Stuffed Pizza Rolls

I had enough dough leftover to make a small pizza, but was totally out of pizza sauce and didn't feel all that compelled to make more. I also had about 1/3 c. of leftover sausage and plenty of shredded cheese. I thought about making breadsticks. Instead, I came up with this:

a pizza roll stuffed with cheese and sausage

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

1. Using a pastry knife, divide the leftover dough into equal portions.

2. On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to 1/4" thickness. The shape doesn't matter, but it should be large enough to accommodate a few pieces of sausage, about 1 tsp of cheese, and whatever else (sliced olives, mushrooms, sliced basil leaves, etc).

3. Place the rolled out dough in the palm of your hand and add the ingredients in the center of the dough. Gather the edges of the dough to the top and pinch it closed. It's important that you don't try to stretch the dough with your fingers because if the dough is too thin, the sausage and cheese will try to poke through as it bakes and it won't look pretty. Shape into a ball and put fold side down onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Repeat until no more dough remains.

4. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until it is lightly browned.

I dusted the tops of the rolls with garlic salt. I suppose you could also brush the tops with melted butter and sprinkle on crushed fresh rosemary or thyme.

Pacific Northwest Harvest Calendar

S P R I N G
asparagus	chard	chicories	lettuce greens
strawberries	onions	herbs	spices
E A R L Y _ S U M M E R
apricots	beans	blueberries	cherries
herbs	edible flowers	peas	mixed greens
onions	raspberries	squash blossoms	strawberries
summer squash	zucchinni	chard	spices
L A T E _ S U M M E R
beans	blackberries	blueberries	edible flowers
figs	chard	leeks	peaches
peppers	plums	squash blossoms	summer squash
tomatoes	herbs	spices	mixed greens
A U T U M N
apples	blackberries	cardoons	chestnuts
chicories	edible flowers	grapes	herbs
leeks	mixed greens	peaches	pears
peppers	plums	radicchio	tomatoes
winter squash	spices	beans

This year's seed starts: arugula, basil, beets, parsley, apple (unknown variety), citrus (unknown variety, maybe a grapefruit), sugar snap peas, cherry tomato (hybrid).

Perennials from last year: blueberry, garlic, green onion, strawberries (Hood River)

Thinking about, but haven't planted yet: sugar pumpkin, corn, watermelon

Basic Pizza Dough, take 2

I am muckying around with what was a pretty decent recipe to start with. I had all this leftover whey from making cheese and thought.. hmm, what to do with it. I am also experimenting with added gluten, specifically Bob's Red Mill Gluten Flour. The whey was still warm from making cheese, but I heated it up again and let it cool to 110 degrees F before adding it to the flour. Supposedly using a pizza dough made only from all-purpose flour yields a chewy crust and a flour rich with gluten makes a crispier crust; well, this ingredient ratio will see what it really does.

Also, the last few pizzas were baked on the middle rack. I think I may just use the bottom rack in the oven. I did manage to procure an Italian-made pizza stone; but it is slow to heat up.

Ingredients Used

3 1/2 c. all-purpose unbleached flour
2 tbsp BRM gluten flour
2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast (1 envelope)
1 tsp organic granulated sugar
1 tsp sea salt
1 1/2 c. whey (or water heated to 110 degrees F)
2 tbsp olive oil

This batch is resting-to-rise in an olive-oiled gallon-size resealable freezer bag in the refrigerator.

Makes 2 lbs.

Homemade Herbed Cheese

This is my first attempt making farmer's cheese from scratch. Since it is a trial run, I am only using a quart of whole milk rather than a gallon. Now I have to figure out what to do with the leftover whey. The next time you look at mozzarella cheese prices at the grocery store, it takes a gallon of milk to make one pound. A quart of milk makes roughly 6 oz of cheese. If only the dairy farm near my neighborhood sold direct to consumers, then I could really call it a farm-to-table recipe. Who knows where Trader Joe's gets its milk. When I buy that organic stuff from Fred Meyers, it trucks in from half way across the country. At least the herbs came from the garden.

