The Barefoot Kitchen Witch

Herb Crust Pizza - One Crust, Many Toppings

I made a bunch of pizzas last night.  Just for fun, I added some dried herbs to the dough. 

Here's what I used for the dough:

5 tsp dried yeast, dissolved in

4 cups warm water in the bowl of my 6-quart stand mixer.

After the yeast softened and started to bubble, I added

10 cups all-purpose flour

5 tsp salt

1 heaping tsp each dried oregano, dried thyme, and dried basil

Mix at second-slowest speed for about 5 minutes.

(If the dough is still sticking to the sides of the bowl, add more flower, about a quarter cup at a time, til the dough comes away from the sides.)

Turn dough onto a lightly flowered surface and knead the dough into a ball.  Flatten slightly, and cut into 8 pieces.  Pour some olive oil into a large bowl.  Shape 8 pieces of dough into balls and place in bowl of oil, turning each ball to coat with the oil.  Pour a little more olive oil over them - you want them to be lightly covered with the oil.  Let sit for half an hour or so in the oil.

While the dough rests in the oil, preheat the oven and prepare the toppings.

Preheat the oven to between 450-500 degrees F. 

Toppings are entirely up to you. 

Here's what I did with mine.

Well, first of all, before I'd even made the dough, I started making a sauce, because I didn't have any canned in the pantry.  I used two small containers of roasted tomatoes from last summer and a 28 oz can of plum tomatoes and their juice.  I also used about half a cup of chianti (what was left in the bottle) and about a tablespoon of fresh oregano I'd frozen in olive oil last summer.  I'd also put in about 8 smashed cloves of garlic.  And some salt and pepper.  And I let that cook down for a while - til I'd made the dough.  Then I put the sauce mixture through a food mill and then back on the stove for a little while longer.  I skimmed some excess olive oil off the top and tasted it - just needed a bit more salt.

Alex and Julia each made their own pizza.

Alex's - as always - some sauce, just a little cheese and an even distribution of pepperoni.

For Julia, I'd sauteed some mushrooms and some minced shallots...

When she made her pizza, she spread out a generous layer of sauce...all of her alotment of cheese plus the cheese Alex didn't use, and poured her bowl of mushrooms right on the center of the pizza.  She topped the mushrooms with a bit of Alex's leftover sauce, and then ate the restspooned the rest of it into her mouth.

 

After the kids had made their pizzas, they left, and I got to play.

I'd bought a pound of fresh mozzarella, and I tore that apart while I was cooking the sauce...

I minced half a shallot and sauteed that with a big handful of baby arugula leaves...

...and then I stirred in about a quarter cup of pureed basil and olive oil (from last summer) that had been in the freezer.  And then I stirred in the last of a container of ricotta cheese - maybe 3/4 of a cup or so.  And then I was happy.

Next pizza - half of the arugula/basil/ricotta mixture topped with torn mozzarella.

 

And then...sauce, a whole lot of shredded (pre-packaged) mozzarella, and the rest of the mushrooms.

And then...sauce, a lot of shredded (pre-packaged) mozzarella, and plenty of pepperoni.

And then the other half of the arugula/basil/ricotta mixture, a little parmesan, and a generous sprinkling of red pepper flakes.

Last two...

First - simple one - just sauce and both the shredded (pre-packaged) AND the fresh mozzarellas.

And finally - my favorite of the bunch - pre-packaged mozzarella, then the last of the fresh mozzarella, a tablespoon of minced shallots, and a little can of smoked oysters.

   

Of course, 8 pizzas was far more than we needed for dinner last night, and that's the whole point of making that many.  Lunch the next day.  And a late night snack the day after that.  And lunches for everyone when Monday rolls back around.

So go - make some pizza.  Be creative.  Have fun!

Valentine's Day Ideas: Grilled Cheese Sandwich and Tomato Soup

I know, what's so special about a grilled cheese sandwich and some tomato soup?  Anyone can make that.  It's kid food.

Well, yeah.  Kid food, perhaps.  But it's comforting, isn't it?  Kid food?  Something your mom might have served up on a winter afternoon, after you spent the morning playing in the snow until your cheeks were red and your fingers were wet and numb inside your mittens after throwing snowballs at your friends, and you were cold to the core, but you still groaned when your mom called "Time for Lunch!"  because kids are hardy individuals, able to play happily in frigid cold and scorching sun.  And despite your reluctance to stop playing, there was something very warm and cozy about a melty sandwich and a bowl of soup, steam rising above the rim.  Warmed up your body and your soul at the same time, didn't it? 

