It's most common use in my home is the rotisserie feature for a Christmas duck. There is NO other way to cook it!) So I saw it sitting there and decided that was the answer to hot food.
I made my pizza dough as normal, but when it came time to shape it, I used an empty tin to create small (about the size of an English Muffin) individual pizza crusts. I hammered them out and put them in the freezer until it was time to go. I wanted to keep it as simple as possible (or at least as simple as I could at this point) so I prepped for 2 kinds of pizza. The first had a cheese spread made with Goat Cheese (I can get an 11 oz. log for $5.25 at the local farmer's market; it is a staple in my house) mixed with cream cheese and fresh snipped herbs. I think I used oregano, marjoram, rosemary and thyme with a little salt and pepper. I also had caramelized onions (another favorite in my home) and roasted red-pepper. My other variety was fresh mozzarella marinated in Balsamic vinegar, sliced tomato in olive oil and fresh basil.
I prepped all the toppings and put them in their plastic containers and trudged off to the Gallery.
The creation of these mini-miracles was actually pretty easy.
I preheated the grill and then plopped the pre-cut dough circles (ok, by that time, maybe not circles, but close enough) onto the grill. I then either (a) smeared it with the cheese spread, and topped it with onions and red peppers or (b) placed the mozzarella, tomato and basil on top. I brought my Pampered Chef bar pan and used that as a lid to trap the heat inside which almost worked. (a couple of the pizzas rose a lot so the toppings stuck and I had a bit of a mess)
Amazingly enough, this worked out really well. The pizzas cooked up brilliantly and disappeared as fast as I could make them. I also figure that I can make a bunch of small crusts (maybe muffin sized, maybe dessert plate sized) and freeze them ahead of time so that the mess of the crusts is out of the way, and I can eat these on a whim instead of on several hours notice. (The dough is very simple, but it does take time to rise, and I usually make a big mess--which is another reason I don't take photos).
As you may have realized, these are very unconventional pizzas, but I haven't figured out a better name for them. My husband was vying for "Grillza" but I am not so sure. Any ideas??
I am also constantly looking for ideas of what to top these with. I did get a great inspiration tonight. How perfect would an upside down version of these be? Pizza Rockefeller anyone?
Any other suggestions for these? Please, I think I'm in a (tasty) goat cheese rut!

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Feelin' Saucy

Yes, I have some tomatoes. And peppers. And tomatillos.
So listening with one ear to the wise Miss Holly,I decided to make sauce. Tomatoes, check. Hmmm, plenty of Poblano & Serrano peppers as well. What else is lurking in my larder? Onions, check; garlic, check. What is growing in my garden? Cuban Oregano, Hmmmm. Let's check the spice rack: tasty, a little cumin; perhaps a little chili powder.
Ok, now that I have my 'meez,' it's time to get cookin'.

First off, get the grill going, preferably with some smoky wood chips in there, then I slowly roasted my tomatoes along with a couple onions, some garlic cloves, and my pairs of poblanos and serranos (and only lost one serrano through the grill grate). While they are roasting a way, I turned on the crockpot and added a little olive oil. When the oil was warm, I added a couple teaspoons of whole cumin seed and a little more garlic. After I peeled the roasted veggies and added them to the pot, I added my oregano, along with a little ground cumin (ok, I like cumin, what of it?) and some chili powder with the obligatory salt & pepper. Then I gave it a whirl with the stick blender and left it for the night. This morning I woke up and look, I have enchilada sauce. Fantastic! Now to get some chicken, or some beans & make enchiladas...

This weekend was the last weekend that we had The Boy over to visit before he goes off to college. (I guess I should call him The College Man now, but I'll have to ease into that). We celebrated with family activities such as him showing his Father how to load an Ipod with music. Also, as we know, no College Man is ready for school without new clothes for school. We got socks and a baseball cap. They started out white, then a short time later they looked like this:

And then, finally like this:

Well, the family that tie-dyes together, ummm I'm not sure how to finish that one.

Back to the family activities. We also ATE. I know that will come as a shock to some, but that is considered a family activity around here.
Friday night was Fish Taco night. I know that sounds gross, but really they are quite flavory. The fish were fried in a beer batter and served with HP's homemade salsa (fresh from the garden), Kiki's guacamole with roasted garlic, and plenty of queso fresco. Fish Tacos, who knew?

Saturday was our annualish Crab-Fest. I love Maryland crabs, and look forward to eating them every summer. Unfortunately, as they need to be imported they are a little pricey, so I only get them once a year. This year's fest was served up with the freshest corn-on-the-cob I could find and a loaf of Homemade Pesto Bread. (I love The Herbfarm Cookbook and all the wonderful recipes I've found there!)