Ingredients

1 quart whole milk
1/4 c. fresh lemon juice (used two medium lemons)
kosher salt (to taste)
1/4 tsp each fresh herbs, finely minced (used thyme, chives, and garlic)

Directions

1. In a heavy-bottomed pot, heat milk over low-medium until the liquid temperature is 180 degrees F.

2. Stir in lemon juice and wait for curds to form.

3. Ladle curds into a cheesecloth-lined sieve and let drain over a bowl in the refrigerator for a few hours. You can also gather the edges of the cheesecloth and tie it with butchers twine at the top.

4. Once all the whey has been drained, transfer cheese to a small bowl and mix in salt and fresh herbs. Store cheese in a sealable container in the refrigerator for another 2-3 hours before serving.

Tomato curry rice

This recipe uses Alton Brown's method of making brown rice, except I cook for one and this is too much rice for me to eat, even for a couple days. Only white rice has a 1:1 ratio with water. Brown rice has more substance to it and requires a bit more water.

Basic recipe

1 c. brown rice (long grain like basmati, or short grain)
1 1/2 c. water
1 tbsp unsalted butter
pinch of saffron (optional)
pinch of salt

1. In a small saucepan, boil water, butter, and saffron (optional) together.

2. In an 8" x 8" baking pan (preferably glass), add rice pour water-butter liquid over it. Cover with a heat-proof lid or with aluminum foil.

No need to preheat the oven. You can put this into the oven as it heats up, just set the timer for 10 minutes longer, depending on how fast the oven comes up to temperature.

3. Bake at 375 degrees F for an hour.

Tomato curry rice

Instead of using water/butter/saffron as the liquid, use an equal amount of the sauce from the tomato curry chicken recipe, up to 2 cups of liquid for half a cup of brown basmati rice (long grain).

This dish tastes a lot like a rice pilaf or a rice dish that you'd find at an Indian restaurant. I'm sure someone has given this rice cooking method a name.

Tomato curry chicken

This is basically two dishes mixed together. This is tomato soup plus an already baked sweet potato that was diced, and a batch of curry chicken. The curry chicken is a family recipe.

Curry Chicken

4 tsp mild curry powder + 1 tbsp water
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 chili pepper, seeds removed and chopped (optional, if you like it spicy)
about 1 lb chicken parts, such as drumsticks

Directions

1. In a small prep bowl, combine curry powder and water to form a paste.

2. In a kettle, bring several cups of water to a boil. Set aside.

3. In a 2-quart pan (with a lid), heat olive oil until it spreads easily across the pan. Add the curry paste and stir until the oil is fragrant with the smell of curry. Quickly add the chicken and brown the sides of the chicken.

4. Add soy sauce and chili pepper. Then fill the pan with boiling water until the chicken is submerged.

5. Cover the pan with its lid and cook the chicken over low-medium heat for 45 minutes. If you were using a glass, enamel, or stainless steel pan, you could also bake this covered in the oven at 375 degrees F for 45 minutes.

Tomato curry chicken

One batch of curry chicken, cooked
One batch of tomato soup
One baked sweet potato, diced (optional)

In the same pan that has the chicken, add the tomato soup and diced sweet potato. Cook until the liquid has reduced somewhat. Serve over rice.

Vegetarian lettuce wraps

For this weekend's Green Themed potluck, I made a vegetarian filling for the Asian lettuce wraps. I was rather surprised that hardly anyone touched the meat filling that I also prepared for this dish. The lime juice didn't stand out on its own in the sauce base against the stronger flavors of garlic, ginger, and soy sauce. This could also be served by itself as a salad. I had leftover chestnuts from when I made the zongzi, so these also went into the dish.

For the wraps: use washed/patted dry individual leaves of butter lettuce or romaine lettuce

Ingredients
 1/4 c. roasted chestnuts, diced
1 carrot, cut into matchsticks
4 stalks green onion, thinly sliced
2 c. bean sprouts
red, yellow, orange bell peppers, thinly sliced
extra firm tofu, cut into small cubes or thin slices
6. fresh basil leaves, julienned

Marinade/Sauce

3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp ginger, grated
1 red chili pepper, de-seeded and chopped (optional)
2 tbsp lime juice (1 lime)
2 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tbsp olive oil

1. In a large bowl, combine vegetables, tofu, and chestnuts.

2. In a small saucepan, heat olive oil over medium, then add ginger, garlic, chili pepper until the oil is fragrant and the garlic is lightly browned. Add soy sauce and lime juice. Stir to combine. Remove from heat and let cool.

