Pizza Dough

Dactyl's favorite food. As he says, it's like sex in that 'when it's good it's great and when it's bad it's still pretty good.' We started making this at home because we can control what ingredients are in it and because we would never use our grill otherwise.

1 tsp active dry yeast
2 tbsp warm water (not higher than 120F)
2/3 c water
2 c unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp coarse salt
olive oil
toppings

Combine the yeast and warm water in your mixer bowl. Let it sit until it blooms, 5-10 minutes. 'Bloom' with yeast means that it'll go from a hard little pellet to a floating unattractive mass and it'll start to smell like beer. Add the rest of the water, flour & salt. Sometimes if I'm being fancy I'll also add some dried herbs... oregano, basil, marjoram, that kind of thing. If the consistency of your dough seems very sticky, add a tablespoon more flour. When I make this during the winter, the dough is very tight, but if I make it in the humid Atlanta summer it sticks to everything. I'd suggest you make it the way it's printed once, and adjust accordingly.

I said 'mixer bowl' because I use my stand mixer with the dough hook, and let it knead on a medium speed for 10 minutes at this point. If you want, you can do this manually, but you'll have to knead for at least double the time, probably more like triple. It'll go from a weeknight task to backbreaking labor.

While your mixer or hired labor is kneading, prepare a bowl by coating it in olive oil. Being the super-traditional Italian white girl that I am, I opt for plastic wrap over trying to get dried on library paste off a tea towel. When the dough is finished being kneaded, put it into the bowl, coat both sides with olive oil, cover it with the plastic wrap and let it sit in a warm area for 2 hours. After 2 hours, punch it down, re-form it into a ball, and cover it with plastic wrap again. Let rise for at least 2 hours, or overnight in the fridge.

Now, decision time. You can either bake this in the oven OR grill it. If you want to bake it, preheat your oven to 450 F. If you want to grill it, start up the grill! Put down some flour on your board, flour your hands, punch your dough down and divide it into 2 separate balls. Put it on the board in the flour, sprinkle some flour on top and work the dough back & forth. Typical pizza thickness will be a roughly 7 inch circle, but being from New York, I stretch mine out to a 9 inch circle.

For Baking:
Put your pizza on a cookie sheet. If you think it'll stick, put extra flour down underneath it. Add your toppings, then bake on a lower rack for 15-20 minutes, until the toppings are cooked and the bottom is browned. Let it cool for at least a minute before you dig in!

For Grilling:
I bring my board out with me, and plop the pizza directly onto the grates of the grill (oil lightly with a basting brush and olive oil). When the underside begins to brown, you will be able to lift the pizza off the grate easily... if it doesn't come off, let it cook a bit more and try again. DO NOT try and shift it around and move it, even if you put it on there kind of weird looking and you want to fix it. You'll only make a mess. Flip the pizza over and add your toppings while the pizza is still on the grill. We find a two-tong approach works best. Close the cover and allow the pizza to cook for 3-4 minutes. Again, let it cool at least 1 minute until you start slicing.

Picky Husband Info: We both love the 'grill' recipe because it gives him something to do when we have people over, and it's a surprising preparation so he gets to look like a super hero. He also gets to have (turkey) pepperoni and (low fat part skim) cheese so he feels super naughty without giving him a coronary. Plus, I get to force some veggies down his gullet in the guise of spaghetti sauce.

The Verdict: 'Can we have more? Maybe next week?' Every time.

among the things 7th grade didn't teach me

I've been in a 'nesting' kind of mood for the past few days. Initially, I cooked a bit to satisfy it... Asian Pasta Salad yesterday, dough to make homemade pizzas today (recipe inc!). There's really nothing homier than cold noodles or getting your fingers into a squooshy dough.

However, now I'm going a little bit more crazy. I know, it's hard to tell. I've been looking at my windows and saying, 'ooh, I could make some awesome curtains.' Looking at my dining room table and saying, 'ooh, I can make some cute cushions for those chairs.' Or the couch, saying 'I could stencil some muslin and sew it together and make some awesome accent pillows!'

Now, ordinarily this wouldn't necessarily be all that crazy. ...okay, it would be a little bit crazy. But I personally am somewhat chronically unskilled as far as textiles go. I've hemmed plenty of pairs of pants, because were I to pay a tailor for every pair of pants in my wardrobe I would probably never buy pants again. The memory of 7th grade home ec, where I almost failed the class because I couldn't sew a BAG properly should jar me into thinking that PERHAPS drapes are outside my purview. And also, I don't have a sewing machine.

Pizza it is!

Asian Pasta Salad

Pasta salad is my absolute favorite thing about summer. I make a few dozen versions of it depending on my mood. This is one of my favorites. This is a huge batch to share at cookouts.

dressing:
1/4 c rice wine vinegar
1 tsp grated ginger
1/2 tsp or so honey (a 'squeeze'-change to raw cane syrup for vegans)
1 tbsp dark sesame oil
1/2 tbsp soy sauce
scallions

everything else:
1/2 pound whole wheat 'strand' pasta (spaghetti, linguine, etc)
various veggies
2 tbsp sesame seeds, toasted
salt & pepper

Start off by boiling your pasta in salted water. Prep your dressing by mixing everything together in a big bowl. Add a scallion or three as well, sliced on an angle so they look super classy (and have more surface area for dressing to cling to). I really like scallions so I add 5 or 27. A tsp of salt and 3-4 grinds of black pepper is a good place to start as far as seasoning goes, but remember that you're seasoning raw veggies with this dressing, so you may want to add more. Yes, even with the soy sauce in there.

