Well, I think I have to admit that this has been a failed experiment. Other than a few glorious tangos with MSPaint I never really got excited about writing these posts. I think it's time to bring the breadblog to a close yet again, so I'll wrap this up with one final recipe.
And a nice and easy one, at that. Start off by sauteing 1/3 cup of crushed walnuts in 2 T butter. Remove the casing from ~1 pound of sweet Italian (turkey) sausage, add to the walnuts, and cook until done. This would have been a good point to drain off the excess fat from the butter/cooked sausage, but I forgot to do so. Anyway, add a half-cup of delicious, delicious pesto, and a half cup of grated parmesan. (This is one of the rare instances in which this blog served its function: I was feeling lazy and wasn't going to grate any cheese, but then I thought "this will sound like it tastes better if I add in parmesan..." Which I think is true, but regardless of whether it sounds that way, it definitely tastes that way.) Ideally, serve over linguine...but all I had was a box of shells, but it's all pasta, right?
Verdict: Pesto makes everything awesome.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
p.s. My attention was just called to the following little factoid: I have successfully (as of 12/24/11) created a webpage that comes up as the #1 hit on google if you enter a one word search ("pusstabrot"). I feel like I should get a ribbon or trophy or something.
December 24, 2011
December 11, 2011
Quick steak
Curiously, for those of you keeping track, only the third non-vegetarian post of the new blog. Anyway, today I was mostly motivated by a rather large amount of hunger (having just run a few hours earlier two-thirds of a half marathon, as they say) and a relative paucity of ingredients. So, a quick and easy recipe.
Start by pan-frying a cheap cut of steak in 1 T butter, about 3-4 minutes per side. While the first side is cooking, cover the other side with some pepper and grated horseradish, then flip. When the other side is done, keep warm in a 250-degree over, and deglaze the pan a la Hunter S . Thompson. Add an extra T of butter, and throw in 1 t tarragon, 1 small chopped onion, and 1 clove garlic. Saute until the onion is soft, throw it all into some basmati rice, take the steak out of the onion, and enjoy. Easy peasy.
Start by pan-frying a cheap cut of steak in 1 T butter, about 3-4 minutes per side. While the first side is cooking, cover the other side with some pepper and grated horseradish, then flip. When the other side is done, keep warm in a 250-degree over, and deglaze the pan a la Hunter S . Thompson. Add an extra T of butter, and throw in 1 t tarragon, 1 small chopped onion, and 1 clove garlic. Saute until the onion is soft, throw it all into some basmati rice, take the steak out of the onion, and enjoy. Easy peasy.
December 5, 2011
Peanut sauce, attempt #1
On the one hand, I realize I've been pretty inconsistent about posting lately and for that let me just apologize. On the other hand, I've literally spent the last 6.5 hours (since lunch) finalizing, looking up, and formatting a set of references, so perhaps you'll forgive me if I'm not overwhelmingly excited about this post.
Nevertheless, it does deserve at least some excitement. I rank peanut sauce pretty high in the pantheon of foods that truly let us know we have evolved beyond our primate brethren; if it was socially acceptable I would probably just have white rice and peanut sauce all day. Every day. Or, that is, I would if only I could find a recipe I was truly happy with. Thus, let me present the first in what will doubtless be an intermittent series as I embark on my own little quest for the perfect peanut sauce.
Combine the following: 0.6 cups neutral vegetable oil (you can already tell I've search high and low for this recipe, right? I mean, what kind of recipe starts out with 3/5 of a cup of anything?), 1/3 cup rice wine vinegar, 1/4 soy sauce, 3 tablespoons dark sesame oil, 1 tablespoon of honey, 1 tablespoon of sesame seeds (white; toasted), 1 heaping teaspoon minced garlic, 1 teaspoon grated ginger, 1.5 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper, and 1/2 cup smooth, natural peanut butter.
Whisk it all together and serve over, e.g., soba noodles with snap peas, red bell peppers, and green onions. Makes enough peanut sauce for...a lot of food.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Verdict: Excellent. But since I promised this would be the start of an intermittent series you probably have already guessed that I am not totally satisfied with this. It's definitely the best of all the peanut sauces I have made in the past but... there's some small amount of balance that I think the flavor lacks. Maybe I need to add a little bit of something spicy to balance it out? Maybe more ginger? I don't know. Any suggestions?
Nevertheless, it does deserve at least some excitement. I rank peanut sauce pretty high in the pantheon of foods that truly let us know we have evolved beyond our primate brethren; if it was socially acceptable I would probably just have white rice and peanut sauce all day. Every day. Or, that is, I would if only I could find a recipe I was truly happy with. Thus, let me present the first in what will doubtless be an intermittent series as I embark on my own little quest for the perfect peanut sauce.
