Monday, February 22, 2010
This afternoon, I was tweeting with my friend, Rebecca (@ezrapoundcake) of Ezra Poundcake about pizza. Hey! We’re both foodies. It’s what we do. And I mentioned to her… “Invention is the mother of necessity” also known as: I came up with this pizza b/c I had leftover meatballs and marinara sauce in the refrigerator and it would break my heart to throw it away.
Pizza’s pretty much my go-to for leftovers. You can put (almost) anything on a pizza and it will taste good. (I’m not down with the pineapple!) Look at how that concept made Rick Rosenfield and Larry Flax of California Pizza Kitchen a phenomenon. I’m “wild” about their Wild Mushroom Pizza (corny line alert!) but my Hubs is less traditional with his love of their Greek pizza (blech!).
So I figured why not? Meatballs on a pizza could totally work.
And it did. Even better than I imagined.
Oh btw… Did you notice my rectangular baking sheet instead the usual circular pizza pan? It’s the way my mama use to make us pizza when I was younger so I’m kinda partial to the rectangular shape.
Eventually I’d like to own a pizza peel but until then, mother knows best.
Peppers and Meatball Pizza
Recipe adapted from Simply Recipes
Makes 2-10" pizza or 1-12"x16"x1" pizza (extra doughy!)
Ingredients:
FOR PIZZA DOUGH
1-1/2 cups warm water (105°F-115°F)
1 package (2-1/4 tsp) of active dry yeast
3-1/2 cups bread flour*
2 tbsp olive oil (I used TOOC Basil Olive Oil)
2 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
TOPPINGS
favorite meatball recipe (here)
1 red bell pepper, stem+seeds removed and thinly sliced
favorite marinara sauce (here)
parmesan cheese
mozzarella cheese
fresh basil, rough chop
1/4 cup chopped onions**
* You can substitute all purpose flour but that changes the texture of the crust.
** Feel free to use more if you are an onion lover. My hubs isn't.
Instructions:
TO MAKE PIZZA DOUGH
In a stand mixer, fitted with a flat beater, add warm water and yeast. Let sit for about 5 minutes until the yeast is dissolved. Mix in the olive oil, bread flour, sugar and salt for about 1 minute. Exchange flat beater for dough hook. On low-medium speed, knead the dough until smooth and elastic about 10 minutes. (Mine took about 5 minutes.)
Prepare a large bowl that has been lightly coated with olive oil. (I sprayed with PAM olive oil.) Place pizza dough into large bowl and move it around the bowl so that dough is coated with olive oil. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let sit in a warm place until dough doubles in size about 1-1/2 hours (or more depending on the temperature). Punch the dough down so it deflates. Let rest for about 10 more minutes.
TO ASSEMBLE PIZZA
Preheat oven to 450F.
Roll dough out of the bowl onto a floured surface. Take your hands and work your way around the perimeter pulling the dough outward while moving in a circular motion. You can finish by hand or use a rolling pin to increase the size of the dough to fit your pizza pan. Drizzle with a little olive oil and using a pastry brush spread it across the surface of the dough. Add your toppings (except basil).
Bake for 10-15 minutes or until crust is crispy and cheese is golden brown. Garnish with fresh basil.
ENJOY!
Husband rating: A
He really liked this pizza but since he’s not a big bell pepper fan he asked if next time I could switch out the bell peppers for tomatoes. Sure thing Hubs!
Wifey rating: A+
The meatballs, basil and bell peppers were so yummy together. Love love love this pizza dough. So thick and bread-y. Just the way I like it. I wonder if I could use whole wheat bread dough and it would taste just as good? Definitely will make again!
Saturday, February 20, 2010
(Source)
He: Your hair looks nice today. Did you comb it?
She: So you’re saying the only reason you think my hair looks nice is b/c I combed it?
He: That’s what I said.
She: Men.
He: What did I say? *shrugs*
She: Your statement implies that I don’t comb my hair on a daily basis.
He: Well you don’t, right?
She: *mumbling under breath* Do it for the health insurance. Do it for the health insurance.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
I really really really wanted to like these cookies. Maybe I went into it with high expectations esp coming off last week’s brownie FAIL. And maybe my cookie disappointment is the reason why I’m 2 days late and 2 dollars short of posting this. Yeah that sounds plausible. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!
This week, the Tuesdays With Dorie bakers are proving (or disproving) Dorie Greenspan’s self proclaimed Best Chocolate Chip Cookies hosted by Kait of Kait’s Plate. You can find the recipe on her blog.
