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5. Watermelons are very high in iron.

“Mini muffins are like muffin popcorn.”

“There is a lot more juice in grapefruit than meets the eye.”

har har

I don’t think I’ve talked on the website about my simplification goals. I’ve really been digging minimalist art and architecture lately. And I want to try to minimalist the House of Rock a bit. This does not, however, include the kitchen. The kitchen shall remain stocked with as many awesome gadgets and delicious tools as possible.

that is all.

Don’t freak out! It’s okay!

If you have cooking chocolate you can just mix it with sugar to get delicious hot cocoa. Sometimes the little carton’s of cooking chocolate will even have a recipe on the side. If not, just try a 1 to 1 ratio of chocolate and sugar. Heat up your milk and add your mixture… mixing really really well.

Result? Delicious.

What I forgot to mention in that last post is my new passion for making pizza doughs. I tried a basic recipe off the internet… it was “eh” at best. Then I pulled one out of my Beard on Bread book. It was delicious… but didn’t have the structure I was hoping for.

Earlier today you read about the DiDonato Italian Feast. Helping out at this event was Chef Sarah. After I got my pizza stone I sent her a question about how to make a good dough. She wrote back with the following:

Funny that you mention pizza dough. I literally used to have to make it every Saturday and Sunday morning when I worked at Tresca in the North End. I don’t really have the exact measurements because I kind of put ingredients together and based a “good” dough on texture and sight, but I can tell you secrets:

Always allow your yeast to “come alive” in warm water (110 degrees) with a little sugar.

Make that your first job and set aside until you see foam at the top of your bowl. This means the yeast is active. Then, in a separate bowl combine flour, salt and yeast mixture. (If you have a kitchen aid with a dough hook perfect, but if you don’t do not be discouraged.) By the time you are done incorporating all of the flour necessary you should have a ball of dough that is wet but not wet enough to stick to your hands in full. What I mean is if you placed the palm of your hand in the center of the dough ball and raised it the dough would stick to a point but would eventually fall back into the ball.

As soon as you are done with this step, taste a bit of the dough. You will be able to tell if there is or is not enough salt according to your individual palate. If there isn’t, don’t worry. Add a little more and knead until completely incorporated. Once incorporated coat a large container or bowl with a small amount of olive oil. Roll the dough around in the container and cover. Place in a humid environment - the microwave is awesome if you do not have a shelf warm enough above your stove - and set until the dough doubles in size.

Take out and punch down. Put back in or on the microwave or shelf and again allow to double in size. Once it has doubled, you are ready to form the dough onto a baking sheet, stone, pie plate, whatever you have. So the dough does not stick after it comes out of the oven, sprinkle liberal amounts of semolina on the bottom of your “pan” of choice before forming the shape of the pizza.

Once you have formed the dough proof one last time again in a warm environment. This time don’t cover it. Allow to double. Without punching down and making sure you don’t, carefully cover the dough with toppings of choice. Leave about 1″ the circumference free of toppings . (I would suggest if you like vegetables on the pizza blanch, saute or roast them first because it does not take long for the pizza to cook and you’ll end up with crunchy vegetables) Bake in the oven at 375 until the dough is a gold, uniform, color and the cheese begins to bubble. Take out and set on a cooling wrack for at least 10 minutes. For best results of a gold, uniform color on your crust make sure to gently brush the edges with olive oil before baking.

Using some of Chef Sarah’s tips… I made a fantastic pizza.

I recently got a pizza stone and a pizza peel, and I’ve probably talked about both on this website. As I sifted through my photographs, I realized that I had this picture of a pizza I made pre-stone. Check it out!

I’ll have to snag a picture of a pizza one of these days to show you how it comes out when made on a stone.

You’ll need this.

Oh delicious food
How I ache for your sweet taste
Please stop tempting me.

Spinach and Mozzarella Polenta
with roasted vegetables, herbs, and balsamic

Roasting must be one of the simplest of all cooking techniques. It reinforces the idea that when good quality ingredients are used, very little has to be done to them. It brings out the natural sweetness of the vegetables and here this is complemented by the contrasting, oaky flavor of balsamic vinegar. Include as many different colored vegetable as possible, cut them into different shapes and don’t be tempted to cook everything at once.

