Piggyback the Tip

Don't Drink Your Ingredients

(Piggbacking: Don't Pick At It)

IF YOU PICK AT YOUR DRINK YOUR INGREDIENTS WHILE PREPARING YOUR MEAL YOU WON'T BE HUNGRY WHEN IT COMES TIME TO EAT IT  YOU MAY GET SHITFACED If your recipe calls for any sort of booze, watch the temptation to imbibe.  

The Dessert I'm making for tomorrow can easily suck as it requires Tequila.  

I like Tequila.  

This recipe took WAAAAAY longer than it should have and the end result is up in the air.  I honestly think it is going to come out great, but I am also about to drunk dial old girlfriends.  And I'm gay.

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Dammit

I Tried To Butter You Up

EVEN A KNOW-IT-ALL LIKE ME CAN SCREW UP And I totally do and I TOTALLY OWN UP TO IT.
My co-worker and friend Janine pointed out a recipe error of Paula Dean proportion--an apt description on a couple of levels.  On the Brownie Walnut Pie recipe I had in there that one should use 8 OZ of butter for the crust instead of 8 tablespoons. For the uninformed, that is double.

I still do not know if it was a total disaster but as she described a puddle of butter in the center while cooking, I can only image it sis not turn out well.

My apologies to anyone who did not have a success with this recipe---but only if it was the butter that screwed it up.  If not, you only have yourself to blame.


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Gram's Pizza Bread à la Me
(White with Prosciutto and Spinach)

**This recipe requires a day's prep with this recipe*.  Don't rush it!

Ingredients:

pizza dough (my recipe* or from store/pizza shop)
2 tablespoons olive oil and extra for rubbing
5 cloves garlic crushed with a garlic press
oregano
baby spinach (fresh this time, no cheats: no frozen)
prosciutto thinly sliced (just get a ton if you are going to snack on it later)
black pepper
1 1/2 cups part skim shredded mozzarella
pecorino romano

Preheat the oven to 450°.

Take your dough--whether you used the recipe I did* or you bought yours at a pizza shop or store (which would make you lazy and impatient------"Hello, kettle?  You're black") and get it to a floured work space. 

[If you used the recipe I gave, use one of the pieces you made. If you are in NYC and went to a pizza shop, get one small piece of dough.  If in Rochester, go to a Pontillo's and get dough for a medium pie or a large and cut in half (duh).]

Flatten the dough with flat hand and spread out.  Roll out the dough with a rolling pin (and for those who have worked with pizza, give it a toss or two).  Roll again until it's flattened some and around a foot in diameter and 1/2" thick.

Pour about olive oil onto the center of your sphere and spread toward the edges with your hand.  Add the garlic to the oil and spread that evenly onto the slicked surface. Sprinkle liberally with oregano, black pepper and romano.

Spread whole pieces of spinach evenly and overlapping on the dough, spreading almost to the edges.  Repeat the same process with the prosciutto and sprinkle with romano and half of your mozzarella.

Starting with any end, start rolling it up like you would a poster, blueprint or treasure map.  Keep it nice 'n tight or it will unravel or grow too much while cooking.  It may have a hump in the middle like a snake working something down-that's fine.  Transfer your roll to a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or foil slicked with vegetable spray (like PAM).  Slick up your rolled loaf with olive oil, especially the edges to almost seal 'em and poke a slit in the middle to allow for some of the moisture to escape while cooking.  Put tray in the oven on the lowest of the racks and cook for 30-35 minutes. 

(It may take longer based on a number of things--oven heat, dough quality, roll technique--so you will want to watch it so the outside doesn't cook too hard but also that the inside isn't overly doughy.  Take it out when you think it's done and let cool for like 5-10 minutes and cut right in half so you have two loafs.  Check the inside coils.  If the middle is overly soft or uncooked, pop back in the oven.)

Tip:  If you need to continually put back in the oven due to doughy insides and fear over cooking the outside, slice it up into many pieces (like you would any loaf of bread) and lay 'em out overlapping each other and throw them back in the oven and cook till you're satisfied.  There's no shame in this, it will still taste great and in some cases give it a great crunch.

Notes:

This recipe is based on a true story is based on my grandmother's (Gram's) pepperoni bread recipe that we've enjoyed, well, forever.  She's 90 so I think that a lot more people have enjoyed this that I can imagine.  I also do her version with pepperoni as well as tons of other creations and topping combinations with white, red or pink sauce...vodka too.

Tweaks:

The thing I tweaked was pepperoni and mozzarella removal for the spinach and prosciutto.

Verdict: Success

Definitely Neighbor-worthy

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Pizza Dough
(For home--not at Pontillo's)

This is lovingly executed following the recipe of Giada de Laurentiis

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups warm water
1 (1/4 oz) active dry yeast
5 cups all-purpose flour (and extra for dusting)

1 1/2 teaspoons fine sea salt 
olive oil

Preheat the oven to nothin'-----you aren't cooking yet.  That's tomorrow.  

