Catalonian Pizza

It seems I am relatively lackluster when it comes to posting. I have a good excuse, I'm sure. Somewhere.

Last night, I made pizza. It was delicious and everything pizza should be. The crust was thin and crisp and the cheese was melty and happy. I'm relatively picky about pizza, because with food that's simple, there's less of a margin for error. Translation: there's lots of bad pizza out there. This was very good pizza.

The recipe originally came from Wine Bar Food, which I constantly flip through looking for ideas and inspirations. My favorite so far is a recipe that basically amounts to grown up pizza rolls. This one is a close second. I did make one fairly substantial tweak to this recipe. The original recipe called for two pounds of manchego cheese. Two pounds. I love manchego; it's delicious and wonderful and reminds me of Spain. But two pounds? Depending on where you get it, manchego can cost you between $12 and $20 a pound. I may love pizza, but there's no way I'm dropping $40 on cheese for these bad boys. So say hello to mozzarella, which has a far more wallet-friendly price point:

Catalonian Pizza, adapted from Wine Bar Food to reduce the cheese by half and switch to mozzarella, which does not cost $40.
Serves 4
1 recipe pizza dough
6 oz chorizo
4 fresh tomatoes, sliced thin
12 oz mozzarella, grated
1/4 c cilantro

Preaheat the oven to 500° F.

Saute the chorizo until browned, about 5-7 minutes. Drain any grease. Divide your pizza dough into four pieces. Roll each into a 12 inch square.

Move the dough to a baking sheet and top with 1 cup shredded mozzarella, then thinly sliced tomatoes, then the chorizo.

Bake 12-15 minutes, until the cheese is browned. Remove and top with the cilantro.

Serve.

Rolled Eggplant

Sometimes a recipe calls for a particular pan. Sometimes I ignore the recipe and use whatever pan is closest or prettiest. That is not always a good idea, because you'll get to the point in the recipe where you're supposed to be done, and your pan will be more than half empty. The pretty pan, you see, is quite a bit larger than the 9-inch pan called for in the recipe, and the eggplant rolls look sad and lost.

But the pretty pan is pretty. And the 9-inch pan is not as pretty.

This was so good. I'm pretty sure I could eat this once a week, and would, if it wouldn't likely have an adverse effect on my ability to fit in my pants.

Rolled Eggplant with Sausage and Mozzarella, adapted slightly from Cooking from the Farmers' Market
Serves 4
2 Asian eggplant, cut lengthwise into 1/4 inch slices
1/4 c plus 2 T olive oil
salt and pepper
5 oz Italian sausage, casings removed
2 c crushed tomato
1 t oregano
1/2 t salt
1 t pepper
1 c ricotta
4 T mozzarella, cut into small pieces
2 T Parmesan
1 T parsley, chopped

Preheat the oven to 450F. Brush the eggplant on both sides with the 1/4 c olive oil, then salt. Bake until lightly browned on the bottom, 10 minutes, then turn each piece and bake 7 minutes more. Remove from the oven and set aside. Reduce the oven temperature to 350F.

In a medium skillet over medium heat, cook the sausage until browned, 5 minutes. Stir in the crushed tomatoes, oregano, salt and pepper. Simmer 10 minutes.
In a bowl, mix the ricotta, mozzarella, half the Parmesan, and parsley. Season with salt and pepper.

Spread half the tomato sauce on the bottom of a 9-inch pan. Place a spoonful of the cheese mixture near the wide end of each eggplant slice, roll up, and place upright in the sauce. Spoon the remaining sauce between the rolls. Sprinkle with the remaining Parmesan.

Bake until bubbling, 30 minutes. Serve immediately.

Rice Cakes of Deliciousness

Yesterday I found myself with about 3 cups of leftover rice. Leftover rice in our house is one of those funny things that either ends up in something delicious or sits in the fridge until I start to wonder if eating it would be A Very Bad Idea. Then it goes into the compost bin. I've never left it in there long enough for it to start growing things or changing color, though. I don't even know if that's possible. I would assume it is. Does rice turn colors if you leave it in the fridge long enough?

This rice had a happy, delicious end that was very loosely inspired by croquetas. If you've never had croquetas, they're amazing and you owe it to yourself to track them down. These honestly couldn't have been easier to make and the panko gave them a fantastically delicious and crisp crust.

The rice and goat cheese will come together much more nicely if you aren't afraid to get your hands dirty. It's just goat cheese; it will wash off.

Rice Cakes
2 c rice, cooked and cooled
1 oz goat cheese
2 T onion tops or scallions, diced
1/2 t salt
1 t olive oil
1 egg
1 T milk
1 c panko or bread crumbs
1 T grated cheddar
1 t dried parsley
1 tomato, sliced

1. Combine the rice, cheese, salt, and onion in a medium bowl and mix well.
   
2. In another bowl, beat the egg and whisk in the milk. In a separate bowl, mix the panko, cheddar, and parsley.
   
3. Form four patties from the rice mixture and dip them in the egg mixture. Flip them to coat the patties with egg; then move the patties, one at a time, to the panko mixture. Flip the patties and make sure they are coated with panko.
   
4. Heat a saucepan over medium-low heat. When the pan is hot, add 2 T olive oil and heat. When the oil is warm, add the patties to the pan. Cook them 5-7 minutes per side, until golden brown and warmed through.
5. Serve with sauteed kale or a salad topped with tomato.

