Penne with Tomato Pesto

I've penned a few pesto posts in the past. The main mantra for making pesto is nut + green or other vegetable + oil = delicious sauce. But I still keep finding surprising combinations for pesto, including corn pesto and Thai (cilantro-peanut). To add to the growing list of pestovations (pesto innovations) is this recipe from Cook's Illustrated.

Pesto alla Trapanese
Makes 4 servings. Adapted from Cook's Illustrated.

Ingredients
1/4 cup slivered almonds
12 oz cherry tomatoes
1/2 cup packed basil leaves
1 clove garlic, minced
Salt
1/3 cup olive oil
1 pound penne
1 oz Parmesan cheese, grated

Directions
Toast almonds in a small, dry skillet over medium heat, stirring frequently, until golden and fragrant, 2-4 minutes. Cool to room temperature.

Place almonds, tomatoes, basil, garlic, and 1 tsp salt in a food processor and puree until smooth, about 1 minute. Scrape down sides of bowl and, with the machine running, drizzle in the olive oil. Run for about 30 seconds to thoroughly mix the sauce.

Meanwhile, cook pasta in a large pot of salted water until al dente. Reserve 1/2 cup of cooking liquid and drain pasta. Transfer pasta back to pot. Add pesto and Parmesan cheese to pasta. Toss and add pasta water until sauce acquires the desired consistency. Serve immediately with additional Parmesan on the side.


When preparing this dish, I did have my doubts. I thought I didn't have enough sauce or that it would be too plain. But I was quite surprised. This tomato pesto had an amazing flavor. It was so bright and a bit acidic that it went really well with the penne. Normally a bowl of pasta with sauce does not sound like much of a meal, but this pasta was the exception to the rule. There's something about the simplicity of the meal that makes it even more satisfying. Leave it to Cook's Illustrated to find a new twist on pesto.

Fig-Gorgonzola Pizza

Figs are one of the most ephemeral fruits of the summer growing season. For as sad as I am when strawberry season finishes up its few week run, it seems like figs are only around for a few days. I'm often underwhelmed by the ones available at the grocery store. They go moldy within a day or two of purchase. The fruit itself goes from green to ripened to gross within a very short time window. That fact makes it difficult to transport figs very far from their source. The only alternative to planting a fig tree myself is to go to the farmer's market. Once bought, plan on using your figs within a day or so to make sure they have the best flavor and texture. Here's the one recipe I managed to cook up during this year's fig season:

Fig-Gorgonzola Pizza
Makes 4 servings. From Bon Appetit.

Ingredients
Cornmeal
1 lb pizza dough
1.5-2 cups Gorgonzola
6 figs, thinly sliced
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar, divided
8 slices prosciutto
1 tbsp olive oil
8 cups arugula

Directions
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Sprinkle cornmeal on a large baking sheet. Roll dough out on a floured surface to approximately a 12"x10" rectangle (mine looked more like a triangle, but that's ok). Sprinkle Gorgonzola over dough (use whatever amount you are comfortable with; 2 cups is a pretty intense Gorgonzola flavor). Sprinkle with pepper. Bake pizza until crust is golden brown on the bottom, 15-20 minutes.


Meanwhile, toss figs with 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar in a small bowl and set aside. When pizza is golden brown, immediately drape with prosciutto slices, covering the pizza completely. Arrange fig slices over the pizza. Bake until figs are just heated through, about 1 minute more. Transfer pizza to cutting board.


Whisk remaining 1 tbsp vinegar and oil in a large bowl. Toss arugula and season with salt and pepper. Mound arugula on top of pizza. Cut into pieces and serve.


Dried figs, available year round, are quite delicious and make a lovely accompaniment to salty cheese or even in a sauce for meat. But fresh figs are a different animal (or plant) altogether. They are fresh and fruity with a very particular figgy flavor. Combine this sweetness with some salty Gorgonzola and meaty prosciutto and you've got a winning pizza. And why have a side salad when you can put it right on top of the pizza? The crisp crust forms a great base for all these toppings. And unlike the pizzeria versions, one quarter of this pizza is enough to make a good meal. Or cut it into smaller pieces and serve it as an appetizer. Whichever you choose, enjoy the figs while they last.

Pappardelle with Corn Pesto

At the height of the summer corn season, I often feel like I'm up to my ears in ears. Strands of corn silk hide in various corners of my kitchen. Every time I open my CSA box, I'm horrified to see more corn. Just when I get rid of all of my tomatoes and zucchini, armies of husked soldiers descend upon my house. This is when you have to turn to food blogs, websites and magazines for inspiration. Luckily for me, during the height of this corny panic attack, an issue of Bon Appetit arrived at my door telling me, "Everything is going to be alright. We feel your pain and we can help."

Tagliatelle with Corn Pesto
Makes 6 servings. Adapted from Bon Appetit

Ingredients
1 tbsp olive oil
4 slices turkey bacon, sliced in half lengthwise, then crosswise in 1/2" pieces
4 cups corn kernels (about 6 ears-worth of corn)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1.25 tsp salt
3/4 tsp black pepper
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1/3 cup pine nuts, toasted
1/3 cup olive oil
8 oz pappardelle
3/4 cup basil, torn, divided

Directions
Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook bacon until crisp and brown, then transfer to paper towels. Add corn, garlic, salt, and pepper to pan and saute until corn is tender, but not browned. Reserve 1.5 cups of the corn in a small bowl.


