Meghan’s Neighborhood

If you haven't gathered this already, Meghan likes pizza. One result of this pizza adoration is our now standing tradition of having pizza for dinner on Fridays. This works well for me too as nothing sounds better at the end of the work week than hot, cheesy bread. We usually oscillate between a couple different store bought freezer pizzas, along with a mix of homemade, the rare local delivery, and when we're in MI, Papa John's. This Friday it was homemade and very delicious.

I've made pizza dough by hand a number of times, but this time I tried out our new Cuisinart food processor. It comes with a plastic dough blade that mimics a dough hook on a large mixer. I found out on the first batch that it can heat up the dough to a point where it's hot to touch in just a couple minutes which results in a dough that is broken, like an over-mixed sauce, i.e. hollandaise, but is still usable. It's nearly impossible to over knead some doughs, which strengthens the gluten in the flour, but over mixing via machine can get ugly. I made a second batch, and kept a closer eye on it, which resulted in a dough with great texture for being beaten up by a plastic blade. Nothing beats hand mixing and kneading, but if the goal is quick dough and clean hands and you don't have a stand mixer, this is the way to go. Here is a boring video of the Cuisinart turning flour, yeast, salt and water into dough in 90 seconds.

This is Peter Reinhart's pizza dough recipe. The recipe can be found here and in the book that really showed me how to bake, The Bread Baker's Apprentice.

The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread

Peter Reinhart

First up was a Margherita pizza with mozzarella, basil from our windowsill herb garden, and homemade sauce (we didn't have fresh tomatoes on hand.)

Margherita Pizza

Margherita Pizza

I prepped the next pizza while this one cooked in the oven for 8-10 minutes at 550F. I found in the winter homemade pizza cooks best in the middle rack of our oven, but for some reason in summer it does better one lower. This first pizza was cooked on the middle rack and the crust was missing a little crunch.

Margherita Pizza

Margherita Pizza

Next up was a combo of soft goat cheese and a mix of blue cheeses. I brushed the crust with a little olive oil when it was almost done and it provided a nice crunchy crust.

Goat and Blue Cheese Pizza

Goat and Blue Cheese Pizza

Goat and Blue Cheese Pizza

I loaded up the next pizza with all of the caramelized fennel I made earlier in the week along with some caramelized onion, and a mix of soft goat cheese and blue cheese. This pizza was very good and one I will make again.

Caramelized Fennel and Onion Pizza

We already had left overs at this point, but I used up the remaining sauce on one last Margherita pizza. The crust of this one had a much better crunch, although the colors in these photos are a little supernatural due to my impatience with low light and Photoshop.

Margherita Pizza 2

Margherita Pizza 2

We also tried some pizza beer, which was OK, with a weird oregano after taste.

Pizza Beer

 

On Saturday I also made a few Margherita pizzas with the remaining dough that "broke" during mixing. It spent an extra night in the fridge, which helped return the texture to more of a ciabatta  dough texture, rather than the tough, stringy broken texture it still had on Friday. I also mixed in a little remaining fresh basil into the dough on Friday. Here are a couple shots of Saturday's pizza.

Margherita Pizzas

Margherita Pizza

To help motivate me to actually post something and break the cycle of starting a handful of posts only to let them hover half-done in hidden mode for months I'm going to make it short and sweet today. Caramelized fennel. I've mentioned before I'm slowly incorporating and understanding the complexity of fennel in my daily cooking and this is one of the quickest and easiest intros to fennel. All you need is a medium-hot pan with a little olive oil, salt and pepper, a bulb or two of fennel and 10 minutes.

Fennel

Start by trimming off the stalks and root from the fennel bulb. Then cut the bulb in half, remove the core and slice.

Fennel

Remove any outer layers that look brown or any areas that aren't fresh. Throw them into the pan with the olive oil at medium heat and season.

Fennel

You don't want to crowd them as that will steam them, and not allow caramelization to occur. Allow them to cook about 10 minutes until they are caramelized and tender.

Caramelized Fennel

The intense anise flavor of raw fennel is muted when caramelizing and in a blind taste test it would be difficult to place a finger on the mellow flavor. Their uses are plenty and I'm going to take a nod from Alice Waters in the Chez Panisse Vegetables cookbook and put them on pizza tomorrow. (I purposely left them just under cooked so that they wouldn't burn on the pizza.)