Yeah, but okay, we're talking ostensibly about Valentine's Day here, and grilled cheese may be many things, but "romantic" doesn't leap to mind as one of them.  Okay, the tomato soup is red...but other than that...

To be honest, I'm not thinking of romance, per se, with these foods I'm writing about.  Not romance in the heart-shaped-box-of-chocolates and the dozen-long-stemmed-way-over-priced-roses way.  That's not really romantic to me; it's too...too enforced.

This is much simpler.  Much more basic.  And it's not just on Feb 14th - it's whenever.  It's an "I love you, by the way" for your spouse, your kids - even yourself.  It's a small gift.  But aren't big things supposed to come in small packages, or whatever that saying is?  So there can be a whole lotta love in a simple little meal.

So here, for your entertainment, is how I make a grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup for my husband.  If the way to his heart is through his stomach...then my heart is a frying pan and a can opener.  Kind of.

Okay, here's what you do:

Assemble the sandwich ingredients:  white bread, American cheese slices, yellow mustard of some kind, and some butter.

And for the soup: 

- and an equal amount of milk.

Open the can of soup and place the contents of the can and an equal amount of milk (see?  I told you) in a pan on the stove.

Whisk them together and heat on medium low, so you don't scorch the pan.

Stir the soup periodically while you make the sandwich.

Meanwhile...melt a good chunk of butter in a nonstick frying pan:

While the butter melts, assemble your sandwich.

Place one slice of bread face-up on a plate. 

Add mustard.

(The mustard is optional.  So is the vaguely heart-shaped squiggle you see above.)

Next - the cheese.  Like I said - American cheese slices.  Two or three, to taste.

And finally, the top slice of bread.  (Additional mustard is optional.  I usually only apply one coating of mustard to Bill's sandwich.)  Note - it is EXTREMELY important that both slices of bread are "facing" the same way.  Aesthetics are important - remember, we eat with our eyes first.

By this time, your butter should be nicely melted in your pan.  If it cooked too long and burned, wipe the pan out and start over. 

Carefully lay the sandwich in the center of the pan and press down to help mush all the layers together a bit.  It will taste better if you do that.  Really.

Now let it cook there for a bit, with your heat on medium to medium-high (depending on how heartbreakingly hungry your loved one is).  After a couple of minutes, take a peek to see how the face-down side is doing.

Hmmm...getting there, but not ready just yet. 

Let it cook another minute or two and check again.  When that side is nice and golden brown, remove the sandwich from the pan and get another chunk of butter.

Toss that in the pan to melt and turn the heat down a little, as the pan is pretty darn hot at this point and you don't want to burn the butter.  Once the new application of butter has melted, flip the sandwich over - being careful to not let the layers slip apart in the process.  If they do, carefully and quickly slide everything back in place.  Be careful not to burn your fingers in the process. 

One technique I use for the second side is to drop the flame to low and put a lid over the sandwich.  This keeps the heat circulating all around the sandwich and keeps the other side from browning too quickly (or burning). 

When the other side of the sandwich has turned a lovely golden brown, and the cheese is melty, remove the sandwich from a pan and put it on a plate.

Now get a knife (the butter knife works fine for this, or you can get something sharper if you are more comfortable with that) and slice the sandwich as desired.  My husband likes his sandwiches cut on the diagonal, like so:

Be sure to cut all the way through the sandwich so there is no pulling and tearing of the bread.

Arrange the slices attractively on the plate.

By now the soup should be ready - bubbling gently around the edges and some motion in the center.  You don't want a full boil, because the milk can scorch. 

Ladle some soup into a bowl, and voila - a warm and cozy meal for someone you feel warm and cozy about.

Two Pizzas

I made two pizzas tonight.

Here's what I did:

Took two 16 oz packages of store-bought pizza dough out of the fridge about a couple hours before my projected dinner time.  Set them out on a counter - still in their packages - to come to room temperature.

Then I got the toppings ready...

First pizza -

Chopped about 3 strips of bacon into 3/4 inch square pieces (approximately).  Cooked them over high heat in a large saute pan until they had rendered most of their fat and were crisp.  Took them out of the pan and set them on a few layers of paper towel on a plate. 