3. Toss marinade and vegetables together.

Wild Game Meat in PDX

Region: Portland, SW Washington

Surprisingly, while hunting big game is more common in both Oregon and Washington state (compared to my original stomping grounds, California), retail game meat / butcher shops are not easy to find. By common, I mean to suggest that one in every ten co-workers you come across knows at least one or more people who avidly hunts for the kitchen freezer and/or dinner table.

I'm talking meaty items for carnivores like wild pheasant, duck, goose, rabbit, elk, deer, and the not-so-wild-farm-raised lamb and buffalo. For any retail butcher shop to offer wild game meat, the meat has to be processed so that it meets USDA regulations. This adds some cost to the cuts but it's a lot better than slaying and hacking up an animal yourself in its native territory. Nearly all the standalone butcher shops I've come across in this region are family owned and operated. Buying direct from a butcher shop also gives you access to regionally-raised meats. It brings a whole new facet to buying local.

Game or specialty meats are those that you just can't run to a Fred Meyers to pick up from the deli case or butcher's counter. You can always find free range/naturally-raised ducks, turkeys, buffalo and lamb meat from Whole Foods or New Seasons.

I visited Chuck's Produce for the first time. If you haven't seen their weekly ad, it probably means you haven't been reading The Columbian. But, at least the specials are listed on their website now. Their meat aisle and butcher counter had an interesting assortment of unusual meats such as ground emu and frog legs. The store leans more towards locally farmed and raised meats, produce, and dairy.

These places are ones that I know of, have been recommended to me by other PDX foodies, or have visited on occassion:

[ SW Washington ]

Top Choice Meats
http://topchoicemeatmarket.com/
12313 Ne 4th Plain Rd
Vancouver, WA 98682
(360)896-8865
Meats: Beef, Pork, Sausages, Chicken, Buffalo, Elk, Free Range Turkey (seasonal)


Chuck's Produce
http://chucksproduce.com/
13215 Southeast Mill Plain Boulevard
Vancouver, WA 98684
(360) 597-2700
Meats: Beef/Pork/Chicken, Emu, Frog, Pheasant, Buffalo, Duck, Squab, Game hens, etc

[ Portland ]

Nicky USA
http://www.nickyusa.com
223 SE 3rd Avenue
Portland, OR 97214
(503) 234-4263
Meats: comprehensive (click for list)
Retail to the public: Yes, but call ahead or order online

SP Provisions
http://www.spprovisions.com
2331 NW 23rd Avenue
Portland, OR 97210
(503) 234-0579
Meats: Beef, Lamb, Veal, Pork, Poultry (Chicken, Turkey, specialty), Seafood, Sausages
Game Meats: venison, rabbit, quail, duck, elk, buffalo, wild boar, pheasant, ...
Retail to the public: Yes, but call ahead one week in advance for availability

Ordinary butcher shops until someone informs me otherwise:

Butcher Boys 
4710 E Fourth Plain Blvd
Vancouver, WA 98661-4646
(360) 693-6241

Gartner's Country Meat Market
http://www.gartnersmeats.com
7450 N.E. Killingsworth
Portland, OR. 97218
(503) 252-7801
Meats: Beef, Pork, Chicken, Turkey, Cornish Game Hens, Sausages
Specialty services: custom cutting and game processing

Other resources:
Eat Wild - Washington, Oregon
Reister Farms (Washougal, WA) - lamb meat; usually at Vancouver Farmers Market


[Updated: 2011-09-08]

Zongzi

Also known as: zòng zi, sticky rice dumplings, Chinese tamales, or simply as rice dumplings. They are known in Japan as chimaki; in Indonesia, as bakcang or bacang; and as machang among Chinese Filipinos. Laotians, Thais, and Cambodians use lotus leaves to wrap their rice dumplings variants.

