Too Many Steps

 

Supper, Wednesday May 19, 2019: pizza (pizza stuff, shrimp).

I'm getting better at this. I found a new tweak that solved a longstanding complaint I have had about my approach. It's soggy. 

We like a fair number of ingredients on our pie. I wouldn't go so far as to say garbage can pizza, but some might argue. Anyhoo, One of the problems with a lot of stuff on the pie is getting it all cooked before the crust or cheese gets too browned or even burnt. You could, counter-intuitively, turn the heat down. This stretches the cook time allowing time for the ingredients to soften before the fire starts. Unfortunately we like the dark browning that comes with the high heat and fast cooking. What's a poor boy to do? I have settled on precooking all the ingredients then adding them to the pie warm. (They don't have to be hot). 

The problem that I have encountered with this method is that pizza ends up soggy, particularly as leftovers, and we loooooove leftover pizza. (We paid our way through college. Capisce?) It is not so big a deal when the pie is hot from the oven.  The crust is firm but the ingredients are wet. When it cools down and sits a bit the juices from the veggies get down into the crust. One workaround that I have found helps, is heating the leftovers on a griddle instead of the microwave. By the time the top is warm the crust has firmed up a bit. That is all well and good for home use but when taking the slices to work the microwave is usually the only option. 

I realized, rather densely this time, that the solution is simply place the sauteed ingredients in a colander whilst shaping the crust. I was rather surprised by the amount of liquid that was left behind. We found no loss in flavor, and the texture was greatly improved. In the photo above there is no sign of a puddle in the center of the circle of yum.

I'm getting close to pifection.

Oh, and the shrimp, I coarsely diced them. Say three or four pieces per shrimp, about the same size as the sausage gobbets.

It's That Time Of Year

 

Supper, Friday December 27, 2019: gnocchi and oysters (onion, broccoli, shiitake, portabella, parsley, parmesan, cream, gnocchi, salt, pepper); stuffed mushrooms (goat cheese, baby bellas, paprika).

Oysters are available all year now, but there is still something a little special about having them over the holidays. My father loved oyster stew. My mother, who would have died before eating an oyster would nonetheless make it for him. I'm not as big on the stew as he was, but I will eat them any way they come. I am especially fond of them raw. Alas, I am immunosuppressed. No more raw seafood for me. 

Boo.

  

Cold Pizza In The Mornin'. . .

Breakfast, Wednesday November 7, 2018: Focaccia (pizza dough, olive oil, italian herbs, feta, parm); mixed fruit salad; bacon.

When I bake bread, sometimes I will make one loaf then use the dough intended for a second loaf for something else. The choice of "other" thing depends on the dough. With whole wheat I might make some rolls. In this case I was making "artisan" boules so I went with focaccia. 

Kinda pizza? 

Everything Is Better With Pizza Sauce

Breakfast, Wednesday September 05: pizza omelet (egg, jalapeno, red pepper, onion, mushroom, bacon, mozzarella, pizza sauce); garden tomato; banana.

As far as Alexis is concerned everything is better with pizza sauce on it (coleslaw?). So when I said I would saute some veggies for eggs her demand was "As long as mine has pizza sauce on it." We had sauce on hand because I was out of town for a few days. "What's that got to do with it?" you ask. If I am not going to be home I usually make sure she has stuff to make herself flatbread pizza. It's not that she is incapable of cooking for herself. She works 12 hour shifts. When she gets home she is tired, but usually has some chore(s) to tend to in my stead: pick beans; water plants; tote boxes upstairs; other housework; etc. So I try to make it easy for her to make herself some comfort food.

Life Gets In The Way

Supper: Friday October 13: pasta? primavera and shrimp (poblano, cherry tomatoes, leek, wild rice, olive oil, parsley, basil, shredded parm, shrimp, pepper, spaghetti squash, loofah); seaweed salad.

I haven't posted in a while, not that anyone reads this.  Life does get in the way though. I have, however, decided on a course of action. I am going to pick up starting today and back post at the same time. There are a few really good meals I have skipped so I am going to dig them up. 

I grew spaghetti squash for the first time this season. I had moderate success. I harvested a few nice gourds. This one has been in the fridge for a couple of months, They keep well if refrigerated. Once the stem borers destroyed my vines I planted another pair just to see if I could sneak another harvest in before the end of the season. Whadaya know, I might get 3 or 4 new squash.

Yes that ingredient list says loofah. I have come to realize that nearly everyone thinks a loofah is a sponge. It's not, it's a squash. Not only that, when they are young they are edible. There are LOTS of varieties. The Romans perfected them for use as sponges. Alexis uses them in soap. She incorporates a loofah in a soap batch so that when sliced the soap has a built in exfoliating sponge.