As far as veggies go, broccoli, carrots, snow peas, regular peas, peppers and any other thematically 'asian' veggies will work. Mushrooms tend to shrivel and make the salad watery, but are tasty so if I'm making it for myself I still use them. I also add edamame for a protein component. The one thing I don't do here is add canned anything... it really throws off the taste of the whole salad. Frozen is ok, especially for peas & edamame. Have enough veggies to make up at least 2 cups worth of vegetation.

When the pasta is done, drain it, shock it with cold water, drain it more, then add to the dressing and toss. Add the veggies, toss some more. Taste one last time for seasoning (remember what I said about seasoning the veggies) add more salt/pepper & stir if needed, then cover and let sit for at least 4 hours in the refrigerator. Before you serve it, sprinkle the top with the sesame seeds so it looks way purdy, and so that the sesame seeds stay crunchy.

Picky Husband Info: Yeah, he's not touching this with a 10 foot pole. Cold pasta makes him squirm, as does edamame and the idea of the tiny little sesame seeds crunching in his teeth. Which is good for me, because it's delicious and I don't want to share. It's a shame though, because it's full of antioxidants, good fats, fiber & veggies.

Mmm, Summer.

Anna's Pesto was for dinner, and in addition to the rolling thunder we've had on and off all day, it feels like summertime! All I need now is a sunburn and poofy humidity hair. The kids across the street have been riding bikes and carrying on since they got home from school, and I almost wish it wouldn't be ridiculously creepy for me to join them.

The estimate came in, and it was under $2K for everything. We were kind of shocked... I had convinced myself it would be at least $12K. It seems likely they'll be working on it when we go to South Dakota over Memorial Day.

This post is relatively short, but I'm trying to get the hang of this 'writing on a regular basis' thing so stick with me, ok?

Anna's Pesto

If my Italian BFF ever saw this recipe she would probably shoot me in the face. This is definitely not classic pesto. In fact, it's also a delicious pun (get it, annapest-o?). The taste of this still reminds me of summer.

2 cloves of garlic
1 tbsp flax seeds
1/4 c walnuts
1/2 c basil leaves
1/2 c spinach
salt & pepper
olive oil
1 tbsp parmesan or other hard stinky cheese (romano, asiago, etc)

In the bowl of a food processor, begin by grinding up the flax seeds until they don't look quite as seed-like. Add the walnuts, garlic, parm, salt (start with 1 tsp) and a few grinds of black pepper and grind until it forms a paste. Add the basil, spinach and 2 tbsp of olive oil. Grind until it's a violently green paste.

This makes a very tight pesto which is also good for spreading... This + bread + tomatoes = heaven. For use for pasta, add some of the cooking water and stir. The mixture will turn a lighter green and get looser. With a little vinegar, this also makes a killer base for a cold pasta salad in summer. Freezes well.

Picky Husband Info: This is extremely, extremely green, so this was one of those, "I'm going to trust you on this one" dishes. The walnuts & flax seeds are for extra omega 3 fatty acids, and both have less saturated fat than the usual pine nuts. I use far less cheese than is traditional, but bumped up the olive oil and garlic for extra flavor and antioxidants. I added the spinach to add nutrients, fiber and to stretch the far more expensive basil. Spinach also helps keep this super green... basil-only pesto starts to turn a weird brown color very quickly.

The verdict: omnomnom. Dactyl especially likes this on ravioli.

Ugh, Home Ownership.

On Friday, Dactyl's dad had decided that we were going to get our front window fixed. We've known that it needs major work for about a year, but he made that decision for us, by gum! We had already decided that our next major financial transition was going to be paying off our credit card, so I was a bit surprised that Dactyl set up an appointment for an assessment.

The contractor, of course, found a TON more things to fix than we'd anticipated. The 'damage' will be e-mailed to us tomorrow, and I'm really dreading it. I have a feeling that this is going to be far more expensive than paying off that credit card. Bleh.

Babaganoush for dinner tonight. Recipe below!

Babaganoush

Dactyl always laughs whenever I mention babaganoush, and then asks me what the hell it is, anyway. Well, here's what it is.

1 eggplant
1 lemon
some plain yogurt
olive oil
salt + pepper
1 clove garlic

Cut the eggplant in half. Drizzle with olive oil on an oiled cookie sheet. Roast the eggplant cut side up in the oven at 425 until it starts to wilt and the cut side starts to brown... start checking after 20 mins or so. Let cool.

Throw the garlic, about a tablespoon of olive oil, juice of half the lemon, 3 tablespoons of yogurt, about a tablespoon of salt and a few grinds of black pepper into a food processor. Remove the eggplant from its skin. It's easiest to do this with your fingers, although it'll make you feel very primal, as the cooled cooked eggplant is kind of slimy and primordial. Put that in the food processor and grind it all up. Add more olive oil or yogurt to change the texture.

This is tasty with warm pita bread.

Picky Husband Substitutions: I tried to peel off as many eggplant seeds as I could, not realizing that I was, yanno, putting it in the food processor and it wouldn't really matter.

The Verdict: 2 bites, and that was it. Oh well.