These aren't exactly dumplings, but they are either boiled or steamed for the final preparation. I found that boiling fared better than steaming did. For my first batch, I steamed (for an hour) and cooked (for an hour) because the rice wasn't cooked after an hour of steaming. And, while I have only experienced making in a group setting, there is a reason why few people actually make these on their own for personal consumption. This is a multi-prep process that takes hours and a lot of patience. I couldn't quite get the dumpling to conform to the traditional triangular bundle shape, so these look a lot like they were wrapped by someone who has no knowledge of how corn tamales are wrapped. The rice used is called glutinous rice, though it's also packaged as sweet white rice.

The history of these dumplings has evolved over the centuries and evoke a positive or neutral connotation, depending on which story you're told. They are typically eaten as a festival food for the Dragon Boat Festival that is usually held on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month and it looks like Portland's dragon boat races are in September. Reference recipes included: Saveur, Asian Dumpling Tips, and various sites with video instruction on how to wrap these darn things. It'll take a lot more practice to fold these the right way.

Day before

soak bamboo leaves in a sink basin or large tub of warm water
soak glutinous rice in water

Ingredients

1 lb boneless country pork rib, cut into 1/2" x 1" slices
1/2 c. dried shitake mushrooms, rehydrated and cut in to thin strips
3-5 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
2 star anise
1/2 tsp Chinese five-spice powder
1 tsp organic granulated sugar
1/2 c. low-sodium soy sauce
1/3 c. shaoxing rice wine
2 1/2 c. uncooked glutinous rice
2 stalks green onion, sliced into 1" pieces
small roasted chestnuts, shelled and rehydrated if using dried
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
vegetable oil for frying
bamboo leaves, rehydrated and pliable (need at least two per bundle)
kitchen string for tying dumpling bundles

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, wash rice under cold water until the water runs clear. Stir 1/2 c. cold water into the rice and put the bowl in the fridge. Let this sit for 8 hours or overnight.

2. In a small bowl, soak shitake mushrooms in warm water to rehydrate. Slice mushrooms into thin strips and set aside.

3. In a small lidded pot, if using dried chestnuts, add chestnuts to put and cover with water. Bring the pot up to a boil for 10 minutes then turn off the heat. Let the chestnuts soak for an hour.

4. In a separate bowl, combine pork, soy sauce, rice wine, mushrooms, garlic, sugar, star anise, salt, pepper, and five-spice powder. Mix pork in so that the marinade is combined. Cover bowl and refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight.

5. In a frying pan large enough to accommodate all the pork and mushrooms, add about 2 tbsp cooking oil and the green onion. Stir until the onion has turned a vibrant green color and the oil is fragrant with the onion. Remove onion from pan and set aside in a small bowl.

Next, add the pork and stir fry briefly. Add the remainder of the ingredients (minus the star anise) to the pan and let it simmer for about an hour. Depending on how comfortable you are with transporting a food like this between places. I opted to cook the pork before packaging it into the dumpling. Some recipes for zongzi don't require cooking the meat before, and others do. When the pork is tender and cooked, drain off marinade and separate the pork from the mushrooms.

You could also fry the mushrooms and the pork separately; but alas, I was lazy and fried it all together.

Wrapping

I don't have any insight for wrapping techniques, so I'll refer you to the aforementioned reference links. What I do know, is that the spine side of the bamboo leaf faces down and you put a layer of rice, then your more substantive ingredients (some pork, some mushrooms, few slices of green onion, and a small chestnut), then another layer of rice, and close it up so that the rice doesn't escape in the cooking process.

Cooking

Pack dumplings (as many as you want to eat; 1-2 dumplings per person is an adequate serving size) into a large heavy pot and add enough water so that there is 1/2" above the dumplings. Cover pot and bring to a boil. Simmer zongzi over low-medium heat for 1-2 hours. Check the pot to make sure that there is enough water. Drain and serve.

Storage

The boiled zongzi can be soaked in water and stored in the refrigerator for a few days. Freeze uncooked zongzi in a freezer bag; keeps for several months.

Bamboo leaves soaking in the sink

Completed, but uncooked zongzi

Inside a cooked zongzi

Single Crust Apple Pie with Streusel Topping

Happy Pi Day!

