Pizza Night!

Who doesn't love pizza? I grew up on Pizza Hut and Jerri's Pizza (a local joint in my hometown). The maker of a better pizza was high debated among Cantonites (is that what we call ourselves?). I was always a huge fan of Pizza Hut. What can I say? I like deep dish. But in retrospect Jerri's was a damned good pizza. When I moved to Los Angeles, I couldn't get a good deep dish to save my life. Even the cheese bread sticks via P.H. delivery were sub par. Admittedly, there are a couple of good New York style places, but I sadly found that post-delivery the thin crust was too soggy for my tastes. So, I stopped ordering out pizza altogether.

It dawned on me one day as I was milling around my neighborhood Whole Foods that I could just make my own. So, I sauntered on over to their hot food counter and purchased an order of their pizza dough (apprx. $3.50). I've never had much luck with quick rising yeast, so I like to just purchase fresh dough. Since then, I've tried lots of different pizzas. Caramelized onion pizza (no sauce). Margherita. Pepperoni, of course. This week I found my fave though.

Besides the dough, this beauty was made with stuff I already had in my kitchen. I love that!

Prosciutto and Pepperoni Pizza

1 store-bought pizza dough
6+ slices of prosciutto, ripped into smaller pieces
1/4 lb of sliced pepperoni
1 cup of fresh mozzarella pearls
Parmiganio-Reggiano
For the sauce:
1 can diced tomatoes
6 oz of tomato paste
1/3 c water
2 tbsp chopped fresh basil
1 tsp of dried oregano
pinch of sugar
1 clove of garlic, minced
a good drizzle of extra virgin olive oil
Apparently it's best to always work with room temperature dough. I had no idea until I spent one fine evening at Mario Batali & Nancy Silverton's Pizzeria Mozza. We were lucky enough to sit at the "bar," giving us a front row view of the woodfire oven and the lovely, hard-working folks responsible for making the pizzas, assembly-line-style. The dude responsible for "rolling" out the dough was inspiring. He was so cool and calm, almost zen-like, stretching out each dough with his fists right in front of us. I learned a lot that night about rolling out dough, including to work with dough at room temp for easier manipulation.

Back to assembling my pizza. Oven to 450. For the sauce, just combine all the ingredients and mash up the diced tomatoes at bit with a fork. Let it set while you're dealing with your dough. So, after rolling out my dough, I brush it with olive oil to create a nice crisp and brown crust. Then it's pizza assembly time.

I like a lot of sauce, but even after a liberal application of sauce, I had enough for another pizza left over, so I froze it for next time (we'll see how it turns out after being thawed). Then I strategically placed the pepperoni and mozzarella pearls around the dough. Next went the prosciutto, and then I grated a liberal amount of parmesan over the top. I happened to have a really nice sharp sheeps milk gouda in the fridge too, so I just grated some of that on top as well (why not, right?!). After about 18 or so minutes in the oven, we had a homemade pizza that cost way less and tasted way better than delivery.

The Brunch Club

This Sunday I hosted two dear friends and their significant others for brunch. As my two girlfriends and I share a palpable passion for food, we have instituted a monthly Supper Club. Personally I really like breakfast and brunch foods, so I toyed with the theme a bit and hosted Brunch Club this month. My spread was, unfortunately, poorly documented; I was far too into the hustle and bustle of hosting to worry about snapping pictures. But here's a recap of the menu featuring a recipe for one of the highlights (for me, at least).

To wet our whistles, I brewed a lovely pot of Testa Rossa coffee from Caffe Luxxe and mixed up a pitcher of spicy Bloody Marys. And because brunch is the perfect excuse to carb-load, I baked jalapeno and cheddar scones (the texture really was more like a biscuit in retrospect) and buttermilk biscuits. For the main meal, I baked a caramelized onion, prosciutto, and gruyere quiche with pat-in-the-pan dough. This was lovely. So savory and rich. I also served roasted asparagus topped with fried eggs.

To end things, I served DIY crepes with fresh berries, lemon curd, and whipped cream.

Crepes
2 eggs
3/4 c milk
1/2 c water
1 c flour
3 tbsp melted butter

I just throw all the ingredients in a blender and whip 'em up until they're thoroughly combined. Then refrigerate for an hour or so to let the bubbles subside (this facilitates easier crepe-making in the pan). Heat a small nonstick skillet and coat with cooking spray or butter. For each crepe, pour about an 1/8 cup of batter in the skillet and swirl it around to coat the bottom. Cooking for about 3 minutes or so on one side, flip it and cook it about a minute on the other. Then repeat until all the crepe batter is gone.

I just think lemon curd is one of the most delicious dessert foods in the history of world. The tartness over the sweetness is absolutely mindbogglingly awesome.

Lemon Curd
3 eggs
1/3 c sugar
zest of 1 lemon
1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (about 3 lemons)
6 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

In a stainless steel saucepan (never, ever, ever cook very acidic ingredients like lemon juice in or with aluminum; it'll give your once delicious dessert a whack metal taste and will probably make you cry), whisk together the eggs, sugar, and zest for a while, or at least until your arm muscles start to cramp. Then add the lemon juice and butter and heat the pan on medium. Once your butter melts, whisk constantly until the mixture thickens considerably. At the very end, allow it to simmer for no more than 10 seconds. Finally, press the mixture through a sieve, let cool, and refrigerate to finish the thickening process.

For brunch on Sunday, I served the crepes with sliced strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries along side the lemon curd (to offset some of the tartness of the lemon curd, sometimes I fold in a couple of heaping tablespoons of fresh whipped cream), and extra whipped cream. I like to serve all the components separately, so everyone can assemble their own crepe. DIY!