Chez Panisse Vegetables

Alice L. Waters

Caramelized Fennel

Sometimes dishes necessitate their creation by me walking around and surfing the internet and spotting either an interesting recipe or ingredient. This cherry cobbler is the combination of both when I saw the recipe on Heidi's site and Bing cherries on sale at True Nature, where I've been shopping more lately as they put more and more fresh organic produce on sale. (Between True Nature and Morse Market along with the occasional commuting pit stop at Whole Foods for a harder to find ingredient Meghan and I rarely enter Dominick's lately.) This recipe takes just a little longer to make as it would to pick one up at the store, is much better for you, and tastes really good. Below is Heidi's recipe with a couple notes from me.

2 1/2 cups sweet cherries, pitted - I think 3 C would be better
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/4 cup fine-grain raw sugar

1 1/4 whole wheat pastry flour - I used unbleached white whole wheat flour, but whole wheat pastry flour is ideal
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/3 cup fine-grain raw sugar (or brown sugar) - I used brown
1/4+ teaspoon salt
1/4-1/2 cup toasted nuts (optional)
1 egg
1/2 cup buttermilk
3 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled a bit

First comes the messiest task of pitting the cherries. Many companies make cherry/olive pitters, but I don't have one so I used my knife and my hands. It went fairly quickly, but made my hands look like I was digging around in the dirt all day. I did this the night before I made the cobbler to help make everything come together quicker in the morning. Like most baking recipes, get your oven preheating, to 425F in this case, right off the bat to ensure it is up to temperature by the time everything is assembled. Toss the cherries with the cornstarch and sugar and either set aside or place in the bottom of a pie or similarly sized baking dish, just make sure you butter the baking dish first.

Cherries

Next combine the remaining wet and dry ingredients separately.

Dry Ingredients

Combine the wet and dry ingredients and stir or whisk together. I was surprised how quickly the dough came together. It's great texture pre-baked was indicative of the excellent crust to come.

Dough

If you haven't placed the cherries in the baking dish yet, do so now. Then take a tablespoon and place dollops of the dough to evenly coat the cherries as best as possible. I still have most of the dough to go in the photo below, but even without a dollar bill for scale (sorry, inside joke) you get the idea of the size of the dollops. When you've used all of the dough give the dish a few thumps on the counter and level it off a little if needed, but keep a few cracks and holes in the dough to let the cherries ooze up in spaces. I also sprinkled a teaspoon or so of raw sugar on the top to help give the crust a little extra color and crunch.

Cherry Cobbler

Finally pop in a preheated 425F oven for 15-20 minutes until it is golden brown.

Cherry Cobbler

Come on baby, do the Locavation!

Maybe it's the media outlets that I purposely consume, but in the past week I can't get away from one word

Locavore

Locavore was touted as the word of the year in 2007 by the New Oxford American Dictionary and roughly describes someone who tried to eat only locally grown foods, which in many circles means 100 miles.

Now good luck getting your coffee fix, but this movement, a Bay Area concoction, builds on the local, organic, nose to tail, mindset of California (again Bay Area centered) cuisine that I identify with. This movement has spread like wildfire among the affluent Bay Area foodies and has spawned a whole new array of economies and publications.

As if the Bay Area wasn't already a dream location of weather, culture, and of course, gastronomy, now it's also the location of a dream job.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/22/dining/22local.html

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle is a vastly popular book that documents this lifestyle and life as an organic farmer.
http://www.loe.org/shows/shows.htm?programID=08-P13-00030#feature7

And from Smart City, a piece on Edible Estates which blends architecture, hordiculture, and art by turning a front yard into a garden with an edible and aesthetic focus. It's an odd mix of public/private space although I wonder if lawn ordinances in some areas would deem these illegal.
http://www.fritzhaeg.com/garden/initiatives/edibleestates/main.html

There is even a festival to celebrate and publicize this movement in San Francisco this Labor Day Weekend. (Meghan and I will be  in the area later that week, but have bigger plans for that weekend.)
Slow Nation Festival
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/23/dining/23slow.html

I did a google search after I wrote the above and found the group has a website with the best-practices of a locavore as well as other information.
http://www.locavores.com/

I'm dating someone who I really like.  We started dating about four months ago, and since I met him all other men seem somehow muted.   On occasion it freaks me out that he's 6 and half years younger.  The rest of the time I revel in how well things are going in every way.