Made this beautiful apple pie on Saturday but didn't gobble up the first slice until today. The apples that went into the filling were just what was on hand: gala and fuji, two varieties that I enjoy eating a lot. With a streusel topping, this pie can easily accommodate twice as many chopped apples as what the recipe calls for. I really don't care for the salty taste in the crust, so I may omit it next time.

Apple pie fresh from the oven

A slice of apple pie

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Single crust ingredients

1 1/4 c. all-purpose unbleached flour
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp organic granulated sugar
4 oz unsalted cold butter, cut into cubes
1/3 c. ice water (or chilled vodka)

Crust directions:

1. In a food processor, combine flour, salt and sugar. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles a coarsely ground cornmeal. Gradually add the water, pulsing after each addition. You may not even need the entire 1/3 c. of water.

2. Form the dough into a ball and gently roll out to a 1/4" thickness on a lightly floured surface until it is large enough to fill a 9" pie plate. Roll crust onto rolling pin and unroll it on top of the pie plate. Use a unserrated knife to cut away the excess dough from the edge of the plate.

3. You can use the leftover dough crust to make decorative shapes for the top of the pie. I used a heart-shaped cookie cutter for this pie.

4. Put pie plate into the refrigerator until ready to use.

Streusel topping ingredients

1 c. all-purpose unbleached flour
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 c. (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted

In a bowl, whisk together flour, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Add melted butter and mix ingredients with a fork until mixture forms crumbs.

Pie filling ingredients:

4 c. apples, peeled and cored, cut into 1/2" chunks
1/2 c. organic granulated sugar
1 tbsp all-purpose unbleached flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp butter, cut into small pieces

In a bowl, combine apples, sugar, flour, cinnamon, and lemon juice. Pour filling into the pie plate. Add remaining tablespoon of butter. Sprinkle streusel on top of apples. Arrange cookie cut-outs on top of the streusel in a decorative pattern.

Bake for 45 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool on a rack before serving.

Simple Lemon Bars

This is the simplest lemon bar recipe that I know of. Its crust is for an 8" x 8" baking pan.

Lightly sprinkled with powdered sugar

For the crust:

1 c. all-purpose unbleached flour
1/4 c. powdered sugar
1/4 c. (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted

For the filling:

2/3 c. organic, granulated sugar
2 tbsp all-purpose unbleached flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
3 tbsp lemon juice
zest of one medium lemon

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

1. In a bowl, whisk together flour and powdered sugar with a fork. Stir in melted butter until small crumbs form. Empty into an 8 x 8 baking pan and press crust down with a fork.

2. In a separate bowl, whisk together sugar, flour, baking powder, lemon zest, and lemon juice until ingredients are mixed well. Add in eggs and whisk to combine.

3. Bake crust for 10-15 minutes, or until lightly golden on top. Remove from oven and add the filling.

4. Bake lemon bars for 20-25 minutes, until the edges are golden brown and not dark brown. Let cool before cutting into squares.

To add extra zing to the crust, you can split the lemon zest between the filling and the crust. And, to make it more tart, an additional tablespoon of lemon juice can be added to the filling.

Pizza Margherita

No pizza stones were harmed in the making of these pizzas. But, the real reason is that I don't actually own a pizza stone. And while the notion of using the reverse side of my cast iron pan had crossed my mind, I ended up using a heavy baking sheet with parchment paper and a medium-ground cornmeal between the paper and the dough. I've read that one can get an extra crispy crust this way by letting the pizza bake on the middle rack in the oven, directly on the rack itself, for the last 2-3 minutes. Alas, I'm too lazy for that.

These recipes have been adapted from one of Emeril's episodes on pizza with minor tweaks. Number one, I wasn't about to crack open a bottle of cab just to put a few tablespoons of it into the sauce; I used the next best thing on the counter...shaoxing rice wine (Chinese red rice wine). If you are able to ingest onions, they go into oil at the same time as the garlic. As far as whatever differences there are between EVOO and regular olive oil, I really have no idea, but since it all costs the same, my pantry is stocked with EVOO. Also, a lot of my recipes call for sea salt. For pizza you can use just about any type of salt, including kosher salt.

