Everyone loves pizza!

Sauce with Italian herbs, dough, flour, corn meal & pan.

I am having a small gathering of family over for a pizza and game night. To begin I prepare the sauce. Season tomato puree with oregano, garlic salt, fresh ground pepper and olive oil  for the sauce or just use an Italian seasoned tomato sauce. I love any kind of fresh vegetables. Chop garlic, onions, green peppers, tomatoes, mushrooms and spinach and any other vegetable you like. The crust is simple, Wall Mart pizza dough. The only other things you will need are flour, corn meal, cutting board and rolling pin, and a cast iron skillet. Heat your oven to 400@. Let the fun begin!
     I am fortunate enough to have many sizes of seasoned cast iron skillets left over from our family restaurant. One of our specialties was deep dish pizza. I must confess, I am getting lazy after thirty seven years of making pizza dough but can not resist the aroma and sweet taste of a hand made pizza perfectly melded with my favorite ingredients. Fortunately, I discovered, after trial and error, Wall Mart pizza dough.

Melody of fresh cut vegetables.

Deep dish pizza ready for the oven.

     For my get together I decided to start with a small deep dish pizza. This takes three fourths of the pizza dough. The dough gets lightly floured and is hand kneaded to fit the shape of the bottom of the pan. I always spray my pan or oil it to ensure the dough does not stick to the sides. Then I lightly sprinkle corn meal on the bottom of the pan. When the dough is in place I cover generously with my sauce and begin layering my toppings. For this pizza I am adding just vegetables. If you like Italian sausage on a deep dish pizza this should be the first ingredient added to the sauced dough. I usually buy fresh link Italian sausage and remove the skin.  I break the raw sausage into little pieces and flatten with my fingers. Each piece is pushed into the sauced dough so it will cook with the dough. Then I layer the rest of the ingredients. There is enough vegetables here for a pan fried pizza, as well.  I finish the pizza with a generous layer of cheese and a few dollops of sauce. Into the oven it goes. This pizza takes about 30min. to cook.

Pan fried crust.

  Now I start my pan fried pizza and roll out the remaining 1/4th of the dough until it is nice and thin and fits the bottom of the pan. I take a 12" cast iron skillet spray it with olive oil and heat on stove top. I arrange all my ingredients for close reach because this pizza has to be layered quickly to avoid burning of the crust. Another hint, precook any raw product like Italian sausage and crumble for the topping. This pizza cooks much quicker than the deep dish and would not give raw products enough heat time. I love fresh garlic but this is an optional step. If you do not like that much garlic just skip this step and begin with the olive oil. When the pan is nicely heated I cover the bottom, generously, with olive oil and sprinkle fresh garlic around the whole bottom. I let the garlic lightly brown then toss in my dough.  As the dough begins to cook it will start to bubble so have a fork handy to pierce the bubbles and a spatula to flip the crust over. Cook until the bottom of the crust starts to lightly brown, turn off the heat and flip the dough. As you can see there will be some shrinkage. Generously sauce the dough and layer your toppings finishing with cheese and dollops of sauce. Keeping the pizza in the pan place it in the oven with the deep dish, which should just be starting to brown. In about ten minutes check the pizzas removing the one that is ready, usually the deep dish is removed first and the pan fried needs a few more minutes of browning. This is the perfect combination because the deep dish should be allowed to rest before cutting into pie shaped pieces.

Place the deep dish pizza in the back of the oven. It's hotter.

 When the pan fried pizza is finished you are ready to eat. For my gathering I allowed my guest to put the toppings on their own pizzas. So I had the chopped toppings arranged on the table and also a large bowl of fresh cut lettuce greens and different dressings so everyone could make a salad to accompany the pizza.You can cut the pan pizza right in the pan but I prefer to slide it onto my cutting board to slice into wedges. A nice large bottle of slightly chilled Merlot finished off the offerings. Nothing is better than a relaxing evening with family in the company of food.

Snow storm!

Today is a snow day from work and I am being the ultimate bum. It is noon and I am still in my pj's as the wind and snow swirl outside my window. I have already taken a nap and am hungry so decide to make an omelet. Amy, my daughter, has avoided the storm and is, as we speak, lounging by the pool in Florida where, she gloats, it is 80 degrees. She also has remarked how much food is in her host refrigerator. Our refrigerator, in her eyes, is always empty. Really? So how can I make an omelet? I peer into the fridge and spot some fresh vegetables left over from the pizza I made for dinner last night. Onion, green pepper, mushrooms, tomato and spinach are all in plain view. And oh yes, there is a carton of eggs and a bag of grated cheddar cheese. There is even butter in this empty fridge!