Random Pantry Meals, Tuna Noodle Casserole Edition

There are a few foods that have the potential to be creepy and/or terrible under the wrong circumstances. Think chafing dishes or buffets. Tuna Noodle Casserole, Salisbury Steak, and Meatloaf are all really high on the list.

I had high hopes tonight for a cress pesto. When I went to look at the cress in the garden, though, I realized I'd be lucky to get a cup of leaves; let alone the almost 5 cups I needed. My yard is less than ideal from a food perspective. Kale grows really well. Everything else languishes and is sad and pathetic.

Since the pesto was a non-starter, I raided the pantry and came up with noodles, tuna, and panko. The fridge had half and half and pepper jack.

Tuna Noodle Casserole? It's actually really good. You can't really tell by the pictures, but we did actually use plates.

Maybe one of these days I'll feel particularly adventurous and I'll try Salisbury steak. I'm not going to hold my breath for that one, though.

Tuna Noodle Casserole
1 T butter
1/2 onion, diced
1 rib celery, diced
1 c crimini mushroom, chopped
2 T sherry
1 t soy sauce
1/2 t salt
1/2 t pepper
2 T butter
1/4 c flour
1 1/2 c broth
1/2 c half and half
1 t paprika
1 can tuna, drained
3/4 c pepper jack, grated
2 c panko
1 T vegetable oil

Preheat the oven to 375. Heat the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and celery and heat until they start to sweat. Add the mushrooms and salt and cook 3-5 minutes. Pour in the soy sauce and sherry and cook 3 minutes more.
1. Push all the onion and mushroom mixture to once side of the skillet and add the remaining 2 T butter on the empty side of the pan. Sprinkle the flour over the butter and cook until the flour becomes golden, stirring occasionally. Once the roux has become golden, whisk in the broth and allow to simmer. Pour in the half and half and then stir the entire pan to incorporate the mushroom mixture. Add the paprika and tuna and season to taste.
2. Cook the pasta according to the package, then drain. Add the pasta to the mushroom mixture and stir. Turn into a medium baking dish.
3. Stir the grated cheese, panko, and 1 t oil in a small bowl, then pour on top of the casserole.
4. Bake 25 minutes until the top is golden, then bask in the awesome.

Stromboli. Or, I ignore the lovely weather and pretend it's winter

I love pizza. When I was in high school, my brother and I were always so excited when Dad would make his homemade pizza because it was so much better than what we could order. It still is.

Homemade pizza is one of the happiest foods ever. Ever. No lie.

I was flipping through a magazine not too long ago and I saw a picture of stromboli. I don't remember why (probably because my brain is a giant sieve) but we used to sell stromboli in high school as a fund raiser. I remember them being pretty good. I'm pretty sure that high school is the last time I thought about stromboli, and that was about a million years ago.

But then there was a magazine, and it talked about stromboli. And I got the urge to make them. Since I'm making them, I make the rules, and to me, stromboli are pizzas that are rolled into logs. In case you're curious, I consider calzones to be pizzas folded in half. The pizza family is large, and it brings me great happiness.

This is stromboli. It is a happy, comforting food that you should make. Soon, before it's legitimately too hot to turn the oven on.

I made it in stages, browning the sausage and making a sauce of sorts, then laying out the dough and rolling the stromboli.

They certainly aren't the prettiest stromboli in the world, but they were delicious.

Sausage Stromboli
Serves 4
1 T olive oil
1 lb italian sausage, removed from casings
1 yellow onion, minced
1 clove garlic
1 t oregano
1 t salt
1 t pepper
1 T tomato paste
1 (28oz) can diced tomatoes
1 bunch kale, chopped
1/2 bunch spinach, chopped
4 oz mozzarella cheese, grated
pizza dough (recipe follows)

1. Heat oil in a medium pan over medium-high heat. Add sausage and brown, breaking it into smaller pieces as necessary. It's not necessary to cook the sausage all the way through. Remove from the pan and set aside.
   
2. Add 1 t oil to the pan and cook the onion until translucent.
   
3. Add the garlic and spices and stir until fragrant, then add the greens. Saute for 2-3 minutes.
   
4. Stir in the tomato paste and allow to cook for 1-2 minutes. As the pan starts to sizzle a bit, pour in the tomatoes and stir until combined. Simmer 10 minutes to meld flavors.
   
5. Pour the tomato mixture over the sausage and let it sit until you're ready to use it.
   
6. Divide the pizza dough into four quadrants and stretch then into 4x9 inch rectangles. Arrange 3/4 cup of the sauce in the center and top with grated mozzarella. Pinch the edges together, lengthwise, to create a log. Move to a parchment-lined cookie sheet.
   
7. Repeat for all four pieces of dough.
   
8. Bake at 375 for 40 minutes, or until golden and warmed through.

Pizza Dough
Makes dough for one pizza
3 1/3 c flour
1 t salt
3 t olive oil
2 t oregano, dried
1 t sugar 2
t yeast
1 1/4 water

1. Heat the water to 105 (about 35 seconds in my microwave). Stir in the sugar, then the yeast. Allow this mix to stand for 5 minutes, until foamy.
   
2. Add the flour, salt, 2 t oil, and oregano to a food processor. Pour in the water mixture on the dough speed as fast as the flour will absorb it.
   
3. Allow the mixture to combine, then process for 30 seconds.
   
4. Turn the dough out into a slightly oiled bowl and cover with a tea towel. Allow it to stand for 45 minutes, until risen.