A Kelly Classic

I'm a Texan, so, almost by default, I love Mexican food. When I lived in Massachusetts I would go nearly weekly to my favorite transplant Tex-Mex chain. You know, the kinda place that gives you free chips, damn spicy salsa, and handmade tortillas. But, in general, it was difficult to find comida excellente. I have to say that moving to California, for many reasons, was the right call. Fresh produce, abundant Mexican food, and fish-freaking-tacos! I'm in my culinary sandbox here and I'm loving it.

So, the Kelly Classic isn't fish tacos (though, a recipe for those will no doubt come very soon; I'm getting hungry just thinking about them)... it's chicken enchiladas con salsa verde.Making these bad boys takes some time. So, it's not a recipe I like to conquer unless a) I'm not exhausted by the days' activities, and b) I know I've got a good 1.5 hours.

Chicken Enchiladas con Salsa Verde
1-2 chicken breasts (Note: I like to buy organic. So, these days I've been getting the chicken breast with the rib bones and skin still attached, 'cause it's waaaay less expensive. Once cooked, the meat is easy to remove from the bone and the skin comes off just as quickly.)
8 oz jar of tomatillo salsa
1/2 an onion, sliced
1 clove of garlic, sliced
1 big handful of fresh cilantro
8 or so corn tortillas (or however many enchiladas you want to make; this recipe makes great leftovers, so I always cook more than we can eat in one night)
1/2 cup chicken stock/broth
1 1/2 cups shredded monterey jack cheese
chili powder

Throw the chicken breasts in a pot to boil for at least 25 minutes until they're cooked through. Set aside and let cool. In the meantime, put your salsa, onion, garlic, and cilantro in a food processor or blender and go at it until the all ingredients are totally pureed. Pour about half of it in a mediumish bowl.

Then, shred your chicken, discarding the bones and skin. Using a couple of forks makes this a pretty easy task, plus you don't have to wait for the chicken to completely cool. Place the shredded chicken in the bowl with the salsa mixture, and add about a 1/2 cup of your cheese. Mix that all up and set aside.

To prepare the torts, heat the chicken broth in a shallow saute pan on medium heat. Dip each tort quickly, just enough to make it pliable. After all your torts are prepped, get out your favorite rectangular baking dish and start assembling! Stuff each tortilla with the chicken cheese mixture, roll it over once, and place it in the dish so that it won't roll open during cooking. Once all your torts are stuffed, pour the other half of the salsa mixture over top the naked enchiladas. I tend to get better results if I pour the salsa deliberately over each enchilada rather than dousing the whole dish. Then, sprinkle the rest of the cheese on top and, finally, dust each enchilada with chili powder.

Bake these babies in a preheated 375 degree oven for 20-25 minutes, or until the cheese starts to brown around the edges of the dish. Don't forget to let them sit several minutes after you take them outta the oven, or your beautiful enchiladas will fall right apart. They're great with sour cream, spanish rice, and, of course, cervezas!

Full Professor Celebration

My advisor was promoted to Full Professor this week! So I baked.

For those of you not planning a career in the professoriate, becoming a full professor takes a loooong time. Generally, here is the timeline: If one is lucky-enough to find a tenure-track Assistant Professor position at a university, the first 6-7 years of one's career is spent working one's ass off, researching, publishing, teaching, researching, publishing, teaching, etc. If all goes well, you'll be promoted to Associate Professor with which comes your first substantial pay increase.

The next 5-10 years are spent, again, working one's ass off researching and publishing, and, to a lesser extent, teaching. To be promoted to Full Professor, your university surveys many of the scholars in your field to see if you and your research are nationall and internationally known. Yes, that's right: internationally known. So, it seems like (the process is still very mysterious) the next promotion hinges on whether your university concludes that your work is good enough and you're famous enoughto be promoted. Talk about stressful.

I figured, after what was probably 15 years of working balls-to-the-wall, my advisor deserved a party to celebrate her achievement. So in our research group this week, my labmates and I each cooked up a little something special for her. I made Lemon Cream Tartlets topped with whipped cream and a rasberry.

I like mini-sized things, plus, I don't have a large tart pan, so I just used muffin tins to make these tarts. I adapted a recipe from the cookbook Tartine. The cookbook is named after a bakery in San Francisco, which apparently serves the most heavenly pastries. I'm going to try croissants for a Brunch (supper) Club I'm hosting next week. I'll be sure to post the results of that adventure.

Whole Trout with Asaragus

What do you do when your neighbor gives you a 4-lb whole trout he just caught in Big Bear? Accept the challenge and have an amazing dinner!

I've never cooked a whole fish before. The funny thing is I've been considering giving it a go, but I had yet been brave enough to actually buy one from my local fish monger.

Enter: my neighbor. This weekend I gave him a few sprigs of basil from an enormous bunch I'd bought at the farmers market, and I guess he thought a fish would be a good way to repay me. Thank you, neighbor!

(It appears that simplicity has been a theme of the food portion of this blog so far and it continues with tonight's meal.)

This little monster came together lickity-split! He was given to me already scaled and gutted (thanks again, neighbor!). So, I just stuffed him with a sliced up lemon, an orange, and a bunch of parsley. Then I rubbed his skin with olive oil and sprinkled on a generous amount of salt and pepper. He went in a preheated 450 degree oven for about 30 minutes.

After he was set to cook, I trimmed the asparagus and placed it on a baking sheet. To season it, I like a healthy squeeze of lemon juice, olive oil, and salt and pepper. Then that went in the oven with 15 minutes to go on the fish.

The result: a delicious, fresh, and healthy meal. This one was interesting for me, too, because I usually don't like really fishy fish; trout, like cod, can be quite fishy. But the freshness of the little guy won me over as soon as I tasted it. My belly is happy.