Somehow, we did end up with a few left over crabs at the end of crabfest, so Sunday's brunch was this:

Crab & Thyme Souffle adapted from The Herbfarm Cookbook. Now that is TASTY!

The other thing I love about The Herbfarm Cookbook, is that after having it from the library for about a month-and-a-half, I decided to splurge and buy it (after all, I'm worth it & besides, I was worried about spilling something on the book!) Unfortunately my splurge budget is not what it once was, so my solution? EBAY!
That's right, winner bidder kitchenkiki at $4.99. Now that's TASTY!

And a final image, Sunday's dinner (I didn't want it to feel left out)Pizza on the grill! (ok, I had some dough challenges, so one of the pizzas was cooked in the oven)
A perennial favorite: Pizza with caramelized onions, shrimp and alfredo sauce.

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Kiki is out & on the grill!

In honor of the beautiful weather, I have spent a few more hours in my garden along with a few hours just hanging out on my back porch. It is a second story "sleeping porch" that over looks the back yard. Which is also kind of a garden, maybe it's a yarden?

Having spent time outside, who wanted to go back in? but there was still dinner to attend to. So on the grill we go. I have a very basic gas grill. (My dad & sister chipped in & gave it to me for my birthday 5 or 6 years ago. I'll admit that I don't do whatever grill maintenance you are supposed to do to a grill, but it has served me well.) So on my very basic grill I'm always happy to find that I can make some outstanding things. (My husband has a very expensive grill, it has been sitting under it's cover and been used only once or twice since he moved in 3 years ago)

Ok, enough of that paragraph (that should probably be severely edited, but probably won't be). I will try to make it through the descriptions of my food with out the further use of parentheses) I will insert a sad aside into this paragraph. My batteries were dead & I have no photos of this. That is truly a loss! (I guess I'll have to make it again) (oops, darn parentheses) (hey there they are again)

Friday night dinner:

Pizza on the Grill

I made my first pizza on the grill. My brother-in-law does this with some frequency, so I thought, hey why not. His original recipe comes from Stephen Raichlin's Barbecue Bible. I don't know if he still uses those recipes, but I did not. I looked at that recipe, as well as Raichlin's BBQ USA recipe for pizza on the grill. I love his books & every recipe is a winner, but I still made up my own recipe (based to some extent on his). You can also visit Mr. Raichlin at www.barbecuebible.com.

The Crust

• 1 1/2 cup warm water
• 1 1/2 Tablespoon Honey
• 1 1/2 packages active dry yeast (can probably get away with only one, but I had an open one)

Mix together and let sit 5-10 minutes or until foamy.
Add

• 2 teaspoons coarse sea or kosher salt
• 3 Tablespoons corn meal
• 3 Tablespoons Whole Wheat Flour
• 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil

Mix thoroughly then slowly add

• 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
• about 3 cups white flour

mix together(I use my hands) using more or less flour to achieve a somewhat slack dough. Do not over mix, take a break & let it sit if you need to. Knead into a basic ball like shape place in a large oiled bowl, cover and let sit until doubled in bulk; this will take 1 1/2 - 2 hours. (I let mine sit longer than that, I had to trim a bowl & pick up my car & go to the farmers market so I'm not sure how long it sat) Ideally it would sit in 72-75 degree draft free w/ a little humidity, but if you don't have a rain forest handy do your best. If you are trying to get a real head start on dinner or are preparing for a bbq or company or what have you, you can refrigerate it over night at this point. When it has doubled, punch it down and divide into 4 or 5 small disks; you will want the pizzas small enough to handle. Cover and let rise, about 40 minutes - an hour. While it is rising, create your toppings.

For our pizza, we used Caramelized Onions (HP really likes them on pizza), Shrimp and Two Sauces. Sauce #1 was a basic Italian pizza sauce that I made from a #10 can of tomatoes over the winter. Sauce #2 was a variation of an alfredo sauce.

Super Thick Alfredo apologies on the vagaries of my measuring, I wasn't really thinking about it:

• about 3-4 Tablespoons butter
• about 1/4 cup heavy cream
  
• about 1/4 - 1/3 shredded Parmesan cheese
• about 2-4 Tablespoons goat cheese

In small saucepan over low heat, melt butter with cream slowly add goat cheese & parmesan and stir until melted. Season with Salt & Pepper. Yum! (Also tastes good on pasta like regular Alfredo)

Assemble your toppings (I did slightly pre-cook the shrimp then let them finish on the grill)

At this point, preheat your grill. Put it on high & close the lid. You want your grate to be hot, hot, hot!