Place the remaining corn into a food processor. Add Parmesan and pine nuts. Blend this mixture until it is well combined. Stream in olive oil until the pesto is smooth.

Cook pasta in salted water in a large pot until just al dente. Reserve 1.5 cups of the pasta water and drain the pasta. Add the pasta back into the pot along with pesto, corn, 1/2 cup basil, and bacon. Toss mixture together over medium heat until ingredients are evenly distributed. Add in pasta water, if necessary, 1/4 cup at a time until pasta and sauce are at the desired consistency. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer to a bowl and sprinkle with remaining basil and Parmesan to taste.


This is one of the most creative ways I've seen corn used. It could have become cornbread, succotash, corn relish, corn on the cob, or corn chowder, but instead it made a delightfully summery entree. Sauteing the corn caramelizes it a bit and brings out a lovely sweetness. Combine this with the fragrant pine nuts and some salty Parmesan and it gives the pasta a beautiful golden color. The taste was incredible, allowing the corn to shine without making you feel like you just dumped some kernels on some macaroni and called it a day. I think this dish is very elegant with a lot of subtle simplicity that makes it a wonderful treat after a long, hot summer day. And it also goes to show you - you can make pesto out of pretty much anything. Buon appetito!

Fiore's & Carlo's Bakery - Hoboken, NJ

While New York City has more to explore than can be accomplished on any one trip, New Jersey sits right across the river. We decided to make a pilgrimage to see what Jersey had to offer.

Since it was lunchtime when we arrived by ferry to Hoboken, we found a truly authentic Italian deli at Fiore's. In my previous post, I wrote of the Carnegie Deli as a truly New York-style deli. While New York has a great deal of Italian influences, the Carnegie Deli has more of a Jewish feel. Fiore's is definitely Italian (or Italian-American, depending on which way you slice it).

After entering the deli and taking in the fact that there is no visible menu, you start to mimic the other patrons (almost like Jane Goodall). You select a poppy seed roll or a longer baguette and hand it to the next available sandwich-man. I ended up choosing a meat at random and hoping for the best. The man disappears behind a very tall counter and emerges on the other side by a selection of toppings.


In the end, we ordered a roast beef sandwich and a capicola sandwich, both with slices of fresh mozzarella cheese and sun-dried tomatoes. These sandwiches were absolutely monstrous. The meat was very high quality (yes, better than Boar's head), but the toppings really make the sandwich delicious. The fresh mozzarella was moist, creamy and without that odd rubber they sometimes have. This is, hands down, the best mozzarella I've found outside of Italy. To top it off, the sun-dried tomatoes were tender and packed in some extra flavor to round out the sandwiches. No wonder their tagline is "House of Quality."


Anyone who loves TV shows about cake-baking (and there are many at the moment) probably knows about Cake Boss. Buddy Valastro is a native Jersey-ite (in case you couldn't tell from his accent and grammar) who has an artistic eye when it comes to making cakes and desserts. His work is rooted in the recipes handed down to him by his father, but he is not afraid to break with tradition when necessary. The show usually features two cake projects, one of which puts Buddy and his crew (sua famiglia) in an interesting situation (jousting, Polar Bear Club swimming, etc.).

Part of my goal for this trip across the river was to visit Carlo's Bakery, the headquarters of everything Cake Boss. I wanted to buy a couple desserts, maybe see one of the family members, snap a couple quick pictures, and, if fate smiled upon me, get caught on camera. Apparently fate was smacking us upside the head that day. At first glance, there was a bit of a line to get into the bakery, but upon closer inspection this line stretched from one block and all the way down the next. Some were estimating that it was 2-3 hours long! I love me some dessert and Cake Boss, but that is not worth 2-3 hours of vacation time. We did get to peek through the windows a bit, but did not see any of our favorite people, just a bunch of bakery lackeys. So we went back to New York just a little downtrodden, but our stomachs were full of delicious Italian sandwiches, so it was not all that bad.

Tilapia with Zucchini Pappardelle

It's definitely squash season. Know how I can tell? My biweekly community supported agriculture deliveries are overrun with zucchini of various shapes and sizes as well as those crooked-necked summer squash. Last year, I had so much zucchini that at one point I had to make a triple recipe of zucchini bread just to make a dent. I'm definitely handling the squash load better this year, thanks in no small part to new and innovative ways to use these veggies. The latest creation is based on a Gourmet Magazine recipe that uses zucchini in place of pasta.

Tilapia with Zucchini Pappardelle
Makes 4 servings

Ingredients
1 pound zucchini, trimmed
1 tbsp olive oil
4 tilapia fillets (or 2 halved fillets)
1 tbsp dried basil
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
2 tbsp water
1 cup basil, torn
4 lemon wedges, for garnish

Directions
Using a mandolin, thinly slice zucchini lengthwise to about 1/8" thickness. Slice these ribbons in half lengthwise to form long "noodles." Set aside.