It's Not A Fish

Supper, Wednesday June 28: cuttlefish, vegetables and farfale ( cuttlefish, farfale, zucchini, patty pan, red onion, garlic, parm, canned tomatoes, tomato sauce, fresh basil, thyme, oregano ); turnip greens.

We really like cephalopods. Octopus, squid, cuttlefish are always on the menu when we run across them. The Asian store we shop at has frozen, cleaned, cuttlefish in vacuum packs. This is a typical meal I prepare, red sauce, maybe some vegetables, and pasta. I also use them for Thai or other Asian fare. 

When I started this post I thought "Cuttlefish. . . cuttle? What's a cuttle? Is it a thing?" Yes Virginia it is a thing. The precise origin of the cuttle in cuttlefish is uncertain but there are three related linguistic candidates: Middle Low German küdel meaning container or pocket; Old Norse koddi which refers to a cushion or testicle; and my favorite Old English codd or scrotum. 

I Didn't Know That Was A Thing

Supper, Wednesday June 16: rutabaga greens; zuchini parmesan (rotini, marinara, parm, fresh mozzarella, zucchini).

The title applies to both "things" here. I wanted to make an eggplant parm ala your favorite Greek diner, 2 or 3 slabs of fried eggplant over pasta and topped with cheese. I didn't have any eggplant but I had Grey Griller. I thought, "Grey Griller is kinda firm, and sautes well. . ." Worked like a champ! Tasty too, and it doesn't soak up grease like the eggplant can. 

The Rutabaga greens were a surprise also. I prepared them like sauteed kale. They tasted similar to collards. I like to finish sauteed greens with a little marsala (sweet vermouth, or any sweet wine would work depending on your taste). It adds a little vinuous brightness and some sweetness to cover the greens inherent mild bitterness.

Pasta At The Beach Should Be Shells

Supper: Saturday, May 27: garden salad; stuffed shells (jumbo shells, part skim ricotta, spinach, arugula; marinara, shrimp). 

I've been stuck on stuffed pasta lately. In particular it's been stuffed shells. So this time at the beach condo I got some jumbo shells and ricotta. The spinach and arugula we brought from the garden and the radishes for the salad. 

The filling for the shells is chopped spinach and arugula sauteed in a little olive oil, pinch of salt, pinch of pepper, a couple of healthy pinches of basil. Off heat combine with ricotta. Pipe into the shells.

I wasn't home so I improvised a pastry bag by sniping a corner off a resealable quart bag. I also did not fill the shells fully since I intended to insert the shrimp. Otherwise fill those little suckers up. Place in a casserole with the bottom coated with marinara and then top them with marinara. Bake in a 350F oven til bubbly and browning.

I Wasn't Joking

Lunch, Sunday March 7: bucatini and sauce; greens;

canned peaches. 

Not much to say here. I just wanted to show the color of the bucatini. When we packed up the leftovers from Friday I put the sauce on the bucatini and put it away. Then two days later I am packing lunch for Alexis and behold purple bucatini. I really did put beets in that sauce.

Parmesan Ala 'Bama

Supper, Saturday May 6: greens; parmesan ala 'bama.

OK, I'm really proud of that name. So what is it? It's my deep south version of Eggplant Parmesan. Think about the eggplant parm that is served in mom and pop Greek/Italian spots. Usually you get some version of  big Greek salad to acompany a small mountain of fried eggplant smothered in cheese atop spaghetti and marinara. 

My remix is fried green tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, shredded parmesan, atop elbow macaroni with marinara, and a big side of turnip greens. Don't knock it til you've tried it.

It Looks Like Spaghetti. . .

Supper, Friday May 4: Bucatini and sauce.

I was unfamiliar with this pasta until just recently. I was intrigued. Really fat hollow spaghetti. the texture and tooth of a really thick noodle but perhaps without being doughy. It did not disappoint. both of us liked it. The big fat noodle texture was great for the sauce I made. 

That not-bolonese I made a few days ago got re-tasked. I added some browned Italian sausage and, here's the weird but it worked part, beets. Beets? Really? Yes beets. Here is the logic. I wanted to add some earthiness and some chunkiness. The earthiness because the sauce had plenty of brightness from the tomato, herbs, and kalamatas. The sausage would bring in some more umami to add to the bean's contribution. So bring in some earthiness to bolster that of the beans. Plus, I happened to have some garden beets that needed to be eaten.

Italian Again?

Supper, Saturday April 22: tossed salad (garden greens, olives, avocado, capers, Greek dressing); spaghetti and meatballs.