Margherita pizza implies only three toppings that represent the Italian flag are used: tomato sauce (red), fresh basil (green), and fresh mozzarella cheese (white). You'll want to procure some fresh mozzarella cheese for this and slice it into thin rounds. They are just going to melt into blobs on top of the pizza, so whatever shape you do cut them into, that is what they are more or less going to melt into.

If you are going to use a pizza stone, it is important that you let the stone heat up in the oven so that your dough cooks evenly.

1/4 c. medium-ground cornmeal (optional)
up to 8 oz of fresh mozzarella cheese

Basic Tomato Sauce

One (14.5 oz) can of diced tomatoes, no salt added
1/2 c. water (use it in the can to rinse out the tomato particulates)
2-3 tbsp red wine (or xiaoxing red rice wine)
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp minced garlic (roughly 3-4 medium cloves)
up to 1 tbsp dried oregano (or fresh if you have it)
6 fresh basil leaves, coarsely chopped
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 small red onion, finely diced (optional)

Sauce directions

1. In a medium pot, heat oil until it spreads along the bottom of the pot easily. Add the garlic (and onion) and stir until the onion is soft and translucent and the garlic hasn't burned or turned golden brown. The idea is to flavor the oil, I think.

2. Add the tomatoes, basil leaves, wine, oregano, salt and pepper, and water. Bring it to a boil and then simmer for 20-25 minutes.

3. Let the sauce cool before putting it on the pizza dough.

Pizza Dough

This dough uses all-purpose flour which creates a much chewier crust than say, using a high gluten flour. You could also buy gluten to add to the all purpose flour, but that's an extra step and who really wants to run to Whole Foods for just one ingredient. Also, a 4-oz jar of Red Star active dry yeast lasts a lot longer than the packets when kept in the refrigerator.

Ingredients

3 1/2 to 4 c. all-purpose unbleached flour 
1 1/2 c. water, 110 degrees F
2 tbsp EVOO, plus 2 tsp for greasing a large bowl
1 envelope instant dry yeast -or- 2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast (if you have the jar stuff)
1 tsp organic granulated sugar
1 tsp sea salt

Dough directions

1. Combine flour, sugar, yeast, olive oil, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer or in the bread receptacle of a bread machine. While the mixer is running, gradually add the water and mix until the dough comes together. Knead by hand (or if you're lazy, in the standmixer) until the dough is smooth and elastic.

2. Grease a large bowl with the remaining 2 tsp of olive oil, form the dough into a ball, and add it to the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap (or use another equal sized bowl on top, using binder clips to keep the edges of the two bowls together). Let the dough rest in a warm area (roughly 80-85 degrees F) and let it double in size for an hour.

This might be tough to do during the winter. But wait, there is a workaround. Place the covered bowl into the oven on the middle rack. Fill an 8x8 or 9x13 baking pan with boiling water. Put the baking pan on the floor of the oven and close the door. This'll create a warm environment for the dough.

3. Depending on how large a pizza you have baking space to make will determine how many pieces you cut this blob of dough into. I cut it into fourths, so each piece makes about an 8" pizza. You can cut it in half and make two 14" pizzas. After cutting the dough into sections, turn each section as you are about to make it into a pizza, onto a lightly floured surface. Knead it a bit then cover and let the dough rest for 10 minutes.

4. Roll out the dough into a shape that resembles something circular.

Putting It All Together

Preheat oven to 500 degrees F.

1. Take our rolled out pizza dough and spread some of the cooled tomato sauce on it. Be sure to have at least a half inch to an inch gap betwee the edge of the pizza and the sauce. Otherwise, the sauce spills out over the side of the pizza and makes a rather burnt mess.

2. Add thin slices of mozzarella and sprinkle with fresh basil leaves. You could add more dried oregano, but that is totally up to you, since it is already in the sauce. For the first pizza I had the basil on top of the cheese; the second pizza had the cheese on top of the basil. It makes no difference.

3. Bake on the center rack for 8-10 minutes, until the edges are lightly golden brown and the cheese has melted.

The pizza is supposed to cool on a rack, but my first pizza never made it that far. *nom nom nom*

View pics.