Pat fish dry, then season with salt, pepper and dried basil. Heat oil in a large, heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Saute tilapia until browned and just cooked through, about 8-10 minutes depending on the thickness of the fillets. Remove tilapia from pan and set aside, loosely covering with foil to keep warm.

Add garlic to the skillet and cook, stirring constantly, until pale brown, about 1 minute. Add water and scrape up any brown bits left on the pan. Add zucchini to the pan and cook briefly, just until crisp-tender. Be sure to keep tossing the zucchini while it's in the pan, kind of like in stir-fry, so it does not overcook. Divide zucchini among four plates in little mounds. Season the zucchini with a little salt. Place one fillet over each mound of "pasta," then scatter the torn basil on top.


I'm always a skeptic when someone wants to get rid of my pasta. Whether they are trying to get me to eat my vegetables or are even just using whole wheat pasta, I'm usually not as satisfied with the dish. But this twist on zucchini is surprisingly satiating. It still had some crunch to it (dare I say al dente?) and it tasted fresh and light. The fish did very nicely with the dried basil on it and the addition of fresh basil all around the plate helped bring out the lighter side. I like to combine both dried and fresh herbs in some dishes since dried herbs can withstand some heat while fresh herbs are more fussy and best without a lot of manipulation. Not only was this meal low-carb (but who's counting?) and gluten-free, it was highly satisfying and fast.

Sweet Potato Gnocchi

Gnocchi, when done right, are simply marvelous. Italians have taken a potato, a hefty, dense tuber, and crafted a dumpling that is light on the tongue and filling in the tummy. I have attempted gnocchi only once before. I enlisted the help of two friends who, over the course of a few hours, managed to make a disgusting and overworked dough. This time, I'm changing my attack plan - I used sweet potatoes instead of whites and I used a Bon Appetit recipe.


Firstly, you microwave a few sweet potatoes, let them cool and scoop out the flesh. Add ricotta cheese, Parmesan, brown sugar, salt, and nutmeg. Flour is gradually mixed into all of this. The dough is rolled out into long logs and cut into little, softy, floury gnocchi. You can pass the gnocchi over a fork to give it the characteristic ribs, but I skipped this step since I had about 100 gnocchi and I felt it was too much work.


Cook the gnocchi in batches in salted water. It was very easy to see when they were done because they floated to the surface of the water after about a minute. Drain the gnocchi and set aside.





Melt 2 sticks of butter in a large saucepan and continue to cook until it turns a bit brown and smells nutty. Add in the chopped sage and remove from heat. Working in batches in a skillet, cook the gnocchi in the sauce until they are heated through.


These gnocchi turned out great. They were a bit labor-intensive, but well worth it in the end. Sweet potato, brown butter and sage all meld very well. Everything I love about this food was present in this dish. The best part is you savor every bite. You can't eat them too fast or your stomach might explode like a pigeon's after a wedding. So you really get to taste all of the subtle flavors - nuttiness, sage, butter, sweet potato, nutmeg, salt, pepper. Nothing is more satisfying after a food project (other than a good result) than sitting down to really enjoy your hard work.

Eggplant Parmesan Reconstructed

After feeling stressed for the last couple of weeks, a lot has been taken off my plate and I'm ready to get back into the kitchen. To challenge myself, I undertook this recipe from Gourmet Magazine in which eggplant parmesan has been reconstructed. I was originally going to call this deconstructed, but I don't feel it is anywhere near as fancy as the haute cuisine versions. So it is reconstructed, giving it interesting characters along the way.


The one issue with this recipe is that it is quite long. But all the work is worth it. Since I posted the link for the recipe, I will only give a quick summary. The stack is constructed with these ingredients:
1. Egg patty base - made from eggs, breadcrumbs, Parmesan cheese, and parsley
2. Oniony tomato sauce
3. Slice of fresh mozzarella
4. Slice of roasted eggplant
5. Tomato sauce
6. Eggplant
7. Sauteed arugula and basil
8. Eggplant
9. Tomato sauce on the side

My favorite part of this recipe is that you put the entire stack into the oven for a few minutes to melt the cheese. Each portion of the stack brings its own flavors to the stack. The egg patty is fluffy in nature with some cheesy saltiness and acts as a stable base. The eggplant is soft and slightly caramelized. The tomato sauce is garlicky and robust. The arugula packs a green bite. And the cheese adds lovely decadence. Don't expect the ingredients to remained as an Italian totem pole as you it them, but the messy end allows you to combine the various ingredients differently in each bite. If you're willing to undertake the effort, this creation can be both artistically and gustatorially pleasing.

Lasagne alla Primavera

What are you doing there lasagna noodle? Are you lost? Have you lost your casserole dish and layers of sauce and cheese? Wouldn't you be more comfortable after a warm spell in the oven? A couple of years ago on my trip to Italy, I had a surprising dish - lasagna noodles in a small pile with a creamy pesto. It blew my mind that you could serve lasagna without form, but in reality it makes sense. Pasta is pasta, right? So I used these noodles as the base of my dinner celebrating the onset of spring.

While boiling the lasagna in a pot of salted water, I sauteed my vegetables. I used baby zucchini and yellow squash as well as some frozen green beans. Once all the vegetables were cooked through but still crisp-tender, I removed them from the heat. Then I warmed up some leftover garlicky pasta sauce. Once the noodles were cooked, I drained them and began plating. First a few lasagne, then a healthy portion of sauce, lots of veggies, and lastly some freshly grated Parmesan.