Put water into a small bowl and add yeast.  Stir with your (clean) hand until it has all melted into the water.  In a large bowl, mix the flour and salt together.  Add the yeasty water to the flour mixture and mash together until a dough starts to form.  (If too dry, add some water--if too wet, you're screwed and should go back to the store, buy more yeast and start over.  I'm kidding, just add more flour.)

 

De-bowl your dough and place on a floured work space.  Knead the dough until your form is a ball that is smooth--when in doubt, keep kneading it.  You'll know what smooth is when you get there as it really does become an almost perfect ball.   My family members know the fold technique where, beyond the kneading, you almost tuck it into itself over and over.

Drizzle the inside of a bowl with your oil and put your dough ball in there covered by a damp kitchen towel.  Store it in a safe, dry place.  It will rise and [nearly] double in size after a couple of hours.  When it has, take it out to your work space and relieve it of any air that has gathered. (Just press down on it.)

Cut into 3 equal size pieces and tuck 'em again into 3 balls (at this point each will become a near-flawless, perfectly smooth orb is in your hands). Put them in 3 oiled bowls and cover (again) with a damp kitchen towel and let rest for an hour.  Remove the towel and wrap in plastic wrap and throw in fridge over night and wait till tomorrow.

Notes:

This recipe was made directly from an existing recipe---really nothing is changed here.  Though I know backwards and forwards how to make pizza dough from years of working at our family pizza shops, I only know how to make enough dough in a rip your arm off size mixer and have never made a small amount.  This is a first time thing, so I knead to be gentle--see what i did there?

Tweaks:

The only thing I tweaked was the fancy wording or overly specific things in the recipe.  I think I used sea salt.  It may not be fine sea salt but, truth be told, it coulda been crushed sidewalk salt--I don't really care.  Salt is salt and that's just "fine" by me. 
I also have our family fold technique mentioned in the above steps.

Cheats:

This whole post is a pretty much a cheat against the nature of this bog.  One big (credit-given) hack of a cheat because I didn't even try to make this one my own.

No Verdict on this one as the final recipe will yield a success or failure.

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Rigatoni
with Marinara, Pesto and Ricotta
(The Effortless Kind)

Kneel to the King:  I started making this dish years ago after having something similar at our favorite pub down the street, The Half King.

Ingredients:
1 lb rigatoni
marinara (use whatever you like-homemade or bottled (if you wanna anger Ma))
pesto *recipe here or used jarred.
part-skim ricotta
2 tablespoons pecorino romano cheese
salt
cinnamon


Easy Explanation: I am using already prepared marinara as well as the pesto that I made a couple of weeks back for my Simple Sandwich recipe and froze. I took it out last night to thaw so that today I could just make an easy meal.

Boil water and add salt to a large pot for your pasta.  Prepare your pasta, al dente, as instructed on your box.  While the pasta cooks, heat up your marinara (I had my marinara left over) If you want it fresh and new, prepare ahead for this recipe before you boil your water.  Take your pesto (jarred or pre-prepared) out of the fridge to allow to come to room-temperature.

When the pasta is done, strain and spritz with a little cold water to make the rigatoni (a little) firm.  Toss, still in the colander, with the romano 'till all are covered with cheese and plate, dish or bowl it.  Cover first with the red sauce, then the pesto and top it off with a spoonful of ricotta.  My family's regional background has sweetness in it's blood, so we always add some cinnamon to our cheeses.  My bf likes it in certain dishes, but not this one so I didn't mix the cheese or anything, I just sprinkled mine with a dusting of flavor.


Notes:

This recipe is one of mine. It is super simple...and uses ingredients that may already be in the house. 
I did use that Pesto I made a while back and froze--it was still amazing!
And btw, when you allow the heat of the sauce to essentially melt the ricotta into the pesto, uhh, so good!.

Cheats:

Though not technically cheats, as this is my recipe and my shortcuts (existing marinara and pesto) were made by me, others can cheat by using jarred sauces.

Verdict: Success

Definitely Neighbor-worthy.

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Just the Tip

Let Things Rise All The Way Before You Play With Them


IT'S WORTH THE WAIT [WHEN WORKING WITH DOUGH] I always have to tell myself to relax and slow down.  Rushing a recipe is a bad thing especially when working with dough.  Dough has to rise properly to have the right consistency, malleability and taste. Let is settle properly and let it gestate as long as is appropriate.

Relevancy: I have a new recipe that I really REALLY want to do, but it involves pizza dough and I want to make it from scratch. I have to make it tonight and wait 'till tomorrow to use it otherwise it won't spread right or hold it's shape.  Spreading it well is very important.


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Update: Consensus

Brownie Walnut Pie

Verdict: Success

I heard back from some of the Fashion GPS crew and it seems it was a hit.  If it was 1/2 as good as licking the beaters, then it had to be fantastic.  Easy and a more than satisfying yield.

Definitely Neighbor-worthy.