Pumpkin Bread (with yogurt)

Whole pumpkins keep for a very long time, it seems. I harvested two sugar pumpkins from my yard in October and only just now hacked one open for this recipe. The pumpkin yielded 1 1/2 cups of pumpkin meat and a ton of seeds that I'll be using to trade for other seeds at neighborhood seed exchange later this month. These pumpkins are the second generation from the same pumpkin source. Two years ago I purchased sugar pumpkins from Trader Joe's, cooked the pumpkins and saved the seeds. Last year I planted some of those seeds down and of the surviving plants with my inept ability to gauge when pumpkins should be planted into the ground, I managed to only harvest two sugar pumpkins. Each pumpkin yields a lot of seeds. I suppose these could be also eaten raw or toasted. I don't know how the original sugar pumpkins were raised, but mine were raised by organic farming methods.. y'know.. water, sunlight, dirt, mulch, pruning, etc. No fertilizers and certainly no growth enhancers like Miracle Gro.

While I have another pumpkin bread recipe on this blog, that one is made with tofu. This one has plain yogurt in it since my tofu seems to be a bit frozen in the freezer. This loaf didn't rise as much as I had hoped, but it smells delicious and tastes great.

Ingredients

1 c. all-purpose unbleached flour
1/2 stick of unsalted butter, melted
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. fresh sugar pumpkin, cooked
1/4 c. plain, organic whole milk yogurt
1 egg
3 tbsp honey
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp each: sea salt, ground ginger, ground allspice

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

1. Use unsalted butter to grease a loaf pan and set aside.

2. Whisk together egg and vanilla extract. Gradually whisk in brown sugar, melted butter, plain yogurt, honey, pumpkin puree, baking powder, spices, and flour.

3. Pour batter into loaf pan and bake for 40 minutes, until the top has a golden brown color and a tester comes out clean.

Squid with Bacon

I was trying to think of fancier names for this dish, like ones you'd find on a pretentious restaurant menu. Here's what I came up with:

Fried calamari with roasted garlic and bacon
Herb roasted calamari with apple-smoked bacon

And then I got to thinking that a lot of recipes have delicious-sounding descriptors, but may not actually be true to how the dish is prepared. Fresh herbs, for example, are almost always added after the dish has finished cooking...otherwise they'd lose their fresh green look and be all wilted. Calamari is the Italian plural word for squid (it's "calamaro" when referring to one squid). When people imagine what squid looks like, they are usually imagining a slimy, angry, beady-eyed multi-tentacled creature wrapping its giant arms around a ship at sea. No? Ok, well, maybe that's just me.

Frying is the fastest way that I know to cook it up. But, it can also be steamed, boiled, stir fried, salted, roasted, etc. Preparation of the squid itself is the hardest part of the dish because there are so many steps to cleaning it before the body gets sliced up. And, if you don't wear gloves, your hands end up all very squid-smelling.

The original recipe ratio comes from Bobby Flay. I have never watched that particular episode, so I had to surmise what he meant by lardon bacon. I'm assuming it's diced, fried bacon, until someone informs me otherwise. Flay's recipe calls for an additional two tablespoons of olive oil after the bacon has fried, but the bacon already yields roughly two tablespoons of lard, so if I do add the olive oil, it would only be to make the finished squid look shiny. Also, since I don't live near the coast, I have never seen fresh squid at the grocery store or specialty asian market; so this recipe uses frozen squid that has been thawed to room temperature.

Squid with Bacon and Thyme

Ingredients

1 lb squid, cleaned and sliced into rings
2 slices of bacon, diced
2 tbsp parsley leaves (optional, for garnish)
1 tbsp thyme leaves
3 garlic cloves, minced
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Directions

1. Prepare the squid.

2. Fry bacon in a medium pan until it is lightly golden brown and most of the fat has rendered out.

2. Add garlic and squid, seasoning lightly with salt and pepper. Cook squid for 2-3 minutes or until just cooked through. The squid rings curl backwards and the flesh turns to an opaque white color.

3. Remove from heat and stir in parsley (optional) and thyme before serving.