Combine the following: 0.6 cups neutral vegetable oil (you can already tell I've search high and low for this recipe, right? I mean, what kind of recipe starts out with 3/5 of a cup of anything?), 1/3 cup rice wine vinegar, 1/4 soy sauce, 3 tablespoons dark sesame oil, 1 tablespoon of honey, 1 tablespoon of sesame seeds (white; toasted), 1 heaping teaspoon minced garlic, 1 teaspoon grated ginger, 1.5 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper, and 1/2 cup smooth, natural peanut butter.
Whisk it all together and serve over, e.g., soba noodles with snap peas, red bell peppers, and green onions. Makes enough peanut sauce for...a lot of food.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Verdict: Excellent. But since I promised this would be the start of an intermittent series you probably have already guessed that I am not totally satisfied with this. It's definitely the best of all the peanut sauces I have made in the past but... there's some small amount of balance that I think the flavor lacks. Maybe I need to add a little bit of something spicy to balance it out? Maybe more ginger? I don't know. Any suggestions?
November 19, 2011
Pancakes
I'm an adult. So, errrr.... that means I'm allowed to have pancakes for dinner once in a while, right? Let's all say that I'm just trying to recreate the magic of brunch night.
Do I even need to write the recipe for this? Combine 1.5 cups of flour, 2 T sugar, 3 t baking powder (NOT baking soda... I made that mistake once, and you end up with pancakes that taste inexplicably like burnt pretzels), 1 t salt. Add in a liquids mixture of 1 beaten egg, 1.25 cups of milk, 3 T butter, and one capful of an ingredient that -- for "family recipe" reasons -- I'm not supposed to divulge, but is probably pretty obvious. Mix until smooth, cook in a frying pan initially coated with just a bit of melted butter.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Speaking of tonight's dinner, here's something I stumbled upon a while back... before clicking this link ask yourself which you honestly think is flatter: Kansas or a pancake? The second-to-last sentence crowns the winner thus: "That degree of flatness might be described, mathematically, as “damn flat.”"
http://improbable.com/airchives/paperair/volume9/v9i3/kansas.html
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Verdict: pancakes are awesome; what more need I say?
Do I even need to write the recipe for this? Combine 1.5 cups of flour, 2 T sugar, 3 t baking powder (NOT baking soda... I made that mistake once, and you end up with pancakes that taste inexplicably like burnt pretzels), 1 t salt. Add in a liquids mixture of 1 beaten egg, 1.25 cups of milk, 3 T butter, and one capful of an ingredient that -- for "family recipe" reasons -- I'm not supposed to divulge, but is probably pretty obvious. Mix until smooth, cook in a frying pan initially coated with just a bit of melted butter.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Speaking of tonight's dinner, here's something I stumbled upon a while back... before clicking this link ask yourself which you honestly think is flatter: Kansas or a pancake? The second-to-last sentence crowns the winner thus: "That degree of flatness might be described, mathematically, as “damn flat.”"
http://improbable.com/airchives/paperair/volume9/v9i3/kansas.html
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Verdict: pancakes are awesome; what more need I say?
November 7, 2011
tomato soup
Nothing fancy this week -- I've been feeling ever-so-slightly under the weather and so haven't been able to get too excited about spending time in the kitchen. Hence:
Roughly chop up ~ 2 pounds of tomatoes, 2 small onions, and 2 cloves of garlic. Saute the garlic and onions in 2 tablespoons of olive oil for a few minutes, then add the tomatoes. Turn the heat to medium, add some salt, pepper, rosemary, oregano, parsley, chili powder, and paprika (couldn't be bothered to measure anything...sorry). Cover and let simmer until the tomatoes start to break down (~20 minutes or so). Use a hand-blender to blend the soup, then simmer for a while.
While it's simmering, make some simple bread.
Rip up chunks of bread, thrown in a bowl, pour soup on top, enjoy.
Roughly chop up ~ 2 pounds of tomatoes, 2 small onions, and 2 cloves of garlic. Saute the garlic and onions in 2 tablespoons of olive oil for a few minutes, then add the tomatoes. Turn the heat to medium, add some salt, pepper, rosemary, oregano, parsley, chili powder, and paprika (couldn't be bothered to measure anything...sorry). Cover and let simmer until the tomatoes start to break down (~20 minutes or so). Use a hand-blender to blend the soup, then simmer for a while.
While it's simmering, make some simple bread.
Rip up chunks of bread, thrown in a bowl, pour soup on top, enjoy.