What I found nice about this dish is that the pasta slowed me down. Normally, most pastas can be eaten very quickly so the meal goes way too fast and you eat more than you should. With the lasagna noodles, though, you have to cut each bite before you eat it. This made the meal all the more pleasurable. The fresh snap of the vegetables exuded springtime freshness. So break free of the confines of your Pyrex bakewear and let your lasagna take the shape it wants.

Fettuccine Carbonara

Did you ever eat noodles with butter as a kid? I adored noodles with butter, and will still occasionally make it to this day. Well, guess what? Italy (the home of noodles as America knows them) has a grown-up version that is just as satisfying.


Bon Appetit magazine published this recipe for fettuccine carbonara that the kid in me demanded to try. It is all very delicious and simple as a whole, but each ingredient in this recipe adds a layer of complexity that makes it altogether satisfying. Egg fettuccine are covered in a sauce of pancetta (fancy Italian bacon), eggs for body, two kinds of cheeses, garlic, salt, pepper, and a little broccoli rabe for a hint of healthiness. To add extra "unctuousness" (I looked it up in Wiktionary to find it means fatty, but in a good way), an egg fried in the pancetta grease is added on top of each serving.

There are times when a canned tomato sauce will not do and you don't want to go all the way for one of those ridiculously creamy sauces. That's where carbonara comes in. At it's heart, it is noodles with butter, except now it has been upgraded noodles with cheese and bacon. What inner child could say no?

Eggplant Parmesan Pizza

Pizza is awesome. There are no two ways about it. You have to love pizza in all its forms from brick-oven Italian to huge and thin New York to huge and thick Chicago to general all-around Papa John's/Pizza Hut/Little Caesar's/Hungry Howies/Cici's goodness. What I love most about pizza is its flexibility as a canvas to paint with whatever flavors are hitting your taste buds at the moment. I have posted at least a couple of pizzas I made in 2009 and this is the last from last year: eggplant parmesan pizza.


The idea started in the grocery store, where many great concoctions start. I realized that eggplant parmesan had a lot of the same elements as pizza. Two in particular, mozzarella cheese and tomato sauce, sealed the deal in my mind for this creation. I would make eggplant filets as if I was going to make eggplant parmesan, except I would put it all on a pizza and bake it.


Anything parmesan is pretty easy. In this case, I sliced an eggplant into 1/2" slices. I salted these to help draw out some of the bitterness. Next, I dunked each slice into eggs and then some seasoned breadcrumbs. I pan-fried them all until they had a nice golden crust. Word to the wise: don't cut your slices too thick or they won't cook all the way through at this point.


Lastly, you have to assemble the pizza. Spread out the room temperature dough on a baking sheet or pizza pan. We used Trader Joe's whole wheat dough this time. Then spread the marinara sauce. Chop up the cooked eggplant slices into bite-size pieces, then scatter them on top of the sauced crust. Sprinkle generously with mozzarella cheese and any other toppings. We added fresh tomato and chopped basil to enhance the flavors. Bake the pie until the edges are crisp and the cheese is bubbling (time depends on the thickness of the crust, the number of ingredients, etc. The result is a wonderful mix of two Italian favorites. The eggplant comes out crisp on the outside and almost creamy on the inside. All the other classic flavors are there for support as well. See, no matter what you do to pizza, it's almost guaranteed to come out tasty.

Four Eleven West

I love Franklin Street in Chapel Hill. Not only does it have a nice college-town portion by UNC, but it has many other great restaurants and shops all along it. For a birthday dinner out, we decided to go to Four Eleven West for some good Italian food.


The restaurant is nice, but not too nice. Fancy but not too fancy. They have an area for the 9-to-5 work crowd to grab some drinks. The restaurant has many different rooms, making it feel more private and intimate. After taking about 10 minutes to decide between many different dishes, I ended up choosing The Crab. It is a papardelle made from red pepper in a cream sauce made with dill. Mixed in to this is crab meat, mushrooms, scallions, and bacon. Despite the presence of bacon, I did need to add a bit of salt to the dish. But other than that I thought it was pretty good.


One great thing about the pasta dishes on the menu is that you can choose between half and full orders. That way you can opt for less food or just order twice as much if you're really hungry or want to save some for later. We also ordered the shrimp carbonara over spaghetti. The sauce was very nice, made with shallots, bacon and peas. A topping of Parmesan cheese finished everything off. We probably could have finished a full order of this pasta quite easily, so it's good we stuck with the half order for our own sake.


Chicken marsala is exceptional when it is done correctly. And Four Eleven definitely did it justice. When making a marsala sauce, the goal is not to make a thin mushroom gravy. Instead, you want to make a wine-based sauce with a sweet flavor and earthy mushrooms. That's exactly what Four Eleven did. The chicken in the sauce was delicious and the pasta was just the icing on the cake.

For me, Franklin Street is pretty much the lifeline of Chapel Hill. I hope it will take me many years to eat at all of the wonderful gems along this street. And the day I do, I want them to plan to extend the road.