I chop some onion and green pepper and slice the mushrooms and tomato then add butter to my omelet pan. In a separate bowl I whisk three eggs and season with pepper. I add the onion and green peppers to the pan first to clarify then add the mushrooms and tomatoes and spinach. When the vegetables are warm and melded I stir in the eggs and top with grated cheddar. When the cheese begins to melt I flip the omelet to form a half moon and reduce the heat. Slowly the omelet finishes cooking. When the center of the omelet is firm to the touch it is done. Warm and cozy at my kitchen table I begin to eat. In the company of food I gaze out  my window at the gorgeous winter wonderland and wonder if Amy is eating this good in Florida?

Comfort food.

 Comfort food, isn't that what winter is all about? Oh Yeah!!! And one of my favorites is country ribs with sauerkraut, potatoes and carrots. This is a painfully simple meal to prepare but so delightful to consume with a dose of mustard on the side and butter for the perfectly boiled potatoes. Sinful!

The ingredients are simple. Fresh carrots, fresh potatoes, onions, sauerkraut and meaty country ribs.  A crock pot meal extraordinaire; filling the house with tantalizing aromas that excite the taste buds. I have the extravagance of time; so I boil my ribs first and boil my carrots until cooked second; then boil my potatoes until they are par cooked. I layer my ribs on the bottom, onions, sauerkraut with juice, a dash of course ground pepper and cooked carrots on top finishing with blanched potatoes. This way the meal is done in about an hour. But for a young working mother follow the same layering, forget the precooking and set the crock pot for the day and enjoy. The ribs on the bottom will get the best cooking heat, the onions will meld with the sauerkraut, which you can not over cook. The carrots will cook before the potatoes, which will finish at the same time as everything else. A delicious meal ready and waiting after a busy day. I enjoy mustard and horseradish as a compliment to this winter comfort meal.

The secret of a gingerbread house.

Bella Rose with her first gingerbread house.

     A smile! I personally hate gingerbread cookies but I love the magic of a gingerbread house. I have gone to visit a dying person in a nursing home with one in hand and there is no talk of death, but of love and beauty. I have sent one to a loved one who has moved far away and I get a thank you call full of tear, happiness and memories. It is a gift that gives back!
I receive as much, if not more, pleasure then the recipient. As a girl scout leader I challenged my troop to auction off gingerbread houses for charity.  My daughter Amy's gingerbread house took the highest bid. Who knew that she would eventually graduate in product design? Her windows looked like stained glass and she had a light inside to show them off!
     Last year I made a gingerbread house for my first grandchild, Bella Rose. Her mommy and daddy got the pleasure of eating the gingerbread house. I have the pleasure of this picture for years to come. I am looking forward to making a second gingerbread house for Bella and will decorate it with things that she can eat.  Happy holidays to all and when you see a gingerbread house, smile in the company of food!

Lessons in fettuccine

Wow this is easier than I thought!

      Today I demonstrated how to make fresh fettuccine using my mother's antique pasta machine. She bought the pasta machine, many years ago, for our restaurant on one of her many return trips to Italy to visit her family. It was used continuously until the restaurant sold about three years ago, after thirty seven years in business. Until a coworker asked if I could teach her how to make homemade pasta the pasta machine has been sitting on a closet shelf. Today was our pasta lesson. I retrieved the recipe and told Nancy what to provide. I like using semolina flour in my pasta because it makes a firmer, more flavorful pasta. She was so cute searching everywhere for semolina flour and she finely found it in an ethnic grocery store. Fettuccine can be made with just flour and be delicious but the semolina flour is a nice addition. To show the different taste we made a batch of pasta with just flour and another with half flour and half semolina flour.
     The basic recipe is very simple. The first step is to put a large pan of water on the stove to boil with a dash of salt and some olive oil. Next to this pan place another pan with cold water and ice cubes to chill pasta after it is blanched.  Assemble ingredients, three eggs, two cups of flour, three tablespoons of olive oil, half teaspoon of salt and a smidgen of water. Dust the counter top with flour so the moist pasta does not stick.Just break eggs into the food processor add flour, oil and salt and blend adding water {slowly} until the dough form a nice moist ball. Prepare the dough ball for the pasta machine by hand forming it until it is thin enough to fit through the largest setting of the roller. Repeat this process gradually reducing the thickness dial. As the pasta thins you will need to cut into sections to continue thinning. We stopped at number three. Now we take the thinned and sectioned pasta slabs and roll them through the top pasta cutter to form the fettuccine noodles. At this point you can dry the fettuccine for use on another day. Blanch, chill, and freeze the fettuccine in portion size zip lock bags; or hold the fettuccine in the chilled water for immediate use.