October 30, 2011
Tomato-pesto pizza
Ever wrestle with that terrible feeling of trying to decide whether to make your pizza base out of tomato sauce or pesto? Worry no more.
------------------------------------------------
The Dough:
We'll go with an easy, "no-knead" recipe for this one. Take 1.25 cups of water, and add 2.5 teaspoons of yeast, 2 teaspoons of salt, 1 tablespoon of olive oil, and 3 cups of flour. Stir it all together, let it rise for 2 hours, and then put it in the fridge. This'll be enough for 1 pizza dinner and 1 calzone dinner. Awesome.
------------------------------------------------
The Tomato Sauce:
Finely chop 1 medium onion and 1 shallot, and saute in some olive oil until the onion/shallot is soft. Add a 28 oz can of diced tomatoes, turn the heat to medium-high, and simmer until the tomatoes start to break down. Add a bit of salt, rosemary, oregano, and ground pepper to taste. Reserve half of the sauce for some other cooking activity, keep the other half simmering.
------------------------------------------------
The Pesto:
In the world's smallest food processor, try to fit: 1 cup basil leaves, 1 teaspoon minced garlic, 1 tablespoon toasted pine nuts, a bit of salt, and 3 tablespoons of olive oil. Press the "blend" button.
------------------------------------------------
Pizza time:
Take the dough out of the fridge. Dust half of it with flour, throw that half on a wooden board, and roll it quite thin. Transfer to a pizza tin, and first lay down a layer of pesto, then a layer of tomato sauce. The focus of this is just the sauces, so top with just some grated parmesan, then bake at 400 degrees for about 11 minutes.
------------------------------------------------
Verdict: Delicious!! Also, I need a better pesto recipe.
------------------------------------------------
The Dough:
We'll go with an easy, "no-knead" recipe for this one. Take 1.25 cups of water, and add 2.5 teaspoons of yeast, 2 teaspoons of salt, 1 tablespoon of olive oil, and 3 cups of flour. Stir it all together, let it rise for 2 hours, and then put it in the fridge. This'll be enough for 1 pizza dinner and 1 calzone dinner. Awesome.
------------------------------------------------
The Tomato Sauce:
Finely chop 1 medium onion and 1 shallot, and saute in some olive oil until the onion/shallot is soft. Add a 28 oz can of diced tomatoes, turn the heat to medium-high, and simmer until the tomatoes start to break down. Add a bit of salt, rosemary, oregano, and ground pepper to taste. Reserve half of the sauce for some other cooking activity, keep the other half simmering.
------------------------------------------------
The Pesto:
In the world's smallest food processor, try to fit: 1 cup basil leaves, 1 teaspoon minced garlic, 1 tablespoon toasted pine nuts, a bit of salt, and 3 tablespoons of olive oil. Press the "blend" button.
------------------------------------------------
Pizza time:
Take the dough out of the fridge. Dust half of it with flour, throw that half on a wooden board, and roll it quite thin. Transfer to a pizza tin, and first lay down a layer of pesto, then a layer of tomato sauce. The focus of this is just the sauces, so top with just some grated parmesan, then bake at 400 degrees for about 11 minutes.
------------------------------------------------
 |
| I know, I know...I'm getting really good at drawing pizza. |
October 23, 2011
Pasta a la fondue
"...and on a mountain, all of grated Parmesan cheese, dwell folk that do nought else but make macaroni and raviuoli, and boil them in capon's broth, and then throw them down to be scrambled for; and hard by flows a rivulet of Vernaccia..." -- The Decameron, describing a place I would like to go to.
Since man first crawled from out the primordial ooze (sorry, Dean Grudin), he has struggled with the most difficult of questions: "What to do with all of those random bits of left-over cheese from other meals?" Today's simple, only slightly absurd, empty-kitchen-inspired solution: modify a fondue recipe, and serve over pasta.
So: melt a tablespoon of butter and saute 1 shallot until nice and soft. Grate the following cheeses into the smallest size your grater will allow (for easiest melting): ~ 5 oz. gorgonzola, ~5 oz fontina, and ~2 oz asiago. Add the grated cheese along with half a cup of half-and-half to the shallots, and melt over low to medium-low heat. Thrown in a few pinches of ground pepper and salt, and finally add two tablespoons of whisky (you know, to thin the sauce a bit, give it a little backbone, and contribute to the Scottish-fondue authenticity). Serve over elbow macaroni, and enjoy.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Verdict: Nice. Nothing to write home about, but a bit less heavy than my usual pasta gorgonzola, and with a nice mix of flavors. Next time, I'll skip the salt and add a bit more pepper, but otherwise if I ever happen to have that particular combination of cheeses again I know what I'll be making.