Now I’m gonna come clean and admit that I didn’t bake these exactly as written. I substituted the semi-sweet chocolate chips for bittersweet chocolate chips and I decided to forgo the walnuts. I’m a chocolate chip cookie purist. Cookie+chocolate chips. Period. There’s no room in the equation for nuts. Maybe these changes contributed to the cookies spreading a lot. Or that they weren’t soft or chewy like a cookie is suppose to be. I don’t know. Maybe I baked them too long? Like I said. I really wanted to like it. But I didn’t.
I guess that means I’m still on the look out for THE BEST chocolate chip cookie. le sigh…
What I learned this week:
I don’t get upset when recipes go wrong and I don’t blame the recipe or author esp if I openly admit I made changes. And you shouldn’t either. It won’t bring those 2 sticks of butter and eggs back. So what’s the point?
Husband rating: B-
He tends to like his cookies kinda thick and soft. But these spread too much and got dry and stale within a day. That’s not cool.
Wifey rating: B-/C+
Ditto Hubs.
Next week: Honey-Wheat Cookies page 81
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Hubs and I started dating about 12 years ago (Dang has it really been that long?) and ever since I can remember, Hubs’ mom has gotten me a different cookbook every Christmas. I admit she had reason to worry about her son. Before we got married, I could care less about learning to cook. My cooking was limited to blue box mac&cheese and ramen. In my defense, eating out was so much easier and fun (and someone else does the dishes!). But being poor college students doesn’t really afford you much in the way of gourmet dining. There were a lot of Carl’s Jr and Albert tacos in those days. Unfortunately I think I know where those freshman 15 came from now. *pinching muffin top* Damn you Albert tacos! *shaking fists*
But on the days that we were so poor we couldn’t even afford take out, we’d mooched have dinner with Hubs’ parents. Which was probably 1x a week if not more. Hubs’ mom was/is a great cook. One of my favorite dinners was her spaghetti and marinara sauce. She even made her own bread. Fresh and warm out of the bread machine. I don’t know what took me so long to finally ask her for the recipe. I think I thought it was some SUPER SECRET sauce or something. Actually I think she found it online so maybe it’s not really that super secret but it’s cool to think it is.
She usually makes her marinara sauce with ground beef but I was in the mood for meatballs instead. I know you can buy them premade at Costco but I thought it would be fun to make my own. There are so many meatball recipes online and in cookbooks that it was hard to choose. Eventually I chose one that my friend, B of Wandering Chopsticks, sent me. I liked it because it wasn’t overly complicated for a meatball novice like myself and there was basil involved. It’s my favorite herb. I was sold.
Now that I have one meatball recipe under my belt (literally and figuratively), I see a meatball throw down in my future. I think the next one on the meatball bucket list are chicken meatballs from Debbie of Smitten Kitchen recommended by Twitter friend, Wendy (@w_interrobang). If you have a meatball recipe to recommend, please leave a comment with the link!
Spaghetti and Meatballs
Recipe adapted from Mother-In-Law and Wandering Chopsticks
Makes about 4-6 servings
Ingredients:
For Meatballs- Makes about 10 meatballs (I got 13)
1 lb ground beef
1/2 lb ground pork
1 cup bread crumbs (I used panko)
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 onion, finely diced (I used 1/2 large onion)
1 egg
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
2 tbsp fresh basil, finely chopped (I used 4 tbsp)
1-2 tbsp olive oil, for pan frying
For MIL's Super Secret Marinara Sauce
1-28oz large can crushed tomatoes
1-6 oz can tomato paste
garlic, to taste (I used 2 cloves)
1/3 cup chopped onion or 1 tbsp dried onion flakes (I used 1/3 cup onion)
pinch of salt
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 cup white wine
red pepper flakes, to taste (I used 1/8 tsp)
1 lb spaghetti noodles, al dente
parmesan cheese, garnish
fresh basil, garnish
Instructions:
TO MAKE MEATBALLS
Preheat oven to 400F. Line a baking sheet with quick release foil and set aside.
In a large bowl, combine ground beef, ground pork, bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, onion, egg, salt, black pepper and fresh basil. Mix to combine all ingredients. (I used my hands.) Oil up your hands and using a digital kitchen scale, weigh each meatball about 2oz.