Fettuccine Al Fredo

     We decided to chill the fettuccine and make some Al Fredo sauce. To use this pasta it must be cooked until tender in the boiling water again. I am sure Nancy is laughing as she reads this post as this is the step I forgot in our lesson and we ate the Fettuccine Al Fredo with the blanched pasta before I realized my mistake. Prepare the Al Fredo sauce by melting butter and whisking in some flour to form a roux. Add some pepper and Parmesan cheese and slowly thin with milk until the sauce has a thick creamy consistency. Toss in the cooked fettuccine and mix until it is thickly covered with the sauce and place in a baking/serving dish and sprinkle with some more Parmesan cheese. Bake until the top starts to brown and enjoy. To make it less time consuming you can just pour the warm sauce over the warm pasta and it is simply delicious, as well.
     Learning new cooking skills in the company of food !

 

Wine tasting

Cooking with wine demonstration

Left to right: Mimi, Jo, Gene, Rosemary

  One of my favorite things to do is visit wineries and taste the new wines they have created. Today I am going with a group of friends to a wine tasting in Milwaukee Wisconsin. I'll let you know how it went and what I discover you may enjoy. This was a sponsored event by Harris Bank and my sister Mimi is the VP at the Woodstock, Il location so we got to enjoy the event gratis because she won tickets. Fun, fun, fun! To make it even more enjoyable my cousin Jo was visiting from Paris and accompanied us to the tasting. When we entered we were given a ticket to taste new beers on the market, and I do not drink beer so I shared my ticket with a good looking young man in the crowd, a benefit of aging.  The great thing about events like this is the relaxed atmosphere where everyone mingles and shares. And there were cooking with wine demonstrations, music and lots of lovely complimentary food tastings. There were sweet dessert wines, heavy reds and delightful whites, my favorite is Chardonnay. But most memorable for me were the cheese companies which gave free samples of their latest creations. From sharp Blues to soft Bries and delightful Pepper Jacks, there is nothing more wonderful than wine and cheese in my book.
It was a wonderful day full of fun and family in the company of food. "I'll drink to that!"

Food, in the company of friends!

I recently came accross Erma Bombeck' quotes about regrets.

                      " IF I HAD MY LIFE TO LIVE OVER - by Erma Bombeck"


I would have gone to bed when I was sick instead of pretending the earth would go into a holding pattern if I weren't there for the day.

I would have burned the pink candle sculpted like a rose before it melted in storage.

I would have talked less and listened more.

I would have invited friends over to dinner even if the carpet was stained, or the sofa faded.

I would have eaten the popcorn in the 'good' living room and worried much less about the dirt when someone wanted to light a fire in the fireplace.

I would have taken the time to listen to my grandfather ramble about his youth.

I would have shared more of the responsibility carried by my husband.

I would never have insisted the car windows be rolled up on a summer day because my hair had just been teased and sprayed.

I would never have insisted the car windows be rolled up on a summer day because my hair had just been teased and sprayed.

I would have sat on the lawn with my grass stains.

I would have cried and laughed less while watching television and more while watching life.

I would never have bought anything just because it was practical, wouldn't show soil, or was guaranteed to last a lifetime.

Instead of wishing away nine months of pregnancy, I'd have cherished every moment and realized that the wonderment growing inside me was the only chance in life to assist God in a miracle.

When my kids kissed me impetuously, I would never have said, 'Later. Now go get washed up for dinner.' There would have been more 'I love you's' More 'I'm sorry's.'

But mostly, given another shot at life, I would seize every minute.look at it and really see it .. live it and never give it back. STOP SWEATING THE SMALL STUFF!!!

Don't worry about who doesn't like you, who has more, or who's doing what
Instead, let's cherish the relationships we have with those who do love us. 

      I enjoy this philosophy and decided to make it's suggestions my New Year's resolution. However I needed to do this in the company of food. I started by inviting five friends to my small condo for dinner. I decided not to worry that there might not be enough room around the table in my small kitchen and just pulled it out from the wall a bit. To my surprise we were as comfy as could be. I set the table with my mother's fine china and serve Italian food in her memory.

I served a tossed Italian salad, with warm garlic bread. For the entree I made ravioli and meatballs with some more warm garlic bread. My guest asked what they could bring and in the past I would have said,  "you don't have to bring anything."
But I realized that these friends would feel uncomfortable arriving empty handed. So one person brought the wine and another the dessert. It was a very nice visit and everyone enjoyed making memories in the company of food.