[Update -- Leftovers from this dish: substantially less tasty than the meal itself. I mean, there's almost always at least some drop-off in quality after a few days, but more flavor seemed to leave this pasta than usual.]
Since man first crawled from out the primordial ooze (sorry, Dean Grudin), he has struggled with the most difficult of questions: "What to do with all of those random bits of left-over cheese from other meals?" Today's simple, only slightly absurd, empty-kitchen-inspired solution: modify a fondue recipe, and serve over pasta.
So: melt a tablespoon of butter and saute 1 shallot until nice and soft. Grate the following cheeses into the smallest size your grater will allow (for easiest melting): ~ 5 oz. gorgonzola, ~5 oz fontina, and ~2 oz asiago. Add the grated cheese along with half a cup of half-and-half to the shallots, and melt over low to medium-low heat. Thrown in a few pinches of ground pepper and salt, and finally add two tablespoons of whisky (you know, to thin the sauce a bit, give it a little backbone, and contribute to the Scottish-fondue authenticity). Serve over elbow macaroni, and enjoy.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Verdict: Nice. Nothing to write home about, but a bit less heavy than my usual pasta gorgonzola, and with a nice mix of flavors. Next time, I'll skip the salt and add a bit more pepper, but otherwise if I ever happen to have that particular combination of cheeses again I know what I'll be making.
[Update -- Leftovers from this dish: substantially less tasty than the meal itself. I mean, there's almost always at least some drop-off in quality after a few days, but more flavor seemed to leave this pasta than usual.]
October 16, 2011
"Moroccan Almond" Chicken
This week I used something in the Times International as inspiration... of course, the actual recipe calls for making an entire stuffed chicken, but I scaled everything down and tried to re-create what struck me as the essential flavor combination the recipe was trying to get at.
So chop up 1 onion and 1 large shallot, mix together with 1 teaspoon of minced garlic, and make into a bed on the bottom of a glass baking dish. Prepare a mixture of 1 teaspoon each powdered ginger, coriander, cinnamon, and black pepper in 2 tablespoons of olive oil, and coat ~1.5 pounds of chicken breast with it. Put on top of the onion/shallot/ginger bed. Finally, sprinkle a handful of sliced almonds on top, and bake at 350 for 25 minutes.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The conference in Cleveland was excellent, as it turns out. Let me summarize as follows: the science went well, and now somewhere on the internet there exists a picture of me hanging out with Slider at Jacobs Field. I'll try to dig it up sometime.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Verdict: Nice. Not mind-blowing, certainly, but an excellent future option when I want to make a quick chicken dish but am tired of the usual herb-and-parmesan version that has been my go-to for the past x years.
Next week: I'm not sure, but don't be surprised if it's pasta-based.
So chop up 1 onion and 1 large shallot, mix together with 1 teaspoon of minced garlic, and make into a bed on the bottom of a glass baking dish. Prepare a mixture of 1 teaspoon each powdered ginger, coriander, cinnamon, and black pepper in 2 tablespoons of olive oil, and coat ~1.5 pounds of chicken breast with it. Put on top of the onion/shallot/ginger bed. Finally, sprinkle a handful of sliced almonds on top, and bake at 350 for 25 minutes.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The conference in Cleveland was excellent, as it turns out. Let me summarize as follows: the science went well, and now somewhere on the internet there exists a picture of me hanging out with Slider at Jacobs Field. I'll try to dig it up sometime.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Verdict: Nice. Not mind-blowing, certainly, but an excellent future option when I want to make a quick chicken dish but am tired of the usual herb-and-parmesan version that has been my go-to for the past x years.
Next week: I'm not sure, but don't be surprised if it's pasta-based.
October 12, 2011
Conference Cassoulet
So, p.s., no dinner posts this last week as I am in a conference in Cleveland. I've been here since Sunday, and surprisingly this is one of the rare times I've had internet access. There'll be a new dinner post next week; sorry if you've been holding your breath waiting for this post.
October 2, 2011
Bitter Garlic and Tomato Chicken
I recently was given a copy of the Times International Cookbook, and for those of you who don't know, it is kind of hilarious. Just leafing through it there are all sorts of writing quirks and various hints that it was, in fact, written in the '70s. Most of the recipes have specific serving sizes (you know, "Serves 4-6 people" and the like), but some of the ones in the "China" section just go with "Serves any number of people. Within reason." Also, based on a very unscientific counting, I'm guessing that at least half of all of the recipes call for 2 tablespoons of warm cognac.