Next - dumped in about, oh, 8 cups of sliced onions.  (I'm guessing - I just used up what I had, which was maybe 8 to 10 small to medium onions.)  Sprinkled a little salt over them and stirred them all around to coat the onions with the bacon fat.  Turned the heat down to medium low and let them go, stirring every now and then, until they just started to caramelize - roughly a half an hour.

While the onions were cooking, I combined about a third to a half of a cup of crumbled feta cheese with about the same amount of ricotta cheese.  Set that aside with the bacon.

Preheated the oven to 450 degrees F.

Then I started working on the topping for pizza number two.

I combined about a third of a cup of basil pureed with olive oil (this had been in the freezer all ready to go from when we harvested all the basil a few weeks ago) - with 3 big fat cloves of garlic, minced.  And about a tablespoon (all I had left) of grated parmesan.  Set that aside.

Assembly:

Pizza number one:  I spread the dough out on the baking sheet.  Rubbed a little olive oil over the surface.  Dotted the top with blobs of the ricotta/feta mixture.  Topped that with about half of the caramelized onions, and then sprinkled the bits of bacon over the top.

Pizza number two:  I drizzled olive oil over the pizza dough (already stretched out and ready to go).  Then smeared the basil mixture on top, and dotted (my word of the day) with ricotta cheese and sprinkled with salt and pepper.

They both took about 25 minutes to cook.  Alex liked the basil pizza.  Julia liked both.  So did Bill and I.  Bill's been sick, so he had tea.  Alex and Julia had juice, and I had some pinot grigio...hang on, let me see which one...Carsasa - estate bottled in Italy...it's actually a pinot grigio/pinot blanc blend (51%/49%)...and oddly enough, I couldn't see the year anywhere on the bottle...I'll look again later.  Maybe it was hiding.

Anyway - that's what we had for dinner tonight.

Oh!  Almost forgot - I've put the other half of the caramelized onions in the freezer.  I figured they'd be nice to have on hand.  If we were planning to have, oh, steak tomorrow, I'd have kept them in the fridge...and I would have bought mushrooms while I was at the store today, too....

Feta and Olive Dip

In a food processor combine the following:

One part kalamata olives (seeds removed)

Two parts feta cheese

some black pepper if you wish

Put the food processor lid on and turn the machine on and slowly drizzle in some olive oil until the mixture reaches a pleasing dippable consistency.

Put mixture in a bowl.

Serve.

Cheese Fondue

When Bill and I were just starting to date, the first meal I cooked for him in my apartment was a simple cheese fondue. He had never had it before, and apparently he was just amazed by it. Again - it's very, very simple.

This is the way I make it. My mother used to make it occasionally, and I'm not sure where she got the original recipe...she used to make it with crabmeat too, but most canned crabmeat doesn't have enough flavor to compete with the cheese and the wine.

Anyway, here it is. You will need:

half a stick of butter
1/4 cup of flour
1 cup of dry white wine (and drink the rest with dinner)
2 1/2 cups of shredded sharp cheddar
1 can of crabmeat (optional...if you have the urge to buy a live crab or two and cook them and pick out the meat, it would probably be a whole lot better)

a loaf of crusty bread - a baguette, a loaf of Italian bread, a sourdough boule (did I spell that right? I should check, but my ice cream is melting and I don't feel like taking the time...), whatever you like....

Wrap the bread in foil and put in a 350 degree oven to warm it up. My mother used to cut it into chunks, but there's something fun about ripping it apart at the table, too...

In a heavy-duty saucepan, melt the butter add the flour, whisking constantly to remove the lumps.
Cook for a minute or two, whisking all the while so it doesn't stick and burn.
Pour in the wine and continue whisking until the mixture is smooth and starts to thicken slightly.
Add the cheese, and stir until it all melts.

Pour the mixture into a fondue pot and follow your manufacturer's instructions about lighting the flame below.

Light candles, pour the rest of the wine, and, using the fondue forks or skewers or your fingers, dunk chunks of bread into the fondue and - (careful! cheese is hot and will burn the roof of your mouth, which kind of detracts from the romance of it all) - enjoy.

You can try other kinds of cheese, or a combination of other cheeses...cheddar isn't traditional, but I like the sharpness.

Anyway - it's long been a favorite of ours...thought I'd share...hope you try it...hope you like it!