Stretch your dough into crusts; instead of using flour to stretch and pull, use olive oil, you shouldn't need a lot, maybe a tablespoon. Form crusts on something that you can carry to the grill and hopefully slide your pizzas off of and onto the grill (maybe a cookie sheet?). Your pizzas should be small enough that you can pick them up and put them on the grill without stretching or tearing the dough. (If you have a Pizza Peel you don't need to worry as much about the size, dust it with cornmeal and slide your pizza on).

Topping your pizza:
You do not top the traditional way!

• First goes the cheese, so it can be close to heat & melt. Also you don't want a lot of wet on your crust.
• Next goes your meat. All meat should be pre-cooked, my shrimp was slightly under cooked to avoid it getting too rubbery on the grill.
  
• Next went the onions
• Finally the sauce is splatted on top. Use your sauces some what sparingly, this is more about the crust.
  

Onto the grill we go!
Your grill should be really hot by now, so turn down the burners to actually cook. If you have a big fancy grill, try doing a very hot side and a medium side.
Slide or manhandle your crusts onto the grill. If using two zones, start by putting it onto the hot zone to sear the crust.
Close lid. Don't peak for first minute.
Ok, you can look now, if you have 2 zones, slide your pizza to the medium zone. If you have 1 zone, just check to be sure you don't have any hot spots. Close lid. Cook for around 5 minutes or until sauce & cheese appear to be bubbling.

And a good dinner was had by all!

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Pizza Nights!

As I mentioned in my last post, I dove in & made Beth's Pizza Dough. I loved the fact that I did a little mixing & threw it in the fridge to deal with later. It was not a lot of work & made for a delicious couple dinners.

Saturday Night's Pizza got the full treatment of pics & narration, Monday's you'll just get the highlights

Friday night I mixed up the yeast, flour & water; it did not look like a "lumpy pancake batter" so I added a splash more water. My yeast expired last August (ok, I'm behind on my baking) but it was stored in the freezer, so I decided to go for it & see what would happen.

Saturday night, I pulled out the dough. In my elderly yeast did it's job & my dough rose in the fridge. (Yay!) So I divvied it up to Saturday night dough & Monday night dough & went on about my work.

I started stretching & pulling, going gently & stopping if the dough was cranky. HP asked if I could throw it in the air like real pizza guys. I tried & got a little air, but we'll just leave it that I made a great catch.

I moved my dough to the parchment paper to let it rest & began gathering my toppings. Sauce went first w/ a little cheese mixed in. It was home made from a batch I made a couple months ago. I don't recall the original use for it, but I made plenty. Glad I have pizza recipes to try it out on. Next went the basil, then caramelized onions and (left over) asparagus. It was topped with an Italian cheese blend (yes, the shredded stuff in the dairy section of the grocery store.) and into the oven it went. A few minutes later voilá it was dinner!

Not bad for a first pizza. The dough was a little thick in spots, and the whole thing probably could have benefited from another minute or two in the oven (HP was in charge of pulling things out of the oven on Saturday night and he seems to have been just a tad impatient.) The result was a thick, soft bready dough that tasted great and made a wonderful pizza. HP says the caramelized onions are what made it.


Monday night's pizza was a little less organized. We spent the first half the day at Daddo's house a couple hours ago, then drove home, dropped off The Girl at her mom's house. I knew I had the dough in the fridge & needed to get back to it, so we stopped at the grocery store for our toppings. Mixed mushrooms (shitake, baby bella, oyster & I don't remember what else is in the mix). A sweet onion and some fresh mozzarella balls from the deli. (the little ciglione or however that is spelled).

I pulled the dough out, it had been stored in a ziplock bag, so it seemed to have some bubbles in it, but as I worked it there was no problem. I put the onion & mushrooms on the stove w/a splash of wine & a knob of butter so they could caramelize away while I thawed some sauce, prepared the dough & preheated the oven. Then it dawned on me that I had used the last of the parchment paper on the kringla. Things were not looking good. I don't own a pizza peel, so I was in a bit of a sticky wicket. So I pulled my stone out of the oven & decided that it was going to be made directly on that. I added a little extra olive oil to my dough to avoid sticking, then mixed in some dried Tuscan herbs because it sounded good at the time.

I let the stone cool to a warm, but handleable temperature. I dusted it w/ corn meal and proceeded to stretch my dough on top. I was much more even handed than the first one & got a pretty uniform layer. After it rested, I smeared the dough with sauce, added the sliced mozzarella, next was basil, then the mushrooms & onions and topped with the Italian cheese & into the oven it went. We were a little more patient with the pizza (especially since the stone wasn't oven hot) and didn't retrieve it until everything was bubbling and toasted. The pizza turned out fabulous. The camera was still hidden away, so I didn't get a pic of this one, but it was even better than the first!


And a good dinner was had by all!

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