Anyway, today's dinner isn't from that cookbook, but I'm sure some some of the upcoming ones will be. Today I went with a simple chicken dish. Start things off by cooking 7 teaspoons of garlic (a terrifying amount) over medium heat in 1/4 cup olive oil until it is brown (but not burned). Add 1.75 cups of diced tomatoes, turn heat up to medium-high, and cook for 15 minutes, until the tomatoes start breaking down. Stir in 1 teaspoon each salt, pepper, and cilantro (the recipe called for parsley...thank you, herb substitution guide).
Cut up 1.5 pounds of chicken breasts into thigh-sized pieces (speaking of being off-recipe, it called for thighs, and I went to the supermarket, bought chicken thighs, and put them in the fridge. Somehow, between then and now, the thighs mysteriously turned themselves into breasts. I'm almost positive that I didn't actually buy the wrong thing, so it's quite amazing that the chicken was able to do that). Add them to the sauce, and cook until down (~10 minutes). Serve over basmati, and enjoy.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Well, my phone's camera is still broken, and while I'm sure my homages to Dads MSPaint skills will continue some other week, this week I've just spent far too much time creating and editing figures for papers and presentations to get really excited about drawing lots of little grains of rice mixed in among the chicken and tomato.
Still, at least that means that the Science is going well these days -- the Society of Rheology meeting is one week away; woo...Cleveland! But no, it should be fun.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Verdict: Delicious. Actually, I think I made one mistake with this recipe... I didn't strain out the tomato seeds before adding the tomatoes to the garlic, and think the bitterness of the seeds muddied the supposed bitterness of the browned garlic. Still, this was a meal that combined three of my favorite food groups: carbs, garlic, and tomato, so it couldn't really lose.
Anyway, today's dinner isn't from that cookbook, but I'm sure some some of the upcoming ones will be. Today I went with a simple chicken dish. Start things off by cooking 7 teaspoons of garlic (a terrifying amount) over medium heat in 1/4 cup olive oil until it is brown (but not burned). Add 1.75 cups of diced tomatoes, turn heat up to medium-high, and cook for 15 minutes, until the tomatoes start breaking down. Stir in 1 teaspoon each salt, pepper, and cilantro (the recipe called for parsley...thank you, herb substitution guide).
Cut up 1.5 pounds of chicken breasts into thigh-sized pieces (speaking of being off-recipe, it called for thighs, and I went to the supermarket, bought chicken thighs, and put them in the fridge. Somehow, between then and now, the thighs mysteriously turned themselves into breasts. I'm almost positive that I didn't actually buy the wrong thing, so it's quite amazing that the chicken was able to do that). Add them to the sauce, and cook until down (~10 minutes). Serve over basmati, and enjoy.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Well, my phone's camera is still broken, and while I'm sure my homages to Dads MSPaint skills will continue some other week, this week I've just spent far too much time creating and editing figures for papers and presentations to get really excited about drawing lots of little grains of rice mixed in among the chicken and tomato.
Still, at least that means that the Science is going well these days -- the Society of Rheology meeting is one week away; woo...Cleveland! But no, it should be fun.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Verdict: Delicious. Actually, I think I made one mistake with this recipe... I didn't strain out the tomato seeds before adding the tomatoes to the garlic, and think the bitterness of the seeds muddied the supposed bitterness of the browned garlic. Still, this was a meal that combined three of my favorite food groups: carbs, garlic, and tomato, so it couldn't really lose.
September 25, 2011
Braised broccoli
This post is a public service announcement (wait...did I actually just link to that song?) because while this recipe might not be a full dinner, it makes an awesome side dish, especially if you have to bring it over somewhere else...
This weekend I went to potluck and was in charge of bringing a side dish (aside: other than the broccoli, other items included: salad, hummus and pita, olives, watermelon, and Little Caesar's pizza. Odd.), and what makes this dish amazing is that is tasty when hot but also excellent at room temperature. So, when everyone shows up late, it still works. How many veggie dishes can you really say that of?
So, to start off: cook 1 teaspoon minced garlic and 1 finely chopped shallot in 3 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat. While waiting for the shallot to get reasonably soft (4-5 minutes, medium heat) chop up about 2 pounds of broccoli florets (stem works too, but I don't like it as much) into bite sized pieces, and then add to the olive oil/garlic/shallot. Cook for a bit less than 5, and then add 1 cup of dry white wine that has had 0.5 teaspoons of salt and some arbitrary amount of ground black pepper. Let the wine heat up and start bubbling off for 2 minutes, turn the heat down to medium-low, cover, and let simmer for 6 minutes.
Uncover, turn the heat back to medium, and let most of the remaining wine bubble away. Serve. Enjoy.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Verdict: Implicit in the above description.