I find it impossible to email anyone who I don't see at least on a weekly basis.  Confused?  Me too.

I'm applying for the Disney Feature Writing Fellowship, which is like saying, "Hey guys!  I bought a lottery ticket!"   After I register it with WGA West, I'll put my logline up for all to see.  It's a bit absurdist.  

I'm considering making a short film.  Actually, there is a 90% chance this fall I will shoot a short film.  I'm working out a script right now, but it's too long.  I want MAYBE a 7-9 minute film.  This bastard is clocking in at around 19 minutes.  

This weekend I'm going to Chicago, and therefore missing my dear friends' wedding shower which will be in Michigan.  They live in Chicago.  Oh, the painful irony.

In Chicago, I will see Public Enemy.  Also, many other bands.  And friends.  All of whom currently abide in Michigan.  

In honor of Bastille Day I'm posting a spread of photos I took while making the menu Meghan and I ate at Bouchon. Although I said it in my previous post on the French Laundry Cookbooks vegetable stock, I've learned countless French cooking fundamentals from both The French Laundry Cookbook and Bouchon Cookbook. Bouchon serves French Bistro fare and Meghan and I are lucky enough to eat there again soon on our honeymoon.

 

Macaroni au Gratin

Bay Leaves

Comte and Emmentaler Cheese

Mornay Sauce

Herb Gnocchi Batter

Parboiled Herb Gnocchi

Fresh Trout

Prepping Butter Sauces

Bouchon Batter

Bouchons Cooling

Cheese Course

Salad Course

Macaroni au Gratin

Main Courses

Bouchons

I'm not sure if Taco Night is still in the American dinner repertoire, but Meghan and I tried our hand at it for the first time in a few years recently. (Upon googling "taco night" I found this Onion piece, making me believe taco night is alive although potentially not well.)

Below is what was on the menu

Black beans
Spanish brown rice
Roasted tomato & jalapeno salsa
Smashed sweet potatoes
Grilled cactus
Corn tortillas (toasted)
Cabbage (julienned)
Tomatoes (diced)
Vidalia onions (diced)
Scallions (sliced)
Chives (chopped)
Cilantro (chopped)
Avacado (sliced)
Queso fresco
Soy milk horchata

Thats quite a spread, but most of it just involves a little slicing or dicing and other appliances, such as a slow cooker and rice cooker can help make it easy and fool proof, but aren't necessary.

Black Beans
The day before I rinsed and sorted a 1 lb bag of black beans and then let them soak overnight in a large Pyrex bowl.

Black Beans

I cooked the beans the easy way; in the slow cooker. Just cover them with water, throw in some salt and anything else you want, such as onions or garlic, set to low and they're ready in 6-8 hours.

Spanish Brown Rice
I started off by caramelizing half an onion followed by a couple cloves of garlic in a cast iron skillet and then added 2 C of brown rice to toast for a few minutes. While that was toasting I went to the window sill herb garden and grabbed a sprig of oregano, removed the leaves and chopped them as well as some tomato. I recently got a Rick Bayless cookbook that has a Mexican rice recipe with lime and parsley, rather than oregano and tomato, and that would work well here too.

Oregano

This oregano also is currently flowering, which I had never seen before.

Oregano Flowers

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After the rice toasted for a few minutes I added the oregano and tomato and let it hang out in the pan for another minute.

Spanish rice

Then to make my life easy I just put everything in the rice cooker with 4 C of "second" stock and let it do the hard work.

Sweet Potatoes
While the rice and beans are cooking in their respective appliances, now is the perfect time to scrub a few sweet potatoes, toss them in a little olive oil, salt and pepper, wrap them in foil and toss in the oven at 400F for 45-60+ minutes, until soft. I used smaller sweet potatoes so they would be done around the same time as it takes to cook the brown rice, about 45 minutes. When cool enough to handle, remove the skins (optional), mash and double check the seasoning. Other herbs and spices can be added to these as well, especially if served as a side dish, but since there were so many other flavors crammed into each taco I kept it simple and didn't muddle with the complexity the roasted sweet potato already brings. When they are done keep the oven on to heat the tortillas, or you can use the pan that you toasted the rice in as well.