Polenta (cornmeal) rounds
5 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 garlic clove, crushed
4 cups vegetable stock
1 cup polenta or yellow cornmeal
8 scallions, thinly sliced
4 oz. spinach, thinly sliced, about 1 cup
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
8 oz. mozzarella cheese, sliced

Roasted vegetables
1 ½ lb. butternut squash, peeled, cut in half, with seeds removed
1 red Cubanelle pepper, halved and seeded, or regular bell pepper
1 yellow Cubanelle pepper, halved and seeded, or regular bell pepper
2 red onions, cut into wedges
1 whole head of garlic, cloves separated but skins left on
4 heads of baby fennel, quartered, or 2 medium heads, thickly sliced
A handful of thyme sprigs, stalks left on
A handful of oregano sprigs, stalks left on
2 sprigs of fresh rosemary
¼ cup olive oil
8 oz. cherry tomatoes
15 asparagus spears
¼ cup balsamic vinegar
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 large baking trays, 14 x 9 inches
A cookie cutter, 3-inch diameter

SERVES 4

Instructions:

To make the polenta, put the butter, oil, and garlic in a medium saucepan. Cook lightly, then add the stock and bring to a boil. Pour in the polenta, beating constantly, and then add the scallions and spinach. Add salt and pepper to taste, and then continue stirring. Cook as instructed on the polenta package – the time will vary depending on the type of polenta used. Spoon into one of the baking trays and set aside for about 2 hours, or until firm to the touch.

To cook the vegetables, put all the vegetables, except the tomatoes and asparagus, on the second baking tray. Sprinkle with the herbs, o9live oil, salt, and pepper and mix well. Roast in a preheated oven at 400F for 30 minutes, and then stir in the tomatoes and asparagus. Continue cooking for a further 20 minutes until all the vegetables are tender.

Invert the polenta onto a work surface and cut out 8 rounds with the cookie cutter. Brush the baking tray with olive oil and arrange the rounds on the tray. Tope each round with a slice of mozzarella and bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes.

Put 2 rounds of polenta on each plate, add the roasted vegetables, and then sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar. Serve immediately.

Variation

Try this with chunks of eggplant, carrots, zucchini, patty pan squash, or sweet potatoes.

Notes:
• We used “instant” polenta, made in 3 minutes, dropped in the fridge while the vegetables were roasting. Worked great.
• Butternut squash are big, you don’t need much. We only used half of one “medium” sized one, and it was plenty.
• Used regular bell peppers since Cubanelle weren’t at the store
• 2 red onions is a lot. Use small onions.
• Used 2 medium fennel bulbs. It was a ton. 2 small is probably fine unless you LOVE fennel
• We used all dry spices since we already had them. Seemed fine.
• Used large tomatoes diced instead of cherry tomatoes since we had them around.
• The vegetable tray was LOADED while roasting. The bigger the tray you have the better. Pre-mix everything in a HUGE bowl, it will help a lot with homogenizing the seasonings (and help with NOT dropping a ton of stuff on the floor – trust me).
• Round cookie cutters are boring (you’ll see what I mean)
• We think it serves 6

On a recent Sunday I headed back to Boston where my family was meeting for a cooking event of epic proportions.

The D’s: Me, Dad D, Mom D, Alicia D-P, Dwane P, and Tree D were accompanied by my Uncle John, Family Friends Peter and Joan, and College Friends Tom & Mykal.

The venue? Eurostove in Beverly Mass.

The food? Italian.

We arrived around 2:30 and got started pretty much right away. Susan Lacy, a woman of incredible culinary skill, lead us in a mass cooking party. We made intense tuna salads, oysters, manicotti, honey balls, beef wraps… the list goes on.

Check out pictures… here!

Mykal sent me a sweet recipe awhile back. I haven’t tried it yet but figured I’d share it with everybody because its winter… and Mykal totes this as an A+ winter soup recipe.