Next week: I'll actually try to have an interesting new recipe.
This weekend I went to potluck and was in charge of bringing a side dish (aside: other than the broccoli, other items included: salad, hummus and pita, olives, watermelon, and Little Caesar's pizza. Odd.), and what makes this dish amazing is that is tasty when hot but also excellent at room temperature. So, when everyone shows up late, it still works. How many veggie dishes can you really say that of?
 |
| Broccoli. Or maybe a tree, hard to know. P.S. College folks: does anyone know what ever happened to the painting of me as a piece of broccoli? |
Uncover, turn the heat back to medium, and let most of the remaining wine bubble away. Serve. Enjoy.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Saddest moment of the week: I apparently convinced somebody to try making the most delicious pie ever, and then did not get to have any. Le sad.
Otherwise, though, life is good.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| Tastes better than it looks. |
Next week: I'll actually try to have an interesting new recipe.
September 18, 2011
An ominous second week: Giotto's pizza
So, first announcement: my phone is still semi-broken, so prepare yourself for more incredibly life-like MSPaint images. Anyway, as the title suggests this dinner blog is getting off to something of an ominous start: it's only week two and I've already had to invoke the "hey, it's not a new dish but at least I won't look at the recipe" rule. But, after you read my justification in paragraph below I think you'll agree that this pizza was very much in the spirit of the dinner blog. I also think what I really need is for you all to start suggesting things for me to try cooking. Oh well.
Anyway, for this week I went with a pizza, partly because about three months ago I finally acquired a circular pizza pan... until that time I had been making a veritable legion of rectangular pizzas using a broiler pan, and in fact have continued to do so this summer. And you know what? That had to stop, and it stopped this weekend.
So, for the dough proof 2 teaspoons of yeast in just less than 1 cup of warm water. Add a splash (a heavy splash...maybe 1 T) olive oil, 2 t salt, a clove of minced garlic, and 2 T dried rosemary. Start stirring and then kneading in about 2.5 cups of flour. Let the dough rise for an hour (a good hour).
But even before making the dough, start preparing the tomato sauce. Saute 1 large chopped onion and 1 clove minced garlic in 2 T olive oil, and when the onion is translucent add 1/2 a cup of red wine and 2 T tomato paste. Add a few dashes of salt, grind in some black pepper, and sprinkle in some oregano. Stir, and let it simmer until some of the liquidity of the wine/paste mixture has bubbled away. Having forgotten to get tomatoes at the farmer's market this Saturday, I reached into my emergency stash of canned tomatoes: crush by hand the contents of one of those 28 oz can whole plum peeled tomatoes, and add the tomatoes/juice to the sauce. Set it simmering.
Okay, now's the fun part! Take the dough, punch it down, and flatten into a circle. When you got it to a rough 7" diameter or so, start throwing it!
Okay, now that you've had your fun, take the blobs of fallen-apart dough, recombine them, and just use a rolling pin. Le sigh. Put a little olive oil on the pizza pan, put the dough on top, and evenly coat with sauce. Shred about, say, 1/2 a cup each mozzarella and asiago (the supermarket was out of Parmesan...how is that even possible?), and sprinkle on top. Saute half of a cut up green pepper briefly, add as a topping. Preheat your nice wood-fire oven to 800 degrees (or, failing that, your gas oven to "as high as it'll go without setting off the fire alarm") and put the pizza in the oven. Bake for 12 minutes, and then remove and let cool.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Verdict:
Pizza Is Always Awesome.
Anyway, for this week I went with a pizza, partly because about three months ago I finally acquired a circular pizza pan... until that time I had been making a veritable legion of rectangular pizzas using a broiler pan, and in fact have continued to do so this summer. And you know what? That had to stop, and it stopped this weekend.
So, for the dough proof 2 teaspoons of yeast in just less than 1 cup of warm water. Add a splash (a heavy splash...maybe 1 T) olive oil, 2 t salt, a clove of minced garlic, and 2 T dried rosemary. Start stirring and then kneading in about 2.5 cups of flour. Let the dough rise for an hour (a good hour).
But even before making the dough, start preparing the tomato sauce. Saute 1 large chopped onion and 1 clove minced garlic in 2 T olive oil, and when the onion is translucent add 1/2 a cup of red wine and 2 T tomato paste. Add a few dashes of salt, grind in some black pepper, and sprinkle in some oregano. Stir, and let it simmer until some of the liquidity of the wine/paste mixture has bubbled away. Having forgotten to get tomatoes at the farmer's market this Saturday, I reached into my emergency stash of canned tomatoes: crush by hand the contents of one of those 28 oz can whole plum peeled tomatoes, and add the tomatoes/juice to the sauce. Set it simmering.