I'm not sure why, but I have been jonesing for Italian meatballs for weeks. I finally decided to give in. The sauce is just marinara, nothing fancy. For the balls I finely chopped some shallot and minced a little garlic, and sweated them in a little olive oil. While this cooled a little I combined ground lamb, ground pork, egg, breadcrumbs, crumbled feta, pepper, basil, oregano, anise seed. I dumped in the onions and garlic, folded all this together and portioned out the balls. I baked them at 375 until they were beginning to brown. I think we got three meals out of that batch. I got that craving taken care of for a while.

Too Much Work

Supper, Friday April 21: tossed salad (garden greens and radish, sunflower seeds, shredded parm, caesar dressing); cous-cous; not-bolognese-but-kinda-stewey-tomato-thing (onion, carrot, green pepper, garlic, kidney beans, kalamata olives, eggplant, tomato, marsala, Italian herbs).

I was gonna make bolognese. Never tried that. I know that it is a commitment. After researching it on the interwebs I came to the conclusion that I did not want to work that hard. I'm sure there are "quick" versions but I don't want to shortcut it. I will eventually make it but this was not the day. 

What I did end up making turned out pretty damned good. I diced onion, green pepper, carrot, and kalamatas and sauteed them with some minced garlic. I strained a quart jar of our home made crushed tomatoes and added the juice and some marsala. I reserved the tomato meat for adding later. I wanted to preserve the chunkiness of the crushed tomatoes. I let this simmer until the marsala/tomato juice was substantially reduced, adding thyme, basil, oregano, and black pepper about half way through.

To finish it off I added the held tomato, drained kidney beans, and the eggplant. I need to talk about the eggplant for a moment. We had a good year last summer with the eggplant. We ate it grilled, in eggplant parm, and baba ganoush to name a few. One of the things I discovered at that time was that if some eggplant is added to a marinara and pureed with the rest of the sauce the eggplant adds body to the sauce, and bonus: it sticks to the pasta. Use a quarter to a third eggplant by volume. So how did I preserve the eggplant? Bake it as if being prepared for baba ganoush (it can be used for that also). Peel it and bag the flesh and freeze it. So the eggplant I added was cooked peeled and coarsely chopped. 

Once all the ingredients were in the pot I simmered it until I got a stew-like texture.  I came up with cous-cous 'cause I thought "It's Italian in the flavor profile so it would work with some kind of pasta, and it's got the consistency of a, say, Moroccan stew. . . ah, cous-cous, yeah." Topped it with a little parm because cheese.  

I Bought A Ravioli Press

Supper, Friday February 10: ravioli (ground lamb, feta, marinara); garden broccoli with onions and mushrooms.

I have wanted a ravioli press for some time. Apparently just not quite enough to purchase one. I stumbled across one on the interwebs on sale and tried my first batch. They were good, not great, but I know how to make them better. I will document that in the near future

Tastes Better Than It Looks

Supper: Monday January 30: spinach and cheese tortellini with pesto; chard; 9-grain bread.

This really is a bland looking plate but it was really good. I did not make the tortellini, though I just bought a book on artisan pasta and a ravioli press. . . 

Pizza! Pizza!

Supper, Saturday January 7: Pizza (homemade crust,* Italian sausage, basil, onion, pepper, olives, mushroom, feta, parm).

*Crust. Everybody has a favorite. I'm not particularly picky, so I am not afraid to experiment. In this case I have a recipe for what I call 9-grain loaf. The recipe makes 2 loaves which is more than we need at once so either I freeze 1 or I use the dough for something else: focaccia; rolls; pizza crust. I may go throught the bread making process next time I make a couple of boules which may be in the next few days. 

Supper: Monday November 14, 2016

We've Been Waiting For This One: farfale and mushroom al fredo (bearded tooth, baby bella, shallot, garlic, cream, shredded parm, mixed veggies for garnish

Supper: Tuesday November 8, 2016

Veggie Lasagna and a Salad: not much to say.

 

Preparation note: So how to get the ricotta in there as a smooth even layer. Most of my life I have used one of two methods: dollop and smear; pipe it in. Piping is preferred but I haven't always had a pastry bag. I love lasagna but it is a pain in the arse so this is one of those dishes I often eat out when available. I recently had some at a Greek/Italian place we frequent. I realized last time that the ricotta had clearly been whipped, I mean really whipped. Now I have a great method for the ricotta. Whip the ricotta with herbs de provencal until light. the increased volume and light texture is better for piping. The bonus is a substantial layer of ricotta that is not heavy. Yum.

Breakfast and Lunch: Saturday November 5, 2016

The Usual Suspects: eggel bagel and one for a friend; pumpkin bread and leftover pasta.

Supper: Friday November 4, 2016

Hearty Plate Of Pasta: shells and sauce (marinara, shrimp, liver, yes liver); wilted greens with garden veggies and nasturtiums.