Pumpkin Lasagna

Pumpkins are finding their way into everything this time of year. You can pretty much use them in any of your favorite foods. Do you like cookies? How about pumpkin cookies? Hershey's chocolate kisses? How about add some pumpkin? Pumpkin pancakes? Pumpkin creme brulee? Pumpkin cake? Pumpkin stew? Pumpkin lasagna?


Well, if you can't tell, this is pumpkin lasagna. The recipe was crafted by Robert Irvine of Food Network and can be found here. It is made pretty much the same as a normal lasagna, except you add layers of pumpkin puree and sliced zucchini. One nice feature of the recipe is that it has you make a quick homemade meaty tomato sauce (perhaps it qualifies as a bolognese?).


I thoroughly enjoyed my slice and had to stop myself from eating half of the pan. What really makes the dish work is that Robert Irvine did not just throw some pumpkin into a normal lasagna. He added the sliced zucchini, kin of the pumpkin, for support as well as some strong flavors from de-cased sausage meat in the sauce. That may be what makes pumpkin so versatile and prolific. It can behave meekly like a mild squash for soups and other vegetal-focused purposes. But it also holds up to strong flavors. Look at the quintessential use of pumpkin in the holiday season: pumpkin pie. You throw ginger, cinnamon, cloves, allspice, and a whole host of other pungent spices at pumpkin puree and it just laughs as you get in line for another slice of pie. Pumpkin can even help you balance different flavors. One of the more prevalent "alternative" flavor profiles for pumpkin outside of pie is to use brown butter and sage, the former of which has more subtle notes while the latter is a strong adversary. Pumpkin not only balances the two, but still manages to steal the show. That is what helped it to stand out in this pumpkin lasagna. Hefty sausage and tame tomatoes shine even brighter when pumpkin hangs out in this Italian melange.

Linguine with Broccolini & Walnuts

I love simple dinners that surprise you. You can't get any more bang for your buck and taste for your time than by maximizing flavor while minimizing time cost to you. Okay, enough engineer-speak, let's get on to the food.


Pasta should be required by law to be in everyone's pantry. Granted, I'm sure the legislature would have to debate the definition of "pantry" for a few weeks to pass the law, but it would be good for everyone. While nothing beats fresh pasta, dried is an alternative that has pretty much supplanted the original in the American culinary lexicon. Just think of it as more cost- and time-effective. I usually have at least two kinds of dried pasta hanging around at any given time. Today I chose the linguine for no other reason than I had half a pound sitting around. In the last couple minutes of cooking, I added some broccolini cut into two inch pieces to blanch it. While the pasta and broccolini were draining, I toasted some walnuts in olive oil and garlic, then tossed the pasta and broccolini in with this, and seasoned it with salt, pepper, and Parmesan cheese. Something that I always forget to do which makes a huge difference with something like this dish is to reserve some of the pasta water before draining it. My linguine came out good with all of the simple, straightforward flavors and textures, but the pasta was a little dry. The reserved pasta water can help to keep it all moist. Now I just have to remember to stop myself before losing all of the pasta water's beautiful starchiness down the drain. But other than that, pasta with a few simple ingredients is a great way to go, especially during the work week. So leave the canned tomato sauce in the cupboard and revitalize pasta with your favorite ingredient, be it vegetable, meat, cheese, nut, fruit, herb, or spice.

Asian Pizza?

Have you ever tried to make a weird meal on a whim just to see what would happen and if you could pull it off? That was the inspiration behind Asian pizza. I decided that pizza innovation has not often crossed into the realm of Chinese and Indian food. Sure, you can get Thai chicken pizza (very delicious, don't get me wrong), but I haven't seen much in the way of decent Asian flavors outside of a peanut sauce. Here's my lengthy and convoluted path to creating this wonderful International fusion.


Thanks to Lynne Rosetto Casper, I finally understand the keys to good stir-fry. There are still some shortcuts I've used that the purists will argue undermine the results. First of all, I don't use a wok. I have too many pots and pans to worry about storing a wok. Instead I have a large, deep saute pan. For cooking, I do use vegetable oil as it has a higher smoke point and does not alter the flavor of the food. For the five-spice beef above, I started by cooking my aromatics (ginger and green onion) in oil just until fragrant. After removing this from the pan, I wiped out any excess oil. Beef has it's own fat that will render to lubricate the pan and prevent sticking. I rubbed the beef with a fair amount of five spice powder and put it in the hot pan. I kept the beef in near constant motion to make sure it browned but didn't have a chance to overcook or cook unevenly. Once the beef was cooked, I returned the aromatics with equal parts oyster and soy sauces. After cooking to heat it through, I removed it all from the pan. The part that helped the most in all of this was preparing absolutely everything in advance. I'm pretty bad about chopping one ingredient while others are cooking, often to my own slight detriment. But this time I cut, seasoned and measured out every ingredient and had it on hand when I needed it. This made the stir-fry itself take less than 5 minutes total.

Since I love variety, I also prepared an Indian chicken salad for topping another pizza. This salad combines curried chicken with red grapes and cumined chickpeas. I did omit the yogurt in the chicken salad for fear that it would curdle or burn during baking.