Okay, now's the fun part! Take the dough, punch it down, and flatten into a circle. When you got it to a rough 7" diameter or so, start throwing it!
 |
| Totally awesome flying pizza... there were definitely no collisions of the dough with the cabinets, as depicted. Also, in my apartment there are only two cabinets above and below that counter, but "two" is apparently a hard number of cabinets to draw. |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Another week of not really having much to update you all on... work is busy, but good. I have an upcoming conference in Cleveland (in October), and one of my friends was good enough to send along this tourism video (language)...which was pretty fantastic. It really helped get me excited about visiting the city for the first time. More news next week. Maybe.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Some people can draw a perfect circle freehand... I throw a perfectly circular pizza. |
Pizza Is Always Awesome.
September 11, 2011
Bulgarian Pepper and Cheese, a la Moosewood
So, just a heads-up before I get started: I did in fact take pictures along the way, but my phone is dying and apparently decided not to save any of the photos I took. That's okay, though: I've set about drawing some re-creations of them. Quite frankly, between my poor photographic skills and my almost other-worldly talent for drawing with computer programs I kind of don't you'll be able to tell the difference.
Okay, with that out of the way, let's talk about dinner! I picked this recipe because the last time I was home I stole (with permission?) Mom's copy of the Moosewood Cookbook, and since then I've been honestly intending to cook something out of it "sometime next week" or "as soon as I remember to get the necessary groceries." Obviously that strategy failed for many consecutive months, so this first new blog post seemed like an ideal way to get on track.
First things first: chop/semi-mince 2 medium-large onions and 3 green peppers and saute in about 2 T butter... the recipe calls for 1.5 c chopped mushrooms as well, but (a) I forgot to buy them, (b) wasn't all that sad about that fact, and (c) decided not to let (a) stop me. Anyway, remove from heat when the peppers are becoming tender but are still a bit crunchy (moral/aesthetic consideration: crunchy vegetables are always Better. Discuss.) To the sauteed veggies add the following mixture: 1.5 T soy sauce, 1.5 T cheap cooking sherry, 1 t marjoram, 0.75 t salt, and some indeterminate amount of ground black pepper. To really get the full "Dinner Blog" experience, try to break your pepper grinder during this step. This has the bonus off adding in some unknown/unknownable number of whole peppercorns; they will be a treat to discover while eating the finished dish later on.
Sweet, with that done it's time to start assembling the dish. Soak 1 c raw bulgar (I used grind #2, as it was all my supermarket carried) in some water for 15ish minutes, after which it'll be a bit less crunchy. Spread it out in an even layer in a buttered 9x13 baking pan (which I didn't have, so I substituted a maybe 8x11 glass baking dish), and then pour the veggie/sauce mix and spread out into an even layer on top of that. For layer #3 combined 12 oz cottage cheese with 1 c crumbled feta. Finally, pour 3 lightly beaten eggs on top of everything, and dust with feta. I don't know about you, but there's something I find oddly fun about making layered dinners like this. Anyway, here's the result:
Turn the oven up to 11 (in this case, "11" = 350 degrees) and bake for 40 minutes. Let it rest for 10 minutes after taking it out and then serve/enjoy!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well, this week has felt kind of ridiculous. The first few days (from the start of the long weekend, essentially) I came down with some kind of cold, and just when I was starting to feel like I was on the upswing I managed to sneeze violently enough that I missed the stair I was aiming for and turn my ankle as badly as anything that's happened to me since my soccer days. Fortunately I'm up and walking again (although I think I'll take a few more days off from running), but that meant during the second half of the week I worked from home instead of walking to work.
It turns out that I really don't like working from home, although maybe that's a reflection of the work I had to do... I'm, of course, quite excited that I can see the end of grad school off on the horizon, but getting together application materials for postdoctoral positions and fellowships turns out to be much, much less fun than doing research. Oh well, has to be done I guess (must. not. stay in grad school. forever.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Verdict:
Pretty good, I think; probably it'll be added to the semi-regular-but-not-super-often rotation, so all in all I'll call it a success for the Dinner Blog's first attempt. The one problem, though, was that with using the smaller-than-suggested baking dish the layer of bulgar ended up being too thick (see Fig. 1) -- in the future I think I'll either use less or see what happens if I try multiple layers, bulgar-veggie-bulgar-veggie-cheese or something.
Next week:
I don't know...
Okay, with that out of the way, let's talk about dinner! I picked this recipe because the last time I was home I stole (with permission?) Mom's copy of the Moosewood Cookbook, and since then I've been honestly intending to cook something out of it "sometime next week" or "as soon as I remember to get the necessary groceries." Obviously that strategy failed for many consecutive months, so this first new blog post seemed like an ideal way to get on track.