Soy Milk Horchata

While I was getting everything ready I got the inspiration to make soy milk horchata. Instead of extracting the "milk" from rice I started with soy milk and added the flavors common to horchata. I've never heard of this variation, so I looked up a few horchata recipes and tasted as I went. I started with 4 C of soy milk in a sauce pan and added about 1 T of cinnamon, about 15 almonds, roasted then crushed, 1/2 vanilla bean. If you are using sweetened soy milk (most soy milk is sweetened) you do not need to add sugar. If you are using unsweetened soy milk add raw sugar to taste.

soy milk horchata

Allow it to simmer for a few minutes to let all the flavors infuse into the soy milk and strain.

soy milk horchata

After you pass the horchata through the strainer place it in the fridge to chill. Keep the pieces of vanilla bean and almond in the freezer once they are strained as they would be great in cookie dough or maybe even on ice cream.

Grilled Cactus
I have seen cactus leaves at Morse Market every time I stop in and never had a good excuse to pick them up until mentally prepping for taco night. This was my first time cooking them and I was amazed how gummy they are. They ooze out a liquid that reminds me of aloe when cut, which makes sense, but was odd witnessing it for the first time. To prep them use a peeler to remove the thorns while the grill pan heats up and season with salt and pepper.

Cactus

I put a little olive oil on the first leaf and put it on the grill. I quickly learned two things, one is that the oil was not necessary as the aloe-like goo was ample to prevent it from sticking and made for a soggy, oily mess. The second thing that became apparent was I could not get the cactus leaves to stay down enough on the grill pan. This wouldn't be as big of a problem on a regular grill with a lid, but I persuaded the cactus to stay down with the help of a sauce pot. This worked perfectly and I put the other cactus leaves on the grill pan using the same method, but with no additional oil.

Cactus grilling

While everything is cooking you can continue to prep all the remaining accompaniments and even have a beer.

Beer

Everything was ready around the same time and we laid out the spread on the counter. This was enough food to feed an army or have plenty of left overs. Clockwise, starting with the tortillas in the skillet everything is, corn tortillas, diced vidalia onions, queso fresco, chopped cilantro, chopped chives, sliced avocado, sliced scallions, diced tomato, julienned cabbage, roasted tomato & jalapeno salsa, soy milk horchata, smashed sweet potato, grilled cactus, Spanish rice, black beans.

The Spread

Here is what my plate looked like. Everything was delicious and other than switching it up for the sake of variety, I wouldn't have changed a thing. Meghan also has a few photos of her tacos.

Taco Plate

Chances are if you're attending or hosting a 4th of July get together this weekend, potato salad will be involved. Usually it's potato salad purchased from a deli or one that comes in a tub, both utilizing mayonnaise as the binder. But instead of firing up the grill for just dogs and burgers, and maybe some corn, throw on some potato salad as well. I not only find grilled potato salad tastier, but it's also healthier and you can leave it out in the sun all day if you want without worrying about mayo-spoilage. This comes from Heidi, and with a full size grill can be made with relative ease. First, prep your ingredients

10 medium potatoes, quartered - I used new and red
4 medium squash, halved - green or yellow
1 bunch of green onions
2 lemons, quarter
1 onion, quartered

Squash

Potatoes

Ready to be grilled

Soaking Potatoes

Potatoes

Onions

Obviously everything isn't going to cook at the same speed, so either rotate ingredients on and off the hot spots of your grill or take them off as they finish cooking. I sliced the onions and squash after cooking to make them more manageable to eat.

Grilled Onions

Grilled Onions

While everything is grilling, mince a couple garlic cloves and combine 1/4 C each of rice vinegar and olive oil for a dressing. Taste for seasoning and add a few drops of sesame oil. A little lemon zest or even minced jalapeno would be good additions as well. Toss the dressing with a few handfuls of mixed greens and toss in the grilled ingredients. I also topped the whole thing with some pico de gallo, minus the tomato, for some extra flavor and freshness. You can squeeze the lemons over everything or allow people to squeeze as much as they wish.

Potato Salad

Potato Salad