Pizza

Friday night pizza, what could be better!

The only problem that is I am at work and cannot make dough... Hmm what to do? Call my hubby and ask him to make it.

So, Nathans pulls out my trusty recipe book. It is impossibly small and the pages are falling out, but it is a treasure trove. To me at least!

The recipe we use is as follows

3 1/2 cups of flour
1 cup of warm H2O
2 t yeast
2 t sugar (we used to use honey, but since we have small kids, we stopped)
Olive Oil
salt.

Put the yeast in the water, and add the sweetener. Wait 5 minutes.

add the yeast and the salt to 1/2 of the flour gradually adding more flour until it is the desired consistency. Elastic, but not gooey or too sticky. Knead for 5 minutes.

Put in a bowl, coat with olive oil and let it rest. When it had doubled, punch it down, let it rise again and then it is time to cook!

Now, to make truly spectacular pizza, you need a few essentials. A pizza stone and a pizza paddle.

Put the stone in the oven to heat up before you put the pizza in, and the paddle is to put in and take out the pie. Just sprinkle some corn meal on the paddle and the dough will be all slidey, and slide right on to the stone.

We used to skip this step, thinking that it didn't really matter, but it really is important to put the pizza on a very hot surface! My sis-in-law has one of these paddles, and after I tried it, I was hooked! In t bay you can get one at the Kitchen Nook!



Put the corn meal on the paddle, then the flattened dough, add sauce and toppings...et voila!

Nice work on the dough, Nathan! I was very Impressed. Especially considering you live with a kitchen hog!

Pizza!

I was just down in Minnesota this weekend for my sisters baby shower (she looks amazing! She will obviously be thrilled that I am posting her pic here.)

The day before the shower, me and Loch took a trip to the science museum! In hindsight this was not a great idea. he was still tired from the drive, and quite crabby.


After the museum, we went to the Red Balloon Book store, where he chose a book for both himself and his little brother. We then went over to Cooks of Crocus Hill, where I procured some bars of Vosges Haut Chocolat, and Loch picked out some kids cooking supplies. This is probably my favorite cooking store in the cities. Obviously, part of that is because it is on Grand Avenue in St. Paul, but they have great cooking supplies from brands like Emile Henry, and Le Creuset. And hard to find chocolates, salt, vinegars, oils and more!

Afterwards, following the advice of my Brother, we went to Punch Neapolitan Pizza, on Grand Ave.

How had I never gone there before! it was magnificent!



Thy cook the pizza in a 900 degree woodstove for 90 seconds. The result is a perfectly chewy crust; hot cheese covering the landscape of san marzano tomatoes and delectable toppings, a fresh tasting sheen of olive oil tops it all off. Lochlan got the Margherita, and I ordered the Siciliana with prosciutto, artichokes, olives and basil. It was legendary.




Lucky for me, I had a crabby kid, so the experience wasn't quite what it could have been. And we had to skip the trip to Grand Ole Creamery.

Have you been there? You should go!

Christmas Day!

This year we decided to start a new holiday tradition..... We will have a fancy and formal dinner on Christmas Eve, but on Christmas Day....

Anything goes!



This year we had Pizzas, wings, cheese, bread, crackers, fruit, and a ton more. We invited friends and family to stop in, and we had people popping around all day. It was an amazing day, and I can't wait to do it again next year!



We have decided to start a new Christmas tradition.

I even attempted a small croquembouche. It wasn't as magnificent as I had hoped, but next year it will be even better! And of course I will try not to burn myself next time!




Tyler had the honor of getting to try the first creampuff!

Pumpkin Pizza!

October is my favorite month of the year; cool weather, falling leaves, and of course pumpkins! I generally try to put pumpkin into anything I can whether it be cookies, scones, soup or ravioli, this year I tried out pumpkin pizza, and it was amazing. Now, it was a lot of work. It wasn't difficult, but it just took long time to prepare all of the individual elements, but I assure you, it will one of the most delicious things you have ever eaten.. I'm serious!

Pumpkin Pizza

Spread a layer of pumpkin puree on your pizza crust. Top with caramelized onions, shredded pork, and a bit of mild Cheese ( like Lappi) Bake in 425 degree oven until crust is browned and cheese is melted.

Sounds easy enough right? Here is how to prepare the individual ingredients.

Pork

The first thing that you need to prepare is the pork. I went to Maltese and got a shoulder roast. I threw that beast into the slow cooker with some with a mortar and pestle ground olive oil and garlic, and let it cook.


I always am impatient when it comes to using the slow cooker, because I want it done now dammit! I tried to shred the meat after a few hours and it was still tough..I actually got a blister on my hand from pulling pork... haahaa
I let it cook a total of about 7 hours. If you could do this overnight that would be ideal as well.

Pumpkin puree

Cut a pumpkin in half
scoop out the seeds
bake for about 45 min in a 400 degree oven
scoop out flesh and puree




Pizza dough

Of course you can but a pre-made or refrigerated shell at the grocery store, but making your own is really really easy and it tastes better. And if you are going through all the trouble for the rest of this recipe, then not making your own pizza crust is just downright lazy- you're going to ruin everything!

Mix 1 packet of yeast with 1 cup of warm water and 1T of honey. mix and let sit for about 5 minutes.
Throw on a pinch of salt and gradually add flour until you have added about 3 cups- dump the whole mess on the counter and knead it. At this point you can add some herbs to the dough- it adds flavor and is pretty.

I use this bunch of dried herbs I have hanging in my kitchen. It kinds gets in the way, and it drops herbs all over the countertops, so if you are a neat freak storing herbs this way is not for you. And yes that is a sock on the countertop.




After you knead the dough for 5 minutes, put it in a bowl, coat with some olive oil, and cover the bowl with a clean towel.. let sit in a warm place.



Once it has risen punch it down and let it rise again... wow- this is starting to sound like a bad punk rock song.
Find the biggest pizza pan, jelly roll pan, or cookie sheet you own and spread the dough, building it up about 1 inch at the edges. poke holes in it with a fork.


The crust needs longer to cook than the toppings, so bake the empty crust at 425 for about 10 minutes
take it out of the oven and assemble.




As you an see I sectioned off my crust. I figured I would be realistic, and realize that my 4 year old was not going to want to eat this. He got plain cheese with traditional marinara sauce- right from the jar...a very fancy imported brand called Ragu.




Caramelized onions.

thinly slice 3 onions.
melt a knob of butter in a pot on LOW heat- When melted add the onions. Cook very slowly until golden..this should take about 1.2 hour to 45 minutes. Do not try to cook them faster, you will just screw everything up!






In the end this pizza was delicious! I will omit the roasted red peppers when I do this again. It might be nice with some dried fruit like apricots or cranberries