Now for the full assembly using store-bought pizza dough. While the Indian chicken salad was sufficient for a pizza, the five-spice beef needed a medium (aka sauce). I quick sauteed some green onion shoots and whisked together a sauce of teriyaki, soy, hoisin, sesame seeds, and sesame oil. After spreading all the ingredients, I sprinkled the top with mozzarella cheese. It was difficult trying to think of a neutral cheese that would pair with Asian ingredients, but mozzarella worked well in this instance. After baking the pizzas in a 425 degree oven for about 30 minutes, I pulled them out and let them set up a bit before slicing. As a final touch on the Indian pizza, I put some of the cucumber raita right on top of the pizza (seen in picture). The chicken was well spiced and the cool yogurt of the raita counterbalanced any spice. The five spice beef, on the other hand, was sweeter with touches of anise. Both were quite marvelous in my opinion. Maybe I could sell the ideas to a pizza franchise...

Homemade Pizzas - 7/29/2009

I always forget how easy it is to make your own pizza at home. If you are willing to outsource the dough making (as we did here with the help of Trader Joe's), making a pizza is too simple not to do on a regular basis.


We started with two pre-made doughs - one normal, one whole wheat. My best piece of advice for making pizza at home is to let your dough warm to room temperature. It becomes more pliable and does not resist you as much when it has had a chance to warm a bit. After stretching the doughs sufficiently, we placed them on greased cookie sheets and then added toppings.

Right: tikka masala sauce with pulled pork, sliced onions, goat cheese,and dried cranberries

Left: korma sauce with sauteed mushrooms, fresh tomato, goat cheese, garlic, cilantro, and chopped hazelnuts

I wish I could say I came up with these flavor schemes, but the credit must go to another who's culinary creativity surpasses/complements my own. The pork pizza was very nice, especially on the whole-wheat crust. But my hands down favorite was the korma pizza because the flavors on it melded together to a satisfying whole. It's not very often that I can say I'm completely satisfied with a dish I've made. It's either too salty, or needs some more spices, or slightly overdone, or many various and asunder issues. But this pizza was delicious and I don't know of one thing I would do to change the flavors on it. So the lesson here is you never know how much you can surprise yourself, even when making a shortcut dinner such as this one. Pizza is a wonderful way to show off your creativity because you have any number of toppings to add in an infinite number of combinations. And, if all else fails, there's nothing wrong with your everyday, run-of-the-mill ham and pineapple.

Cooking, Baking, Restauranting...Pretty much just eating anything I can get my hands on - 6/29/09

What a week! I managed to do a lot of cooking and eating this week and I'm not sure where it all came from. Let's start with what I made first.


Lunch this week, as a continuation of my soup series, is chili con carne. The recipe was from Cooks' Illustrated. After browning chunks of beef, you cook some onions and bell pepper (or jalapeno). Then, you stir in some cumin, oregano and garlic, then water, beef, diced tomato, and minced chipotles in adobo sauce, simmering it for 1 hour covered, 30 minutes uncovered. At the very end, you whisk in some cornmeal into 1 cup of the chili, then whisk this mixture back into the soup, simmering it until it thickens up. I was very surprised by the consistency of this soup. Most chilis I've had contained beans, but this one omits them in favor of thickening the soup using the cornmeal. The chipotles in adobo are a very easy way to bring some heat and a nice smokey flavor without resorting to liquid smoke. The beef stayed tender and everything else seemed to melt together into the background flavor. This chili was both surprising and outstandingly delicious for something homemade.


Dinner this week is a chicken fricassee with some citrus flavors. Briefly, the chicken is seared, then some root veggies and citrus are cooked in the same pot. Tomato paste is added, then flour, then some chicken stock, orange and lemon juices, white wine, and honey. The chicken is added back in to finish cooking. On the side, you cook some potatoes and blanch some veggies (I chose yellow squash and Mediterranean zucchini). Oddly, you remove the original veggies and citrus, then thicken the sauce using an egg yolk and milk. All of this is combined again to yield the final produce. Everything tastes good, but the citrus disappears into the background. I think adding in some citrus zest in at some point could help make the flavors more bold. But this makes for a fine dinner. The citrus lightens the heavier chicken with its skin on. Plus, lemon and orange are the perfect flavors for the summer.


A great deal of the ingredients used in the foods above came from this week's CSA assortment: corn, blueberries, potatoes, onions, zucchini, squash, cucumber, tomato, and three kinds of melon.


For cake decorating this week, we learned more piping techniques, including some specific to birthday cakes. Since my lab did not have any birthdays this week, I went for an "I <3 Cake" cake. The cake was supposed to be flavored by rose water, but that flavor did not come out. Instead, the major players were the apricot jam filling and vanilla icing. Cake writing is a little difficult, by the way, if you don't have the right size tip for one, but also because you have one shot to do it right (sizing, spacing, shaping). And always, always, ALWAYS remember to spell everything correctly. Here are some examples of what can go wrong with cakes: Cake Wrecks.


The SO (significant other) did some cooking this week too that was quite astounding. It started with some pork that was combined with pureed pears and plums. To this was added some cream cheese, cilantro and hazelnuts, among other ingredients. Wrap it in a tortilla, stick it in a pan with cheese and more hazelnuts, and bake it in the oven. The flavors for this dish were definitely out of left field, but they all combined together for quite a sumptuous dinner. Add a side of fresh cucumbers and raspberries and a cup of dilled sweet potato soup, and you've got one killer dinner.