First things first: chop/semi-mince 2 medium-large onions and 3 green peppers and saute in about 2 T butter... the recipe calls for 1.5 c chopped mushrooms as well, but (a) I forgot to buy them, (b) wasn't all that sad about that fact, and (c) decided not to let (a) stop me. Anyway, remove from heat when the peppers are becoming tender but are still a bit crunchy (moral/aesthetic consideration: crunchy vegetables are always Better. Discuss.) To the sauteed veggies add the following mixture: 1.5 T soy sauce, 1.5 T cheap cooking sherry, 1 t marjoram, 0.75 t salt, and some indeterminate amount of ground black pepper. To really get the full "Dinner Blog" experience, try to break your pepper grinder during this step. This has the bonus off adding in some unknown/unknownable number of whole peppercorns; they will be a treat to discover while eating the finished dish later on.
Sweet, with that done it's time to start assembling the dish. Soak 1 c raw bulgar (I used grind #2, as it was all my supermarket carried) in some water for 15ish minutes, after which it'll be a bit less crunchy. Spread it out in an even layer in a buttered 9x13 baking pan (which I didn't have, so I substituted a maybe 8x11 glass baking dish), and then pour the veggie/sauce mix and spread out into an even layer on top of that. For layer #3 combined 12 oz cottage cheese with 1 c crumbled feta. Finally, pour 3 lightly beaten eggs on top of everything, and dust with feta. I don't know about you, but there's something I find oddly fun about making layered dinners like this. Anyway, here's the result:
 |
| Remember: this is not a photo, just a photorealistic drawing |
Turn the oven up to 11 (in this case, "11" = 350 degrees) and bake for 40 minutes. Let it rest for 10 minutes after taking it out and then serve/enjoy!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well, this week has felt kind of ridiculous. The first few days (from the start of the long weekend, essentially) I came down with some kind of cold, and just when I was starting to feel like I was on the upswing I managed to sneeze violently enough that I missed the stair I was aiming for and turn my ankle as badly as anything that's happened to me since my soccer days. Fortunately I'm up and walking again (although I think I'll take a few more days off from running), but that meant during the second half of the week I worked from home instead of walking to work.
It turns out that I really don't like working from home, although maybe that's a reflection of the work I had to do... I'm, of course, quite excited that I can see the end of grad school off on the horizon, but getting together application materials for postdoctoral positions and fellowships turns out to be much, much less fun than doing research. Oh well, has to be done I guess (must. not. stay in grad school. forever.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 |
| Figure 1. Cross-sectional view of dinner |
Pretty good, I think; probably it'll be added to the semi-regular-but-not-super-often rotation, so all in all I'll call it a success for the Dinner Blog's first attempt. The one problem, though, was that with using the smaller-than-suggested baking dish the layer of bulgar ended up being too thick (see Fig. 1) -- in the future I think I'll either use less or see what happens if I try multiple layers, bulgar-veggie-bulgar-veggie-cheese or something.
Next week:
I don't know...
September 3, 2011
The Dinner Blog begins: The rules of the game
Well, by popular request I am once again resurrecting this blog... But since I've already written as much about bread and running as I care to, I've decided to switch to a new topic. In the past I've used the writing of this blog as a prompt to get me to do things I ostensibly wanted to do anyway (the whole "I've told other people I'd write about this each week... I guess that means I have to stop procrastinating and do it" incentive), so I spent the last few weeks thinking about something I wanted to do better that would also make a convenient blog topic. This is what I came up with.
You see, the first two years out here in Illinois I'd say I did a (relatively) good job learning to be a better cook, trying new meals, etc. etc. As grad school has worn on, though, I feel like I've fallen into a rut of always making the same handful of dishes on some vaguely rotating schedule. So, it's time to step back up to the plate (ugh...worst. pun. ever.) and get back to trying new foods.
So, the rules of the game will be simple:
(1) Sometime during each week I will make myself cook one new thing, and then write about it.
(2) If the week is particularly rough and I don't have time to do a real grocery trip I'll allow myself to make an something old, but in which case I will not be permitted to look at a recipe.
That's it. For consistency I'll try to stick to writing things up on Sunday, starting a week from tomorrow (when I told some of you the first post would be Sept. 3 I thought that would be a Sunday... whoops). Here's where you all come in: I have a handful of cookbooks from which to select new dishes, but those will only last me so long. Have any particular favorites you think I should try? Send 'em along, and they'll get added to the list!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Next week: "Bulgarian pepper and cheese delight"
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)