Butternut Squash Soup

Recipe created by: Mykal Rosendahl

* 2 medium butternut squash
* 2 T olive oil
* 1 onion
* 1 tsp salt
* 2 t ground coriander
* 2 t tumeric
* 2 t cumin
* 2 t ground ginger
* 3 cups chicken or veggie broth
* 1/2 cup heavy cream

Preheat oven to 400 F. Cut butternut squash in half and scoop out seeds and inards and discard. Cover squash with aluminum foil and roast for 1 hour or until squash is soft.

Once squash is mostly cooked heat oil in the soup pot. Chop onion. Add onion and salt to pot and cook until soft 5-10 min. Add broth , squash and spices to pot. Simmer ingridents for 15 minutes. Turn off heat. Puree soup in a blender or food processer. Add heavy cream and serve.

Chicken-cordon-awesome:

Prep:
Smash flat some chicken breasts that had been cut in half the long way.
Cut up some chedder cheese
chop some garlic.
Get your thyme and salt ready and your chicken boullion.
Have some milk (or half and half) and flour available.
Chop some sage if you have some.
Get your deli ham slices ready for action.

Put the chedder cheese (and sage) in a ham slice and wrap it up. Put the magic ham wraps in the raw chicken and roll the raw chicken over it. Salt the chicken just a touch.

Cooking:
Put some olive oil in a pan on the stove and heat it up. Add garlic. Heat and add your chicken wraps. Keep ‘em in there until the cooking seals it shut. Flip that baby. Cook a couple minutes. Add some water and a boulion. Cook. In a bowl mix some flour (1/4 cup?) with some milk (1/2 cup?). Add it to the chicken fun. Add your thyme. Cook it up. Make sure the chicken is all cooked through before serving.

Serve with mashed potatos.

French Onion Soup.

Onions
Beef Broth
Greyer cheese
dry bread

Cut up (like orange slices) a bunch of onions. About 1/2 an onion per person. I suggest using a white onion, a yellow onion, and a sweet onion if you’re making it for a group. No purple onions people - that wouldn’t work as well.

Put a bit of olive oil in a pan, on medium heat, and SLOWLY carmelize the onions. Adjust heat accordingly. Carmelize with a lot of patience. Set aside at least 30 minutes for this so you won’t try to rush it.

Eventually, when they are fully carmelized, add enough beef broth so you have a good onion/broth ratio. This varies with preference.

Serve with dried bread pieces and greyer cheese. The bread (I suggest french bread) will soak up the soup and the cheese will melt in it.

Enjoy.

Ingredients:
3-4 large carrots, chopped
3 shallots (or onion and garlic) cut up
3 TB butter
4 cups chicken broth
2-3 sprigs of fresh thyme
some parsley
Half and half
salt, pepper, crutons

Heat butter, add shallots, and cook until soft. Add carrots and thyme. Saute 15 min. Add pepper and heated broth. Simmer 20 min on low. Cool for a bit, remove thyme and puree mixture in blender. Add some half and half, as you go. Retun to a pot on the stove and heat. Serve with crutons and parsley.

mmm.

4 cups chicken broth
2 cups shredded chicken
1 packet McCormick taco seasonings
2 cans of corn or 3 cups frozen
2 cans stewed tomatos (Delmonte w/mexican seasoning preferred)
Tortilla Chips
Shredded cheese and monterrey jack cheese

1. Heat broth over med heat. Add taco seasoning
2. Stir in chicken, tomatoes, corn and cook
3. Sprinkle bowls with tortilla chips all broken up. Ladle in soup and sprinkle with cheese!

1 frozen container of limeade
4 cups cranberry juice
8 shots tequilla
1 tray of ice cubes

Combine in blender, serve!

Theresa’s recipe for Tiramisu!!

3 eggs
.65 cups sugar plus a teaspoon
a dash of salt
1 tub mascarpone cheese
lady finger cookies
coffee, brewed.
some unsweetened chocolate for the top when you serve it.

Separate eggs into separate bowls. Add a spoon of sugar and a dash of salt to the whites. Beat the whites like crazy, for a long while, until they are stiff peaks. To the yolks, add the remaining sugar. Beat until pale. Add marscapone (and some rum if you want!) to the yolks and beat more a bit. Gently fold the whites and yolks together.

Dip the lady fingers into coffee, layer them on the bottom of the glass dish. Layer on the filling. Layer fingers. Layer filling.