As for eating out this week, I remembered my camera for most of our meals. First up is Pepper's Pizza on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill. This was the second time I ate at this restaurant, and I've enjoyed it both times. The pizza pictured is one we made ourselves. They have some great ingredients and pre-formulated options, but we were in a creative mood. Half of the pizza was Italian sausage with fresh garlic (fantastically garlicky without being overbearing...but then again I don't know if you can have too much garlic), and the other half was a NC-style Hawaiian using pulled pork and pineapple (a great variation on true Hawaiian with ham and pineapple). Plus, they have great music while you eat. While we were there, they were playing Michael Jackson's album Thriller to honor his untimely passing. If you want some non-traditional options for pizza and you're in the area, give Peppers a shot.


While in Raleigh, we hit up the Flying Biscuit. This restaurant serves delicious, truly Southern food (breakfast all day to boot). I ordered my first chicken-fried steak and what an awesome dish it was! The crisp outside juxtaposed against a moist and delicious cubed steak, paired with a wonderful gravy made me want to wrap myself in the steak and never leave. The green beans were a good side, though a little oily. The homefries were seasoned with a house ("moondust," I believe) seasoning that made these tubers really pop. In the midground (between foreground and background), you can see their biscuits, served with strawberry jam. True to their name, these biscuits are light, airy, but totally indulgent with some good saltiness to them. Lastly, in the background, you can spy their sweet tea, which is one of the sweetest you can find without any sugar at the bottom. The South has risen again at this wonderful restaurant. Word to the wise: if there is a wait for a table, the bar seats in a first-come-first-serve fashion, so feel free to grab a stool and enjoy your food while others are still waiting outside.


In the Chapel Hill Timberlyne plaza is a rare find: an Ethiopian restaurant by the name of Queen of Sheba. If you've never had Ethiopian, try to find a restaurant and give it a shot. This one was very good with great service. To start off, we had an Ethiopian soda (flavored with spices and honey) as well as a sweet tea that was also given some depth by some warm spices. We had the vegetarian sampler, which had yellow lentils, a pea flour sauce, tomatoes, green lentils, and potatoes in a horseradish sauce, all atop and with a side of injera, the sourdough-ish spongy flat bread. Everything was fantastic. I love having lots of options when I eat, and this was the best way to get that. All of the flavors melded with each other but could still stand alone. They have many meat options too for compulsive carnivores. To finish, I had a cup of Ethiopian coffee, supposedly made with some butter, sugar, and more spices. The coffee was positively black with a rich and bold flavor that lacked that bitter aftertaste of many coffees. Overall, it was a marvelous experience that could not be beat.

More Desserts than Food Again - 5/20/2009

This was a good weekend for eating. Some friends and I started by taking advantage of Restaurant Week at a French restaurant in downtown Durham. It's called Rue Cler. While we waited for our table (some patrons just don't know when to leave), we were treated to a tasting of some Rose champagne (Bugey Cerdon) and pommes frites. As an appetizer, I wanted to try the pate maison, which oddly enough tasted of Romano cheese. We had a 3 course prix fixe selection. I chose a salad with feta and pecans, shrimp with gnocchi and duck breast with potatoes au gratin (one of the best I've had). All were quite delicious in their own way, but the size of each dish was moderated to make up for the 3 courses. The prix fixe portion of the menu was set at $25. For dessert, we split a terrine au chocolat (an oddly delicious cross of a chocolate mousse with a dense chocolate cake) and a banana-caramel crepe. We chatted and had a good time until they kicked us out around 11pm (they didn't really kick us out, but we got the hint from the way they were cleaning up).


Here's a dish to feed a small army. It is a free-standing lasagna (aka lasagna pie). Instead of a casserole dish, it's made in a springform pan. There are 6 distinct and alternating layers in this dish: noodles, sauteed carrot and zucchini, sauteed spinach and mushrooms with basil, a ricotta-Parmiggiano mixture, tomato sauce (home-made), and mozzarella cheese. The only real trick is that the noodles are trimmed to fit in the round pan. It is baked for an hour, rested for 15 minutes and then unveiled for all to marvel at. I enjoyed this dish (and I'm continuing to enjoy the leftovers), though next time I would probably try to increase the Italian flavors a bit. But this was definitely an innovative recipe that will satisfy both meat-eaters and vegetarians.


I had a Merlot-blackberry sauce, made with vanilla, cinnamon and citrus, left over from a failed recipe, so I decided to use it for poaching pears. Pears are not one of my favorite fruit, but they are growing on me. The gritty nature of the flesh is the least appealing feature, but that's where poaching comes in. It softens the pear and adds some other flavors to distract your mouth. I peeled some medium-sized bosc pears, then poached them in the simmering sauce for about 5 minutes per side, then let them cook to room temperature. The real battle with these pears is making sure they are evenly cooked and colored without beating them up too badly or letting them cook for too long. But in the end, you're left with a sweet treat with full-bodied flavors. I accented mine with Ciao Bella blackberry-Merlot sorbetto (what a coincidence to find that at the store), a cardamom-vanilla whipped cream and a sprig of mint that I'm growing myself.