Set up a large saucepan over high heat. When a bead of water sizzles and evaporates on contact, add 1 tbsp of oil and swirl to coat pan. Reduce to medium-high heat and add a few meatballs at a time. Rotate and pan sear on all sides about 2-3 minutes until all meatballs are browned.
Transfer to baking sheet and bake in oven for about 15-20 minutes until meat is cooked through.
TO MAKE MARINARA SAUCE
Wipe down the saucepan that you cooked meatballs in and combine all the ingredients. Let simmer for 30 minutes over low heat. Stir occasionally.
ENJOY!
Husband rating: A+ (marinara sauce) / A (meatballs)
He said the sauce was “… just like mom use to make.” I think that’s about the best compliment a husband can give his wife right? He really enjoyed the meatballs but he’s a chicken man and I think he would probably prefer ground chicken or chicken breast next time.
Wifey rating: A (marinara sauce) / A/A+ (meatballs)
The marinara sauce wasn’t complicated but the flavors were (in a good way). I love the taste of white wine and a little sweetness from the brown sugar. No more canned sauce for me! The meatballs were so good too. I think next time I might reduce the baking time to 15 minutes though b/c 20 minutes might have overcooked them just a tad more than I prefer.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
I think I’ve mentioned before that my husband is a chicken eater. I’m the beef eater in this family. He has nothing against beef but he prefers the white meat. Typical breast man. But I prefer beef esp if there’s bacon involved. And since I’m the cook. It’s what’s for dinner.
Let’s talk about sex steak, Baby! The thing about steak. One of my friends (We affectionately call him The Grill Master) tells me all the time that a good steak doesn’t need anything accept salt and pepper for flavor. But I have to politely disagree. I need a good dipping sauce for my steak. There were a lot of steak sauces out there on Food Blog Search. There were cream ones, cheese ones, wine ones but I finally settled on the balsamic based one b/c I’m a big FREAK about balsamic vinegar. From pizza to mozzarella+tomatoes to salad. It’s good on everything.
Totally off topic.
Ok maybe semi off topic because we ARE talking about cows right now but do you remember that “Shake That Thang” Carls Jr commercials? I can not get that DAMN song out of my head. I will go as far as to say that I think the commercial even inspired this meal. I just really wanted a steak after seeing it. HA HA! Now be honest. You either want a steak or milkshake (or both?) right now. I feel ya. I’m “this” close to driving to Carl’s Jr. for a chocolate shake myself.
Back on topic.
I served my filets with brown rice and parmesan asparagus.
Can I give you a little tip about rice cookers? Make sure that when you flip the rice cooker switch to “cook” that you don’t realize an hour later that you forgot to plug it in. Seems self explanatory but it happens to the best of us. Me included. Twice. In a row. Doh!
I feel like I need to insert a twitter hashtag here. #absentmindedmakesthefoodgrowcolder
Filet Mignon w Balsamic Reduction & Basil Olive Oil
Recipe adapted from Pans, Pucks and Pantry
Ingredients:
2-5oz bacon wrapped filet mignon
salt and pepper, to taste
1 tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp unsalted butter
Basil olive oil* for drizzling
* I buy my basil olive oil from Temecula Olive Oil Company. SO.FRIGGIN.GOOD!
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 375F.
Remove filet mignon from package and sprinkled generously with salt and pepper, to taste.
Set up a large saute pan over high heat. When a bead of water sizzles and evaporates on contact, add 1 tbsp of oil and swirl to coat pan. Add the filets to pan and sear both sides about 2-3 minutes. Do not move filets after you put them in the pan or they won't sear properly. When a crust has formed and they are easy to move transfer to oven to finish cooking about 15 minutes for medium well. Take out of oven and let rest for 5 minutes before serving.
While filets are cooking in the oven, prepare balsamic reduction. In the same pan you seared the filets add balsamic vingear over medium-high heat. Using a spatula, deglaze by scraping the brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Let thicken and reduce for about 3 minutes. Turn off heat and add butter. Whisk until sauce is smooth.
Pour sauce over filets and drizzle some basil olive oil on top. (I reserved some balsamic sauce as a dipping sauce for my filets!)
ENJOY!
Husband rating: A
He’s more of a less is more for steak so he went light on the sauce (w00t! More for me!) but still raved that the sauce provided a great flavor to the steak.
Wifey rating: A+
Just what the doctor ordered. This steak and balsamic sauce saved my life. It would be worth it to get beef poisoning for this one. Just saying…
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