Refrigerate for at least 8 hours.

Before serving, lightly sprinkle the chocolate on top.

Recipe Time!

I learned this from my cousin!

Cousin Dan’s Famous Buffalo Chicken Dip!

8 oz of blue cheese

10 oz pack of cream cheese

2 cups (1 pack) of shredded cheese

12 oz of buffalo hot sauce (texas pete or red hot buffalo sauce works well)

Use 2 12 oz cans of chicken in a can

-Pull chicken apart into fine pieces then add cream cheese and buffalo sauce. Put in the oven for about 10 mins for cheese to melt a bit. Take out then mix in bleu cheese and shredded cheese. Cook for about 20 mins then all set.

Eat!

Delicious!

#
# Denali’s No-Knead Miracle Bread
#

require ‘cast_iron_dutch_oven’ # sudo gem install dutch_oven –version 3.5 Quart –source KitchenwaresStore
require ‘mixing_bowl’
require ’spatula’

desc “Step 1. To be performed at night”
task(:at_night) do

ingredients = { ‘Warm Water’ => ‘2 Cups’,
‘Yeast’ => ‘1/4 tsp’, # Yes, that’s all
‘All Purpose Flour’ => ‘1 Cup’, # King Arthur is the best.
‘Whole Wheat Flour’ => ‘1/4 Cup’ }

MixingBowl.contents = ingredients.collect {|ingredient, amount| ingredient.measure(amount) }

MixingBowl.contents.mix_thoroughly(:with => Spatula)

MixingBowl.cover(:with => :cloth, :loosely => true)

sleep 4.hours..8.hours
end

desc “Step 2. To be peformed the next morning”
task(:morning => :at_night) do

ingredients = { ‘All Purpose Flour’ => “#{(2 + 1/2).scant} Cups”,
‘Asiago Cheese’ => ‘4 oz’,
‘Salt’ => ‘2 teaspoons’ }

ingredients[’Asiago Cheese’].dice ‘3/8″ cubes’

MixingBowl.contents < < ingredients.collect{ |ingredient, amount| ingredient.measure(amount) }

MixingBowl.contents.mix_thoroughly(:with => Spatula)

MixingBowl.cover(:with => :cloth, :loosely => true)

sleep 6.hours..8.hours
end

desc “Step 3. To be performed after work”
task(:after_work => :morning) do
Oven::MiddleRack.contents < < DutchOven
Oven::MiddleRack.contents.insert(DutchOvenCover, :next_to => DutchOven)
Oven::PreHeat.new(500.degrees)

case Oven::PreHeat.status
when done?
sleep 20.minutes # Let DutchOven heat up after oven is at temperature
end

MixingBowl.contents.sprinkle_with :flour

dutch_oven_cover, dutch_oven = Oven::MiddleRack.contents.pop, Oven::MiddleRack.contents.pop

dutch_oven.inside.spray_with :oil
MixingBowl.contents.roll_into(dutch_oven, :with => WetSpatula)

Oven::MiddleRack.contents << dutch_oven.cover!(dutch_oven_cover)

Oven::Bake.at(475.degrees, 25.minutes)
DutchOven.uncover!
Oven::Bake.at(450.degrees, 12.minutes..16.minutes)

Oven::MiddleRack.contents.pop

rescue ThirdDegreeBurnError
Oven.turn_off
raise EmergencyRoomException, “Wear oven mitts next time”, caller
end

Melt 2 TB butter in a pan on the stove
Throw in a chopped onion,
3 carrots chopped in half circles,
2 parsnips chopped in half circles
and one uncooked sweet potato chopped up

Saute for a couple minutes

Push the veggies to the sides of the pan

Into the center of the pan, add chopped uncooked chicken that you dredge in flour

Cook chicken for two-3 minutes, until golden on other side, then flip it. Cook for a minute.

Add one bullion and 1/3 cup of water. Stir all ingredients up. Cook for a minute. Add approx 1 cup of water in thirds, cooking for a bit in between.

Add frozen broccoli. Cover and steam for a bit

Add milk, about a half a cup

Add half and half, about half a cup

Add thyme, lots of it. Like a full table spoon. And add some basil.

Serve with cooked rice.

yay!