I received a sampling of Berry-Saffron Cookies recently that were, simply put, amazing. The story behind them is that they started as a chocolate chip cookie recipe that has evolved to incorporate non-traditional flavors so much that you would scarcely recognize the resemblance to the original recipe. This newer version contains a combination of strawberries (dried, I believe), sesame seeds, dark cocoa powder, turmeric, salt, pepper, and saffron, among some other possible flavors. The reason I liked these cookies so much is they are something you must savor to really enjoy. While eating them, you sharply taste the salt and a bit of pepper, but there's a background chocolatey flavor with hints of berry, meanwhile your entire mouth is filled with a plume of saffron essence. Unlike many other cookies, just eating one of these treats is very satisfying.


What do you do when you have a friend confused by baking? Help them out of course!


One problem with this solution that I did not recognize initially was that the item to be baked is from an Indonesian cake mix. The difference with this cake is that it is made of multiple layers that are sequentially baked on top of one another. The goal is to have lots of even, thin layers (easier said than done). As you may be able to see in the picture, the cake is surrounded by burnt shrapnel. Our end product was a bit of a diamond in the rough. The extended baking burnt a bit of the outside of the cake, so some cosmetic surgery was necessary. What was salvageable was an interesting cake, moist from lots of butter and a touch of rum in the recipe, possessing a flavor like vanilla and some other unidentifiable spices. This cake is undoubtedly better when made from scratch by a professional, but how many Indonesian bakeries are there around here?


I'm turning into a baking fiend. Someone in my lab mentioned celebrating something and I was all over it like a fat kid on a box of Ho-hos. I made this beauty of a coffee cake, flavored with raspberry and cream cheese. You start by making a crumb with flour, butter and sugar, saving some on the side. To most of the crumb, you add baking powder, baking soda, salt, sour cream, egg, and almond extract. This mixture is spread into a springform pan as the base of the coffee cake. On top of this is spread a mixture of cream cheese, sugar and egg. About half of a jar of raspberry jam is placed on top of the cream cheese mixture (I pretty much just marbled mine a bit), then this is all topped with slivered almonds and the reserved crumbs. This is all baked for about 55 minutes until it is golden brown on top (no real way of testing it for doneness without just cutting into it). My cake layer was a little dry, but the cream cheese and jam helped to alleviate this problem. Everyone seemed to enjoy it, especially evident from the way it was gone within some hours of it being put out. I'll chock this one up in the win column.

This Week in Cooking - 5/9/2009

Last post of the night, and it's a long one. Last weekend, I went temporarily insane and thought I would need all of this food to get me through the week. So I made this all in the course of 9 hours split over two days.


I brought back soup for lunch this week with mulligatawny, a spiced Indian soup. It is made with many different spices (garam masala, cumin, tumeric, etc.), chicken broth, lentils, chicken, celery, carrot, and cilantro. While I'm sure Indian people may make this dish much better, my version came out decently enough for satisfying lunches all week long.


I've wanted to shove a can of beer up a chicken's patoot for quite a while. Supposedly, using a can of beer inside of a whole chicken as it cooks helps to preserve moisture and tenderness in the meat. I was going to fire up the grill for the first time this year to make this, but it was raining, so I settled for the oven. After marinating the chicken in garlic, herbs and olive oil, I propped the chicken atop the beer can, then put it in the oven. Towards the end of the cooking, I glazed the chicken with apple jelly mixed with lemon juice. The chicken did come out pretty well, though it does look like it has a tan line problem...


As a side dish for the chicken, I made these pan-fried smashed potatoes. After boiling the potatoes until almost tender, you mash them partway, then pan-fry them in oil with salt and pepper. After cooking through, you top with shredded parmesan cheese. The great part about this side is that you get to have a boiled potato with a crispy shell and nice, salty cheese on top.


I haven't had fish in a while, so I made this dish. I marinated some mahi-mahi fillets in a combination of white wine, olive oil, salt, pepper, bay leaves, and thyme for about an hour. Then I simply sauteed the fish in the marinade until it was done (flaked with a fork). The meaty mahi held up well to the cooking, and the marinade had a nice combination of flavors.


Looking for a pasta dish with a sauce that's not tomato-, pesto- or cheese-based? Then try almonds. The sauce for this pasta is made by processing blanched almonds with some garlic and salt, then cooking it until it thickened in a pan. Peas and toasted almonds round out the flavors of this very innovative pasta dish.


Another good option to change up the routine is to use edamame, evidenced by these next two dishes. You can often find edamame in the frozen food section of the grocery store. After blanching the frozen soybeans, stir-fry them with soy sauce, oyster sauce, garlic, jalapeno, and pepper. This creates a delightful and flavorful side dish that will complement many different types of food. Think of them as lima beans except better.


Lastly in this montage of culinary wonder is this dish: grilled chicken with edamame skordalia. I'm not entirely sure as to what a skordalia actually is, but in this case, you process edamame with some water, salt, pepper, and parmesan. It is almost like mashed potatoes except more flavorful and better for you. Pairing it with this grilled chicken created a very satisfying dinner dish. And that's all the food I thought I would eat in a week. The only way I could possibly eat all of this would be if I was training to be a sumo wrestler.